How-to

In the vegetable world, Kale is the Captain America of Super Foods. Mistaking this rich, green leaf for just another type of lettuce would be seriously undervaluing it’s super abilities including lowering cholesterol, upping your fiber content in a single bound, and lowering your risk of cancer. It also has 45 different flavonoids that have antioxidant and anti-inflammatory benefits.

Working from home is an increasingly popular trend. Doing so saves on office space, commute time and many of the expenses of having a team working in a centralized building. It can also be an attractive option for employees. I worked from home on a part-time basis for a decade and switched to full-time over five years ago —I can’t even picture going back to a traditional office. But if you’re going to make this work, you have to take it seriously (it’s not all coffee on the deck and hanging out with the dogs) and your PC is a central component. I’ve put together suggestions on how to set up your PC to work from home.

Like many Canadians, I’ve spent the past few weekends spring cleaning. Something about being largely stuck indoors through a particularly long and harsh winter (including nearly a week without wired Internet access when an ice storm took out cable service in my neighbourhood) makes the first warm day of April seem like it’s past time to get things done. We open the windows, break out the rakes and start cleaning, indoors and out. Cars are washed, windows wiped and carpets shampooed. Since I have the cleaning bug anyway, this is the perfect time to clean my PC –also, both “inside” and out. The result will be a computer that’s faster, cleaner, more energy efficient, less cluttered and a pleasure to use.

Welcome to my life spaghetti squash! Actually, I’ve been creating spaghetti squash recipes for quite some time now. When I discovered how the golden squash will turn into noodlelike strands when you bake it, we were off to the races. It has a light flavor, so it basically blends in well with whatever sauce you’ve picked for it.

We’re in a golden age of home movies thanks to the built-in video shooting capability of most mobile phones and there are people making big bucks posting professional looking videos on sites like YouTube —that are shot on their smartphone. How do you go from shaky, raw smartphone footage to polished looking results with subtitles, special effects and animated overlays? It’s actually pretty easy and the best part is, you can pump up your phone footage with movie effects for next to nothing and sometimes even for free.

It’s Easter weekend, and although it might not really feel like spring in Canada the spring activities are kicking into high gear all over the country. Softball, soccer, and other sports are all starting up again after a long winter, and between work, commuting, and all of the household fun that goes into weeknight life you’ll have less time than ever to put together dinner.   That’s why you need easy dinner recipes, and it makes it even easier if those dinner recipes come packaged with an appetizer, main course, and desert. After all, just because you’re busy doesn’t mean you shouldn’t eat like you have all the time in the world.

I have been using a Misfit Shine for the past three months. It uses a three-axis accelerometer to measure motion, and keep track of your daily physical activity. But key to the Shine is its mobile app. Shine only works with its own app for now, though the company is looking to open up its API. But that’s OK, because there’s a ton of coolness packed into the Shine app.

Busy weeknights and casual weekends – these are the times when pasta recipes really come in handy. Even if you’re watching what you eat, pasta is a great go-to dish for anyone because it’s versatile, easy to prepare, and almost everyone loves it.

Pasta salad – it’s just one of those things that fits in with everything. Summer BBQ in the backyard? Pasta salad goes great with steak, chicken, or veggie burgers. Having a formal dinner for friends? Pasta salad can fit right in with some of the main courses you toil for hours over.  At my house it’s practically expected that I make a side pasta salad for a roast chicken, and I always whip it out for the official Canadian kick off for summer on July 1st.

Metering is one of the most important functions that a camera performs, and if you want to unleash the true power of your DSLR or mirrorless camera by shooting in manual mode, it’s something you’ll need to learn about, or you could end up shooting lots of silhouettes this summer!   Today photographer Justin Morrison gives us the low-down on metering modes; what they are and when to use them.