NOT Your Mom’s Lasagna

For the third meal on my Global Table Adventure, I decided to make Hot Algerian Lasagna. I love anything that involves pasta, so this recipe really got me excited. If you aren’t familiar with Algeria, it is the largest country in Africa, located in the Maghreb region to the Northwest. Approximately  90 percent of Algerians live in the northern, coastal area and more than 25 percent are under the age of 15.

Check out this video for images from Algeria:

There are quite a few ingredients that go into this meal, and let me tell you, my spice collection is growing! Before I started Global Table Adventure, I had never before cooked with ground caraway, coriander seed, cumin, thyme or turmeric.

For this meal, you will need:

Part 1 (In the Skillet) 
1 lb. ground lamb or chicken
1 medium onion, diced
1/2 cup olive oil
1 Tbsp. harissa
1 clove garlic, crushed
2 tsp. cayenne pepper (or 1 tsp to make it mild)
1/2 tsp. ground cumin
1/4 tsp. ground caraway
1 Tbsp. tomato paste

Part 2 (Add to Skillet)
2 cups tomato puree, plus a half cup
1 can drained, rinsed chickpeas
1 cup water
3 medium potatoes, peeled and diced (about 1 lb)

Part 3 (Before you bake) 
1 lb. no-boil lasagna sheets
15 oz ricotta
2 eggs
2 cups shredded mozzarella
2 cups shredded Gruyère
salt and pepper

I wanted to make this with ground lamb, but I searched multiple grocery stores and could not find it. If anyone has any tips on where I can get it, let me know! I also had trouble finding Harissa at the grocery store, but I ended up googling and finding it at Crate & Barrel, which just so happens to be up the street from my house. Note: This meal takes about two hours to make, so make sure to have plenty of wine and cheese around for snacking! Just don’t get too full! Visit this page for preparation instructions and be sure to check out the other Algerian recipes available at GlobalTableAdventure.com.

During preparation, my boyfriend Adam was in charge of dicing the onions and potatoes, and accidentally mixed the two, so instead of adding the potatoes in step 2, we added them during step 1. I don’t think it made too much of a difference, they just had a little longer to simmer. Our casserole dish ended up stacked with three layers of lasagna sheets but it was boiling over, so I suggest using the biggest dish you have or cutting down the serving size.

All in all, the meal turned out lovely. The flavor was unlike anything I’d tasted before and far from Mom’s lasagna that I’m used to. The only criticisms I have are that 1) I could have gone without the chickpeas. I don’t think they added much flavor and the texture was a bit strange while eating the lasagna; 2) I’m not used to eating chicken with my lasagna so that was a bit weird as well. I’d probably try it with ground lamb the second time around, or go without meat altogether; and 3) Ours turned out a bit spicy so be cautious with amount of cayenne and Harissa you include. And serve with a tall glass of iced cold milk!

✔ Algeria

Capital: Algiers
Boundaries: Morocco, Tunisia, Libya, Niger, Mali and Mauritania

Book Review: It’s Not How Good You Are, It’s How Good You Want to Be (Paul Arden)

This book has been sitting on my shelf for quite a while now, but I recently re-discovered it and decided to give it another read. If you’re not familiar with it, order yourself a copy on Amazon. It’s a quick read at 127 pages, the font size is huge and there are lots of pictures.

Before I get into the messages that resonated with me, I want to introduce you to the author, Paul Arden. Arden (1940 – 2008) was an influential author and a former creative director for Saatchi and Saatchi at the height of their advertising might. He spent 15 years with the agency and handled accounts including British Airways and Toyota. In 1992, he left Saatchi and began directing commercials. He also had a passion for photography and set up a gallery called Arden & Anstruther with his wife Toni in Petworth, West Sussex.

What Wikipedia doesn’t know about Paul Arden is that his management style was legendary. When something wasn’t up to his standards, he often expressed his displeasure by jumping up and down on it. Yet the majority of those who worked with him cite his great passion and unyielding perfectionism as inspirational. Basically he was the man, like Steve Jobs.

“It’s Not How Good You Are, It’s How Good You Want to Be” (going forward I will abbreviate to INHGYA) was Arden’s first book, a quirky combination of wit and wisdom that sold more than half a million copies. There are many reasons I love this book. It is simple and straightforward, almost every sentence is quote-worthy and it applies today just as much as it did in 2003. No matter what stage you are at in your life (student, intern, graduate, professional or unemployed) you should read it. Think of it as common sense that, well, isn’t so common.

“Without having a goal it’s difficult to score.”

This seems so obvious, but for many people (myself included) there are times when it is not. When I moved from Phoenix to Austin, I didn’t know what to do with myself. I had been in editorial for years and enjoyed my work, but I didn’t know a single soul in Austin and I wasn’t sure whether to continue on my path or jump ship and explore other territories. For a while, I did freelance projects and applied like crazy to every job in the Writing/Editing section of Craigslist. It took six months, countless days of resume polishing and a short-lived admin job for me to finally realize that I was bored and unhappy because I wasn’t setting my sights on specific goals, and I wasn’t going after my ideal career. At the time, I was too concerned about finding something quickly and paying the bills. Since then, I have shifted my focus to the big picture and I currently make lists to organize my personal and professional goals, for example, starting a blog. And it works! This post is proof.

“Do not seek praise. Seek criticism.”

As a writer and editor, I  have really gotten to know criticism over the years. Some people give it to you straight. Some beat around the bush. Some present a positive and a negative together to lighten the sting. I’ve seen it all, and I’ve doled it out, too. But no matter how long you’ve been repeating the process, it’s always kind of awkward. Arden writes, “…If you have produced a pleasantly acceptable piece of work, you will have proved to yourself that it’s good simply because others have said so. It is probably ok. But then it’s probably not great either.” He goes on to suggest that instead of seeking approval for things, we ask, “What’s wrong with it?” By asking people this question instead of just saying, “Tell me what you think,” and pausing for their nod of approval, you will almost always come away with constructive criticism. In my own career, I have found criticism to be extremely beneficial, often yielding a better idea than the one I originally started with. You just have to get past the natural reflex to take it personally.

“Do not covet your ideas. Give away everything you know, and more will come back to you.”

Like many others, I have fallen victim to the belief that by keeping my ideas to myself, I can prevent others from stealing them and taking the credit from me. Arden’s wisdom on this subject is right on. In INHGYA, he writes, “The problem with hoarding is you end up living off your reserves. Eventually you’ll become stale. If you give away everything you have, you are left with nothing. This forces you to look, to be aware, to replenish.” This is probably one of the most genius statements I have heard in my life. I hate to burst your idea bubble, but chances are someone out there has already had your idea and they are either 1) Hoarding it until the “perfect opportunity” just like you are, or 2) They are actually doing something about it. Be the person doing something about it. Get a patent, start sketching it out, buy the Web domain, etc. And if you don’t have time to execute your great idea, share it with someone who will. Ideas come and go, and chances are you’ll have an even better one down the road.

“The person who doesn’t make mistakes is unlikely to make anything.”

Getting ahead usually involves taking risks and putting your ideas out on the table for criticism, and most of us are afraid of those things. So, we stay in our comfort zones for fear of making a big mistake and … what? Being wrong? Getting fired? Having to start over? It probably wouldn’t even come to that, but if it did, would starting over really be SO bad? Reflecting on your life and the major decisions you’ve made, I guarantee most of the forward movement has been a direct result of mistakes you made along the way and detours you took to get back on track. In INHGYA, Arden quotes theatre director Joan Littlewood: “If we don’t get lost, we’ll never find a new route.” I couldn’t agree more. I know it’s cliché, but mistakes only make you stronger in the end. If I wouldn’t have accidentally sent an inappropriate e-mail to my boss years ago in college, I would never be such a detail-freak like I am today. (Yes, that really happened.) And if I wouldn’t have struggled and withdrew from an English Lit course Sophomore year, I may have never entered the field of journalism and mass communication.

To close, here is one last nugget of awesomeness from Paul Arden:

“Aim beyond what you are capable of. You must develop a complete disregard for where your abilities end. Nothing is impossible.”

Top 10 Funny Websites

Some days it’s hard to smile. That’s what these websites are for: 

1) Animals Being Dicks – Silly gifs of animals being jerks. Like this one.

2) Awkward Family Photos – The name says it all.

3) College Humor – Funny vids and pics targeted at audiences 18-49.

4) Cracked.com – “America’s Only Humor Site Since 1958″

5) eBaum’s World – One of the classics. Pics, vids and near-porn, oh my!

6) Fail Blog – All of your favorite FAILS in one place.

7) Funny or Die – User-generated + exclusive comedy. Click below to sample.

8) The Oatmeal – Comics, quizzes and stories you’ll LOL at. Promise.

9) The Onion – “America’s Finest News Source”

10) Someecards – Free, funny e-cards. You can even create your own!

And if that’s not enough to turn your frown upside-down, visit Nyan.Cat.

You’re welcome.

Did Somebody Say CORNBREAD?

I’m all about cornbread, especially the kind from Z’Tejas that I can’t get anymore because they don’t have a restaurant in Dallas (boo!). Cornbread is also a combination of two of my favorite things: corn and bread. So, when I was looking at recipes for Albania, this Cornbread one immediately piqued my interest.

Albanian Cornbread 

1-1/2 cups cornmeal
12 oz. cottage cheese
4 eggs, lightly beaten
1 cup chopped scallions, plus 1 tbsp. for garnish
1/2 stick unsalted butter, melted
1/4 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. thyme
4 oz. feta cheese

Instructions: Preheat oven to 400 degrees and grease an 8″ square casserole dish. In a large bowl, combine cornmeal, cottage cheese, eggs, scallions, melted butter, thyme and salt. Spread evenly in dish and sprinkle feta over top. Bake until slightly browned, approx. 45 minutes. Garnish with remaining scallions.

My cornbread turned out good, but not great. It was a little green onion overload in my opinion, and more salt would have been nice. If I made it again, I’d use salted butter instead of unsalted butter, a 1/2 cup of green onions instead of a full cup, and be more generous with the red pepper to give it more zing.

PROS: The recipe is very simple and preparation takes about ten minutes.
CONS: It dries out very quickly, so get it while it’s hot!

✔ Albania

Capital: Tirana
Boundaries: Montenegro and Serbia, Macedonia, Greece

Recipe from GlobalTableAdventure.com

How to Not Suck at Sending Emails

Let’s face it, email sucks. Sending it, receiving it, forwarding it, filing it, printing it, deleting it and especially reading it from someone who sucks at writing it.

Email etiquette should take on a Twitter-like format where everyone is only allowed 140 characters to compose their thoughts. Wouldn’t that be nice?

Until then, here are some tips to avoid sucking at email:

1) Make the subject line count.

The subject line is there for a reason and sometimes it requires a little thought. Choose your subject wisely to reflect the email content and make it easy for the recipient to recall your message. Refrain from writing “Hi, Lauren” unless you really are just writing to say hi. Try not to get too carried away in the email body and forget to fill out the subject line altogether because that is the worst (Been there, done that!) And please please please do not reply to discuss a completely different subject. Simply compose a new email. Switching back and forth between topics under the same subject line is how important details get lost.

2) Don’t include everyone and their mom in your response.

The CC (Carbon Copy) feature is probably one of the most annoying things on the planet and you should only use it for one of these reasons: The person being CC’d specifically told you to copy them; The person being CC’d actually needs to know every detail about the subject being discussed; or the person you have been trying to get a response/action from will not get motivated to complete a task unless you CC their immediate supervisor. That last one is a bit shady, but it works and sometimes you just have to go there. Unless you are the type of person who likes to make things complicated, keep your copying at a minimum.

3) Never, ever, use BCC. 

BCC (Blind Carbon Copy) is bad, m’kay? If you are thinking about BCC’ing someone, CC them instead or don’t include them at all. It’s rude to assume someone is comfortable with their email being read by other parties behind their back. The only, I repeat, ONLY circumstance where using BCC is somewhat acceptable is when you are sending a marketing/promo, thank you or other mass email communication to a giant list of contacts. In this case, you would need to put your own email address in the “To” line and BCC all of the emails you are sending to in order to keep their addresses private from one another.

4) Murder your CAPS LOCK.

You’ve heard it before and I’m here to remind you: SHOUTING IS NOT COOL. USING ALL CAPS IS LIKE SHOUTING, AND SHOUTING IS FOR FOUR-YEAR-OLDS. WHEN YOU SEND AN EMAIL LIKE THIS, IT SENDS THE MESSAGE THAT YOU ARE BASICALLY COMPUTER ILLITERATE. IT’S 2012. GET WITH THE PROGRAM, FORGET YOUR CAPS LOCK KEY EXISTS AND LEARN HOW TO SEND AN EMAIL. IF YOU ARE USING ALL CAPS BECAUSE YOU ARE MAD AT SOMEONE AND ACTUALLY MEAN TO SHOUT, YOU ARE BEING A SISSY. PICK UP THE PHONE OR YELL AT THEM IN PERSON.

5) Open and close it.

How you open and close an email is just as important as what’s in the body. There are a million acceptable ways to open, but my favorite is just the person’s name followed by a comma. If you have met in person and are friendly with the recipient, feel free to insert “Hi” before their name. In my opinion, “Dear” is outdated and “To Whom This May Concern” is impersonal. “Sir or Madam” is necessary if you are not sure whether the recipient is male or female. “Mr.” or “Ms.” works if you are sending a formal communication like a marketing email, or responding to a job post. As for salutations, I usually use “Kind regards,” or just a simple “-Lauren” when emailing close friends and colleagues. Only use “Thank You” if you are actually thanking the person for something. I can’t tell you how many times I have seen it used for no reason. Other options include “Regards,” “Best Regards,” “Cheers,” and “Best” — which I’m not a fan of.

6) Check your spelling!

Spelling is HUGE (I’m allowed to say that in CAPS because it is super-duper important). When you misspell a word, it makes you look like an idiot and the recipient will most likely judge you and/or label you a careless or unintelligent person. Every day thousands of people apply for jobs and don’t receive responses because they didn’t take the time to check their spelling and re-read their draft. How hard is it to click the button at the top of your email? Make it a habit!

7) Break the chain.

The only thing worse than receiving junk email is receiving non-junk email strewn with junk. Yes, I’m talking to you – the one who lazily hits the forward button and adds a quick sentence of explanation at the top. Unless you are paying me, there is no reason for me to have to stare at your email for longer than five minutes to figure out what the H-E-double hockey sticks is going on. Please, do the world a favor and delete any previous garbage in the email chain that is no longer relevant. Delete all fifty  of your signature lines that have been piling on after each response. Delete all of the extra breaks. Delete button = your friend.

8) Use a signature.

Everyone, employed or unemployed, should have an email signature. You may even want to just go ahead and secure your son or daughter’s GMAIL account while they are still in the womb and write up their signature line. It’s that important. A signature adds instant credibility (most spammers don’t have them), it tells the recipient who you are and how to reach you, it promotes your website and social network profiles, and it makes you look 10x more important than you really are. I would say it is especially important for those who are unemployed and actively searching for a job because no one wants to hire someone who doesn’t have anything going on. If you don’t have a job title, punch up your signature line by adding a short descriptive phrase about yourself, direct links to help people connect with you on LinkedIn and Twitter, and a link to your portfolio and/or blog. Don’t forget to check that the links are working!

9) Don’t use crazy fonts, colors and logos.

If you’re into fonts, colors and logos, become a graphic designer or play around on Illustrator during your free time. Email is not the place to be colorful. When there are too many things going on in your email, the message gets lost and the recipient gets distracted and annoyed. Black is the easiest color to read against the white background, blue is ONLY for links, and swirly fonts are better saved for baby shower or wedding announcements. Stick with a widely used font like Times New Roman or Arial, and make sure you’re using 10-12 pt. font (12 is best). Don’t even think about inserting a photo of yourself unless you’re a realtor.

10) Be kind!

Perhaps the most important guideline of all – be kind! You never know what mood your recipient will be in when they open your email. Maybe they just bought a new puppy, or maybe their puppy died (hey, it could happen!) Maybe they have been thinking about you and waiting for your email, or maybe they have been thinking about how much they dislike you and can’t wait to delete you as a friend on Facebook. Humor aside, email communication is not something to be taken lightly. Research shows that people typically rate the tone of average emails as negative, and they rate kind emails as neutral. When composing, keep in mind the Plato quote, “Be kind, for everyone you meet is fighting a harder battle,” and go ahead and throw in a few emoticons every once in a while

Eggplant and Spice, and Naan Oh-So-Nice!

Last night was meal #1 on our Global Table Adventure and the country was Afghanistan! (If you just started reading my blog, I’m attempting to cook through all of the countries in the world (A-Z) using recipes from www.GlobalTableAdventure.com. Check it out or read my post on it!) For my Afghan meal, I decided to make Burani Bonjon (spicy braised eggplant) with Seer Moss (lemon garlic yogurt sauce) and Kofta (meatballs), served with a side of warm Naan bread.

A few things you should know: 1) I have never cooked eggplant or meatballs before; 2) I am highly skeptical of any recipe with the word “moss” in it; and 3) Cutting, mincing and slicing are all the same in my book.

Apparently there is more than one way to slice an eggplant. During preparation, I had a brief “eggplant emergency” because the recipe I was using said to cut it lengthwise into 1/4 inch pieces, but every other video or list of instructions I found using Google said to cut it into rounds (like you do for Eggplant Parmesan). After staring at it for an embarrassing amount of time and contemplating calling my mother, I decided it was time to chop chop! (in lengthwise strips) Then, to draw out the bitterness, I placed the slices on a cookie sheet, covered them in salt (both sides) and let them sit and do their thing for about 45 minutes.

Since I misread the meatball recipe (which came from this site, not Global Table Adventure), I had to cook them in the oven rather than as kabobs, because I do not own any skewers and even if I did, it was a bit chilly outside last night to be standing by the grill. I have to say, the meatballs turned out to be my least favorite part of the meal because they were very onion-y and perhaps a bit overcooked (my bad for giving so much attention to the eggplant!). They also lacked flavor, even though I generously sprinkled them with salt, pepper and ground coriander seed.

The main dish, Burani Bonjon, (spicy braised eggplant) was absolutely delicious! The eggplant was tender and flavorful and there was just the perfect amount of spiciness, and it went wonderfully with the tangy and refreshing Seer Moss (lemon garlic yogurt sauce). We enjoyed the eggplant with yogurt sauce poured on top, and used the Naan bread to sop up all of the extra sauces left on our plates. Do yourself a favor and put this recipe in your queue. My only regret is that I did not buy two eggplants and make extra for leftovers! Thank you Global Table Adventure for delighting my taste buds and introducing me to eggplant. It will definitely be making an appearance on our plates again soon.

✔ Afghanistan

Capital: Kabul

Boundaries: China, Iran, Pakistan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan

Get these recipes at GlobalTableAdventure.com

Sangria Made Simple

When I browsed the Web for a sangria recipe this Sunday, I was bombarded with variations. Red sangria, white sangria, orange sangria, sparkling sangria, peach sangria, summer sangria, winter sangria — you name it, someone has whipped it together and labeled it a sangria. Rather than comparing apples to peaches and brandy to triple sec, I decided to throw caution to the wind and a bunch of random fruit in a pitcher. Hence, Sangria Made Simple (and super cheap!) compliments of yours truly. 

You’ll need: 

-1 bottle of red wine (I like Cabernet Sauvignon)
-1 2-liter bottle of Sprite (or other lemon-lime soda)
-2 Lemons
-2 Oranges
-1 Granny Smith Apple
-1 package of strawberries

Directions:

-Dump entire bottle of red wine into pitcher
-Rinse fruit and cut into 1/4 inch slices
-Remove stems and cut strawberries into halves
-Place fruit into pitcher and stir (set a few strawberries aside for glass bottoms)
-Top with Sprite and ice cubes (whatever will fit without overflowing!)
-Serve immediately or steep for 2 hours to yield more flavor

Enjoy! 

Where I’ve Been

“Though we travel the world over to find the beautiful, we must carry it with us or we find it not.”  -Ralph Waldo Emerson

Ah travel, one of life’s great luxuries. But where to go? What to do? Where to stay? What to eat? How much to pay? How many nights? Which airline? Snorkeling or scuba diving? Powerful questions that can surely take the fun out of traveling. I’m a planner at heart, but lately I’ve been trying to resist the urge to develop strict itineraries. (Even as I type this I have seven search windows open for things to do / places to stay in Puerto Rico – my latest obsession).

People travel for many different reasons: Recreation, tourism, research, holidays, business, volunteer work and even religion. Some go to new places to see the sights and experience the cultures, some go to taste new foods and drink rare wines, some like to accumulate a memory card of moments frozen in time (me!), and some just want to sunbathe and drink out of a coconut. Oh, and there’s that other group of people who go to shop, gamble, play golf and follow the crowds from museum to museum. To each his own, I guess.

As I get closer to turning 30 (don’t judge, I still have two years left in my 20s!) I start thinking about all of the things I haven’t done in my life and I start to realize that Dad was right: Time goes SO fast, so ENJOY every second of it. I have already had tons of amazing experiences that I am thankful for, but I’m greedy and I want more. To help me organize where I’ve been and where I want to go, I created a map using WhereI’veBeen.com (which is also a Facebook app). Where I’ve Been allows you to fill out a “passport” with things like current location, closest airport and travel interests. The map feature lets you color code states and countries based on where you have lived, where you have been and where you want to go. You can also share with friends, create scrapbooks and more.

Above is a screenshot of my map. You’ll notice places I have lived are shown in red (yup, just AZ and TX), places I have been are in blue, and places I want to go are shown in green. Believe me, it was hard not to color the whole map green As for travel guides, my favorites right now are Lonely Planet, Frommer’s and TripAdvisor (basically the ones that come up first in Google). For tickets and vacation packages, I typically check KAYAK first, and also Orbitz and Travelocity.

I know that I’ve kind of rambled on, but as a closer, I just want to say that the most important thing is to slow down and enjoy yourself for the duration of your trip. You will arrive, you will depart, and eventually the details of your trip will start to fade from memory. But, if you spend the entire time worrying about itineraries, seeing every attraction and visiting each and every museum TripAdvisor users advised, you won’t have fun. And you’ll remember that. Instead, take in the land, the people, the culture, the food, jump around to places that strike your interest, talk with the locals, buy a cheesy souvenir if you must, and above all… wear sunscreen, because when you get burnt, the party’s over.

Top 10 Free iPhone Apps

There are over 500,000 applications in Apple’s App Store. I have 50 on my device. I’m not sure if that makes me a loser or a seasoned user. Nevertheless, here are 10 of my favorites (in alpha order) and a short description of each. Happy downloading!

Adobe Photoshop Express - We could all use some “photoshopping” every now and then. Photoshop Express makes it easy on-the-go! Use the app to take a picture or select from one of the albums onyour device. Choose from a variety of one-touch effects or drag your finger across the screen to crop, rotate or adjust color. I use mine to make photos vibrant and to adjust exposure.

Dropbox - When you need to share a file, drop it in Dropbox, drop it in Dropbox, drop it in Dropbox. When you want to access it from anywhere, drop it in Dropbox, drop it in Dropbox, drop it in Dropbox. (Snoop Dogg reference, if you didn’t catch that). After you install Dropbox on your computer, any file you save to your mobile app will automatically save to all of your devices! Sweet!!

Epicurious - I’m on a cooking kick lately, so this app is my new best friend. One of Time‘s 2011 “50 Best iPhone Apps” with over 5 million downloads, Epicurious provides recipes from the award-winning website, Epicurious.com, straight to your iPhone. Browse more than 30,000 delicious, professionally created recipes from Bon Appetit, Gourmet, Self and renowned chefs.

Facebook - If I have to explain this one to you, we’ve got problems.

Find My Friends - Funny story about this one. My boyfriend Adam and I downloaded it and added each other so we could view our locations. Later down the road, Lauren remembered she had the app and poor wittle Adam forgot. I swear I’m not a psycho girlfriend, but I may or may not have asked Adam where he was at a given time and checked to see if he was telling the truth

Flipboard - Besides the fact that Ashton Kutcher had a hand in creating Flipboard, the app also rocks because it was named Apple’s iPad App of the year” and one of TIME‘s Top 50 Innovations. A digital magazine created from articles that are shared with you from channels like Facebook and Twitter, Flipboard can also be customized to include snippets from niche blogs and publications.

Foursquare - Do you check in? Come on, all the cool kids are doing it. Foursquare helps you keep up with friends, get insider tips and unlock discounts and rewards everywhere you go. You can easily tell friends where you are, share pictures, get their comments and see reviews for the places you go (“order the Lobster Ravioli, it’s the best!”). Warning: This app is extremely addicting.

Instagram - Instagram makes sharing photos oh-so-hipster. Pick from one of several filtered effects or tilt-shift blur to breathe a new life into your mobile photos. Transform everyday moments into works of art and share them in a stream so your friends can like and comment on them. View new photos every day from your closest friends and creative people from around the world.

SoundHound - Next time you or your friends are wondering what song is playing, you can whip out your handy dandy device and hold it up in the air proudly. SoundHound is the world’s fastest music recognition app that names tunes in as little as four seconds. You can also use LiveLyrics (U.S. and Canada) to see lyrics in time with the music so you can sing along!

Zillow -  Whether you’re looking to rent or buy a new home, Zillow should be your go-to. View photo galleries, see home values and more. The #1 Real Estate App on iTunes and “Best Real Estate App” by O’Reilly Media, Zillow proves especially useful when you are researching areas to live in an unfamiliar city, or driving around the neighborhood trying to narrow your options.

Some of my other favorites:
Twitter, Google+, Pandora, ooVoo, ScanPages, Find My iPhone, iTip, TaxiMagic, Google Earth, Starbucks, Amazon, Frametastic, Flixter, Debt Free, Wunderlist, Open Table, Words with Friends, Color Splash, Craigslist, Kayak, Camera+

What are some of your favorites?

Around the World in 195 Meals

This weekend I was listening to NPR and heard an interview on “stovetop travel” which led me to discover an awesome website: www.GlobalTableAdventure.com. The idea is to cook one new meal each week so that by the end of your journey, you have cooked a meal from every country in the world starting from A (Afghanistan, Albania, Algeria) to Z (Zambia, Zimbabwe). The concept was started by Sasha Martin, a stay-at-home mom and blogger in Tulsa, Oklahoma, for a number of reasons, one being to help her get out of her cooking rut.

Global Table Adventure is awesome because it opens your mind (and taste buds) to the traditions and cultures of countries throughout the world; it helps you improve your skills in the kitchen; it introduces a plethora of new dishes to your cookbook; and of course, it is much cheaper than traveling to every country in the world. On the website, you can find recipes alphabetically by country, by main dish (poultry, seafood, veggie), or you can use the interactive map to jump around. Each recipe includes step-by-step photo instructions (score!)

Since one of my goals for 2012 is to learn to cook (spaghetti every night just isn’t cutting it), I have decided to begin the Global Table Adventure starting next week. Guess I better read up on Afghan cuisine! Who wants to join me?