Month: April 2017

Give your flowers a little drink of bleach. They’ll thank you, we promise.

Maps are history lessons in disguise: Long ago, the New World’s states and regions received their present-day monikers from European explorers, who liked to name new lands after faraway kings, and indigenous tribes, who drew inspiration from geography, myths, or the people who occupied the area. In the maps below—created by Expedia, and spotted by Lonely Planet—you can learn the original meanings behind the names of all the U.S. states and Canadian provinces and territories. (Click for a close-up view.)

[h/t Lonely Planet]

Why settle for potato salad and sandwiches at your next picnic when you can up the ante with elaborate entrees like pistachio meringues and prawn cakes? In A Moveable Feast, food stylist Katy Holder cooks up unconventional dishes that will make it to your picnic site in one piece and that are perfect for outside feasts.

You can get the whole book of recipes on Amazon now, and check out a few of Holder’s creations with her descriptions below.

CHICKEN AND PORK PICNIC PIE

“This is a rich savory pie, the kind we used to take on picnics in England. It’s made up of layers of poached chicken, sausage meat and a bacon-and-sweet-corn stuffing, all encased in a delicious shortcrust pastry. For added flavor, I use sausage meat from sausages, rather than plain sausage meat.”

ITALIAN DELI-STUFFED LOAF

“Instead of making six separate sandwiches, make one large filled loaf and then slice it to serve — every slice is packed full of flavorsome ingredients. To save time you could buy the chargrilled vegetables from a deli or supermarket, although I usually prefer to make my own. You could also use an oblong loaf if you can’t find a round one.”

PISTACHIO MERINGUES WITH CARAMEL FILLING

“I love meringues; they’re a favorite from Sunday afternoon tea when I was a child. Instead of the traditional cream filling, I’ve filled these ones with caramel. Look for caramel in a tin in the baking section of supermarkets, or you can easily make your own caramel using condensed milk.”

PRAWN CAKES WITH CUCUMBER DIPPING SAUCE

“These prawn cakes are delicious eaten hot or cold. If going on a picnic, chill them before leaving and keep them chilled until it’s time to eat. For a barbecue, take them raw and cook them on-site, serving them hot. You could also try wrapping them in lettuce leaves to serve.”

SMOKY CORN AND AVOCADO MEXICAN BITES

“Sometimes the simplest ideas are the best. This one came to me when I had to quickly pull something together for a group of friends who came round at late notice. Round tortilla chips make a better platform for the topping, but this recipe will work with triangular ones as well, although you’d probably use less filling on each.”

Excerpted with permission from A Moveable Feast by Katy Holder, published by Hardie Grant Books April 2017, RRP $24.99 hardcover.

Starbucks’ limited-edition Unicorn Frappuccino wasn’t magical for everyone: As Reuters reports, the pink-and-blue drink elicited social media gripes from sticky—and exhausted—baristas around the country, following five days of overwhelming customer demand.

The on-trend Frappuccino was offered at participating stores from Wednesday, April 19 through Sunday, April 23, while supplies lasted. The crème-based drink’s main ingredient appeared to be food coloring: In addition to mango syrup, it contained a hearty dusting of pink powder and a sour blue drizzle, and was garnished with whipped cream and blue-and-pink powder topping. At first glance, the sweet treat looked purple, with blue swirls—but when the drink was stirred, it turned pink, and the flavor turned tart.

The drink’s taste reportedly wasn’t anything to write home about. But thanks in part to its Instagrammable appearance, the Unicorn Frappuccino proceeded to sell out at multiple stores. The ensuing chaos prompted baristas to take to the internet to vent their frustrations: “Please don’t get it!” a Colorado-based barista named Braden Burson complained in a since-deleted Twitter video. “I have unicorn crap all in my hair and on my nose. I have never been so stressed out in my entire life.”

“It’s a great drink,” Burson later added in a Facebook message, quoted by the AP. “But it is difficult to make when there are like 20 fraps all at once both front and drive thru.” (Starbucks promised to reach out to their disgruntled hire and “talk about his experience and how to make it better.”)

Meanwhile, Reddit was clogged with complaints from stressed food service workers (including one who was forced to whip up 56 Unicorn Frappuccinos for a single order), along with exultation from workers whose customers opted for simpler orders, or whose workplaces had run out of drink ingredients. One user even christened the infamous treat the “Frap from hell.”

To the relief of many baristas, Starbuck’s Unicorn Frappuccino promotion is over. That said, they are likely the only company employees clamoring for the mythical beverage to go extinct: Starbucks received “tremendous positive feedback” for the drink, according to a spokesperson, and company shares closed up 0.9 percent at $60.61 on Friday.

[h/t Reuters]

Need a reason to get up from your desk? Scientists say each step we take sends a boost of blood to our brains, making us feel sharper and better overall. The research will be presented today at the Experimental Biology 2017 meeting in Chicago.

It’s no secret that exercise makes us happy. It raises our heart rates and floods our bodies with feel-good hormones. But until quite recently, scientists had not considered its effect on the flow of blood to the brain, or how that flow might affect our state of mind.

Researchers at New Mexico Highlands University (NMHU) began by studying the hemodynamic (blood-moving) effects of pedaling a bike, then looked at running. They found that both activities increased cerebral blood flow, as the impact of each footstep on the ground or pedals squeezed athletes’ arteries, sending a pulse of blood to the brain. The effect was especially pronounced in runners, whose feet hit the ground hard.

The scientists wondered if the same might be true of walking, with its relatively gentle footfalls. They hooked 12 healthy young volunteers up to heart monitors and ultrasound machines, then set them walking on a treadmill.

Sure enough, even a casual stroll boosted blood flow to the volunteers’ brains. The effect was significant, somewhere between the low-impact ride of cycling and running’s hard steps.

“What is surprising is that it took so long for us to finally measure these obvious hydraulic effects on cerebral blood flow,” first author Ernest Greene said in a statement. “There is an optimizing rhythm between brain blood flow and ambulating. Stride rates and their foot impacts are within the range of our normal heart rates (about 120/minute) when we are briskly moving along.”

The authors believe these boosts of blood—and therefore oxygen—to the brain may help clear our heads and lead to an “overall sense of wellbeing during exercise.”

Rejoice! After a bleak and drippy winter, the good feelings and mouthwatering aromas of grilling season are nearly upon us, which means that now is the time to perfect your recipes and technique. We recommend you start by bettering your burgers with one very strange addition: ice cubes.

Master Chef judge Graham Elliot knows a thing or two about grilling. He says the best burgers are simple, juicy, and flavorful, making the meat the star of the show. And while it may sound extreme, he suggests eschewing seasoning altogether.

“People always end up doing the same mixture for a burger as they do with meatloaf or a meatball, they put all the pepper and onion in it,” he told Fox News. “You don’t want to do that. You want it to be just straight meat.”

Straight meat on the rocks, that is: Elliot’s secret to keeping burgers juicy is to fold an ice cube right into the center of each one. “Make your patties, then put your little ice cube in there and then when you grill it, it keeps it moist and keeps it from getting dried out.”

You can get Elliot’s own burger recipe here.

Don’t feel like cooking? Check out our list of the best burgers in all 50 states.

[h/t Delish]

The Outsiders, S.E. Hinton’s 1967 coming-of-age-novel, is a staple for young readers. Even if you’ve already delved into Ponyboy’s tumultuous adolescence, you can probably still learn something about the young adult classic, which was released 50 years ago today.

1. S. E. HINTON WROTE THE OUTSIDERS WHILE SHE WAS STILL IN HIGH SCHOOL.

Susan Eloise Hinton was only 15 when she began writing the novel and was just 17 when it was first published. Hinton felt compelled to write after she became frustrated with the lack of relatable pop culture being produced for teenagers at the time. “I’d wanted to read books that showed teenagers outside the life of ‘Mary Jane went to the prom,’” Hinton explained a 1981 interview with Seventeen. “When I couldn’t find any, I decided to write one myself. I created a world with no adult authority figures, where kids lived by their own rules.”

2. RIVAL GANGS AT HINTON’S OWN HIGH SCHOOL INSPIRED THE SOCS AND THE GREASERS.

The tense divide between the upper class “Socs” (pronounced “soashes,” as in “social”) and the lower class “Greasers” at Hinton’s high school was so bitter that the gangs had to enter through separate doors. Although Hinton was neither a greaser nor a Soc, the book is written from the point of view of the greaser Ponyboy in an effort to humanize the gang. However, Hinton also refrains from vilifying the Socs, a choice that reflected her belief that things are “rough all over.”

3. HINTON DIDN’T PLAN TO PUBLISH THE NOVEL.

Hinton originally wrote The Outsiders primarily for herself, but the mother of one of her friends read a draft and thought that the book deserved a wider audience. The friend’s mother contacted an agent in New York, and soon Viking Press signed Hinton for a $1000 advance.

4. HINTON USED HER INITIALS TO AVOID UNFAIR GENDER BIAS.

Viking suggested that Hinton use her initials instead of her full name due to concerns that readers and reviewers alike would automatically dismiss a book about teenage boys written by a teenage girl. The strategy worked, and as Hinton explains on her website, “I found I liked the privacy of having a ‘public’ name and a private one, so it has worked out fine.”

5. THERE WAS A REASON HINTON WROTE FOR BOYS.

What drove Hinton to write from a male point of view in the first place? As she explains on her website, the initial choice reflected her own sensibility, but it was also strategic. “I started using male characters just because it was easiest. [I] was a tomboy, most of my close friends were boys, and I figured nobody would believe a girl would know anything about my subject matter. I have kept on using male characters because (1) boys have fewer books written for them (2) girls will read boys’ books, boys usually won’t read girls’, and (3) it is still the easiest for me.”

6. HINTON’S FIRST ROYALTY CHECK WAS FOR JUST $10.

Although The Outsiders would eventually become a huge success, it didn’t fly out of the gate. The book nearly went out of print before teachers and librarians recognized how much it resonated with young readers. To date, the book has sold more than 14 million copies.

7. THE OUTSIDERS HELPED CHANGE THE WAY SCHOOLS TAUGHT LITERATURE.

The emergence of an authentic, relatable novel helped teachers reach students who had grown bored with the use of traditional textbooks in English classes. “I remember going to American Library Association conferences and they were clamoring for something different. We realized there was a real market for books such as The Outsiders,” Hinton’s longtime friend Ron Beuhl told USA Today in 2007.

8. FOLLOWING UP ON SUCH A HIT WAS HARD.

The success of The Outsiders put a lot of pressure on Hinton, and the stress initially inhibited her progress on a follow-up book. To combat this writer’s block, her then-boyfriend (and eventual husband) suggested that Hinton write just two pages a day. If she could show him that, he would take her out on a date that evening. It must have worked, because her next novel, That Was Then, This is Now, was released in 1971.

9. HINTON’S FANS CONVINCED FRANCIS FORD COPPOLA TO FILM THE NOVEL.

Francis Ford Coppola’s 1983 big screen adaptation helped spark the “Brat Pack” genre of the 1980s and jumpstarted the careers of “up-and-comers” like C. Thomas Howell, Rob Lowe, Tom Cruise, Emilio Estevez, Matt Dillon, Patrick Swayze, and Diane Lane. But without Hinton’s passionate fans, the director might not have found the project at all. Coppola started considering filming The Outsiders after California high school students sent him a petition nominating him as the perfect director to adapt their favorite novel.

A meeting with Hinton sealed the deal for Coppola. ”When I met Susie it was confirmed to me that she was not just a young people’s novelist, but a real American novelist,” the director said in a 1983 interview.

10. HINTON MAKES A CAMEO IN THE FILM.

Although Hinton did not write the screenplay, she remained closely involved in the production by serving as a location scout and even making a small cameo as a nurse. Coppola was so taken with Hinton’s charming storytelling that during filming of The Outsiders he and Hinton collaborated on an adapted screenplay for one of her other books, Rumble Fish. In the aforementioned 1983 interview, Coppola praised the author’s involvement: “Susie was a permanent member of the company. My experience with her made me realize that the notion of having a writer on the set makes a lot of sense.”

11. IT WAS ONE OF THE MOST FREQUENTLY CHALLENGED BOOKS OF THE 20TH CENTURY.

Controversial at the time of its publication for its frank portrayal of gang violence, delinquency, underage drinking and smoking, and strong language, the book continues to be challenged. It was ranked #38 on the American Library Association’s “Top 100 Most Frequently Challenged Books of the 90s,” and has even been banned in some schools. Thankfully, the book also has become a part of many schools’ curricula, ensuring that students will be staying gold with Ponyboy for years to come.