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100 Excellent Advice Site for Homeschoolers
Taking the initiative to teach your child is a challenging, yet rewarding experience. With the nationwide legalization and growing popularity of homeschooling, there are thousands of online resources dedicated to helping you teach from home. These Web sites, blogs and educational forums will give you the necessary tools to teach kindergarten through twelfth grade students and make school fun for all.
Lesson Plans
Design your homeschooling curriculum around these lesson plans that are specified by grade, subject and age.
- Scholastic. Choose from a variety of fun and instructive lesson plans that you can search by grade or subject.
- The Lesson Plans Page. More than 3,500 free lesson plans are available for educators, including math worksheets and science experiments.
- OFCN's Academy Curriculum Exchange. This site offers lesson plans for kindergarten through twelfth grade students.
- BrainPOP. From singing to scientists, all lessons are animated with cartoons and interactive videos.
- LessonPlanZ.com. New lesson plans are added weekly for all grades and subjects.
- Teachers.net. Get thousands of teacher-approved lesson plans for every grade level.
- The Educator's Reference Desk. Find lesson plans that meet your specific search criteria.
- Let's Homeschool. This site offers homeschool curriculums, resources and specific subject assignments that cater to homeschooler's needs.
- teAchnology. Browse through more than 30,000 lesson plans and tips submitted by teachers.
- Education World. Shake things up with these creative lesson plans, such as 5-minute fillers, holiday lessons and news for kids.
Educational Resources
From online tutorials to electronic textbooks, these educational resources are easy to use and super convenient for homeschool students and teachers.
- Educator. From calculus to biology and everything in between, Educator provides video tutorials that cover numerous subjects.
- Free Home Education. Browse through the extensive list of free homeschool resources available on the Web.
- PinkMonkey.com. From state testing resources, online textbooks for numerous subjects to SAT prep tests, PinkMonkey has you covered with more than 450 free study resources.
- Algebra.com. Get free homework help and utilize online tutors to assist with pre-algebra, algebra I, algebra II and geometry lessons.
- iKnowthat.com. Designed for younger students, this interactive site provides a variety of tutorials and lessons that encourage more active learning and less memorizing.
- Federal Resources for Educational Excellence. Get federal-supported resources on a range of topics, including arts, music, U.S. history and science.
- Project Gutenberg. Recognized as "the first producer of free electronic books," Gutenberg has nearly 30,000 free ebooks to choose from.
- Ambleside Online. This site follows the curriculum of Charlotte Mason's, which is focused on "high literary standards" and free texts.
- Math/Science Nucleus. Get an online science curriculum for elementary students on this non-profit educational site, founded by scientists, educators and community members.
- K-12 Free Homeschool. This kindergarten through twelfth grade schooling program also provides free homeschool resources, such as ebooks, a calendar with daily assignments and a public forum for parents to communicate.
Educational Software
Whether your homeschooler is learning a new language or needs help with math, educational software programs add variety to your lessons and can serve as a second teacher.
- The Homeschool Place. Choose from a variety of software programs for virtually every school subject.
- Rosetta Stone. The popular language-learning software enhances a foreign language curriculum with interactive tools and progress reports specially designed for homeschool use.
- Edu-Track Home School. Use this handy software to keep track of lesson plans, report cards, transcripts and more.
- Homeschool Tracker. Stay organized with this multi-use tracker that will make your homeschooling experience more efficient.
- ClickN Read. Listed as the "world's most advanced phonics, reading and spelling programs," this software is guaranteed to teach your child to read or spell or you'll get your money back.
- Smart Tutor. This program is designed to enhance math and reading skills for elementary-aged children.
- Free Homeschool Software. For a $7.50 shipping and handling rate, you can get free software programs like 2009 World Book Encyclopedia or the Merriam-Webster Dictionary.
- Alpha Omega. Get Christian homeschooling materials for all grades.
- Professor Toto. François Thibaut's programs are noted as the "number one technique" to teach children foreign languages before they speak.
- Algebrator. This software will help you solve everything from pre-algebra to college algebra questions on screen.
Homeschool Supplies
Get used, new or hard-to-find homeschool supplies, teaching materials and classroom items on these discounted shopping and auction sites.
- DHSS. Shop this site's discounted curriculum materials and school supplies.
- SmileMakers. SmileMakers, a division of Staples, has everything you need for your homeschool classroom: stickers, toys and teaching materials.
- Discount School Supply. From costumes, furniture to arts and crafts supplies, this online store has your homeschool needs covered.
- Timberdoodle Co. Shop discounted school supplies for grades Kindergarten through twelfth.
- HomeschoolingSupply. Find educational resources and specific supplies to fit your everyday homeschool needs without paying any sales tax.
- K-12 School Supplies. Shop teacher-created resources, Christian inspirational items and special needs lessons.
- Bibliofind. Linked with Amazon.com, this site searches and provides millions of rare, pre-owned and out-of-print books for purchase.
- Homeschool Bid. Use this homeschooler's auction site to sell your old supplies, texts or furniture for brand new or used ones.
- Rainbow Resource Center. Shop more than 40,000 quality educational products for all grades, subjects and ages at discounted prices.
- The Dow's Schoolroom. Get homeschool supplies, Bible class resources and educational toys on this school shopping site.
Organization is a-must for homeschoolers who want to keep the house separate from the school. Use these tips to organize, de-clutter and create a balanced environment in your own homeschool.
- The Home School Mom. Get the latest planners and tools to help you stay organized and keep track of your child's assignments, as well as tips on how to keep your house clean and encourage your kids to pitch in.
- Handipoints. Use these printable worksheets to keep tabs on your child's math skills, chore duties and study habits, and it's also a good incentive for rewarding progress.
- Donna Young. From note-taking forms, lesson plan forms to custom calendars, this site has you covered for organizing paperwork and creating forms.
- Organized Home. This site is filled with motivational articles and organizing tips to help you cut the clutter and make room for your homeschooler.
- Homeschool-By-Design. Get information on how to maintain a clean, organized home and keep track of important documents, such as lesson plans and law-required records.
- Organizing Your Way. Learn how to achieve a balanced homeschooling atmosphere with these organization and time management tips.
- Homeschool Curriculum for Life. This homeschooler shares her cleaning and organization tips that are simple and doable in a day's work.
- I'm an Organizing Junkie. From the school space, the kitchen to your kids' toys, this organizer gives detailed and practical tips on keeping your house free of clutter.
- Homeschool Theater. From designating a work space to storing school supplies, this site will help you run your homeschool more efficiently.
- Ecletic Homeschool. Plan field trips, organize your calendar and get practice worksheets on this handy site that will save you time and money.
Being the parent and the teacher may require extra discipline for your child and you. Find ways to handle classroom and behavior problems while maintaining a productive learning atmosphere.
- Homeschool Curriculum and Support. Learn how to draw the line between home and school life and creating boundaries from parent to teacher with these helpful tips and exercises.
- Homeschool Classroom Discipline. This site provides practical ideas and plans for parents to enforce discipline and make their classroom run more efficiently.
- Lifestyle Homeschool. This homeschooler of four children shares her tips on obedience, classroom discipline and other intrapersonal skills.
- Homeschool Discipline. Find helpful articles on how to handle stubbornness, how to establish homeschool rules and how to solve discipline problems while initiating learning.
- EduGuide. See how discipline is enforced in public schools and how you can use the same tactics for homeschooling.
- Back to School. Get tips on disciplining at home, as well as maintaining control as the teacher and parent during homeschool.
- Homeschooling Fun. This mother of six shares her views and advice on disciplining children in homeschool.
- Christian-Parent.com. This site focuses on Christian family values and gives advice on how to discipline young children and teenagers.
- Homeschool Magazine. Read articles on disciplining kids and how you, the parent and teacher, can practice self-discipline at home.
- Love to Learn. Get information and tips on discipline and other behavioral problems.
Homeschooler Blogs
These homeschooling moms and dads offer advice, resources and tips on teaching kids from home, as well as share their own personal experiences, beliefs and gripes.
- Relaxed Homeschooler. Read what this mother of seven has to say about homeschooling and how she teaches in a relaxed atmosphere.
- Notes From a Homeschooling Mom. This mother posts news articles about education and shares her thoughts on homeschooling and parenting.
- Chez Smiffy. Get tips on how to write your own homeschool curriculum and here why this mom doesn't segregate one room for teaching.
- Guilt-Free Homeschooling. This 11-year veteran of homeschooling shares her experiences and offers general advice and encouragement to other homeschoolers.
- Principled Discovery. Read intriguing articles about the challenges and rewards of homeschooling from this mother and teacher.
- Higher Up and Further In. This homeschooler shares important lessons such as how to teach children to read, how to teach spelling and when to start practicing poetry.
- Little Blue School. This mom takes a different approach to homeschool blogging with a range of posts like how to teach a child to write a novel and her views on HSLDA.
- Eclectic Education. Get up-to-date advice on books, lessons and other resources from this homeschooling mother of two.
- PHAT Mommy.This tech-savvy mother communicates about homeschooling and motherhood with her blog, Twitter, Facebook and others.
- Why Homeschool. This blog explores homeschooling topics concerning education and family issues, as well as offer first-hand accounts of teaching from the four authors.
Homeschool Student Blogs
These tech-savvy homeschool students share stories of homeschooling, family and their daily activities, as well as post pictures, artwork and essays.
- HomeSchoolBlogger. This online community is open to students and their families to discuss education and share pictures and stories with other fellow homeschoolers.
- Stampede Homeschool. Get up-to-date news and reviews on homeschooling and find lessons from other students and teachers.
- Simply Vintagegirl. This homeschooled student shares stories of her experiences at home and discusses religion, photography and family.
- Painter of Words. Read book reviews, homeschool lessons and religious discussions on this young homeschooler's blog.
- Seven Sisters. These seven homeschooled sisters write about cooking, God and living on the farm.
- Aspiring Homemaker. This stay-at-home daughter and homeschool graduate blogs about life and work at home.
- The Daily Planet. Here what this homeschool college student has to say about education, faith and friends.
- Empowered Traditionalist. Christa Taylor, a modest clothing designer, writes about homeschool, youth and femininity.
- Clickety-Clack. Without a formal education, this avid writer shares her thoughts on life, books and God.
- A Pondering Heart. This 18-year-old homeschool student blogs about her daily life, stories from the homestead and is outspoken about religion and social issues.
Homeschool Laws
Before you start teaching, make sure you are up-to-date on your state's homeschool laws and regulations.
- Home School Legal Defense Association. Find your state's legal options for homeschooling, as well as news, resources and legislation information.
- Homeschool Laws & Legalities. Get the ins and the outs on homeschool laws and legal assistance to help you better understand the laws of your state and how to comply to them.
- Home Education Magazine. Learn how to start and run a homeschool support group and how you can stay informed on homeschool laws and regulations.
- National Conference of State Legislatures. Get an overview on compulsory education laws.
- Homeschool World. Child immunization laws are discussed here, as well as which states allow parental choice exemptions.
- Homeschooling Your Child. Get the latest news and information on homeschool laws and regulations.
- Successful Homeschooling. This homeschooler has put together a list of homeschooling requirements, a summary on the history of homeschool laws and information on homeschool testing.
- The Home School Foundation. Get information on homeschool funding, scholarships and aid for needy families in the homeschool community.
- National Center for Home Education. This site focuses on federal legislation, federal relations and has opinionated articles.
- Homeschooling State Regulations. Get detailed information and explanations on state regulations and rules.
Sports and Activities
Just because your child is homeschooled doesn't mean they can't have extracurricular activities. These sites will help you find local homeschool sports leagues, plan new activities and create fun games for your child to play at home or outdoors.
- Homeschool Sports Network. Get information on local homeschool sports leagues in your area and follow your favorite team's stats.
- Homeschool Football. This is a community forum to share information, comments and strategies for homeschool football programs.
- National Homeschool Volleyball Tournament. Get information on upcoming volleyball tournaments and see how your homeschooled child can play
- NCAA. The National Collegiate Athletic Association provides eligibility information for homeschooled athletes interested in playing college sports.
- The Field Trip Lady. This article is filled with field trip ideas and unique places to visit.
- Homeschool Diner. Search through tons of fun and educational games, puzzles and hands-on activities that your kids will enjoy.
- SchoolExpress. Get thousands of free activities online, such as jigsaw puzzles, Sudoku games and journal writing assignments.
- Craftster. Find kid craft projects, share ideas and discuss art with fellow crafters in the public forum.
- The Incredible Art Department. Let your homeschooler find his or her inner-artist with these art lesson plans and activities.
- Homeschool Music Association. Find local bands, choruses, orchestras and other homeschool music groups in your area.
September 8th, 2009


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About Dr. Joe
Joe Gryskiewicz, MD, FACS, (pronounced Gris-KA-vitz) has practiced medicine in the Twin Cities of Minneapolis and St. Paul for more than twenty years. He is a Clinical Professor at the University of Minnesota Cleft Palate Clinics School of Dentistry and is past Chief of Surgery at Fairview Southdale Hospital in the Minneapolis suburb of Edina. His practice, Gryskiewicz Twin Cities Cosmetic Surgery, has offices in Edina and Burnsville, Minnesota.
Dr. Gryskiewicz graduated from the University of St. Thomas in St. Paul, Minnesota, in 1972 with a bachelors degree in nursing through the registered nursing program at the College of St. Catherine. He graduated from the University of Minnesota medical school in 1978. His post-graduate medical training included seven years of surgical residency at the University of Wisconsin Health Sciences Center.
Dr. Gryskiewicz is certified by the American Board of Plastic Surgery and received a certificate of special training in cosmetic surgery from the
American Society of Aesthetic Plastic Surgery (ASAPS). He has been an official spokesperson for the American Society of Plastic Surgeons (ASPS). He is Chairman of the Emerging Trends Task Force, and belongs to numerous professional organizations and committees, including ASAPSs/ASPSs Innovative Procedures Committee. As a moderator for its biannual Hot Topics in Plastic Surgery course, he keeps up on cutting-edge developments in his field. He is an active member of the Rhinoplasty Society and serves on its committees. He also holds several issued patents for surgical devices. Dr. Gryskiewicz was inducted into the International Society of Clinical Plastic Surgeons in 2003.
Although he has extensive training in all aspects of cosmetic and plastic surgery, Dr. Gryskiewiczs special medical interests are breast augmentation, nose surgery, facial plastic surgery, and body contouring. He was one of the early adopters of suction-assisted lipectomy after studying with Dr. Simon Fredricks of Houston, Texas in 1984. Dr. Fredricks was one of the first plastic surgeons to perform liposuction.
Dr. Gryskiewicz speaks internationally and has given over one hundred presentations to professional organizations on topics such as breast augmentation and nose surgery. He writes regularly for numerous medical journals and other publications, and is a guest reviewer for the international journals Aesthetic Surgery Journal and the Journal of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery.
Dr. Joseph Gryskiewicz was inspired to pursue a career in plastic surgery after a six-month trip as a volunteer in San Lucas Tolimán, Guatemala. Journeying by Jeep to the remote, guerrilla-occupied mountain regions, he worked around the clock, seven days a week, treating patients plagued with parasites, malnutrition, and tuberculosis. His most moving experiences came while living at the Casa Feliz orphanage, where he worked with the Cachchequal tribe of Central American Mayan Indians. Many of the orphans suffered from cleft lips or palates, and the life-changing difference a simple procedure made for them altered Dr. Gryskiewiczs life as well.
He and his family are devoted to assisting the people of Third World countries. His heartwarming, electrifying adventures with the Cachchequal Mayan Indians, as well as other medical journeys, will be featured in his upcoming book, tentatively titled Three Faces.
Dr. Gryskiewicz travels annually to South America with the international aid organizations Interplast and San Francisco de Asis to operate on children with cleft lips, cleft palates, and burns. This work is featured in the book, Caring Hands: Inspiring Stories of Volunteer Medical Missions by Susan I. Alexis, in the chapter Correcting the Negative. For this and other volunteer work, he received the WCCO Radio Good Neighbor Award in 1986 and the University of St. Thomas Humanitarian of the Year Award in 1992. Minneapolis St. Paul Magazine has named him one of the areas Top Doctors and he has been quoted in Elle and Allure magazines.
Dr. Gryskiewicz lives in Minneapolis with his wife and children, and enjoys art, photography, composing music, and cross-country skiing. An avid runner and triathlon competitor, Dr. Gryskiewicz has completed the Twin Cities, Boston, New York, and Chicago marathons.
* But more than that, people feel an inner desire to give back, believes Joseph Gryskiewicz, a plastic surgeon who has been going on medical missions for nearly 20 years. My efforts, predicts Gryskiewicz, who travels with Interplast, will flower for my grandchildren. Quoted in From Minnesota to the World: Fairview Hospitals Medical Missions.
Professional Memberships and Associations
· American Society of Plastic Surgeons (Board Certified)
· American College of Surgeons (FACS)
· American Society for Aesthetic Plastic Surgery
· Advanced Education Certification in Cosmetic Surgery
· The Aesthetic Surgery Education and Research Foundation
· Plastic Surgery Educational Foundation
· The Rhinoplasty Society
· Minnesota Medical Association
· Academy of Plastic Surgeons of Minnesota
· Hennepin County Medical Society
Hospital and Surgery Center Affiliations
· Abbott Northwestern Hospital
· Fairview Ridges Hospital
· Fairview Southdale Hospital
· Health South Centennial Lakes
· West Health
DR.Joe can be found by the following keywords:
Edina breast surgerybreast surgeries MinnesotaEdina breast augmentationbreast augmentations MinnesotaEdina breast augmentation surgeriesbreast augmentation plastic surgery MinnesotaEdina breast augmentation proceduresbreast implant MinnesotaEdina breast implantsbreast implant surgeries MinnesotaEdina breast enlargementbreast enlargements MinnesotaEdina breast enlargement surgeriesbreast enhancement MinnesotaEdina breast enhancement surgerybreast enhancement surgeries MinnesotaEdina breast liftbreast lift surgery MinnesotaEdina breast reduction breast reduction surgery MinnesotaEdina breast reconstruction breast asymmetry EdinaMinnesota breast proceduresbreast procedure Edina

subset: commoncrawl


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Phil Bardsley was delighted that two Sunderland players dug out wonder goals to overcome Blackburn Rovers last Sunday.
Both David Vaughan and Sebastian Larsson came good with stunning strikes within six minutes of each other to secure victory in Martin O'Neill's first game in charge, and the full-back thought that the Black Cats thoroughly deserved to win.
"We dominated large parts of the game - Blackburn didn't get over the halfway line that often in the second half and we put them under so much pressure," Bardlsey recalled.
"We needed that killer instinct and finally we got there in the last 10 minutes. It doesn't matter when you get the goals as long as you end up with three points on the board.
"Something special was needed and it was a great strike from Vaughany to get us level."
The ex-Manchester United trainee won the free-kick that Larsson converted when Mauro Formica stopped his attempted pass with an arm and admitted he thought his teammate might have something up his sleeve.
"When the referee blew for handball, I was quite delighted because I knew the ability Seb has," he continued. "He showed great technique to get the ball up and over the wall and into the net.
"Seb had a tiny gap to hit because the keeper had that side covered. Fair play to him - it was a great strike. The free kick really was phenomenal."


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Thursday, August 20, 2009
The Beaded Purse - Early Style
2 comments:
- Louise Blood said...
I'm not sure how I became the lucky owner of this little gem, but I do remember that I must have been allowed to play with it because that was when the missing loop of beads came off. It has been one of the treasures in my little cedar chest for as long as I can remember. I had posted this picture in May of 2008It did belong to Grandmother Louise according to a letter from
Aunt Rose that Ann read to me.
Elizabeth, you might mention how you came to post this.
- August 21, 2009 at 2:25 PM
- Elizabeth said...
I posted this again, because of Judy. She called to direct me to the family tree on Ancestry.com, for Betty Sullivan (our second cousin). Betty had posted this picture, probably obtained from the blog, and attributed the work to Mother. I just wanted to give the right attribution. Betty has done fantastic genealogy work on our Blood family, and we are deeply indebted to her for her dedication to the cause. Go to Ancestry.com, and check on the Blood-Wasden tree (mine), and Shannon's tree - I don't remember the exact name, but just do a search for Shannon Petersen or Gala. Straighten me out, Judy? (just on this point, please.)
- August 22, 2009 at 11:04 AM


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Ricoh products range from high end multifunction printing devices to a variety of photocopiers, copier machines, plus all the associated consumables and accessories. Top4Office is a premium partner and the largest Ricoh distributor in the UK.
Ricoh photocopiers come highly recommended for any office that wants to shop at the top-of-the-line. The Aficio range of multifunctional devices boasts a superb combination of usability, productivity and adaptability, all housed inside stylishly designed machines. If you want a document system that truly adds muscle to your data output, then this will be a very good place to start your search.
Ricoh has been trusted for nearly a century by hardware customers all over the world, due to its consistent innovation and the reliability of its products. In the 1980s and 1990s, it took the office equipment market by storm with a ground breaking series of sophisticated document handling systems, changing the business hardware game forever.
Today, Ricoh remains firmly at the forefront of innovation in the copier and printer marketplace. What has always made it standout is that Ricoh understands the data needs of a modern business go far beyond simply copying, printing and scanning. Workplaces need hardware that allows them to communicate, collaborate and analyse precious business data, speeding up and smoothing out the flow of information through their networks. Ricoh's Aficio range boasts an assortment of models that can do just that.
On this page you will find almost one hundred Ricoh photocopiers, of all shapes and sizes. At Top4Office we have everything from small-scale desktop models that fit snugly in even the most cramped offices to high volume, high capacity production models precision engineered to sit in the centre of professional print rooms. Across this range you will find prices lower than anywhere in the UK, with savings of up to 80% on the recommended retail price you will be charged if you shop with other dealers.
Another reason Top 4 Photocopiers has become so popular amongst smart business buyers over the last twenty years is that, alongside high performance hardware and consistently low prices, we also specialise in making sure every one of our customers gets the right machine for their workflow. Finding the right document handling system can be difficult, due to the amount of choice you have. There are so many features, specifications, models and series out there, deciding on the correct device for your office is not always straight forward.
Here at Top 4 Photocopiers, our team of experts take the time to find out about your company's specific document handling requirements. We take the time to consider the volume of sheets, the size of your workflow and the type of documents you require and then recommended the ideal model from our extensive range. Once you place your order, we'll deliver it to your door and install it to your network. This means brining a top class Ricoh photocopier to your office is a low stress job from the moment you pick up the phone to the moment it is operating in your workplace.
The terrific service does not end once the copier is in your office either. Once it is up and running, our nationwide network of highly trained engineers is on-hand to solve any issues before they become problems. We offer this service right across the mainland UK, ensuring you never need to worry about being let down by the wrong time by your document handling system.
One of the things that makes Ricoh photocopiers such highly recommended purchases is @Remote, the highly innovative fleet management solution. This takes all your collected data and turns it into detailed device knowledge. It doesn't matter how many employees on the payroll, how many documents you create, how many devices on your fleet and what your budget is. @Remote will allow you to make a run a more cost-effective and automated document workflow.
@Remote packs the Embedded Remote Communication Gate, which is great for managing the document movement of a smaller business, while the External Remote Communications Gate is perfect for larger companies with more machines.
It's also great for running a more environmentally friendly office. Green Reports track how you are using your toner and paper and how you are consuming power. This allows you to better understand, monitor and limit your office's affect on the environment, so you can lower your carbon footprint and reduce your running costs.
When you use @Remote you can expect:
So, if you want to take advantage of Ricoh's commitment to high quality hardware and Top 4 Photocopiers' commitment to bargain pricing, then start your search here. You're sure to find a powerful MFD with the capabilities to straighten out your document workload at a price that matches your budget.


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Earlier this month, Fifty Shades of Grey was named most popular fiction book of the year at the Specsavers National Book Awards in London (read more here). The win put the book on the shortlist for best overall book of the year, which was then put to a public vote (read more here).
Well, the voice of loyal FSoG fans has been heard loud and clear. Fifty Shades of Grey is your winner!
Written, of course, by E L James, the author had this to say about the win. "Thank you so much for this wonderful award. I am truly honoured. I have to thank the readers and the retailers for making Fifty Shades of Grey the success it has become. It's really quite overwhelming."
The founder of the UK based Specsavers, Dame Mary Perkins, said, "These awards were a celebration of the books that people took to their hearts and in some cases made the headlines in 2012. Anyone given book tokens for Christmas only needs to look at the shortlist for inspiration as to what to spend them on."
To read the complete article regarding the announcement and view the list of categories/winners nominated for the award, go here.
We want to thank everyone who took the time to vote, too. 'The Year of Fifty' continues :) Congrats, E!


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Ducsta necesitaba un nuevo diseño de logotipo y lanzó un concurso de diseño en 99designs.
Un ganador ha sido elegido entre 65 diseños de 21 diseñadores freelance.
Play Poker
We are 3 guys who enjoy playing and promoting poker. We organise tournaments to attract serious and competitive poker players who wish to test their skills against the best of the best. Players are required to pay a fee to enter the tournament. The fees collected form the prize pool for the eventual winners.
Our target audience is aged 18-35 and the majority are male. We want to attract serious poker players or those who are starting out and want to become serious players. Our tournaments are aimed at those who want to challenge themselves by playing against highly skilled opponents. Players should have a strong desire to win, have a professional attitude to the way the approach the game and thrive in a competitive environment.
The logo should be professional - nothing cartoony or in a comic style. We don't want any cliches (eg royal flush cards or set of aces, etc) The logo should be distinct and different from what is already out there. This could involve designing new elements or presenting existing poker icons in new and fresh ways by stylising them, combining them in a unique way, incorporating them with the brand name (or the double P abbreviation) or using interesting perspectives and textures.
We are planning to use the logo on t-shirts and hats to present to tournament winners so the logo should try to represent success, exclusivity, elitism, and prestige.
Any graphic/symbol in the logo should be able to stand alone from the brand name (text ) so it would be useful to have a double P in the graphic element. However, don't let this limit you. We are interested in your creativity.
Some attributes associated with the brand include: Professional, confident, high quality, aggressive, funky, elite, valuable
The design should be clean, simple, strong, distinct, memorable and easily recognisable. It should work in both coloured and monochrome versions.
The files will be required in both vector (.ai) and web formats (.png with alphas and layered .psd)
Please do not use any stock images, clip art or other licensed material in the logo.
Descubre cómo funciona un concurso de diseño u obtén más información sobre nuestros servicios de diseño de logo.


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"GUESS LOVES YOU" Heart Charm
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K&N has millions of satisfied customers, yet we do occasionally get instances where a dealership or service provider has blamed our product for a vehicle problem. We attempt to resolve these misunderstandings by speaking directly to the service technicians. In issues regarding MAF sensors, we have been able to recover many of the allegedly "bad" sensors and test them to diagnose the actual cause of the failure. In most of these cases the "bad" sensor was actually functioning properly and was misdiagnosed by the dealership or service provider. The diagram below is a summary of our findings.
Of the 139 sensors we received that were truly malfunctioning, 46 had a complete electronic failure in which the sensor's voltage output was a flat line, generally caused by a connection or circuitry problem within the sensor. When a sensor is responsive but it's voltage output is not within the normal limits we refer to this as "out of range". This condition can be caused by circuitry problems and it can also be caused by a sensor's thermistor becoming dirty or contaminated. We sent 34 out of range sensors to an independent laboratory for an elemental and chemical analysis and the majority of them were found to have silicone as the contaminant.
Silicone is used on the circuitry of these sensors because it acts as an excellent thermal and electrical insulator, inherently sticks to most surfaces, and is resistant to moisture and heat. Some MAF sensors use a high temperature burn-off cycle to eliminate normal engine contaminants from the sensor. Silicone is resistant to this process.
Thermistors are used in MAF sensors to measure the transfer of heat from the thermistor to the air passing by the sensor. A thermistor's resistance changes as its surrounding temperature changes. The greater the air mass and air flow the greater the transfer of heat. When a thermistor is "silicone contaminated" the thermistor becomes insulated and can result in an out of range condition.
In addition to out of range sensors, functioning and failed sensors have also been sent to an independent forensic laboratory for analysis. A few of these sensors were found to have trace amounts of oil on the thermistor. The amount of oil was so minimal that an accurate analysis of the oil's source could not be determined. The trace amount of oil can conceivably be found from two possible sources: fuel in the combustion chamber or motor oil used as an engine lubricant that gets suspended in crankcase vapor. Our experience in the lab is that trace amounts of oil don't change the sensitivity of the sensor enough to cause an "out of range" electronic signal. Furthermore our testing has shown that K&N air filter oil will not come off a K&N air filter even in extreme conditions. More on this topic here.
As of the date of our last test shown below, K&N air filter oil cannot be confirmed as the source of contamination on a sensor nor can any oil type be attributed to a sensor's failure.
The MAF sensor is placed on a test bench designed and built by K&N Engineering. The test bench can flow air through the sensor at variable flow rates, ranging from idle to full throttle. The flow of a sensor is then compared to a new sensor.
Example of Sensor reading Normal
Example of Sensor reading Out of Range
Example of Failed Sensor (flat line)
When a service technician looks at a MAF sensor's thermistor what they see with their naked eye is very little. It is nearly impossible to determine if a MAF sensor's thermistor is dirty or clean from looking at it without magnification and good lighting. When K&N views a MAF sensor, we look at it under a microscope. Below are sample images under microscopic view.
Example of Clean Thermistor
Example of a Contaminated Thermistor
A MAF sensor is located under the hood of your vehicle and is subject to a heat, cold, vibration, etc., in other words, a hostile environment. An engine performing as expected can contribute to contaminating a MAF sensor. The presence of gas fumes, a vehicle backfiring, combustion blow-by and even water condensation can contribute to contamination of a sensor. Ironically, the presence of contamination does not necessarily conclude the sensor is not functioning properly and requires replacement.
An elemental and chemical analysis of the contamination has more often than not shown to be silicone. K&N filter oil does not contain silicone. The silicone can actually be traced to the sensor's housing of the electronic circuitry. The silicone can seep out of the housing area onto the sensor.
MAF sensor thermistor probes connect to the circuit board. Silicone covers the circuit electronics and it can seep down contaminating the thermistor. This photo shows the silicone compound referenced, covering/protecting the electronics. The probes leading to the thermistor are connected to the underside of this circuit board.
This photo shows a probe demonstrating the stickiness of the silicone material.
This photo shows a sensor with silicone covering the electronics. Note the small gold processor in center.
This photo is a close up of the processor under the silicone.
This photo is an extreme magnification of the processor. As can be seen, this is a complex sensor with thousands of connections and components all of which must be intact for the sensor to function properly.
Below is a more detailed summary of our actual test results.
Electrical Failure: Electrical issue within sensor compared to a new sensor's specifications
Manufacturing Defect: A layer of the membrane sensor peels back causing electrical failure - known as de-lamination
Sensor Never Failed: Service provider error; sensor was not malfunctioning
Severe Silicone Leak: The silicone leak was too severe to run on the test stand
* Well over 50% of the "damaged" sensors sent to us were functioning properly meaning they were never damaged in the first place and cannot be attributed to any vehicle problem. Click here for more information on how this may happen.
Below is the list of MAF sensors that were sent to K&N for testing. The list includes dealerships that misdiagnosed the problem and blamed a K&N product for the failure. Test results are also shown.


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With the flip of calendar looming next week, the following, in no particular order, are my annual predictions for the year ahead.
Ocean City will not promote from within the police department for its next chief. Instead, a current chief with experience in the northeast will be chosen to replace Bernadette DiPino.
A member of the Ocean City Mayor and Council will call it quits as a result of political discontent.
Delmarva Power & Light's plans to expand its substation in north Ocean City will be permitted to proceed in a 5-2 vote, despite opposition from the community.
Ocean City will initiate eminent domain legal proceedings on a north Ocean City movie theater with plans to build a larger transit station on the property.
The Maryland legislature will proclaim the soft crab sandwich the state's official state sandwich. Special interest groups will start a petition to protest the move, questioning how the crab cake sandwich could be looked over for the honor. I would sign that petition.
Salisbury will elect a new mayor next spring.
Legislation will be introduced in Annapolis allowing breweries to begin making their own liquor.
A new full-scale microbrew pub, specializing in brick oven pizza, will open in northern Worcester County.
Work will continue on the new Route 50 service road, but it will not be completed.
A new movie theater will open in northern Worcester County.
Funding for the Snow Hill High School project will not be included in Worcester County's budget.
A traffic light will not be erected at Routes 113 and 12 in Snow Hill.
Ocean City and the State Highway Administration will add a median barrier to heavy pedestrian areas along Coastal Highway. The idea being it will stop pedestrians from crossing Coastal Highway outside of the crosswalks.
Maryland Attorney General Doug Gansler will announce his candidacy for governor as will Md. Lt. Gov. Anthony Brown.
Ocean City will add new paid parking areas in time for the summer season.
The Maryland legislature will tighten new gun control laws in response to the tragedy this month in Connecticut.
The Berlin Mayor and Council and the Berlin Fire Company (BFC) will hammer out a compromise to restore about half the funding the BFC used to receive from the town.
A local newspaper will go out of business.
Plans to install a wind turbine in Berlin will be denied due to resident concerns over its appearance.
For the first time in two years, the area will be spared any impact from a tropical storm.
Maryland legislators will again vote to increase the cigarette tax by a buck.
Ocean Pines will authorize a referendum to determine whether residents want to become a municipality.
A new three-digit area code will become necessary in Maryland.
The United States Postal Service will eliminate Saturday delivery.
The cost of a first-class mail stamp will balloon to 50 cents.
The Casino at Ocean Downs will unveil renovation plans to allow for the addition of table games at the Route 589 site.
The Waterkeeper Alliance will not appeal the recent decision in the controversial Clean Water Act lawsuit.
Speed cameras and red-light cameras will be added to Coastal Highway as a way to generate new income in Ocean City.
Cracker Barrel and Chili's will be named as future restaurant tenants near the Wal-Mart and Home Depot on Route 50.
No further dualization work will take place on Route 113 due to funding shortages.
Parking rates at the Inlet parking lot will be increased in Ocean City.
Ocean City will alter its surfing beach policy by expanding the designated areas by a block and eliminating so-called "no surf" beaches from then rotation.
The Wicomico Street Pier will be rebuilt but at a shorter length than it was prior to Hurricane Sandy.
A major merger involving Johns Hopkins Hospital and a hospital on the shore will be announced.
In an effort to offset the expenses associated with hosting them every year, Ocean City will explore selling the naming rights to its leading special events, such as Nestle's Winterfest of Lights or Holt Paper's Sunfest.
Work will finally begin on the new long-awaited James M. Bennett Middle School in Salisbury.
Maryland will pass legislation making recycling of glass, aluminum and paper mandatory for all households.
The Army Corps of Engineers will conduct emergency dredging of the Inlet this winter, depositing the sand it digs out of the channel on the northern tip of Assateague Island.
The Chesapeake Bay Bridge toll will be increased again.
The Broncos will defeat the Packers in the Super Bowl.


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WHEN I met Joe, he told me he was trying to decide where to live. At the time, he lived in — well, that was hard to say.
He was from New Hampshire, but after stints in various United States cities, he had moved to Paris, where he had been based for 10 years.
But "based" was a loose term. There had been six months in South America and a lot of time in Sicily. Once he'd moved to Barcelona on a whim. The last couple of months he had been in Seattle.
And here we were, meeting on a bus in Guadalajara, Mexico. We had come as journalists to write about tequila and were on our way to a distillery. In terms of expertise, I had no business being here, but he wrote often about food and drink. A photographer, too, he flipped open his computer to show me close-ups of Sicilian grapes. Later, as we whiled away the ride, he spoke enthusiastically of a Catalan tradition in which he and teammates built castles by standing on one another's shoulders.
I was immediately attracted to his dark eyes, lean 6-foot-1 frame and sunny demeanor, and to a chivalrous streak that had him helping an older woman off the bus.Continue reading the main story
But his geographic dilemma and its lack of resolution discouraged me from considering romance. I was settled in New York and had just accepted the kind of job where they expect you to show up every day. He was a freelance writer, flitting around the world. I reminded myself that wanderers were bad bets. I had reason to know: I had been one myself.
Traveling was my first love, and plunging into a foreign culture (the more different from my own drab Northwestern existence, the better) had been my greatest thrill.
And so my university years took me to study in Egypt, backpack around the Middle East and work as a State Department intern in Pakistan. After college I settled in Seattle and tried to see my ensuing engagement, mortgage and office job as their own sort of adventure.
But I felt stifled by the weight of expectation I'd brought on myself: by the trips to Home Depot and earnest requests from family and friends to know when the wedding would be. Running from what I had just embraced, I broke off the engagement, with guilt but also with excitement. It was as if my horizon had narrowed to a tunnel and then suddenly expanded, giving me back the whole world. I traveled around the South Pacific for a year. I moved to New York for graduate school.
As Joe and I sat together on the bus that day, I told him a little about my trajectory, and for the first time in years I didn't find it difficult to explain. To him, it all made sense.
During my traveling years I wasn't exactly running from relationships, but the pleasure I took in moving dovetailed neatly with my fear of them. My unhappy years of domesticity in Seattle had left a scar. I was suspicious of myself, never quite sure that I could stay committed.
The years during and after graduate school had taken me to Jerusalem, Peru, London, Mexico, Italy, Croatia, Spain, Scotland, Ireland, Paris, Syria, Poland and New Zealand, a nearly complete list in more or less chronological order. I became a travel writer, which gave all the peregrinations more of the appearance of a purpose. Every romantic entanglement was a long-distance one.
But a few years into my 30s, ambivalence began to creep up every time I bought another plane ticket. Traveling for the fun of it was morphing into traveling out of sheer momentum. I felt the first tickles of envy for friends who were rooted. They had a gravitational pull that I lacked, drawing people to them, to their homes and dining room tables.
I wanted a dining room table, I realized. I wanted a dining room. Living in Paris at 34, I had awakened and realized that I wanted to go home, only to discover that I had no home to go to.
I began to fix that, first with trepidation (was I cut out for a stationary life?) then with zeal. It was a slog, though, because while you can take off in an instant, going back takes a long time. I saw that my faraway friends had made daily lives that didn't include me. And I learned that a rooted life means making the kind of choices that I had avoided for the last decade.
Part of my impulse to travel came from never wanting to commit to just one thing; I had created a life that afforded me the illusion of endless choice. I could work for this freelance employer or that one; choose spontaneously to live in Hong Kong or the Outback. The "or" was what mattered. The "or" is what I was giving up by settling down.
I chose New York City, where I had friends and potential employers, and which contained worlds upon worlds of its own. I got a staff job and tried to become a center of gravity in my own right.
When I signed a lease, I felt a shiver of worry, but it passed. I bought not only a dining room table but also a sofa that visiting friends could sleep on, karmic repayment for all the times I had been the nomadic guest. I confined my traveling to vacations and occasional assignments.
When I met Joe I felt as if I was hearing my own story told back to me. I had to learn, late, to make certain big life decisions, and now he did, too. He had narrowed his options to three cities: Paris (which was familiar), Seattle (where he had family) and Barcelona — there had been a girlfriend there; that was over, but he loved the food and his Catalan friends.
Love can be narcissistic in that we often fall for a person in whom we see ourselves. Still, even though Joe captivated me, I was wary. New York was notably absent from his list. And when I chose to settle down, I resolved to avoid long-distance relationships, with their soaring highs and dismal lows.
In Mexico, we talked about his decision over steak and tequila. We talked about writing, photography and the mysteries of the blue agave plant, of which I was becoming increasingly fond.
Later we mapped out a year-by-year geographical overlay of our lives and learned that we had unknowingly crossed paths in Seattle and Paris, and I enjoyed imagining that I had passed him in the Metro.
We played the name game and came up with an acquaintance in common; again I envisioned the what-if. Might we have passed at the door to the same party? I was knitting a shared past where there wasn't one. Although, in a way, there was.
We kissed goodbye in the airport in Houston, with no promises or plans. A week later I asked him to come see me in New York (I was grounded by my new job, so I couldn't go to him). Extending that invitation gave me a strange new feeling. In relationships of all kinds, the wanderers are always assumed to be the flexible ones, the ones who will go wherever you tell them to for Thanksgiving.
Now I had become the center of gravity, with an irrefutably fixed address and a permanent job. The downside was that my new wandering star could just say no and be pulled in some other direction.
BUT a week later he walked into my apartment with a suitcase and a bouquet. I was heading into long-distance love, I could see. But being rooted firmly in place, I was able to take the leap of faith. At the end of his five-day visit, he invited me to the sofa and said, "We need to have a talk." I knew he meant, "We need to find a way to make this work." We plotted who would visit whom when, and talked about trips we could take together.
"How about driving from Alaska to Baja?" I proposed.
"Sure," he said, just like that, as if I'd said why don't we order sushi? He took these kinds of suggestions not as fantasies but as first steps.
That was 13 months ago. In April he moved in, bringing with him a beloved Peugeot bicycle, a collection of top-notch kitchen knives and not much else.
When I realized he was going to ask me to marry him, I wondered again if some part of me would seize up, if I would fall back into my old patterns. But since my decision to move to New York, through the four years during which I bought an apartment, was promoted at work and settled into routines, I had slowly become ready. And with this man, I saw, I wouldn't be tied down so much as tied together.
When he asked, the choice was easy.
Tequila will be served at the wedding.Continue reading the main story


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I was wondering if anyone's ever made their own natto? How easy is it? I actually haven't tried natto yet, but I do have dried soybeans on hand. I know I'd probably have to scrounge around for the active ingredients, which might be even harder to find than prepared natto... but I'm scared of buying something only to have to throw it away; at least if I made it myself, I could make a very small batch, and disguise it.
Natto is so very cheap that I can't imagine ever attempting to make it for myself.
The soy beans in all the natto I've eaten are much muh smaller than the dried soya beans I can easily buy. I think special ones are used and these are probably harder to get hold of than ready made natto. This means that you may not have any of the basic ingredients needed to begin your natto growing adventure.
Usually natto comes in tiny portions. If you find you don't like it there are a few ways you can cook it where the taste is barely noticeable (I have a couple of recipes I can share if you need any). The portions will keep in the freezer for a few months.
(raises hand) I've tried making natto, since natto used to be, for me, a luxury item.
I asked my mother how my oba-chan (grandma) used to make it. I'd never seen her making it myself, but apparently there were some periods when my mother was growing up when times were tough, and oba-chan grew vegetables and made natto and stuff to get by. My mother told me that oba-chan just cooked some soybeans until soft, added a little pre-existing natto to it, wrapped it up warm and then stuck it in a warm place, such as a switched-off kotatsu (a heated table covered with a warm comforter...a fixture of Japanese homes until recently (well it still is in older homes, but I digress...)). In the morning the natto-kinase (the natto bacteria) would have spread all around the soy beans, making them pleasantly pungent and sticky.
So, with this knowledge I tried cooking beans, adding natto, and incubating it in an oven that had been switched on for about half an hour at minimum temperature (about 50 degrees C) then switched off. Result: the natto developed an odd sour flavor, and didn't get that sticky. The temperature could have been too high.
So, next I tried a yogurt maker. Result: the natto had the right taste, but there was not enough stickiness.
So then, I got some dried nattokinase powder from a mailorder place in Germany. (In the US you can try Gem Cultures; otherwise try googling for nattokinase). That was a bit more potent than using previous natto. The beans got sticky in the yogurt maker. But the flavor was not quite there. I tried the oven again, and got a trayful of natto/beans with *pink* stuff growing on it. Ew. I threw it out.
So that's when I decided that natto making was not working out for me, and abandoned the project. That was about 4 years ago.
I do think that the critical points are the incubation temperature, sterility of your instruments (the tray or container you're using, your utensils, etc) and the quality of nattokinase you're starting out with. I suspect that the natto Iwas using (frozen supermarket quality stuff) was not potent enough, and possibly got a not-that-good strain of nattokinase in that powder.
Not sure I'll try natto making again though, since I've found a local natto maker who makes really delicious natto. ^_^;
The Big Onigiri.
- Wherever you go, there you are. -
Thanks for the responses. I guess I'll just have to pick up some natto the next time I trek out to the local Asian store (which probably won't be for quite a while). If I like it, I probably will try making natto using a little of the purchased natto, just for kicks.
Loretta, thanks for the recipe offers. If I really can't stand it, I'll probably try Maki's natto-fried rice recipe (and then I won't try to make any). The only thing I've ever bought that I couldn't find some way to eat was smoked sardines. Just the smell was overwhelming to me, and not even my cat would go near them. But I like somewhat pungent cheeses, so I'm hoping I'll like natto (in some disguised form or another).
Thanks also,
Although I have no plans to make natto in the forseeable future, I am considering making tempeh at some point and I'm sure Maki's comments will prove useful when I finally get the starter and give it a try.
I seem to be one of those rare people who neither love nor hate natto, I end up eating it because it's a favourite of my husband, a true Tokyoite.
I've flicked through a few blogs in the past of people documenting their first encounter with natto. Most of them just try it neat and unadorned before proclaiming it to be revolting. Maki's rice and natto recipe seems to be an excellent way to start!
It is worth persevering with as an ingredient as it's so good for you.
My favourite way to have it is added to a rich 'bolognese' style sauce with a dollop of mascerpone and some parmesan with spaghetti. My husband got the idea from a pasta restaurant in Komagome
(there's a photo of a similar offering from another Tokyo pasta restaurant here: http://www.blownstack.com/twoate/2006/06/sticky_foods_matsuri_part_2_ha.... in this place they use cream instead of mascarpone, the parmesan will be provided separately at the table)
Haven't made natto, but from the description it sounds a heck of a lot like making your own yogurt or cheese, which I HAVE done! Or making beer or wine, which the husband does. We're a fermentation-friendly household.
For an aged cheese, sterility of everything the milk comes into contact with is paramount. Good milk to start with is important. For each culture/variety of cheese, there is also a path of temperatures for the milk to go through before being separated and pressed. After being molded, a lot of cheeses need other checkups (the cheddar I made last year needed to be washed and dried for a few weeks before I waxed it.. I didn't do this with one of them to see what happened, and it was Not Pretty). I suspect natto might be the same - there might be something important to do with the beans before you process them with the nattokinase? Perhaps they need to be very fresh?
Greetings from the panhandle of Florida!
Sterility is actually vastly overrated when it comes to making cheese, so I wouldn't stress too much about it with natto either. When you think about it, nearly all of the delicious cheeses (and other fermented foods) we have were invented long before the concept of sterility, or for that matter cleanliness, came in to being. I don't take any huge precautions when I make cheese (I just use ordinarily clean utensils), I use unpasteurised milk from a local farmer, and I've never had a bad one. I've had one or two that I was rather nervous about tasting because they looked so bad, but they turned out to be the most delicious ones I've made.
It always makes me giggle to see cheese-making instructions telling you to wash your hands thoroughly so as not to contaminate the cheese, then they want you to buy B. linens to put on your washed rind cheeses. B. linens is the bacterium that makes your feet smelly! The easiest and cheapest way to get it on your cheese is the old-fashioned way; from unwashed skin.
Likewise temperature and timing - these things are only really important if you want your cheese to be completely consistent from batch to batch. Change things around a bit and you still get cheese, just a slightly different cheese. Our problem these days is that we've lost the folk knowledge our ancestors had about these things and most of our actual knowledge has come to us via industry, where consistency is vital, and the financial risks of a not-so-good batch are huge. Even the modern artisan cheese-maker usually has a background in industry somewhere, and aims for more consistency than the home cheese-maker needs to.
I work on the principle that unwashed peasants in extremely unsanitary conditions, with no clocks and no way to influence the temperature around them, have been making great cheese for centuries, so there's no reason I can't do the same. Although I don't do it very often, because if you make it you have to eat it, and it's soooo fattening.
My blog is Food and Shoes
Well of course, you don't need to do much of anything to make something like cheese.. its going to ferment one way or another. If, however, you are trying to make a fermented product come out in a predictable way, its best to control what is happening with it :) For a cheddar to be a cheddar.. you have to cheddar it ;) And that process isn't going to work right if you don't monitor your temperatures. If you want to make mozzarella, you want to make the conditions best for the right sort of milk chewers so they outcompete all the other stuff, and you want to stretch it at the right temperature, etc. Or its not going to come out the way you expect.
On the alcohol side, we've found cider is pretty whatever-proof.. its a good idea to sanitize your container, but that's about it. On the other hand, beer and wine benefit /greatly/ from good technique.
You can test out what your local environment is like, microbe-wise, just by making some sourdough in open air and without a starter. Not everyone inhabits a place with tasty germs, though...
So all these people making icky pink natto are making natto... just not the natto they want to eat :) So my suggestion is that maybe there is a factor in the natto they expect that they are not doing.. perhaps temperature, or fresh beans :)
That might be exactly the problem- if their local microflora are inimical to the proper natto bugs they may never be able to make it well. Kitchens not being generally equipped with laminar flow hoods, there's not a lot they could do about that.
My yoghurt changes over a period of a few weeks after I have had to restart it, it has a predictable series of changes it goes through before it settles down to what is obviously my local variety of bacteria.
I have another reason to try to make natto at home, and I'm sharing it here because perhaps someone else can benefit from it as well. According to TCM - Traditional Chinese Medicine, BLACK soybeans are excellent kidney tonics that will work wonders if consumed daily after being processed as follows:
1. Get a fistful of black soybeans.
2. Rinse under running water
3. Put in a pot together with roughly 1.5 cups of water.
4. Heat the pot, and JUST when the water starts to boil (when you see the first bubbles), turn of the heat. The water should be pretty dark by now. Make sure you don't overheat the beans; the heat must be turned off before the beans' sacs begin breaking or peeling. They say that overcooking the beans will cause undesired properties of the beans to enter the broth and bring some side effects - high uric acid being the most noticeable one.
5. Remove the soybeans and consume the liquid.
A friend of mine swore that he was saved from kidney damage and regular dialysis using this recipe. Of course, medical success rate is yet to be determined through controlled studies, but for those of you open-minded enough, this is a classical TCM regiment that has very good rapport among practitioners. If you're familiar with TCM, kidney health is associated with sexual potency, so even if you don't have any kidney problem, you'll still benefit from the black soybean broth one way or another.
In order for this regiment to deliver the best result, you have to do it EVERY DAY for about a year or two. And that means LOTS of soybeans to consume everyday. My friend who advocated this regiment advised to simply throw away the beans after using them for the broth because consuming so much black soybeans everyday would upset your digestion system and elevate the uric acid blood count. This is where my conscience comes: THROWING AWAY precious beans while some parts of the world starve?? I can do better than that, if only I knew how to turn these beans into tasty and healthy natto!!!
So here I am, embarking in a quest to learn to make natto properly from soybeans. I hope someone can point me to the right direction sometime soon.
Leo @ Bali, Indonesia
I just made a first batch of natto yesterday, using store-bought natto as an infector. Basic steps are: get dry soybeans, soak overnight, boil or pressure/steam cook them until they will squish between your thumb and finger - soft, drain water (if boiled), mix in starter (the store-bought natto), cover but not airtight, and incubate for 24 hours at about 41 degrees Celcius until the strings form, then put them in the refrigerator. Start eating after they have cured in the fridge for a day. There are several videos on You-tube that show you how to do it.
Now, although those are the basic steps, the incubation seems to be a challenge for many of us. Some use stoves, some converted ice chests, some kotatsu, some heating pads with hots of blankets - all these methods are shown on you-tube videos. Mine turned out nice and natto-smelling, but not much string. I am curing it in the fridge tonight. I think I didn't maintain the right temperature, as mine fluctuated from about 37 degrees to 55 degrees. I really like natto and am thinking about buying a reptile egg incubator that I can use rather than trying the home-made things that are on the you-tube. What I am looking at costs about $150, and with buying the soy beans, it would take a year of eating natto every morning until I break even (instead of buying the natto at the Japanese or Korean supermarkets in my area).
I see that natto can be made with black or white soy beans. Some web sites say you can make it out of other beans (azuki, black, pinto). There is little written in English that I have found about making natto. And, I came to this website whilst looking to see if anyone has gotten sick from making their own natto and having it ferment wrong. After all, who wants to get bad bacteria in their system? Who knows what else will grow if you incubate the wrong stuff? But all I see on the Internet is cautions about making sure all your equipment is sterile so you don't introduce any other bacteria in your beans.
I'd love to see some decent discussion on how to make natto, including precautions and what substitutes you can use for soy beans - the natto bacteria, after all, is naturally found on rice straw, not soy beans.
My natto turned out all right, even though I fermented it for 48 hours at fluctuating temperatures above and below the best temperature. I put it in the fridge last night, and pulled some out to eat with my brown rice this morning. It was nice and stringy. Last night I ordered a Yolife yogurt maker for about $45. The Yolife website has a natto recipe and shows natto being made in the yogurt maker. I can't wait to try it.
Thanks for posting your natto making experiences John! Sounds very good!
Started with one pound of dry soy beans soaked overnight and cooked till soft. I incubated my soy beans in a camping cooler with a pyrex bread tray filled with boiling water. I used a commercially bought package of natto as a starter and added to the beans while they were still warm. The soy beans were placed in 9x12 pyrex tray 3 to 4 beans high and covered with tin foil that I poked holes in to allow circulation. Every six to eight hours I dumped the old tray of water out and replaced with new boiling water, closed the lid and repeated this about 4 times. Every time I replaced the boiling water I took the opportunity to stir the beans with a spoon sterilized in the boiling water. Each time I stirred I noticed that the beans became stringier and in the end they came out perfect. Cured them in the fridge for 24 hours and then I placed in small portion sized containers and froze them. It was super easy and I had success on my first attempt! I am assuming that the hot and damp environment created by the tray of boiling water made the fermentation a success.
BTW... I heard you can use any kind of bean or peas ... you are not just limited to soy beans. On my next attempt I will try making some with chick peas. I love chick peas. : )
I'm not a huge fan of the beans but I consume them because I want to clean out my arteries. To disguise the flavour I use my hand blender in a vessel containing vegetable juice, cayenne, ginger and garlic.
I have also made an oriental soup with them using miso, cayenne pepper, a dash of tumeric, chopped red bell peppers, shitake mushrooms and fresh chopped cilantro and green onions added just before serving. It was delicious.
Has anyone tried using a new box of Natto to culture other types of soaked beans other than soy?
I note that in Africa Bacillus subtilis is used in primitive villages to ferment other things too and make them more healthy and nourishing.
Interesting information on Natto here
I am embarking on my second attempt at making natto, primarily for my wife, but also because we are country people that like to grow and make much of our own stuff. The mistake I made (and this was actually in the instructions I had) was that I sealed the lids of the containers. I never understood why they said to put cheescloth over the container, then the lid, but this thread explained it is to keep the beans from getting wet from condensation. I have also purchased a youlife yogurt maker to maintain the correct temperature. As an American, the smell of natto is similar to my recollection of leaving my lunch box at school for 3 days then opening it up! :) I know it is a food held dear by Japanese folks (like my wife!) and I got brave enough to try it. The good taste is there if you can get past the sight, and smell. Of course, many foods benefit from fermentation, so I think enjoying natto is an issue of mind of matter until I gain an appreciation for the taste. Thank you for all this good information. i think you helped me so I can make good natto!
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Late summer and fall are the time to find ripe red tomatoes in the farmers market. It's a bit harder to find green tomatoes (unless you have them growing in your own garden!). We ordered a bag from our favorite farm stand and decided to try a popular southern dish, fried green tomatoes, as an unusual addition to a breakfast menu. The results were so popular we're adding them to our regular breakfast repertoire. We served them with herbed scrambled eggs, cheddar-chive scones, and Niman Ranch sausage links. Delicious!
Making fried green tomatoes couldn't be easier. Core and slice firm green tomatoes into 1/4-inch slices and place them on a baking sheet. The secret is then to sprinkle both sides generously with salt and sugar (like you were seasoning a steak) and let them sit 30 minutes or so to draw out the water and insure a crispy coating. Heat a non-stick frying pan over medium high heat and add two tablespoons olive oil and two tablespoons unsalted butter. Gently press each slice between layers of paper towels to dry and then dip each first into lightly beaten egg, and then press into a mixture of half panko bread crumbs and half grated Parmesan cheese, until both sides are thoroughly covered and the crumb-cheese mixture adheres well. Make sure the oil is hot but not smoking. Fry until bottoms are golden brown; turn and fry other sides till golden, adding more butter and oil if necessary. Top with eggs — scrambled, poached, or fried. Or try a fried green tomato benedict, using the tomato instead of an English muffin, topped with ham or bacon, a poached egg, and hollandaise sauce. We found the basic recipe for the tomatoes on one of our favorite food blogs, Amanda Hesser's Food 52. The recipe for the delicious cheddar-chive scones is in the new cookbook from Portland's Standard Baking Company.


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CELINE RING BAG VS ZARA GRADUATED BOWLING BAGCategories:Other Brands
It's showtime for two of our bags today, ladies – the Celine Ring Bag and Zara Graduated Bowling Bag. Just a disclaimer though, we're not exactly battling-out pieces today for bag supremacy…instead, we just want to set out similarities and differences, and maybe (just maybe) be able to give you some clarity about possible alternatives. Well then, let's start!
First of all, the Celine Ring Bag needs no introduction – it's a classy piece made with only the finest skins available (goatskin, calfskin, crocodile, take your pick). Also, it comes in an array of colors to choose from – for the past seasons, this piece has been undergoing some welcome twists. It has a fine structure, pockets and side folds which expand to accommodate all of your stuff…for the price of around €1,800 EUR. Hmmm…we'll see about that.
Next, the Zara Graduated Bowling Bag offers the same kind of functionality, but let's just say that it falls short on the luxury appeal (like comparing a stone to a boulder) when it comes to the main materials used which is polyester and polyurethane. Depending on use and care, this bag may last you some time though. Also, it has that same outside pocket with the Ring Bag, which gives you more space for organization…for the price of around $70 USD. A far cry from the Celine Ring Bag, but well, it's really up to you to decide.
So, what is it going to be? Are you in it for the long run, or are you after a great bargain? Tell us your thoughts and comment now!
Tags: bag Celine Bowling ZARA VS RING GRADUATED