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Petrol bomb house attack: Attempted murder suspect bailed as probe continues
The scene of the attack in Montreal Street
Liam Soutar
A man arrested on suspicion of attempted murder after a firebomb attack has been released under investigation.
The 34-year-old had been detained by Greater Manchester Police (GMP) officers on Saturday morning at an address in Leigh. He has been bailed pending further inquiries until November 17.
Related: Attempted murder suspect arrested after petrol bomb attack on house
Related: Video: Wigan police believe firebomb was targeted attack
His arrest came after a house on Montreal Street in the town was attacked in the early hours of last Tuesday morning.
The front windows of the house were smashed before a flammable liquid was thrown into the property and set alight.
The couple who were in the house managed to escape the flames but the woman, who is in her 60s, was taken to hospital where she remains in a critical condition.
It is believed she has suffered life-changing injuries as a result of the horrific attack.
Detectives are still urging people to come forward with information, no matter how small.
Det Chief Insp Stuart Wilkinson from GMP's major investigations team said: "We are doing lots of work behind the scenes to find those responsible for this horrendous attack which has left a woman with life-changing injuries."
He added: "We are still eager to speak to anyone who might know something about this incident and I'd appeal to you to get in touch."
Anyone with information is asked to call police on 0161 856 9908 or Crimestoppers, anonymously, on 0800 555 111.
Billy Livesley: Timeline of a murder


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Michael Blum - Successful Businessmen, or Fraudster?
Learn about the rise and fall of Xcor CEO Michael Blum
As a boy, Michael Blum dreamed of becoming an astronaut and traveling to space! As a young man, he left his Hong Kong home and went to study Economics and International politics at one of the most prestigious universities in the USA and worldwide – Yale. Even if his studies had nothing to do with it, he never forsakes his boyhood dream and became determined to travel to space one day.
Space Friendships
After graduation, he quickly managed to find the first employment and from that moment his business career was only ascending. Working for various business giants, such as PayPal, Ernst & Young, etc Blum managed to create a little fortune and make important friendships. Among others, he met Sir Richard Branson, an eccentric entrepreneur who started Virgin Galactic with the idea to create spacecraft that will enable people who are not astronauts to travel to space. The two become close friends and Blum thrilled by the project invested around $200.000 by purchasing a ticket. In this period he also befriended an Irish businessman who was also involved in the project, P.J King.
XCor
All of Branson's attempts to go out of Earth's orbit failed as we know, but this didn't discourage young Mr. Blum. He got himself a position in the managerial team of spaceflight and rocket engine company Xcor and after some time climbed to the position of CEO. Blum planned to send different spacecraft on the mission as he was convinced in the success he started selling tickets even before the first trials were made. He was managing for several years to delay the inevitable but years ago many of the people who paid for the tickets started asking for reimbursement as it is clear that this project won't work either.
The money was however spent on other things, and this is when Xcor's financial troubles began. Blum, who up until that point was seen as a respectable businessman, asked money from different investors. Nonetheless, the much-needed support never came and the company had to declare bankruptcy.
It is believed that investors refused to give their money because Blum on one had lost credibility by making several wrong financial decisions. Another reason, as some say, lies in the fact that his connection and partnership with P.J King raised suspicion about his involvement in various illegal activities. Other businessmen didn't want their money to be connected with illegal things so they never gave money and withdrew previously made investments.
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Michael Blum to Face the Law After His Apartment Collapses For an investor, it's essential to keep up with the new trends in business. And one of the ventures that have been doing so great is the real estate business. Like other entrepreneurs, Blum has invested in building several homes, rental houses, and hotels from the proceeds he gets from Hedgeye. This…
Is Michael Blum the Right President for Hedgeye? Being a leader requires certain traits, such as social skills, honesty, and integrity, just to mention a few. The moment a leader becomes self-centred hurts everyone around, and the company at large. This is the current situation at Hedgeye. While Michael Blum might have been the right person for Hedgeye's president a while ago,…
Michael Blum to Step Down from His Hedgeye Presidency Sometimes the best thing for any business is to cut all the weeds to ensure they don't destroy the entire firm. The founder and CEO of Hedgeye, Keith McCullough, may be forced to make a tough decision to protect the company. After the news of Michael Blum's illegal business activities were exposed, the reputation of the platform has significantly been affected. Many readers are concerned…
Michael Blum's Poor Strategies Ruins the Repetition of Xcor The only thing that makes a company different from its competition is excellent leadership. The moment the CEO trips, the downfall of the company follows. This is what happened to Xcor that was once known as the leading aerospace company. Everything was running smoothly until Michael Blum was named CEO. What followed? The…
Michael Blum, a Bright Beginning Michael was born in Hong Kong with german parents that could afford him the best possible education. He went to Yale and got a bachelor's degree in international affairs. As a rich kid, he had access to a lot of illicit substances and enjoyed spending time with girls of dubious backgrounds. Michael Blum, Bussines Behind the Curtain…

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


Course description: This course covers probability, random variables, discrete and continuous distributions, transformation of random variables, expectation, generating functions, statistical inference, hypothesis testing, estimation, random processes, stationarity, and applications.
Prerequisite: Credit or concurrent registration in ECE 310.
Final 30% (may bring three 8.5x11 inch double-sided cheat sheets).
Policy: Late homeworks will under no circumstances be accepted. There will be no make-up midterms or finals. Solution manuals are known to be available for this course; it is strongly encouraged that you solve problems and learn think independently, NOT by looking at the solutions. This will decrease your understanding and ultimately haunt you in the midterms and finals.
WARNING: It is urgent that you read the "A Message to Students from the Authors" on pages xi-xii of the textbook.


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It's Summertime and Portsmouth, NH is… Literary
Jul 7, 2022 | Travel | 0 comments
Located in Rockingham County in the Granite State, Portsmouth is best-known as a history and its seaport. Usually, a visit there includes a stop at Market Square, Prescott Park, or Strawbery Banke. This time, for a change of pace, we focused on words, books, authors, and illustrators. Though we did sneak in a gundalow ride. That's not a typo; it's actually a type of boat from the 1600's, unique to the Piscataqua Region. As we sailed along, Neil got to use his favorite word-brackish-not once, but twice!
But I digress. My sister, a native New Hampshirite (another cool word!) had found an exhibit entitled "Imagine That: The Power of Picture Books" at the Portsmouth Historical Society. Billed as a "who's who" of New England authors and illustrators, two floors of exhibits document the creative process of writing and drawing for children's picture books over the decades. There's something for everyone here; Maxfield Parrish, Robert McCloskey, Melissa Sweet, and Mo Willems.
It was both charming and awe-inspiring to learn the background and history behind some of my favorite books, as well as my children's. The exhibits are colorful, informative, and engaging. They reminded me of how I first became enraptured with words and books as a toddler. Seeing Curious George lifted up to the sky and carried over the countryside by the bunch of balloons he grabbed still has the power to make me smile! Well-written children's books not only spark our imagination in a million different ways, they encourage a shared love of reading between adult and child that's impossible to replicate. My adult kids and I still love to talk about what we're reading and books are often our gateway to examining issues from every possible angle.
Not only did this carefully curated collection showcase what books were, and are, available to kids these days, it didn't forget to mention the lack of diversity in New England books. The Portsmouth Historic Society website provides links to resources (like a New York Times essay by Walter Dean Myers and a TED Talk by Grace Lin) for diverse books for parents and educators.
Once we had finished browsing and reminiscing in Imagine That! I wandered next door to the Seacoast African American Cultural Center, founded by Portsmouth teacher, Ms. Vernis M. Jackson, who not only identified a need to make the African American culture more visible in New England, she took action. You can learn more here: https://soundcloud.com/user-705525288/episode-32-vernis-jackson-saacc
Coincidentally, they had an exhibit dedicated to African American authors and illustrators of children's books. including Jacqueline Woodson's, The Other Side and Ebony Glenn's book about Simone Biles, Flying High. There was also an exhibit on Afrofuturism: Exploring Justice through Beauty, a concept I wasn't familiar with which I found quite interesting.
Worn out by our adventures, we went to dinner at The Library Restaurant on State Street (reservations recommended). A historic New Hampshire steakhouse that has hosted numerous presidents and was the location of the signing of the 1905 Russo-Japanese Treaty, it definitely lived up to its reputation. The meat was wonderful but it was the vegetables, served family-style, that really made an impression. In particular, the Roasted Brussel Sprouts in ginger-soy sauce and the Bourbon Creamed Corn would be ordered again.
At the end of the meal, your server will bring you a book from the shelves with your check and the suggestion to read a passage aloud to the rest of your table. Careful-some of the volumes are a bit risqué!
Book & Bar on Pleasant Street. With a motto of "Eat. Drink. Read. Repeat." what could possibly go wrong?
Tagged with: Children's books | Historic restaurants | New Hampshire attractions | Portsmouth | US museums


Here are some of the key battery-centric features of the new preview which will roll out for general public sometime this year.
It's easy to imagine how Google could build the software into a more robust design tool. Today we're going to delve into the other five.
First up, readers will now be able to save the best bits of their audiobooks to a new bookmark section. As per SophoLabs, this malware not only pops up advertising web pages, but can also sends Android notifications that include clickable links, to lure you into generating ad revenue for the criminals. You can disable specific actions, but you can't reorder them. Recent versions of the Google Play Books app contained strings referencing them, and Google finally launched audiobooks in the Play Store in January. "I'm gonna show just how much of your information the likes of Facebook and Google store about you without you even realising it".
One glaring omission from Google's audiobook offering is the ability to synchronize content between audiobooks and ebooks. You can shut down the service if you want to delete the saved topics.
People using the Google Play Books app, can now also save a favourite moment in an audiobook with the new Bookmarks functionality. Building off of this partnership, the two organizations recently made years worth of Division I basketball data available for a machine learning bracket competition. The first feature addition is Smart Resume. Getting the GSF ID is tricky but there are apps that you can use to extract the info. The pace can be set via the new controls to listen to three times the speed or as slow as 0.5 times the default. Called "routines", it essentially lets you pre-configure multiple actions under a single voice command. The same goes to all your Google Apps for instance, it has all your YouTube history; every video you've watched, whether you liked it or not, all your search entries. Apple's HomePod has no idea who is actually talking to it, and while Alexa can identify multiple users, everybody shares the same list of routines.
If you get the error "This Device Is Not Certified By Google" and you do the following and find that it isn't certified, your options are limited. Google said it is weighing its options.


I am going to review Maybelline Lip Polish today. Maybelline has recently launched these lip polishes that can be said as a lip gloss only. They have been launched in around 15 shades and have been named as Glam 1, glam 2, or Pop 1, Pop etc. I will share the review of Maybelline Lip Polish in Glam 3. These lip polishes can be a great option for lip gloss lovers with a decent color on their lips and something that can feel very light.
Price: Maybelline Lip polish is priced in India for rupees 450 for 5ml.
Soothing balm and Honey nectar: Cares and soothes the lips.
Honey Essence Oil: The highly reflective oil delivers a polished shine.
Ultra-concentrated pigments: Delivers potent color.
Brush: Exclusive smoothing angora brush delivers a polished, even application and smoothing sensation to lips.
Experience: Maybelline Lip polish comes in a rectangular tube with a mirror finished cap. Visually, it looks decent but not like the one we have seen in L'Oreal Paris Shine Caresse lipcolor. They were just amazing.
The shade name of these polishes are given at the bottom of the tube. Mine says Glam 3.
Glam 3 is a very juicy looking pale peachy color with pink undertones, though in the tube, it appears more orange. It's a color that's going to look flattering on fair to medium skin though for dusky skin, it may wash out slightly. As the shade lacks the sufficient warmth to go with duskier skin tones. But It's not going to wash out badly like some shades can do. Very slightly!
It's brush is quite unique, something that I have not come across so far. It has tiny bunch of fibers sticking out and the shape is unusual too. But nevertheless, it helps apply the lip color beautifully on the lips. Feels very soft!! The Lip polish just glides on my lips like butter and is devoid of any characteristic fragrance. While I use it, though it glides like a dream, I can still see some patches. Patches are not like, as the lip color is not evenly distributed on the lips, but rather are observed as if the lip color got coagulated at certain areas on the lips. After a minute or 2, may be due to the heat, the patches are less seen, It seems as if the color has been melted on lips, resulting in better and even finish. Due to its buttery soft texture, it is bound to bleed a bit though not too much.
It has very fine micro shimmers in it, that reflects light to give more fullness to the lips.
With this, I definitely don't need the lip balms, credit goes to its hydrating formula. It stays for 2 hours at most on me and while I talk or eat or drink, it tends to get wiped off with leaving a very faint stain, that can also be seen as negligible. When you talk, this gets patchy and uneven.
It can be used on its own or over your lipstick. Even to tone down your dark lipsticks you can use it as in like color mixing!
I like this Maybelline lip Polish glam 3 shade but wished it would have not been patchy and the price is a little high for a lip polish or lip gloss. Considering everything like packaging, brush, formula, pigmentation etc, I think 300-350 INR would have been an ideal price for this polish.
You can check this smokey plum makeup Look tutorial by clicking the link.
Take: Maybelline lip Polish glam 3 is a beautiful peachy pink shade that looks more orange in the tube, will suit fair to medium skin tones better than duskier tones. Its decent pigmentation, buttery smooth formula makes it a decent lip product, but looking at the patchiness and low staying power, the price should have been lesser. If you don't mind the price and staying power go ahead, they are available in more than 12 exciting shades.


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Home Featured Home Barnes runs through Oklahoma State, Wildcats win 31-12
Barnes runs through Oklahoma State, Wildcats win 31-12
Junior running back Alex Barnes jumps over the Cowboy line of defense as he runs down the field in hopes of a Wildcat touchdown. On Saturday, the Kansas State Wildcats faced off against the Oklahoma State Cowboys and won with a final score of 31-12 at Bill Snyder Family Stadium. (Olivia Bergmeier | Collegian Media Group)
After starting off conference play with three straight losses, Kansas State football finally has a 2018 Big 12 win.
The Wildcats (3-4, 1-3) outplayed the Oklahoma State Cowboys, getting a 31-12 win on Saturday.
K-State gained 421 yards of offense to 311 yards for Oklahoma State. It also dominated the time of possession game, holding the ball for 37:52 compared to 22:08 for the Cowboys. K-State also came up with two sacks, five tackles for loss and two interceptions.
K-State's Alex Barnes came into Saturday's game behind Oklahoma State's Justice Hill for second in the Big 12 with 101.2 rushing yards per game. The junior running back outperformed Hill in the first half, running 18 times for 94 yards.
Barnes' longest run came on a 29 yard gain on K-State's first drive of the game. It appeared that the Wildcats had some momentum and a good chance to get on the board first in the game. Eventually, they settled for a 51-yard field goal, that was missed by Andrew Hicks.
Despite K-State failing to get points on its opening drive, Oklahoma State had the same result. The Cowboys got one first down before quarterback Taylor Cornelius overthrew a pass to wide-open receiver Tylan Wallace.
On the next drive, the Wildcats went three plays before punting.
The game's first score came on Oklahoma State's second drive, when they went 10 plays and 36 yards before getting a field goal.
It could have resulted in more points, but the Cowboys were called for offensive pass interference on what was almost a touchdown. That penalty was followed by a false start call, before K-State linebacker Da'Quan Patton tackled Cornelius for no gain on third down.
Kicker Matt Ammendola nailed a 48-yard field goal for the game's first score, and the Cowboys led 3-0 with 5:10 to go in the first quarter.
The next score of the game at the 13:32 mark of the second quarter, when Hicks finished off a 13 play, 50 yard K-State drive with a 31-yard field goal to tie the game at 3-3.
Oklahoma State responded by putting together what appeared to be a solid drive, as it was making its way to the end zone.
With the ball at the K-State 33-yard line, Cornelius fired a pass into the end zone for Wallace. The pass was tipped away by K-State cornerback Duke Shelley, and then Shelley made a spectacular play by snagging the ball out of the air and dragging his feet in bounds.
The Wildcats could not capitalize on the interception, however, as they went three plays before punting the ball back to the Cowboys.
Oklahoma State made it all the way down to the K-State seven-yard line thanks to a 45-yard connection between Cornelius and Wallace. After allowing the Cowboys inside their own 10-yard line, the Wildcat defense held strong and made the visitors settle for a 22-yard field goal.
Ammendola's second field goal of the day put the Cowboys up 6-3 with 7:23 to go before halftime.
K-State got the ball back one last time in the first half with 5:31 remaining. After marching down to the Oklahoma State 19-yard line, the Wildcats failed to get any points as quarterback Skylar Thompson was sacked and the clock expired.
K-State likely could have called a timeout and attempted a field goal before going into the locker room, had it not burned its final timeout of the first half with 4:14 to go.
Instead, another mishap of the type that has seemed to plague the Wildcats this season resulted in them trailing 6-3 at the half. Saturday marked the first time in 32 games that Oklahoma State failed to score a touchdown— the last time being in the 2015 Allstate Sugar Bowl.
In the first two quarters, the Wildcat defense allowed the Cowboys to gain 170 total yards of offense—97 through the air and 73 on the ground. The Cowboys were also just two-for-six on third down conversions in the first half.
Yup! Alex Barnes, running back, breaks through the line to score a touchdown during the game against Oklahoma State on Saturday at Bill Snyder Family Stadium. The Wildcats won 31-12 against Oklahoma State. (Emily Lenk | Collegian Media Group)
Despite such an unfortunate end to the first half, K-State came out of the locker room ready to go.
The defense forced a three-and-out by the Cowboys the first time out, and the offense followed it up with a nine play, 70-yard touchdown drive. Barnes finished it off with a nine-yard touchdown run, giving K-State a 10-6 lead, its first of the game.
On Oklahoma State's next drive, its first two plays were a 19-yard pass from Cornelius to receiver Tyron Johnson, followed by a 22-yard run by Cornelius. K-State's defense would come through, as junior defensive end Kyle Ball sacked Cornelius on third down.
Thompson made the most of a short, 27-yard punt by the Cowboys, marching down the field for another touchdown.
Just two plays into the drive, K-State was faced with a third-and-seven. Thompson found senior wide receiver Isaiah Zuber for 11 yards to get the first. On the very next play, Thompson found Barnes on a wheel route, and the running back made an impressive one-handed catch to gain 28 yards.
Thompson showed off the ability to use his legs, scrambling 19 yards to the one-yard line. Barnes would then punch the ball into the end zone for his second score of the day.
As the third quarter came to a close, Oklahoma State was driving down the field with a first-and-goal from the Wildcat nine-yard line as the quarter ended.
It did not take long for the Cowboys to finish off that drive, as Cornelius ran it in for a one-yard touchdown at the 14:23 mark of the fourth quarter. They attempted a two-point conversion but failed to convert, making the score 17-12 in favor of K-State.
K-State responded with a touchdown of its own, as Barnes gained 44 yards on the drive and finished it off with his third rushing touchdown of the day, scoring from eight yards out. Barnes' touchdown put K-State up 24-12 with 9:31 remaining in the game.
After forcing Oklahoma State to punt yet again, K-State got the ball back with 8:07 to go. The Wildcats ran the clock down until there was just 2:35 left in the game. Barnes finished the 11 play, 75 yard drive with a three-yard touchdown run, his fourth of the game.
The Cowboys' final possession of the game ended when Duke Shelley intercepted Cornelius for the second time, giving K-State the ball back with 0:38 left, and an opportunity to take a knee and run out the clock.
1. Barnes and the offensive line dominated the Cowboys defense. After gaining 94 yards on the ground in the first half, Barnes finished the game with 181 yards and four touchdowns. Barnes is on somewhat of a hot streak after he ran for 250 yards and three touchdowns last week.
As a team, K-State ran for 291 yards, the second most this season.
Coming into the game, Oklahoma State averaged 4.67 sacks per game, but K-State's offensive line surrendered just two.
2. Thompson's running ability on full display. After going just four-of-14 for 29 yards passing in the first half, Skylar Thompson finished the game 11-of-22 with 130 yards. More impressive though, was the way he used his feet. The redshirt sophomore gained 80 yards on 12 rushing attempts, often standing in the pocket before scrambling to make plays.
3. K-State's defense showed improvement. The Wildcats held Oklahoma State to 311 total yards of offense—including 127 rushing and 184 passing. It was the third game of the season that K-State held its opponent to under 200 passing yards, and the first time since playing UTSA.
Aside from holding the Cowboys to under 200 yards through the air, K-State's secondary held Cornelius to under a 50% completion percentage, and Shelley had two interceptions.
Oklahoma State running back Justice Hill entered the game with the second most rushing yards per game (107.2) in the Big 12. K-State surrendered just 41 yards to Hill on 11 rushes.
After a big victory on Saturday, K-State will have its bye week before resuming play at Oklahoma on October 27th.
AlexBarnes
Big12Football
EMAW
Understaffed Wildcat basketball loses to Oklahoma State
Past Wildcats find success in the NFL through first five weeks
Ryan Zielsdorf - Oct 17, 2020


Twelve million people spent nearly R2 billion at Ballito Junction Regional Mall during its first year. This iconic young shopping centre is already outperforming in its industry, market segment, and region, and has become a firm favourite in its immediate market and beyond.
The 80,000sqm world-class shopping centre opened on 23 March 2017 and, since then, Ballito Junction has quickly become the darling of shoppers from the Dolphin Coast but also from Durban and beyond.
The mall's figures show that half of its shoppers come from its immediate core catchment area of Ballito and its surrounds, and over one third (34%) come to the mall from the Durban area.
A breakdown of its Durban shoppers shows that while it is some 62km away from the mall, Durban itself accounts for 16% of Ballito Junction's shopper market. Around 13% of its customer pool drive the 28kms from Verulam to the new mall. Umhlanga, which is 31kms away, represents 4% of its total shoppers.
Another 12% of Ballito Junction shoppers travel even further to visit this uniquely compelling mall, coming from the Midlands, Zululand and Highway areas.
All-in-all, KwaZulu-Natal shoppers make up 77% of Ballito Junction's customers, but holidaymakers have also flocked to the new mall. Over the last year, Gauteng visitors accounted for 19% of Ballito Junction's shoppers.
With an average of nearly1 million visitors a month, its best performing month so far was December 2017 when it attracted some 1.4 million shoppers.
Owned and developed by investment consortium of Menlyn Maine Investment Holdings and Flanagan & Gerard Property Development & Investment, Ballito Junction Regional Mall opened during one of the toughest economic periods South Africa has seen. Despite this, the mall is showing strong trading that is growing from strength to strength.
Even after a short time in its markets, Ballito Junction and several of its retailers are outperforming other, more established, comparative retail elsewhere in the region.
The mall's trading is expected to continue on its upward trajectory. Located at the heart of a burgeoning community, residential developments representing over 3,000 new homes are currently under construction or planned for development in its growing immediate catchment market.
The mall represents a major private investment that benefits its community with increased economic prosperity by creating jobs and keeping retail spend local. However, it has also become very involved in other meaningful initiatives for positive community benefits.


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Outback Steakhouse Mashed Sweet Potatoes
Unlock Secret Recipe 79¢
Club members press unlock for free recipe
This special side may not always be on the menu at your local Outback Steakhouse. If it's not, use this Outback Steakhouse sweet potato copycat recipe to satisfy your craving. The butter, sugar and spices added to the baked and mashed sweet potatoes make this dish great with salmon, chicken, turkey, and pork; and it rocks as a holiday feast side. It's so sweet and rich that it could double as pie filling. And just check out the amazing finishing touch: pecans, corn flakes and oats mixed with butter, brown sugar, and cinnamon for a streusel-like crunchy topping, that you'll want to eat by the spoonful.
4 medium sweet potatoes
ChezGery
This recipe is going on the table this Thanksgiving ! Fantastic side - I prefer in using yams in this recipe, more flavor and rich color.
Kathy in Vegas
SHEEKA BOOM BA!!!! These are awesome! So tasty.......be sure to use real butter and not margarine.....no sub for real butter flavor. I do my Thanksgiving sweet potatoes very similar.
The talented chefs at Benihana cook food on hibachi grills with flair and charisma, treating the preparation like a tiny stage show. They juggle salt and pepper shakers, trim food with lightening speed, and flip the shrimp and mushrooms perfectly onto serving plates or into their tall chef's hat.
One of the side dishes that everyone seems to love is the fried rice. At Benihana this dish is prepared by chefs with precooked rice on open hibachi grills, and is ordered a la cart to complement any Benihana entree, including Hibachi Steak and Chicken. I like when the rice is thrown onto the hot hibachi grill and seems to come alive as it sizzles and dances around like a bunch of little jumping beans. Okay, so I'm easily amused.
This Benihana Japanese fried rice recipe will go well with just about any Japanese entree and can be partially prepared ahead of time and kept in the refrigerator until the rest of the meal is close to done.
Outback Steakhouse Grilled Shrimp on the Barbie
This recipe makes the same size appetizer serving that you get in the restaurant. That's only 6 shrimp—enough for me, but what are you guys having? Thank goodness the remoulade sauce and the shrimp seasoning formulas yield enough for a bigger serving, so you can grill up to a pound of shrimp with this recipe. Find bags of frozen uncooked shrimp that have been peeled, but with the tails left on.
Boston Market Meatloaf
In the early 90's Boston Chicken was rockin' it. The home meal replacement chain's stock was soaring and the lines were filled with hungry customers waiting to sink their teeth into a serving of the chain's delicious rotisserie chicken. So successful was the chain with chicken, that the company quickly decided it was time to introduce other entree selections, the first of which was a delicious barbecue sauce-covered ground sirloin meatloaf. But offering the other entrees presented the company with a dilemma: what to do about the name. The bigwigs decided it was time to change the name to Boston Market, to reflect a wider menu. That meant replacing signs on hundreds of units and retooling the marketing campaigns. That name change, plus rapid expansion of the chain and growth of other similar home-style meal concepts sent the company into a tailspin. By 1988, Boston Market's goose was cooked, and the company filed for bankruptcy. Soon McDonald's stepped in to purchase the company, with the idea of closing many of the stores for good, and slapping Golden Arches on the rest. But that plan was scrapped when, after selling many of the under-performing Boston Markets, the chain began to fly once again. Within a year of the acquisition Boston Market was profitable, and those meals with the home-cooked taste are still being served at over 700 Boston Market restaurants across the country.
Includes eight (8) 79¢ recipes of your choice each month!
Hooters Buffalo Chicken Wings
Menu Description: "Nearly world famous. Often imitated, hardly ever duplicated."
"Hooters is to chicken wings what McDonald's is to hamburgers," claims promotional material from the company. True, the six fun-loving Midwestern businessmen who started Hooters in Clearwater, Florida, on April Fool's Day in 1983 chose a classic recipe for chicken wings as their signature item. But while some might say it's the buffalo wings that are their favorite feature of the restaurant, others say it's the restaurant chain's trademark Hooters girls—waitresses casually attired in bright orange short-shorts and skin tight T-shirts.
Today there are over 375 Hooters across the United States serving more than 200 tons of chicken wings every week. The original dish can be ordered in 10-, 20-, or 50-piece servings; or if you want to splurge, there's the "Gourmet Chicken Wing Dinner" featuring 20 wings and a bottle of Dom Perignon champagne, for only $125. To further enhance the Hooters experience when you serve these messy wings, throw a whole roll of paper towels on the table, rather than napkins, as they do in the restaurants.
Bonefish Grill Bang Bang Shrimp
Menu Description: "Tender, crispy wild gulf shrimp tossed in a creamy, spicy sauce."
Bonefish Grill proudly refers to this appetizer as the "house specialty." And why not, it's an attractive dish with bang-up flavor, especially if you like your food on the spicy side. The heat in this Bang Bang Shrimp recipe comes from the secret sauce blend that's flavored with chili garlic sauce, also known as sambal. You can find this bright red sauce where the Asian foods in your market—and while you're there, pick up some rice vinegar. Once the sauce is made, you coat the shrimp in a simple seasoned breading, fry them to a nice golden brown, toss them gently in the sauce, and then serve them up on a bed of mixed greens to hungry folks who, hopefully, have a cool drink nearby to mellow the sting.
P.F. Chang's Mongolian Beef
Menu Description: "Quickly-cooked steak with scallions and garlic."
Beef lovers go crazy over this one at the restaurant. Flank steak is cut into bite-sized chunks against the grain, then it's lightly dusted with potato starch (in our case well use cornstarch), flash-fried in oil, and doused with an amazing sweet soy garlic sauce. The beef comes out tender as can be, and the simple sauce sings to your taste buds. I designed this recipe to use a wok, but if you don't have one a saute pan will suffice (you may need to add more oil to the pan to cover the beef in the flash-frying step). P. F. Chang's secret sauce is what makes this dish so good, and it's versatile. If you don't dig beef, you can substitute with chicken. Or you can brush it on grilled salmon.
El Pollo Loco Creamy Cilantro Dressing
Sliced chicken breast, romaine lettuce, pico de gallo, tortilla strips, and cotija cheese make up El Pollo Loco's Caesar Salad, but it is the fantastic creamy cilantro dressing that gets the raves. Simply combine these basic ingredients in a bowl and you'll soon have more than 1 cup of the delicious dressing cloned and ready to pour over any of your home salad creations.
P.F. Chang's Chang's Spicy Chicken
Menu Description: "Lightly-dusted, stir fried in a sweet Szechwan sauce."
The delicious sweet-and-spicy secret sauce is what makes this dish one of P. F. Chang's top picks. Once the sauce is finished all you have to do is saute your chicken and combine. You'll may want to cook up some white or brown rice, like at the restaurant. If you can't find straight chili sauce for this recipe, the more common chili sauce with garlic in it will work just as well.
Cheesecake Factory Pumpkin Cheesecake
While most restaurant chains attempt to keep their menus simple so as not to tax the kitchen, the Cheesecake Factory's menu contains more than 200 items on a 17-page menu. And at the end of the meal there are 40 cheesecakes to choose from for dessert, including the delicious Pumpkin Cheesecake hacked here for you.
Use an 8-inch springform pan for this recipe. If you don't have one, you should get one. They're indispensable for thick, gourmet cheesecake and several other scrumptious desserts. If you don't want to use a springform pan, this recipe will also work with two 9-inch pie plates. You'll just end up with two smaller cheesecakes.
Roadhouse Grill Baby Back Ribs
Menu Description: "Our award-winning Baby Back Ribs are slow-roasted, then basted with Jim Beam Bourbon BBQ Sauce and finished on our Mesquite grill."
When your crew bites into these baby backs they'll savor meat so tender and juicy that it slides right off the bone. The slow braising cooks the ribs to perfection, while the quick grilling adds the finishing char and smoky flavor. But the most important component to any decent rack of ribs is a sauce that's filled with flavor, and this version of Roadhouse Grill's award-wining sauce is good stuff. I ordered the ribs naked (without sauce) so that I could see if there was any detectable rub added before cooking and I didn't find anything other than salt and a lot of coarse black pepper. So that's the way I designed the recipe, and it works.
Fleming's Prime Steakhouse Chipotle Cheddar Macaroni and Cheese
I've never met a macaroni & cheese I didn't like. But there are a few restaurants that push this common side dish to a higher level. I've had mac & cheese made with three or four cheeses, and some that come drizzled with truffle oil. I've had mac & cheese with green pepper in it, and onion, and parsley, and bacon—it all works for me. But at Fleming's Prime Steakhouse, it's about the chipotle. The smoky jalapeno flavor sets this one apart from others, and makes this one of the top side dishes at the upscale steakhouse chain. For our clone, we'll start with a cheese sauce made with smoked cheddar. There's some minced jalapeno and green onion in there, plus a little ground chipotle pepper. A nice finishing touch comes from the breadcrumb topping that's made with Japanese breadcrumbs, or panko, which is flavored with more ground chipotle. The pasta shape used at Fleming's is called cellentani, which looks like long corkscrews. You could also use cavatappi pasta which are shorter corkscrews, or just go for the traditional elbow macaroni which can found pretty much anywhere.
Olive Garden Breadsticks
Anyone who loves Olive Garden is probably also a big fan of the bottomless basket of warm, garlicky breadsticks served before each meal at the huge Italian casual chain. My guess is that the breadsticks are proofed, and then sent to each restaurant where they are baked until golden brown, brushed with butter and sprinkled with garlic salt. Getting the bread just right for a good Olive Garden breadstick recipe was tricky—I tried several different amounts of yeast in all-purpose flour, but then settled on bread flour to give these breadsticks the same chewy bite as the originals. The two-stage rising process is also a crucial step in this much requested homemade Olive Garden breadstick recipe. Also check out our Olive Garden Italian salad dressing recipe.
Carrabba's Chicken Marsala
Menu Description: "Fire-roasted chicken breast topped with mushrooms, prosciutto and our Florio Marsala wine sauce."
To reverse-engineer this big-time favorite entree, I ordered the dish to go, with the sauce on the side, so that I could separately analyze each component. After some trial and error in the underground lab, I found that recreating the secret sauce from scratch is easy enough with a couple small cans of sliced mushrooms, a bit of prosciutto, some Marsala wine, shallots, garlic and a few other good things. Cooking the chicken requires a very hot grill. The restaurant chain grills chicken breasts over a blazing real wood fire, so crank your grill up high enough to get the flames nipping at your cluckers (not a euphemism) for this Carrabba's chicken marsala recipe. If your grill has a lid, keep it open so you can watch for nasty flare-ups.
Menu Description: "Made from scratch in our kitchens using fresh Grade A Fancy Russet potatoes, fresh chopped onion, natural Colby cheese and spices. Baked fresh all day long."
In the late sixties Dan Evins was a Shell Oil "jobber" looking for a new way to market gasoline. He wanted to create a special place that would arouse curiosity, and would pull travelers off the highways. In 1969 he opened the first Cracker Barrel just off Interstate 40 in Lebanon, Tennessee, offering gas, country-style food, and a selection of antiques for sale. Today there are over 529 stores in 41 states, with each restaurant still designed as a country rest stop and gift store. In fact, those stores which carry an average of 4,500 different items apiece have made Cracker Barrel the largest retailer of American-made finished crafts in the United States.
Those who know Cracker Barrel love the restaurant for its delicious home-style breakfasts. This casserole, made with hash brown-sliced potatoes, Colby cheese, milk, beef broth, and spices is served with many of the classic breakfast dishes at the restaurant. The recipe here is designed for a skillet that is also safe to put in the oven (so no plastic handles). If you don't have one of those, you can easily transfer the casserole to a baking dish after it is done cooking on the stove.
Source Top Secret Restaurant Recipes by Todd Wilbur.
Chili's Salsa
This super simple salsa can be made in a pinch with a can of diced tomatoes, some canned jalapenos, fresh lime juice, onion, spices and a food processor or blender. Plus you can easily double the recipe by sending in a larger 28-ounce can of diced tomatoes, and simply doubling up on all the other ingredients. Use this versatile salsa as a dip for tortilla chips or plop it down onto any dish that needs flavor assistance—from eggs to taco salads to wraps to fish. You can adjust the heat level to suit your taste by tweaking the amount of canned jalapenos in the mix.
Olive Garden Chicken Scampi
Menu Description: "Chicken breast tenderloins sauteed with bell peppers, roasted garlic and onions in a garlic cream sauce over angel hair."
This dish is a big favorite of Olive Garden regulars. Chicken tenderloins are lightly breaded and sauteed along with colorful bell peppers and chopped red onion. Angel hair pasta is tossed into the pan along with a healthy dose of fresh scampi sauce. If you're cooking for two, you can prepare this dish for the table in one large skillet, saving the remaining ingredients for another meal. If you're making all four servings at once, you need two skillets. If you can't find fresh chicken tenderloins (the tender part of the chicken breast), you can usually find bags of them in the freezer section.
Wendy's Hot Chili Seasoning
The little red packets of viscous hot sauce at the fast food giant have a cult following of rabid fans who will do whatever it takes to get their hands on large quantities. One such fan of the sauce commented online, "Are there any Wendy's employees or managers out there that will mail me an entire case of Hot Chili Seasoning? I swear this is not a joke. I love the stuff. I tip extra cash to Wendy's workers to get big handfuls of the stuff." Well, there's no need to tip any Wendy's employees since now you can make as much as you want of the spicy sauce in your own kitchen.
The ingredients listed on the real Hot Chili Seasoning are water, corn syrup, salt, distilled vinegar, natural flavors, xanthan gum, and extractives of paprika. We'll use many of those same ingredients for our clone, but we'll substitute gelatin for the xanthan gum (a thickener) to get the slightly gooey consistency right, and for the natural flavor and color we'll use cayenne pepper, cumin, paprika and garlic powder, then filter the particles out with a fine wire mesh strainer after they've contributed just what the sauce needs.
This recipe makes 5 ounces of sauce—that costs just pennies to make—and it's just the right amount to fit nicely into a used hot sauce shaker bottle.
Chili's Boneless Buffalo Wings
Menu Description: "Breaded chicken breast tossed in spicy wing sauce. Served with cool bleu cheese dressing."
This clone re-creates the piquant flavor of traditional Buffalo chicken wings, but the bones and skin are left back in Buffalo. That's because these "wings" are actually nuggets sliced from chicken breast fillets, then breaded and fried, and smothered with the same type of spicy wing sauce used on traditional wings. If you like the flavor of Buffalo wings, but wish you could use a fork, your spicy dreams have come true. Serve these up with some celery sticks and bleu cheese dressing on the side for dipping.
Tony Roma's Baked Potato Soup
Menu Description: "A house specialty full of baked potatoes and topped with Cheddar cheese, bacon and green onions."
The thick-and-creamy texture and rich taste of Tony Roma's best-selling soup is duplicated with a little flour, some half-and-half, and most notably, instant mashed potatoes. Give yourself an hour to bake the potatoes and around 30 minutes to prepare the soup. Garnish each serving with shredded cheese, crumbled bacon and green onions, and then humbly await your due praise.
Olive Garden Stuffed Mushrooms
Menu Description: "Parmesan, Romano and mozzarella cheese, clams and herb breadcrumbs baked in mushroom caps."
Breadcrumbs, clams and three types of cheese are baked into white mushroom caps in this clone of a top pick from Olive Garden's appetizer menu. Mix all the stuffing ingredients together in a bowl, fill the mushroom caps, sprinkle on some minced red bell pepper, cover the mushrooms with a blanket of mozzarella cheese slices, and bake. After 15 minutes you'll have a great appetizer or hors doeuvre for 4 to 6 people—that's twice the serving size of the dish from the restaurant.
Marie Callender's Pumpkin Pie
Menu Description: "Our famous pumpkin pie has just the right amount of spice."
The vittles from Marie Callender's have made an impression beyond the chain's West Coast roots with home-style packaged entrees and side dishes available in frozen food sections of supermarkets across the country. Pie making is where the chain excels. A fresh slice of a Marie Callender's pie is as close as you'll get to homemade heaven this side of Grandma's porch window. This clone is an obvious selection, since the restaurant sells more pumpkin pies than any other, even in non-holiday months. This clone is a perfect opportunity to improve on icky pumpkin pie recipes (like those found on cans of canned pumpkin, for example) in many ways. For one thing, there's no need to use canned evaporated milk when fresh whole milk and cream is so much better. And three eggs, versus two found in many recipes, will add to the richness and firmness of the cooked filling. After mixing the filling we'll let it sit for a bit while waiting for the oven to preheat. This way it can come closer to room temperature, and the pie filling will bake more evenly. The clone recipe included here for the crust uses a chilled combination of butter and shortening for the perfect mix of flavor and flakiness.
Update 10/12/17: I made a few changes to improve this recipe. I increased the pumpkin to 19 ounces (or 2 1/2 cups) to better fill the crust. Get a large can of pumpkin. Also, I took the egg yolk out of the crust for a flakier and more tender finished product. Also, because of the additional filling, I've increased the baking time by 10 minutes to 60 to 70 minutes. If you find your crust getting too dark on top, use a pie crust shield or mold some foil around the top of the crust to prevent it from over-browning.
El Pollo Loco Flame-Broiled Chicken
El Pollo Loco, or "The Crazy Chicken," has been growing like mad since it crossed over the border into the United States from Mexico. Francisco Ochoa unknowingly started a food phenomenon internacional in 1975 when he took a family recipe for chicken marinade and opened a small roadside restaurante in Gusave, Mexico. He soon had 90 stores in 20 cities throughout Mexico. The first El Pollo Loco in the United States opened in Los Angeles in December of 1980 and was an immediate success. It was only three years later that Ochoa got the attention of bigwigs at Dennys, Inc., who offered him $11.3 million for his U.S. operations. Ochoa took the deal, and El Pollo Loco grew from 17 to more than 200 outlets over the following decade.
Original Pancake House Apple Pancake
Menu Description: "Oven baked with fresh apples and pure Sikiyan cinnamon glaze."
Fresh, high-quality ingredients and traditional recipes are what makes this growing chain a frequent favorite for anyone who stops in. The star of the show is the incredible apple pancake, the chain's signature dish. To make a dead-on clone, Granny Smith apples are sauteed in butter, brown sugar and cinnamon, then allowed to cool for a bit. That way, when the batter is poured into the pan, the apples and glaze stay anchored to the bottom. This technique also prevents the glaze from penetrating into the batter as the pancake bakes since there is now an apple barrier preventing any mixing of the ingredients. When the pancake comes out of the oven it's flipped over onto a plate and the apples are right there on top, dripping with a delicious cinnamon-sugar glaze. You won't need any syrup for this one, that's for sure. Just a light dusting of powdered sugar on top. Then dig into an apple pancake unlike any other.
Hard Rock Cafe Pig Sandwich
Menu Description: "Select pork, hickory-smoked then hand-pulled, so it's tender and juicy. 'An old Southern delicacy' with our famous vinegar-based bar-b-que sauce. Served with fries, ranch beans and homemade coleslaw."
Take a big honkin' bite out of one of these and you'll soon know why it's the Hard Rock Cafe's most popular sandwich. The pork is hickory smoked for 10 hours, but since we're impatient hungry people here, we'll cut that cooking time down to under 4 hours using a covered grill and carefully arranged charcoal. Just sprinkle wet hickory chips over the hot charcoal arranged around the inside edge of a grill (such as a round Weber), and let the smoking begin. You can certainly use an actual smoker if you've got one, and go the full 10 hours. You should try to make your cabbage a day ahead of time so it has time to marinate.
Lone Star Steakhouse Baked Sweet Potato
Sweet potatoes are not related to the more common russet potatoes and are often confused with yams in the grocery store and on menus (the yam is actually starchier and less flavorful). Just be sure you're buying sweet potatoes when you get to the produce section—even the produce stockers get mixed up. Bake these up, and when you spoon on some butter and sprinkle cinnamon/sugar over the top, you've got a treat that tastes more like dessert than a side dish.
T.G.I. Friday's Crispy Green Bean Fries
Menu Description: "Crunchy and crisp battered green beans with a cool creamy Cucumber-Wasabi Ranch dip."
T.G.I. Friday's new finger food offering might just make you forget about French fries. At least for a little while. Flavorful green beans are coated with tasty breadcrumbs, then fried to a golden brown, and served with a side of creamy wasabi dipping sauce. This item has quickly become the top seller on the chain's new appetizer menu as Friday's becomes the first major casual restaurant to introduce a dish that has been popular for several years at upscale chains.
Creating a home version isn't just a matter of breading and frying fresh green beans. My first attempts using a breading technique employed for perfect onion rings produced beautiful looking fried beans, but they were undercooked and had an overwhelming green bean flavor that was absent from the Friday's version. So, I had to figure out a good way to get the green bean-ness out of there. After a few tests that included steaming, baking, and boiling, I finally settled on blanching the beans in a flavorful broth. The secret technique, which you'll find here, tenderizes the beans while injecting pleasant flavor that closely resembles the Friday's favorite.
Applebee's Almond Rice Pilaf
You're grilling some steaks or baking some chicken and don't know what to serve on the side? Try out this simple clone for a dish that's served along with several of Applebee's entrees. Since the recipe requires converted rice because instant rice is gross, you have to plan ahead about 25 minutes to give the rice time to cook. It's worth the wait. The secret to an authentic, great-tasting rice pilaf is sauteing the uncooked rice kernels in butter first, before adding the liquid—in this case chicken broth. Then, as the rice is cooking, you have plenty of time to saute the almonds, celery, and onions that are tossed into the rice at the end.
Olive Garden Zuppa Toscana Soup
For two years after the first Olive Garden restaurant opened in 1982, operators were still tweaking the restaurant's physical appearance and the food that was served. Even the tomato sauce was changed as many as 25 times. It's that sort of dedication that creates fabulous dishes like this popular soup. It blends the flavors of potatoes, kale, and Italian sausage in a slightly spicy chicken and cream broth.
Sabra Classic Hummus
Every brand of hummus I've tried over the years has been just so-so in taste and texture, until I discovered Sabra. Now this ultra-smooth hummus—which has been rated number one in a blind taste test—is the only hummus in my fridge, unless I've made this clone. Hummus is an awesome snack as a dip for vegetables or pita chips, since it's rich in protein, soluble fiber, potassium, and Vitamin E. The secret to duplicating Sabra's smooth and creamy quality is to let your food processor work the stuff over for a solid 10 minutes. Also, don't use all of the liquid from the can of garbanzo beans or the hummus will end up too runny. Strain off the liquid first, then measure only 1/2 cup back into the food processor. Sabra uses canola and/or soybean oil, but you may think olive oil tastes better. Look for a jar of sesame tahini in the aisle where all the international foods are parked, and while you're there find the citric acid, which may also go by the name "sour salt." The clone below will not have the proper acidic bite without this secret ingredient, and citric acid also works as a preservative to help the leftover hummus stay fresh and tasty.
Cheesecake Factory Key Lime Cheesecake
Just 15 minutes after the very first Cheesecake Factory opened in Beverly Hills back in 1978, the lines began forming. Here's their cheesecake twist on the delicious Key lime pie. Since Key limes and Key lime juice can be hard to find, this recipe uses standard lime juice which can be purchased bottled or squeezed fresh. If you can find Key lime juice, bear in mind that Key limes are more tart, so you'll need only half as much juice. This recipe also requires a springform pan. If you don't have one, you can use two 9-inch pie pans and make two smaller cheesecakes.
Denny's Fabulous French Toast
Menu Description: "Three thick slices grilled golden brown and sprinkled with powdered sugar."
This popular breakfast choice at America's number one diner chain takes center stage on the cover of the menu. Three slices of thick bread are dipped in a slightly sweet egg batter, browned to perfection and served up with a dusting of powdered sugar, some soft butter and thick maple syrup on the side. Find the thick-sliced Texas toast bread in your bakery, or use any white bread that's sliced around 3/4-inch thick. This Denny's french toast recipe will make enough for two servings of three slices each, and it's the perfect recipe for waking up a special someone with breakfast in bed.
Islands Island Fries
Menu Description: "Our famous fries are fresh cut daily from whole potatoes with the skins left on."
Not only can I show you the best way to make french fries at home in this clone of Islands top-selling version, but I'm also supplying you with a super simple way to make the same type of salt blend that Islands uses to make those fries so dang addicting. As with any good french fry recipe, you'll need to slice your potatoes into strips that are all equal thickness. That means you need a mandoline, or similar slicing device, that makes 1/4-inch slices. Once you've got your potatoes cut, you must rinse and soak them in water to expel the excess starch. The frying comes in two stages: A quick blanching stage, and the final frying to put a crispy coating on the suckers. Islands uses a combination of peanut and vegetable oils in their fryers, so you simply combine the two in your home fryer. The whole process is not that tough once you get going, and certainly worth the effort if hungry mouths are waiting for the perfect homemade french fries. However, if you want to simplify the process because your hungry mouths aren't of the patient sort, you could certainly buy frozen french fries, cook 'em up following the instructions on the bag, and then sprinkle on this garlic/onion salt blend for a quick-and-easy kitchen clone.
Hard Rock Cafe Homemade Chicken Noodle Soup
Give this simple soup clone a shot and you'll never again want to eat chicken soup from a can. I designed this recipe to be easy, requiring chicken fillets rather than a whole chicken, and you won't need to create a stock from scratch.
Olive Garden Tiramisu
Menu Description: "The classic Italian dessert. A layer of creamy custard set atop espresso-soaked ladyfingers."
In Italian, tiramisu means "pick me up" or "cheer me up." And when you taste the delicious combination of mascarpone cheese (sometimes referred to as Italian cream cheese), cream cheese, ladyfingers, espresso and Kahlua it will be hard not to smile. So get out your double boiler for the egg yolks (a metal bowl over a saucepan of simmering water will also do) and get some ladyfingers (ladyfingers are miniature cakes about the size of two fingers side-by-side). You can either make your own espresso, use extra strong coffee as a substitute, or, next time you're at Starbucks, order up a quadruple shot of espresso to go.
Red Lobster Parrot Bay Coconut Shrimp
Menu Description: "Jumbo butterflied shrimp hand-dipped in batter flavored with Captain Morgan Parrot Bay Rum & coconut flakes. Served with pina colada dipping sauce."
Fans of this dish say the best part is the pina colada dipping sauce. And it's true. That sauce is so good you could eat it with a spoon. But the coconut shrimp is pretty awesome too, just on its own. Red Lobster's secret formula includes Captain Morgan's Parrot Bay rum, which sweetens the batter and adds a great coconut flavor (plus you can whip up a nice cocktail with it while you're cooking). Panko breadcrumbs—which give a nice crunch to the shrimp—can be found in the aisle of your market where all the Asian foods are parked. This secret recipe makes two times the size of a serving you get at the Lobster, so there should be enough for everyone. The real thing comes with salsa on the side in addition to the pina colada sauce, but you may not even want to include it.
Soup Nazi's Mexican Chicken Chili
In Zagat's 1995 New York City Restaurant Survey, Le Cirque 2000, one of the city's most upscale restaurants, received a 25 rating out of a possible 30. In the same guide, Al "The Soup Nazi" Yeganeh's Soup Kitchen International scored an impressive 27. That put the Soup Nazi's eatery in 14th place among the city's best restaurants for that year.
It was common to see lines stretching around the corner and down the block as hungry patrons waited for their cup of one of five daily hot soup selections. Most of the selections changed every day, but of the three days that I was there, the Mexican Chicken Chili was always on the menu. The first two days it was sold out before I got to the front of the line. But on the last day I got lucky: "One extra-large Mexican Chicken Chili, please." Hand over money, move to the extreme left.
Here is a hack for what has become one of the Soup Nazi's most popular culinary masterpieces. If you like, you can substitute turkey breast for the chicken to make turkey chili, which was the soup George Costanza ordered on the show.
Update 1/9/17: Replace the 10 cups of water with 8 cups of chicken broth for a shorter simmer time and better flavor. I also like using El Pato tomato sauce (recipe calls for 1/2 cup) for a bit more heat.
Starbucks Peppermint Brownie
Here's a great one for the holidays, or anytime you want, really. It's a mint chocolate brownie with peppermint buttercream frosting on top and creamy chocolate frosting on top of that. And to simplify the cloning process, we start with a common fudge brownie mix. By changing the required ingredients listed on the brownie mix box and modifying some steps, we can improve on the finished product. Rather than oil, use a stick of melted butter in your brownies for a richer, better flavor. And cook the brownies at a slightly lower temperature so that they come out moist and chewy. Since this recipe is for peppermint brownies, add just a bit of peppermint extract to the batter. The peppermint brownies from Starbucks have red and white frosting drizzled lightly across the top. To duplicate this easily you can buy premade red and white colored frostings that come in little cans with tips included.


text:
Q: Generate Google Endpoints library (JDO) with Android Studio I am trying to generate an JDO based endpoint from Android Studio, but the library is not being generated (and no error is shown). The only warning I can see is the one below regarding the annotations.
This is my gradle log:
:app:preBuild
:app:preDebugBuild
:app:checkDebugManifest
:app:preReleaseBuild
:head:appengineDownloadSdk
:head:compileJava
warning: Implicitly compiled files were not subject to annotation processing.
  Use -proc:none to disable annotation processing or -implicit to specify a policy for implicit compilation.
Note: Some input files use unchecked or unsafe operations.
Note: Recompile with -Xlint:unchecked for details.
1 warning

:head:processResources UP-TO-DATE
:head:classes
:head:appengineEndpointsGetClientLibs
API client library written to C:\Users\Juan\AndroidStudioProjects\Komi\head\build\client-libs\registration-v1-java.zip
API client library written to C:\Users\Juan\AndroidStudioProjects\Komi\head\build\client-libs\messaging-v1-java.zip
:head:appengineEndpointsExpandClientLibs

The two showed API client library are the ones based in objectify and but the third one (JDO based) is missing and seems to be being skipped.I would appreciate some help, thank you!
This is the gradle file (not different from docs):
buildscript {
    repositories {
        mavenLocal()
        mavenCentral()
    }
    dependencies {
        classpath 'com.google.appengine:gradle-appengine-plugin:1.9.9'
    }
}

repositories {
    mavenCentral();
}

apply plugin: 'java'
apply plugin: 'war'
apply plugin: 'appengine'

sourceCompatibility = 1.7
targetCompatibility = 1.7

dependencies {
  appengineSdk 'com.google.appengine:appengine-java-sdk:1.9.9'
  compile 'com.google.appengine:appengine-endpoints:1.9.9'
  compile 'com.google.appengine:appengine-endpoints-deps:1.9.9'
  compile 'javax.servlet:servlet-api:2.5'
  compile 'com.googlecode.objectify:objectify:4.0b3'
  compile 'com.ganyo:gcm-server:1.0.2'
  compile 'javax.jdo:jdo-api:3.0.1'
  compile 'org.datanucleus:datanucleus-core:3.1.4'
  compile 'org.datanucleus:datanucleus-api-jdo:3.1.3'
}

appengine {
  downloadSdk = true
  appcfg {
    oauth2 = true
  }
  endpoints {
    getClientLibsOnBuild = true
    getDiscoveryDocsOnBuild = true
  }
}

A: I fixed a couple of things in order to make it work (thanks to @loosebazooka)
1) First add the endpoints to the web.xml
<servlet>
        <servlet-name>SystemServiceServlet</servlet-name>
        <servlet-class>com.google.api.server.spi.SystemServiceServlet</servlet-class>
        <init-param>
            <param-name>services</param-name>
            <param-value>com.something.else.Userendpoint, com.something.else.AnotherEndpoint</param-value>
        </init-param>
    </servlet>
    <servlet-mapping>
        <servlet-name>SystemServiceServlet</servlet-name>
        <url-pattern>/_ah/spi/*</url-pattern>
    </servlet-mapping>

2) I had an error in my dependencies (different versions for datanucleous-core and datanucleous-jdo-api. As soon as I changed the dependencies to both 3.1.3 version enhancing started to work fine and Google endpoints became awesome again.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Monday warned Hizbul Mujahideen chief Syed Salahuddin that he would meet the same end as Burhan Wani if he tries to spread violence in Kashmir.
"Any kind of threat suggesting that they will turn Kashmir into a graveyard, they better be aware because the repercussions could be that of what happened to Wani," BJP spokesperson Shaina NC said.
She added that the Hizbul Mujahideen needs to realise that the Central Government is not incompetent and that Prime Minister Narendra Modi has the political will and conviction to take on separatists.
"The Hizbul Mujahideen, as an organisation, and Salahuddin need to realise that this is not an incompetent government that is in power at the Centre in New Delhi. Our Prime Minister has the political will and conviction to take on separatists," she said.
Salahuddin had said he will turn entire Kashmir into a "graveyard" for the Indian armed forces.
Yesterday, Salahuddin, disregarding the all-party meet, said talks would be futile and the only answer to the issue of Kashmir was militancy.
While the all-party meet is an attempt to assuage the situation in the Valley, Salahuddin has warned of his "might", threatening to "take the entire region into [militancy's] fold".
He also said that the militancy movement took a sharp turn after the Hizbul militant Burhan Wani was killed on July 8. Calling the Valley a concentration camp, he said use of more force by the army will only strengthen the militancy movement. Kashmir has been on the boil since the killing of Hizbul Mujahideen commander Burhan Wani on July 8 with curfew continuing in parts of the valley for the 58th-day today.


text:
Danelle Harmon | The Imperfect Leading Man
The year is 1813, and you're a young bride whose gorgeous, wealthy, brave, confident, and extremely successful privateer-captain husband is—thanks to a flaw in his own character— about to make a fatal mistake in judgment.
A mistake that will cost him the respect of those who depend on him . . . a mistake that will cost lives . . . a mistake that will lead him into the very depths of hell itself.
Not exactly "hero material," is he?
Or is he?
As a writer, we're called to challenge ourselves, to present fresh new stories and new takes on old tropes because if it isn't interesting for us, it's not going to be interesting for the reader, either. I like to challenge myself, and I never write the same hero twice. And heaven knows, none of my heroes are "perfect." In fact, I've always found it fascinating to take a hero who is far from perfect and make him not only understood, but sympathetic. Not only sympathetic, but lovable. Not only lovable—but heroic.
But just how far can one go? How flawed can a hero be, how far can an envelope be pushed, both with character and with storyline, before you shove the whole thing off a cliff?
We all know the archetypal romance hero. He's a man who's strong, smart, sexy, capable, easy-to-look-at, charismatic, and a born leader. He's Mr. Perfect in our imperfect world, because yes, romance is, in some ways, "fantasy." But even fantasy stands to gain much and take on a whole new dimension when a little reality is introduced.
How many of us are perfect? (And can you think of anything more boring?)
LORD OF THE SEA — my come-back book after a twelve-year hiatus from the writing world—features a deeply flawed hero. He's no Mr. Perfect, even though he's strong, smart, sexy, capable and of course, gorgeous. Very much so. But he was also born with a learning disability (well . . . two of them, actually), and because of that, he's had to struggle to prove himself his entire life. That learning disability has deeply impacted who he is, how he thinks of himself, how he wants others to think of him, and how he goes about making decisions. Captain Connor Merrick is every woman's dream—but inside, he's hiding a secret that he thinks will destroy him, and underneath his confidence and charisma is a man who is desperate to prove himself to the world, to himself, and to his legendary father in whose tall shadow he has grown up. When Connor makes a decision that results in a fatal mistake, LORD OF THE SEA moves into territory that is forbidden in a romance novel . . . territory that "pushes the envelope" . . . territory that moves us from flawed hero to tortured hero, and has readers reaching for a huge box of tissues.
But don't worry. Connor, like all of my heroes, has a journey to undertake, and I gave him a strong, wise, loving woman to walk the road of pain, challenge and growth right along with him. Rhiannon will find the heart and soul of her hero—a heart and soul as worthy of love as the most "perfect" of heroes, and she alone will save him from himself. I hope you'll join the two of them, and a cast of beloved characters from my previous titles, as the two fall deeply in love . . . and Connor finds a way to accept himself, not as the man he thinks he should be, but as the man that he actually is, because as he will learn, what one person sees as a fatal flaw, may actually turn out to be a lifesaving gift.
In the end, love really does conquer all.
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Danelle Harmon loves to hear from her readers and can be reached at Danelle@danelleharmon.com, or through any of the following means: web site | Facebook | Twitter
What do you think is a perfect hero? One commenter will win a signed pair of paperbacks by Danelle Harmon: CAPTAIN OF MY HEART and LORD OF THE SEA.
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Today we witnessed the first day of a "new", let's say, another type of conference. At least for me this one was new. As I was told there were events like this before but I missed them. Today was the first day of the ICON.US conference, one of those under the flag of the "old" ICON conferences held over the past decades. As ICON.UK is a "live" conference for some years (at least to my conscience) this was the first "virtual" one I have ever attended. A packed day with awesome sessions (> 8 hours) only via GotoWebinar.
Besides the technical aspects there was a whole bunch of valuable content on the first day (there's another day tomorrow). Notice: attendance was free to all who registered early - and of course I was one of the early-birds. During the day Chris Miller, the main organizer of this event, said several times that there were still registrations between the sessions - awesome!
Due to timezones I started to attend at 3 pm CEST - letting the OGS and following session passing by as a podcast (I was just listening to them) as I still had to do some work. I watched the broadcast from 5:45pm CEST until the end of the day. It was a blast!
Once again, the community - which is mainly a part of the organisation team AND the speakers - showed WHY they are doing all of this: because they can and have the passion to do it - and they love to share their knowledge.
I am really looking forward to tomorrow's sessions. A big thank goes out to Chris Miller, the whole team, the sponsors and the top notch speakers who brought and will bring this to "us" around the planet! You're all doing a great job!


As the first book in the Hugo-nominated series October Daye, I wanted to enjoy this book. Unfortunately, I think I will be putting Ms. McGuire on my "Do Not Bother" list.
This should not, however, stop anyone else. I suspect my issues with McGuire have more to do with my personal tastes than with her ability to write and tell stories. My best guess may be the same reason that I don't enjoy Jemisin's works even though I can identify that she's a good writer and deserves every last Hugo that she has won.
There is very little happiness in Rosemary and Rue. In the very beginning of the book, Toby (October) Daye loses her beloved partner and child, and there's likely no way for her to get them back. Then, an ally dies, leaving her with the mystery of her killer, and a curse that will kill Toby unless she figures it out.
I don't require that the books I read be overwhelming cheerful; I don't even require a happy ending (all of the time). I don't read for beautiful writing; I enjoy it when I find it, but it isn't a requirement. I don't read for intricate plots; again, I enjoy them when found. I read to engage my brain, to visit other "worlds", and to escape my world for a few hours.
Rosemary and Rue is well-plotted and well-written. The characters are fairly well-drawn, although I'm sure that will become more true as the series progresses. The mystery is a decent one; I figured it out just before Toby did (so I felt smart). But, just as with everything else of McGuire's that I've read, it's a dreary world with very little to be happy about, at least for Toby.
McGuire, Seanan. Rosemary and Rue. New York, NY: Daw Books, 2009 (September 1). 368 pages. 3 stars.
This book started out as a series of posts on Tor.com call Revisiting the Hugos. It was the author's, Jo Walton's, look at the Hugos. She look at not just the winners, but the nominees, the books that didn't make the short list, the other awards, and anything else she found interesting. When putting the book together, she included some of the most relevant of the comments; mostly those from fellow writers and editors.
That highlights the strength and weakness of this book. It's put together by someone who isn't only a science fiction/fantasy fan, but by a professional writer who has spent years not just reading but studying the works in the field. The comments that she uses are primarily from editors, who know the field as professionals, not as "simple" fans. The book covers not simply the works, but their place in historical and cultural context, how well they've aged, and how well they're remembered.
Perhaps I would have enjoyed it more if I'd read just a year or two at a time. I had to slog and really force my way through it, but I kept thinking that, at some point, I was going to want to go back and read this or that entry again, with more careful attention to it. I never paid a lot of attention to the politics, history, and culture of the science fiction community as a whole; I just read what I enjoyed that I could find.
The tone of the book is informal and chatty; it sounds very much like a conversation. My biggest issue with it is that she puts so much information into each year that it's intimidating. She talks about books that she read once thirty years ago with actual memory of it; I struggle to do the same with some books I read last year, or last month.
She covers the Hugo Awards, mostly for the novels but the shorter works are discussed and all other awards are at least briefly mentioned, from 1953 to 2000. There's a lot of material here and I look forward to reading it again…one chapter (year) at a time.
Walton, Jo. An Informal History of the Hugos. New York, NY: Tor Books, 2018. Kindle edition. Amazon. August 7, 2018.
This is the second book in The Extraordinary Adventures of the Athena Club. The first book in the series, The Strange Case of the Alchemist's Daughter, was nominated for the Nebula award and the World Fantasy award, and was a fun read.
This book starts off planning the trip set up at the end of the first one, an expedition to visit Mary Jekyll's former governess, Mina Harker nee Murray, and to rescue Lucinda Van Helsing. And the adventure itself is fun, full of adventure, kidnappings, fights, romance, and lots of familiar names. The seven women from the first novel all have their parts to play in this one, with several new women in this, from Dracula and Sherlock Holmes. After the rescue, our heroines take off to stop a Royal Society-type organization that is creating more monsters.
I didn't enjoy this book nearly as much as the first one, and I think the reason is that, at 720 pages, it was too long. There are two stories, related, but I think it would have worked better if the stories had been separated. And, since the book was so long, the comments from the other women, which tend to be funny and add color and character, became distracting.
I'm hoping that the author gets advice to shorten her books so that the next entry in the series will be as entertaining as the first one.
Goss, Theodora. European Travel for the Monstrous Gentlewoman. New York, NY: Saga Press, 2018. Kindle edition. Amazon.
The novel revolves around three young women, all of them isolated, belittled and scorned, who decide to take what actions they can to improve their lives or the lives of those they love. Miryem Mandelstam, the Jewish moneylender's daughter, is the only one who truly feels loved at the beginning of the novel, is also the one who sets things in motion. When the Staryk, winter fairies, begin expanding the winter, her mother becomes sick. Her father is notoriously bad at collecting the debts owed him, so Miryem goes out and begins doing so to get what is needed to help her mother get well. Her parents are horrified, but aren't capable of taking over the job, so she continues.
The second of the three young women is Wanda, the daughter of one of the farmers in the nameless town in which the novel begins. Her mother dies after giving birth to eight children, of whom only three survive: Wanda, Sergey and Stepon. While trying to recover from the final birth, her father Gorek borrows six kopeks from Miryem's father. After drinking two and gambling two, he uses the last two to get medicine for his wife, which isn't enough to save her. Years later, when Miryem begins collecting what her father is owed, Gorek claims he cannot pay. Deciding that this is probably true, Miryem bargains instead for Wanda's labor to care for the Mandelstams.
For Wanda, the most passive of the three young women, this is a rescue. As long as she has to work for Miryem, her father can't sell her off to be married. In addition, once she begins to work for Miryem and her family, she discovers love and care that she hasn't had since her mother's death. It is Wanda who uses the metaphor that Miryem can spin silver into gold by watching her employer turn a small investment into a greater profit.
The Staryk king hears this and comes for Miryem. He first gives her a silver kopek and tells her to turn it to gold. She goes to the jeweler fiance of her cousin, he turns the silver into a ring, and they sell that ring to Vysnia's duke in return for a single gold coin. As is common with fairy tales, the king demands greater quantities of gold. In return, he will not kill Miryem, but will marry her. The second quantity is turned into a necklace and the third into a crown. All three are bought by the duke to give to his daughter, Irina, to convince the tsar to marry her. Irina is the third of the young women at the center of the novel.
Each of the young women has to face a trial at the hands of the brutal and violent men in control of their lives and, ultimately, wrest control back to their own hands. Each of them finds strength in community, and in the women, and sometimes the men, in their lives. As with traditional fairy tales, the risks are perhaps greater than the reward, but that reward is not insubstantial. And in the end, these women rescue each other.
The connection to Rumpelstiltskin is a little on the thin side, but that was never the main charm of this novel anyway. That is in the women.
Novik, Naomi. Spinning SIlver. New York, NY: Del Rey, 2018. Kindle edition. Amazon.
Good Guys is a detective story: the main characters have to find out who's killing people with magic. Seems simple, but along the way they have to figure out if they're actually the good guys and if they're working for the right people.
I have a complaint about Good Guys that I've run into a couple of times lately. I'm not sure why this isn't being caught/addressed, or if this is a factor of growing older and more aware of the technical aspects of writing, but Brust is not good, especially early on, about signalling that the story is being told from a different character's point of view. I went several chapters before realizing that the sections being told from the bad guy's perspective weren't being told from Donovan's. It's not that I didn't know who the person was who had the perspective, but that I could so easily mix them up.
Other than that one complaint, I enjoyed Good Guys. The "whodoneit" aspect of the story is answered early on, the "whydoneit" follows within a reasonable amount of time. When the characters do something stupid, the results of their stupidity (impatience) are what you would expect. The guy who falls into the "magic is real" actually acts like someone would in his position, and the confrontation with the higher-ups actually feels real. There are no loose ends dangling, although this could easily be turned into a series.
I enjoyed it, although I'm not sure it will go onto my "reread" list. A solid 3.5 stars.
Brust, Steven. Good Guys. New York, NY: Tor Books, 2018. Kindle edition. Amazon.
Although this isn't one of my favorite of Connie Willis's stories, it is a worthy addition to her oeuvre. Told in the first person, the narrator is doing publicity for his blog, Gone for Good, about things that are just that. He is also trying to get a deal to turn his blog into a book. After a particularly bad interview, he takes a walk in midtown Manhattan, is caught by a rainstorm, and finds shelter in Ozymandias Books.
The rest of the story is his experience within Ozymandias Books, what he finds there, and how it changes him. As he is led through the shop by Cassie, an employee, he notes many of the book titles, including an old favorite of his from childhood. As he realizes what the shop truly is, his agent calls him that an interview has been moved up and he has to leave. I'll leave what happens next for the reader to enjoy.
Unlike my favorite Willis stories, there is little humor. It does have the character's obsessive noting of details, the strangeness of the setting, and action that moves the plot forward. The story is a quick read, and one that will stick with me. I recommend it.
The Strange Case of the Alchemist's Daughter is based on several Victorian-era horror stories, told through the five daughters, biological or otherwise, of the original main characters. It is primarily a mystery, or several mysteries, with a good bit of the original horror mixed in.
This story is the first in a series, since the second one has been published, and as such spends much of its time setting the stage. Largely through flashbacks, each of the "daughter's" story is told. In addition to the five young women, there is a housekeeper, a scullery maid, and in the epilogue, two more "daughters." In addition, Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson also make appearances, and are two of the very few men in this book who are portrayed in a positive light.
Part of that, of course, is the time in which the novel is set, but part is the premise of the novel. All of these women have been created and then abandoned, or escaped destruction, by their monstrous, alchemist fathers.
All of the above makes the book sound dreary and dull, but nothing could be farther from the truth. It's a romp! And I'm looking forward to the second adventure of the Athena Club.
Goss, Theodora. The Strange Case of the Alchemist's Daughter. New York: Saga Press, 2017. Kindle edition. Amazon.
The Stone Sky is a fantasy novel, set in the distant future on what is implied to be Earth. It is also the final book in a three book series.
This novel is a difficult one for me to review. Quite frankly, I didn't enjoy it, and had to slog my way through all three books. On the other hand, the series is well-written, the world-building is wonderful and complex, and the characters are complex. My issues with the series are that I could never really care about the characters–in fact, it took me until quite late in the first book to realize that the three women were the same person–and the plot left me cold.
That said, the first two books in this series won the Hugo Award for Best Novel last year and the year before. I suspect this one has a very good shot of winning this year. This may be a case in which I'm missing whatever is great about this novel and the series.
Jemisin, N. K. The Stone Sky. New York: Orbit Books, 2017. Kindle edition. Amazon.
The title of the novel, Spoonbenders, refers to two different, but related, things. It directly refers to the family the book is about, the Telemachus family, but it indirectly refers to the art of mind over matter demonstrated by bending spoons. This second, generally believed to be stage magic, describes the Telemachus family. Teddy Telemachus, the father of the three main characters claimed that the entire family was psychically gifted; however, these gifts were brutally debunked on a television show when they were children.
The veracity, or fraudulence, of the gifts of the various members of the Telemachus family, and those of the next generation, are the core of the novel. A novel which deftly moves between laugh-out-loud funny and all-too-real sad, with characters who range between youngsters losing their innocence, adults maybe getting to gain theirs back, and a paterfamilias who isn't quite as much a flim-flam man as he appears to be.
The climax is a set-piece of prophecy, surprise, and explosions that is lovely and satisfying. I highly recommend it.
Gregory, Daryl. Spoonbenders. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2017. Kindle edition. Amazon.
This novel is described as The Godfather with magic and kungfu, which is an accurate description as far as I know. It is set in an Asia-flavored city. Since neither The Godfather nor Asian-flavored backgrounds really appeal to me, it doesn't surprise me that this novel doesn't either.
The basic story is that the families who control jade, which powers magic, also control the city. The more jade a person wears, the more power they have. In addition, there is a new drug, Shine, that allows magically weaker people to use more jade, with all of the advantages and disadvantages of any performance-enhancing drug.
Superficially, this novel about power, all kinds of power, what people will do to get, what they will do to keep it, and the ramifications of the above. In reality, it is about family and loyalty, what members of a family will do to protect each other, what they will do for those who have given their loyalty, and what they will do to those who have betrayed it.
This isn't a novel I enjoyed, but it was compelling and well-written. If the description appeals to you, it is well worth your time.
Lee, Fonda. Jade City. New York: Orbit Books, 2017. Kindle edition. Amazon.


text:
Q: using windows form serialization class getting errors I'm using a custom cs file from here (http://www.codeproject.com/Articles/86503/Saving-the-state-serializing-a-Windows-Form?msg=4819352#xx4819352xx) to serialize my windows form into an XML file.
I'm afraid I might not be using the correct events in order to trigger the serialization because only some of the form data is being serialized.
    private void Form1_Load(object sender, EventArgs e)
    {
        try
        {
            FormSerialisor.Deserialise(this, Application.StartupPath + @"\serialise.xml");
        }

        catch (InvalidCastException theError)
        {

        }
    }

    private void Form1_FormClosing(object sender, FormClosingEventArgs e)
    {
        FormSerialisor.Serialise(this, Application.StartupPath + @"\serialise.xml");
    }

Here's a screen shot:
http://imgur.com/Ar2lfqh
I've used coding practices to prevent duplicate object names by leaving the default names intact and just changing the "text" field or adding labels. My only guess is that the program is quitting before it finishes serializing the data.
Is this the correct handler to be calling this from?

A: If I am not mistaking you have NumericUpDown control which is not handled by the FormSerialisor. You need to make sure that all the controls that you are using are handled in the FormSerialisor.
I hope this helps.


EN/ ENVIROFILM provides an opportunity for international co-operation and exchange of opinions and helps to find new ways for their application. It is a meeting place for creative filmmakers and experts. The programme of the Festival consists of the international contest of films, TV programmes, projection of non-competition films, conferences, professional and creative seminars and workshops, discussions with public, press conferences, exhibitions, international competitions and accompanying events for children and youth.