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How to Make Gravy Less Salty Let’s first debunk one of the most commonly purported but incorrect solutions: Adding potatoes to overly salty gravy or soup doesn’t solve the problem. In his tome What Einstein Told His Cook: Kitchen Science Explained, Robert Wolke, professor emeritus in chemistry at the University of Pittsburgh, conducted multiple controlled experiments with potatoes in both unsalted and overly salty water. While the potatoes absorbed the salty water, they didn’t cut the salty taste of the liquid one bit....

Reader question: How do I get rid of the strawberry skin on my legs? - @marlaukel Despite the cutesy nickname sounding like what could be a hit country song, the actual skin condition is a pretty annoying nuisance. If you’re not familiar with the term, it’s exactly what it sounds like: little dark dots on your legs that resemble the seeds of a strawberry. More professionally called keratosis pilaris, the black, pitted dots stubbornly remain no matter how often you shave your legs....

Thanksgiving Food Safety Tips

Oosouji is more than just cleaning and decluttering; it’s about letting go of unwanted things, bringing order to chaos, and welcoming the new year with a clean slate. Businesses practice oosouji too. It’s a chance to close up accounts, archive old files, and even resolve outstanding conflicts. Even schoolchildren perform oosouji by cleaning out their desks and backpacks. In oosouji, there is a focus on minimalism, on cultivating a more pleasing environment with fewer things, but ones that have more meaning and significance....

Here are a few key rules to follow to make the best-ever scalloped potato recipe for an upcoming holiday or any day.

The downside to great-looking shoes is that something as small as a strangely placed strap or a blister-inducing back can lead to days of aching feet, which will discourage you from wearing them again. Nobody wants their once-covetable kicks to turn into a waste of money and closet space, so we’re sharing tips to make every type of shoe more comfortable. From heels to flip flops and everything in between, these tips will finally teach you how to make shoes more comfortable for good....

Take, for example, TikTok user Jeremy Scheck’s viral crispy potato recipe. The 20-year-old’s video clip has garnered nearly 20 million views and 1.7 million likes and counting (one of which came from Kylie Jenner), so you know there’s something to TikTok content that features regular food. Scheck’s method is smart, scientifically informed, and incredibly delicious—and this is coming from a food editor that feels so passionate about the technique involved in roasting potatoes that she once made her own video about the Maillard reaction....

Start by giving commonly stored items their own place. Instead of letting car cleaning supplies take up valuable trunk space, stash them in a hanging organizer on the back of the headrest. And rather than let reusable shopping bags float free (and inevitably get trapped in a crevice so you can’t find them when you head to the grocery store), keep all your shopping bags in a space-saving container. To buy: YoGi Prime Trunk and Backseat Car Organizer, $23; amazon....

Some families may have saved more money than usual during the pandemic out of concern about what the future would bring. When the future seems uncertain, it’s natural to cut back and prepare for the unexpected, and the huge spike in the national personal saving rate recorded by the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis in April 2020 reflects that fear. Still, many of those savings—or the ease with which many families were able to stockpile cash—may have been more out of lack of opportunity than a sudden need to save....

There are plenty of ways to make regifting glamorous—whether it’s hanging on to a fashionable gift that doesn’t fit you but is just what your sister loves, or pairing eco-friendly gift wrap with personalized embellishments that breathe new life into old finds. Ahead, gifting and etiquette pros share a few easy tips to make save time and money this holiday season by simply giving gifts you already have. First, check for a gift receipt....

What Is Spatchcocking? Spatchcocking involves cutting out the chicken’s spine and pressing down on the breast bone to flatten the chicken. Flattening it exposes more of the chicken’s surface to the oven or grill heat, which is what allows it to cook faster and give you that deliciously crisp chicken skin. The spatchcocking method cuts your cooking time immensely. (You can sometimes get it from the fridge to your dinner plate in about a half hour....

How to Store Fresh Ginger Having ginger on-hand is incredibly useful—you never know when you’re going to need it. To help your ginger stay fresher for longer, make sure to place it in an air-tight food storage container or sealed plastic bag, and then store it in the crisper drawer in the fridge. This will help keep it fresh for a month, or even longer. Once you begin to see greenish-blue mold spots, it’s time to toss your ginger....

“Our financial lives tend to become more layered and complex as we move from our 20s to 30s and beyond. What we strive to accomplish when we’re in our 30s may be very different from where we want to be money-wise when we’re turning 50,” says registered financial advisor Pam Krueger, founder of Wealthramp and creator and co-host of PBS’ MoneyTrack. “As your life changes and the economy, stock market, and interest rates also change around you, it is critically important that you know where you stand and how best to position your investments....

To start the process, check the list below for all of the food, first aid, and tools you should keep on hand. Then read on to learn more about hurricanes, the difference between a hurricane watch and a hurricane warning, and how you can stay ahead of the storm to keep your family safe. As the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association (NOAA) explained, hurricanes first start out as a tropical cyclone, which is “a rotating low-pressure weather system that has organized thunderstorms but no fronts (a boundary separating two air masses of different densities)....

So when my dermatologist recommended not another new retinol cream or snail serum, but a complete surrender of my products altogether, I was definitely thrown off. Coined “skin fasting,” the process involves stripping your skincare routine to only the bare basics for anywhere from one to seven days. The term originally stemmed from Mirai Clinical, a Japanese skin and body care brand that describes skin fasting as a way “to strengthen the skin’s natural protective barrier that is weakened by excessive nourishing, to normalize the secretion of natural oils and support the natural rejuvenation process....

Unlike frumpy knits that feel comfortable but look less appealing, this sweater top is anything but. The wrap design has a side string closure that gives the sweater a sleek appearance that’s perfect for working in-office, grabbing drinks, or going to family events this fall. The long-sleeves provide ample coverage from the cold and have a balloon design with fitted cuffs, so you can still enjoy that oversized feel without your hands getting lost inside....