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Passover is upon us and that means it’s time to think about the Seder. You may have your go-to recipes already tucked away for the meal, but we’ve found some that might tempt you to try something new this year. From brisket to smoky baked salmon, we’ve got you covered.
And although it is time to give up leavened bread, which can make dessert tricky, we have flourless cakes to ensure you’re in good hands this holiday.
If you want to buy some Girl Scout cookies but haven’t spotted a Girl Scout this season, you might be excited to learn that the cookies are now available on Amazon. But here’s what you need to know: you absolutely should not buy them from these resellers found on Amazon.
First, the Girl Scouts of the USA are concerned cookies might be old or inauthentic. “Girl Scouts USA, your local Girl Scout council, and our licensed cookie bakers cannot guarantee the freshness or integrity of these cookies,” a representative from Girl Scouts of the USA told HuffPost. “In many instances, these cookies are actually expired.”
Second ― and more importantly ― you’d totally rob the Girl Scouts of the whole reason they’re selling the cookies in the first place. And that reason is to help them learn new tools from real life experiences. The Girl Scouts of the USA explains that the whole point of selling the cookies is to help the girls build “essential life skills, such as goal setting, people skills and business ethics.”
Those third-party Girl Scout cookie vendors you find on Amazon are robbing the girls of those valuable lessons ― and they’re robbing you of some money, because they’re sold at a fairly substantial mark up. And the Girl Scouts are not benefitting in any way from this mark up, since the cookies were bought from them at their normal price.
Only the third party reseller benefits. Everyone else loses.
“Buying the cookies through Amazon is giving people access to cookies without access to Girl Scouts, which undercuts the programmatic element,” a spokesperson for the Girl Scouts of the USA told New York Magazine.
Do you really need to get your hands on a box of Samoas that badly?
In my experience, there are really only three skills a good host really needs to master: greeting everyone at the door with a smile, making a good punch, and removing a red wine stain.
This article is about that last skill.
There are three common cures for a red wine spill: water, water and salt, and club soda. Figuring that a good host should know which of these works (if any), I decided to conduct an experiment in the Epi test kitchen. For guidance, I called Wayne Edelman, owner of Meurice Garment Care in NYC and an expert in stain removing. (Martha’s a fan.)
The first thing Edelman told me to keep in mind is that not all stains are created equal. Protein stains, like spilled yogurt or milk, are fundamentally different in structure from wine stains. Tannin stains, like wine or coffee, come from a dye found in solids like grape skins or bark. The type of stain can help you decide the best remover.
“You want to use something that’s acidic to render stains soluble,” said Edelman. I didn’t quite know what he meant, so I purposefully poured some red wine on some fresh, white towels and started experimenting.
WATER WITH SALT
I’d read that when handling salt for stains, it’s important to not be shy: a lot of salt comes in handy. You want to completely cover that spilled wine and draw out as much moisture as possible.
A saltwater solution on the wine spill removed the stain better than regular water did, but even after an overnight soak, the red wine was still pretty prominent on the linens I tested.
CLUB SODA WITH SALT
This method was dubbed “the Larry David method” after an episode of his show, Curb Your Enthusiasm. In one segment, a cup of coffee spills across a white couch, and Larry David’s mind is blown as a mysterious man practically sweeps away the stain using club soda and salt. How did it play out IRL? My test worked in removing the stain, but considering that club soda alone also worked (see below), the salt probably isn’t necessary.
CLUB SODA
There’s no scientific evidence confirming club soda as a more effective stain remover than regular water. However, of the four methods I tried, this one worked the best in breaking down the wine’s dyes. After pouring on club soda and letting it sit overnight, there was practically no trace of the stain left.
Club soda goes through some chemical add-ons during its artificial carbonation (the distinguishing characteristic between club soda and seltzer), which makes it slightly more acidic than tap water. That could be the key to its effectiveness. But personally, I don’t really care why it works; I just know a good host needs to keep several bottles on hands, for low-alcohol mixed drinks and spill-prone friends alike.
There is scientific-backed research that proves the detrimental impact our meat-eating ways have on the environment. In fact, it’s been found that a widespread switch to vegetarianism would cut carbon emissions by nearly two-thirds. It’s why the United Nations has been urging people to eat less meat for roughly 9 years now, but still, here we are. The only problem is, not everyone is ready to give up meat.
For those of you who aren’t ready to take the meat-free plunge, Brian Kateman has a suggestion: become a reducetarian.
Kateman, who has a masters in conservation biology, has made it his goal to encourage others to simply eat fewer animal products, and less of them. That’s why he established the Reducetarian Foundation (RF) and edited the recently published the new book, The Reducetarian Solution. He says that by simply setting actionable goals to reduce our animal product intake we can increase the wellbeing of our animals, improve human health and protect our planet.
Those actionable goals can be as small or as big as what works for you. It can mean joining in on Meatless Monday. It can be trying out Mark Bittman’s Vegan before 6. Or it can simply mean skipping the bacon on your burger. The goal is to “mindfully and gradually reduce [one’s consumption of meat with respect to their own diet,” as the RF outlines on their website.
The problem with the reducetarian diet is the same one that disillusioned voters face on Election Day: what difference is my small action (or vote) going to make? According to RF, a whole lot. Watch their video for more details: