Jam

I learned the secret of making small batches of jam years ago from my dear friend Sylvia Thompson, a terrific cookbook writer.

Here's how the technique goes: Cut up the fruit and weigh it. Add an equal weight of sugar. Bring it to a boil on top of the stove and then let it sit overnight to macerate. The next day, finish the jam a couple of cups at a time in a nonstick skillet. Cooked over medium-high heat, it'll set in less than five minutes.

That's all there is to it. Last weekend I turned 2 pounds of nectarines into jam in less than 30 minutes of total work. What's more, because I couldn't figure out what sounded best as an accent flavoring — lemon verbena, rose geranium or basil — I made one batch of each. (For what it's worth, I'm still undecided: All of them are delicious. Obviously, more testing and tasting are required.)

Because the fruit cooks more quickly in small amounts, the flavor of the jam stays fresher. You also use less sugar than commercial jams, so the flavor is more about the fruit than the sweet (instead of 50% sugar by weight, commercial products must contain more than 55% sugar just to legally be called jam).

hamburger buns

40 Minute Hamburger Buns or Rolls
By Sue Edwards

***(Note: By Sue Edwards)*** Here on our ranch, I cook for three men besides by family and they all love hamburgers. These fluffy yet hearty buns are just right for their big appetites. I also serve the buns plain with a meal.

Ingredients
* 2 tablespoons active dry yeast
* 1 cup plus 2 tablespoons warm water (110° to 115°)
* 1/3 cup vegetable oil
* 1/4 cup sugar
* 1 egg
* 1 teaspoon salt
* 3 to 3-1/2 cups all-purpose flour

Directions
* In a large bowl, dissolve yeast in warm water. Add oil and sugar; let
* stand for 5 minutes. Add the egg, salt and enough flour to form a
* soft dough.
*
* Turn onto a floured surface; knead until smooth and elastic, about
* 3-5 minutes. Do not let rise. Divide into 12 pieces; shape each into
* a ball. Place 3 in. apart on greased baking sheets.
*
* Cover and let rest for 10 minutes. Bake at 425° for 8-12 minutes
* or until golden brown. Remove from pans to wire racks to cool.
* Yield: 1 dozen.


1/2 milk, 1/2 water for buns

Excellent flight search engine

http://www.hipmunk.com/
.

You can still sort results by price, number of stops, departure/arrival time, and duration, but you also get an extra search category called agony. What's "agony" entail, you ask? Hipmunk's co-founder Adam Goldstein explains that agony is:

..a combined function of price, duration, and number of stops—basically the total agony you'll experience in your butt and your savings.

If you've always dreaded searching for a flight because you don't enjoy deciphering your results, Hipmunk is a refreshingly clear alternative.

Another liquid nitrogen ice cream recipe

Liquid Nitrogen Ice Cream Recipe

heidi notes: This is a nice, creamy gelato-type base. Infuse it, add stuff, get creative. I wrote this recipe a few years back - I tend to use arrowroot instead of cornstarch as a thickener in recipes that need it (it is usually less-processed than cornstarch). But because I haven't tested arrowroot in this base, I'll give you the cornstarch version. If you use this as a base for liquid nitrogen ice cream, please read up on the safety precautions that must be observed when handling LN2.

4 cups whole organic milk
1 vanilla bean, split
1 cup sugar
3 tablespoons plus 2 teaspoons cornstarch
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Place three cups of the milk in a saucepan with the vanilla bean over medium-low heat.

Meanwhile, pour the remaining 1 cup milk into a large glass measuring cup. Add the sugar and the cornstarch. Mix well.

When the milk starts to simmer, remove it from the heat and pour in the cornstarch mixture, stirring the whole time. Return the saucepan to medium-low and stir, stir, stir, until things start thickening up, 10 to 12 minutes. It should end up thicker than, say, a runny milkshake, but thinner than a frosty one.

Pour the mixture through a strainer into a mixing bowl, whisk in the vanilla extract, and let it cool on the counter for 20 minutes or so. I like to then chill it in the refrigerator for a few hours or overnight until it is completely chilled.

Now you are ready to place this mixture in a metal-bowl mixer and do the liquid nitrogen thing (see above links and do your safety reading and research first), or you can just freeze this using the manufacturer's instructions on a standard ice-cream maker.

Serves 6.

Liquid Nitrogen ice cream

The price is about two cents to $2.75 per 100 cubic feet depending on purity, which isn't anything important here, so get the two cent stuff. You will also probably need a container, which you can rent/borrow from the people that you are buying the Nitrogen from. Don't use a cooler, as it will not survive the trip.

Simple rules for handling Liquid Nitrogen:
I could say DO NOT LET IT TOUCH SKIN but someone will be a bone head and do it anyway. The truth of the matter is that the human body is so hot to the Liquid Nitrogen that it will boil in your hand with out any harm to you. However, the instant you contain the liquid Nitrogen, like in a fist, you increase the pressure of the gas trying to escape. The pressure builds up enough to give you a very bad freezer burn. Enough to need medical attention, so take my word for it and don't.

Ingredients needed to make simple Vanilla Liquid Nitrogen Ice Cream:

---

Milk
Heavy Cream (Half and Half will do nicely)
Real Vanilla (not that fake junk that's sold!)
Sugar
Liquid Nitrogen

Equipment needed:

---

Stainless Steel mixing bowl
Wooden mixing spoon
Gloves
A big sink or a level place out side.

First figure out how much you want to make. Multiply the total amount of ice cream by five to get the amount of Liquid Nitrogen needed to freeze the ice cream. A gallon of ice cream will thus need five gallons of Liquid Nitrogen.
Mix the Milk, Cream, Vanilla and sugar in the mixing bowl. The ratios should be twice as much cream as milk and about 8 tbsp of vanilla for every gallon of liquid. Sugar should be about 1 cup dry measure per gallon. If that's too sweet then half it. I do not know how artificial sweeteners react to the cold, so I don't recommend the usage of them.
Mix the ingredients until the sugar has dissolved into the milk and cream. Add in any fixings (candy, coffee, other flavors). Move to the sink if you haven't already.
Pour in the Liquid Nitrogen slowly and mix with the wooden spoon until completely frozen, which should be about 10 minutes. Wear the gloves, because it's going to be cold.
For a better freeze, prepare the icecream in a pressure cooker, and after adding the Liquid Nitrogen, clamp shut for 5 minutes.

Eat!

If you want, you can add cookie dough or just about anything else to the mixture. Don't worry, it will freeze (trust me, it has no choice but too!).
Other flavors can be made by replacing or adding with the Vanilla with your choice of:
Coffee (hot, strong and fresh is the best) - with a few whole beans - yum!
Cookie dough - either homemade or store bought will do.
Candy - A Milky Way is good in bits, as is Heath Bar.
Liquors - Don't worry about the low freezing point, Liquid Nitrogen is much lower!

Ice cream without an ice cream maker

I do believe in equal-opportunity ice cream-making; even if you don't have an ice cream maker, you should be able to make it home for yourself. Yes, an ice cream machine doesn't cost too much, but it takes up precious space in small kitchens, and you may not want to keep one around. But up until now I hadn't been satisfied with any methods of making ice cream sans machine.

The bag method is simple, but messy. You fill a large plastic bag with ice and salt, and then put a smaller bag inside with a cup of ice cream mix. After some agitation, the mix in the inner bag will get cold enough to freeze into ice cream.

But this method is prone to leakage — you often end up with salty brine all over the kitchen countertop, or even in the ice cream itself. There has to be a better way, I thought.

I did a little reading, and I was inspired by David Lebovitz's stir-every-30-minutes version, and by Kenji's very scientific analysis of what needs to happen for ice cream to freeze satisfactorily.

• How To Make Ice Cream Without a Machine - by David Lebovitz
• The Food Lab: Real Ice Cream Without an Ice Cream Machine - by Kenji at Serious Eats

Kenji's article is fascinating because he shows just how ice cream is affected by stirring. If you just throw ice cream mix into the freezer you'll have a solid block of icy dairy — not very scoopable or fun to eat. You have to prevent large ice crystals from forming while freezing the mix. There are many ways to do this, but they are variations on one simple concept: Mix or agitate the ice cream while it is being frozen.

David Lebovitz addresses this by simply stirring the ice cream every 30 minutes for about 3 hours as it freezes in the freezer. David's is a good method, and the one below is directly inspired by it. I just didn't want to be bound to my ice cream for 3 hours! I also felt that the mixing option still leaves in some large crystals.

This method makes the process much quicker, and you only need to mix it twice. It also produces a very smooth, creamy ice cream which, depending on how much fat is in the ice cream base, rivals any other homemade ice cream for texture.

The only drawback is that you need a fairly large freezer and a bag of ice — which again may be hard for those of you in small city kitchens. But if you do have the space, then give this a try! It's easy, not messy at all, and awfully delicious!

What You Need

Ingredients
1 pint (usually a half recipe) of ice cream mix, well chilled
Easy Ice Cream Mix Options:
• Eggless Cornstarch-Based Mix
• Rich Ice Cream Base with Eggs and Cream
• Sweetened Condensed Milk Ice Cream Base

Equipment
Very large mixing bowl or stockpot
Small 1-quart bowl
Chopped ice
3/4 cup rock salt or kosher salt
Electric hand mixer OR whisk
Towel

Instructions

1. Fill the large bowl about halfway with ice. Stir in 3/4 cup rock salt.

2. Nestle the smaller bowl in the ice. Try to get almost completely buried in the ice. Fill the smaller bowl halfway with ice cream mix (use at most 1 pint of mix).

3. Use the hand mixer to beat the mix for 10 minutes. You may find it helpful to half cover the bowl with a towel, to help prevent spattering. The mix should get very cold to the touch, although it will probably not start transforming into actual ice cream. (Note: If you don't have a hand mixer, then you can use a whisk, but you will need to whisk for at least 15 minutes. Great upper arm workout!)

After you have aerated and chilled the mix for about 10 minutes, cover with a towel and place the entire set of nested bowls — large and small — in the freezer. Freeze for 45 minutes.

4. Remove the bowls from the freezer. Draw a spoon across the top of the ice cream mix. It's probably the consistency of loose pudding, especially on top.

5. Mix again with the hand mixer for 5 minutes. At this point the mixture should be the texture of soft-serve ice cream.

6. Remove the small bowl from the large bowl, and cover the top with plastic wrap touching the surface of the ice cream. Freeze for an additional two hours, or overnight, before serving.

Additional Notes:
• Remember, as always with homemade ice cream: The more fat in the ice cream, the creamier it will be, regardless of churning method. A custard ice cream with all cream and egg yolks will turn out less icy than a milk-based mix. I actually used a milk-based mix here (2 cups milk, 1 cup cream) and while this is more to my taste, it definitely turned out a little icier than a more fatty mix would have.
• On ice: I used about 6 standard-sized ice cube trays (72 ice cubes, smashed up a bit in a bag beforehand) to fill my big bowl.

Time Bank

Start a Neighborhood Time Bank to Help Out on DIY Projects, Get to Know Your Neighbors

You already know how towelcome new neighbors to the community, but to get to know them better, home-centric blog Re-Nest recommends starting a Time Bank. As you help them with their DIY projects or errands, they help you with yours.

Photo by Michigan Municipal League (MML).

The logistics of a time bank are simple. For each hour you help someone out with their project, they help you out with yours:

Need help building a deck? Maybe catching an airport shuttle isn't in your budget right now. Enter: the Time Bank. Their Mission is, "strengthening communities through reciprocity." If you spend an hour doing something for someone in your community, that hour goes into the "bank" as a Time Dollar. You can then spend that dollar to have someone else do something for you.

While there are official channels through which you can create a neighborhood-wide Time Bank, with a central web hub and all (so others can find it), you could always use less formal means, too. Even if it just means pitching the idea to a few neighbors as a cool idea (and have them then pitch it to other folks they know in the community), you could have a pretty casual, helpful set-up going. Not only is it a great way to get to know your neighbors, but you'll probably gain some good DIY experience (and maybe even learn a trick or two) in the process. Hit the link for more information on Time Banking, and share your thoughts in the comments.

Time Banking [via Re-Nest]

Send an email to Whitson Gordon, the author of this post, at whitson@lifehacker.com.

infinity dress part 2

.

1. Select a stretchy knit with spandex in it. The straps have to be super stretchy to form and twist around your body. And choose a fabric that doesn’t have a distinguishable reverse side, because you’re going to see the back of the straps.
2. The fabric-choosing rules don’t really apply to the skirt. If you want to use a material that doesn’t fit the bill, you can use it for the skirt as long as you can find a complementary samey-sided stretchy knit for the straps and waistband.
3. Here’s how you figure out how much material you need. 
   - A square for the skirt (so if you’re using 60″-wide material, you need 60″ length), plus
   - 1.5 times your height (if you’re five feet tall, that’s seven and a half feet, or two and a half yards… but you can round down if you’re five and a half feet, no problem), plus
   - about 20″ for the waistband.
   So for me, using a 60″-wide knit and being 5’5″, my dress takes almost five yards.
4. You’ll have a bunch of leftovers, because the straps have to be cut along the length, which leaves a big rectangle of material. Want to be clever? You should have plenty left to cut out a second set of straps/band. You can then pair it with a square of any coordinating material for a second skirt and make another dress. Thrifty!
5. It’s going to be a pain in the butt to cut your straps. That’s not a tip… I just don’t want you to be surprised.
6. Subtract about three inches from your waist/underbust measurement and cut the waistband to that new number instead of your actual measurements. It’s stretchy!
7. Although this calls for a single seam, it’s tough to pin four (and in some places, five) layers of fabric all correctly at once. If you, like me, have a geometrically-clumsy brain, you can sew your straps to the front of the dress first, and then do the waistband separately with a second seam over your first.
8. The straps have to overlap one another in the middle, but it’s hard to tell how much. Plan on about five inches of overlap at the seam, but angle them slightly so that there’s only a 5″–7″ triangle of overlap above the skirt. This part isn’t an exact science, but if you overlap too little, you’ll have to wear something under the dress because it won’t cover anything.
9. Oh, and if you use a jersey material that’s likely to curl up at the edges, take that into consideration when determining your overlap.The width of your straps might end up smaller than what you cut. (Typically, cutting the straps along the length should keep them from curling in that direction, though.)
10. You’ll end up pinning your overlapping straps to your circle skirt with the right sides facing and the cut edges aligned. See diagram below.
11. On the finished dress, the band will hug your middle and be visible above the top of the skirt, but only in the back. In the front, it’ll be hidden behind the straps. The top edge of the dress, therefore, will be the folded-over edge of the band, and below that will be the nice finished seam that’s created when you sew it to the skirt. Make the band wide enough so that when you turn the dress backwards, it will cover your bust.
12. Then you’ll pin your band, folded in half (with the “right” side out—although of course there should be barely any difference between the right and wrong sides), over the seam where you just sewed the straps. The cut edges will again line up with the cut edges of the straps and the circle-opening.
13. Even if it’s three inches smaller than your true waist measurement, the inner circle cut to the new measurement will be too big. It’ll probably fall right off your hips. But the waistband, cut to the same measurement, should fit nicely. So you have two choices: either cut your circle-hole even smaller in the first place, or gather the circle evenly around the waistband when you pin it together. I like the second option, because it makes the skirt fuller.
14. You’re going to sew the waistband into a ring. Plan for its seam to land behind one of the straps, but just barely. Try to get it as close to the side of the dress as you can. It should be under your arm, but slightly forward so it’s hidden by the strap.
15. I think this diagram might help:

Mind you, in spite of all my whining, the original directions from rostitchery and Cut Out + Keep are extremelyhelpful, and I would never have known where to begin if it hadn’t been for both of those posts. I’m pretty sure it’s my impatience and lack of experience that made the project so tough for me to figure out. However, if my diagram and the links I’ve collected below can save at least one person from the frustration I experienced, then it’s all been worth it. It really is a simple project that anyone can make.

Even me.

And once you’ve finished yours, bully for you! Check out all the ways you can wrap it. And these are just the basic ones! It’s fun to stand in front of the mirror and make up new styles. You can twist the straps or not twist them, wear them in the front or turn the whole dress around backwards, and choose between keeping the waistband at your waist, hiking it up above your bust to make a minidress, or pulling it down just above your hips to wear as a skirt. Cross the straps? Knot them? So. Many. Options!

The design itself has dubious beginnings. Some call it a classic, other cite a designer.This blog talks about that a bit, and one designer who’s been credited with first designing the dress (for “Butter by Nadia,” as pictured, left) chimes in to explain her role in the story. The fact is, lovely and simple as this dress is, a lot of people have probably designed it independently from one another. It brilliantly sort of strips the idea of a dress down to its most basic concepts. Surely by now it belongs in the crafty version of the public domain, at least for sewing-types (and the rest of us) to make their own.

Since you’re not using an actual pattern, I guess it’s even okay to sell your own version of this dress, and many people certainly do. I’ve posted a couple of links below as examples. As for me, I’ll continue making them for myself and friends until everyone I know is sick of it and doesn’t ever want to see a dress again as long as they live.

infinity dress

convertible/infinity dress

(this post was originally published on 29 june, 2006, with the title "one seam convertible dress".)

have a question?  please visit the convertible dress FAQ's.

have you made a convertible dress?  do you want to see other convertible dresses, share ideas on how to make them, and find ways to make your convertible dress even better?  then hop over to flikr and join the convertible dress group! 

PLEASE NOTE:  the instructions for making this dress are available for free but are not to be used for commercial purposes. please do not sell dresses made using these instructions, and do not make copies of the instructions without asking my permission first.  thank you!

over on the craftster forum we've been talking about variations on the infinity dress by lydia sylvestry.  this type of dress has been around at least since the 1970's--i distinctly remember reading an article about dresses of this type in cosmopolitan magazine when i was about 14 years old--and i recently bought a pattern for something similar.  recently this kind of thing has come back into vogue--spegiel's catalog currently has a collection of pieces by norma kamali called "convertible pieces", and boston proper has a skirt they call a "three-in-one" (they used to have a four-in-one dress but it isn't on their website anymore). 

but the version i liked best was the one by monif c., a plus-size designer who makes AMAZING clothes that non-plus size girls can envy.  (thank you keena for introducing us to monif c!).  so....yesterday i had a free hour and some fabric looking for something to be, and this is what happened (click any image in this post to see an enlargement):

and here, without further ado, is how to make this variation, using ONE SEAM:

you need four pieces:  a circle for the skirt, two straps, and one piece for a "waist" band.  to decide how wide to make your straps, measure from the center of your bust to just under your arm.  to figure the length i just decided on 1.5 times my height, which i rounded to 90" because that was easier to figure out than 64.75 X 1.5.  :)  the skirt length is your choice.  the band needs to be a little longer than your waist measurement--i didn't measure the length of my band, i just sewed it on and cut it off when i had gone all the way around the waist. 

the next part sounds complicated but it is not.  turn your skirt inside out--you are going to sew from the INSIDE of the waist--which means you don't need a free arm on your machine.  overlap the straps 3"-4"...

...and align the raw edges with the raw edge of the skirt waist.  then fold the band in half and lay it on top of the straps, the raw edges aligned with the skirt and strap edges.  you will have 5 layers of fabric on top of each other.  START SEWING AT THE OVERLAP.  (for now just ignore the fact that only one end of the band is in place).  when you get around to where you started sewing, overlap the band and cut the excess band, then finish sewing.  the band ends will not meet--they will overlap, but they will be hidden by the straps):

this is the one and only seam.

when the dress is done, it will look like this (that's a 60" measuring tape on the strap):

the whole thing took less than an hour from start to finish. (i didn't do any edge finishes or even a hem on this dress because i was just playing around with the design but i definitely will be making more of these and i will do the niceties on subsequent versions.) here are a few other ways to wrap that i came up with this morning, and if you go to any of the sites i mentioned at the start of this post you can see dozens more ways to wear it.

 

 

 

 

edited here to add the following:

the fabric i used is some polyester knit that was donated to the costume shop last fall (thank you mrs. shay!).  it has about 40% stretch on the cross.  i cut the straps so the stretch is parallel to the short ends, because i didn't need them to stretch longer but i did need them to shape around my body. 

i have been asked if the fabric could be 4-way stretch and i think it would work just fine, but the straps might behave differently, depending on how much stretch was on the length.  i have also been asked if a non-stretch fabric would work, and i think it might--you'd have to cut the skirt so that it was large enough in the waist to pull on, or put a zipper in it.  i'm going to experiment and see what happens (and you know i'll post about it).

another question i was asked is how i figured out the length of the straps.  honestly, i just took a stab at it--i wasn't sure the dress needed straps that long but figured i could always cut them shorter.   about the math:  i don't do complicated math.  :)  i just settled for a number that was close enough--if i were trying to build a space shuttle, i'd be a little more precise.

the band:  it's primary purpose is to give the waist a finished back edge.  but it also serves as a channel for elastic, if you too prefer lazy math and end up with a waist that is a little too big.  :D 

(keep those cards and letters coming!  every question you ask helps me make the instructions better for the next reader.)

since i am now obsessed with this dress, i'm planning on making one with a skirt that is a different color than the straps--one in a print fabric--one that is shorter, to wear as a top--and maybe even one in something special like panne' velvet for all those fancy dinners we go to with our two-year-old.  :)

but none of them will be as fun as wearing this plain one with my fancy two-year-old in our own front yard:

Best Notebook ever

DIY Ultimate Note-Taking Notebook

For those of us who are picky about what we write on, finding a quality notebook that meets your specific needs can be tricky. Here's how to make your own personalized, customized notebook.

Photo by sunshinecity.

Instead of making compromises and settling for a Mead or Moleskine notebook, we’re going to make our own notebook: The Ultimate College Notebook. 

Criteria

• The paper must be of a high quality.
• The paper must be set up for Cornell Notes. Ed. note: We explained how to take study-worthy lecture notes using the Cornell method in the past.
• The pages must be perforated and three hole punched.
• The cover and binding must be made of durable materials.

Step #1: Choose Your Paper

Quality paper is what separates a good notebook from a great notebook. For our Ultimate Notebook we’re using 32lb HP Premium Choice Laser Printer Paper. Although expensive at about $20 a ream, writing on this buttery smooth, fountain pen friendly paper is an absolute dream. The heavy weight of the paper will ensure that ink won’t seep through the page.

Step #2: Print the Lines
The Cornell Method is a powerful note taking technique which separates a piece of paper into 3 sections; notes, main points and summary. This forces you to consider the big picture when taking notes without getting caught up in the details. We’ll be printing a lined Cornell Note template onto both sides of our pages. You can grab blank, lined or grid PDF templateshere. If you prefer plain old lined or grid paper, a quick search should bring up a bunch of line generators. 

Step #3: Perforate and Punch the Pages

Carrying around a notebook with a semester’s worth of notes without some form of redundancy is a scary thought. We’re very diligent when it comes to backing up our computer data, but what about our physical notes? A paper perforator will allow you to tear individual pages out of your notebook so that once you return home you can scan your notes to your computer and file away the originals into a binder.  As a bonus, you can import your scanned notes into a service like Evernote so that you’ll have access to them wherever you go. A 5-in-1 paper trimmer with perforating blade can be bought at Staples for $45. 

Step #4: Assemble

Once you’ve prepped all of our pages for binding, it’s time to bind your notebooks. Head to your favorite print shop and pay the extra few bucks for quality binding materials. Stay away from Cerlox binding, it’s inferior to Coil and Wire-O. 

Step #5: Enjoy

The Ultimate College Notebook; quality materials and designed to integrate perfectly into your note processing workflow. You can take pride this semester knowing that you’re writing on the best notebook there is. 

The writers from HackCollege are contributing to our Back To School series all this week.