The Cookie and Cake Mix Entry: Duncan Hines vs Betty Crocker (aka the Sweet Entry)

Hi All,

You might think that the day before the Superbowl I would pen a blog entry on football.  You know a blog entry with player stats, Superbowl stats and pictures and half-time show entertainment.  Nope.  Not this year. I've done that for a few years now and want to shake it up and mix it up and do something different.  So...one of the foods that is near and dear to my heart is the cookie.  I'm talking about chocolate chip cookies or oatmeal raisin cookies or Oreos...pretty much almost any cookie is a cookie that I'll take a taste of.  Cookies and milk.  What a combination!  Yum.

Click here for a brief history of the cookie - courtesy of Wikipedia.  Section four has a very concise history of the cookie - and is interesting to boot.

And for an alternative history of the cookie, click on this link - courtesy of What's Cooking America. This is a very off the cuff, information-rich, chronological history of the cookie.  Neat stuff.

Some of the more well known names in cookie and baking history are Duncan Hines and Betty Crocker. The Duncan Hines link goes to the company website, but this link goes to the 'About Us' page on the site.   But...and this is important....neither of these two entities relies on just chocolate chip cookies now.  For example, Duncan Hines makes products as varied as Classic Devil's Food Cake Mix and Classic Yellow Cake Mix and brownie mixes.  In addition they make Lender's Bagels and Mrs. Butterworth (syrup), Wish-Bone Dressings, Aunt Jemima, Hungry-Man dinners and Vlassic pickles and Mrs Paul's fish sticks. Yum.  But probably not a great way to start breakfast every day...

Betty Crocker makes products as varied as Bisquick, Betty Crocker Frosting, Reese's Premium Cookie Mix and many, many different types of cupcake mixes and cookie mixes.

And what an interactive, fun site it is!  Filled with pictures and narrative all wrapped up in a magazine like interface, the site is fun and easy to use.  And its quite a trip back to the beginnings and history of Duncan Hines! Click on this link for a 'Product Locator'. Click on this link to find a scrumptious Chunky Chocolate Cookie recipe.


So...with all these delicious products, here is a great question: who makes the better cake mix? Duncan Hines or Betty Crocker?

For chocolate chip cookie recipes, click on this link from AllRecipes.com.  Click on this link for Anna's Chocolate Chip Cookies.  Ready in 25 minutes they received 4.5 stars (out of 5) and had over 900 reader reviews.  Of course you can type in almost any terms (chocolate chip cookies, oatmeal raisin cookie, sugar cookie, etc) in the Allrecipes.com search box and you'll come up with interesting recipes.

And finally, click on this link from Keebler - those elves are doing something sinfully good in that treehouse of theirs to be able to make such a delicious cookie

Enjoy the links and the cookies and of course, don't forget the milk when you make cookies. What a wonderful combination!

Regards,
Stu

Financial Calculators

Hi All,

Today's blog entry is all about numbers. Specifically it is about financial numbers. More specifically it is an entry about how to find financial calculators to help you make better financial decisions.

For example, a common number on many credit card statements indicates how long it will take you to  payoff your credit cards if you only make minimum payments.  Click on this link to actually see how the calculation is made.

Another common calculation that folks need to make is to find how much interest you can save by increasing your monthly auto loan payment.   Click on this link to dig into the particulars of how this calculation is made.

Astute readers will realize that the two links above come from a website called DinkyTown.  Sure it might have a silly name, but the financial calculators on the site are current, easy-to-use and well organized.  

With categories like Mortgages, Loans, Credit Cards, Auto, Investments, Retirement, Insurance, Taxes, Savings, Finance and Business, DinkyTown.net is a veritable one-stop shopping site for financial calculators.  Of course users can click on any of the blue links above to go directly to that part of DinkyTown that you are interested in visiting.

Now, one of my personal favorite parts of the site is the Finance section.  In this section users can find a basic calculator, a basic financial calculator (can calculate present value, future value, payments or periods), a checkbook balancer, credit assessment calculator, net worth calculator, 'Should my spouse work? calculator' and a student budget calculator.  Interesting stuff, eh?

And just remember, these are just some of the available calculators in just the Finance section.  Remember that there are the other categories available - which all have multiple calculators under their own respective headings.  Very cool stuff!

So...with the tax season just getting underway, hopefully this site might just make completing your taxes just a bit easier!

Regards - hope the site saves you time and money!
Stu

FareCompare - Find Cheap Flights, Fast

Hi All,

I was driving to the library today and I heard an advertisement for an interesting website called 'FareCompare.com'.  What is FareCompare.com you ask?

FareCompare.com lets users find flights and hotels really, really quickly.  Click on any of the prior links in blue that say FareCompare.com and you'll visit the site.

The site bills itself as having over 4 million users each month and has been mentioned in various media outlets like the New York Times, NBC, ABCNews, USAToday, The Wall Street Journal, CNN and The Boston Globe among others. Also, FareCompare finds prices from airlines and aggregator websites as varied as American Airlines, Priceline.com, Expedia.com, BookingBuddy.com and CheapOAir.com.

So, how exactly does FareCompare help users? Indeed - great question.

From the main page users use two drop down boxes to select a flight. Users click on a box for 'Roundtrip' or 'One-way', depending on whether you want to come back or not :)

In addition, users need to click on at least 3 sites (mentioned above...) to compare.  Once the boxes on the three comparison sites are checked, users click on the green button that says 'Find Flights'.

Each of the three comparison sites information is shown on a window that appears on your computer screen.  So...that means you'll have three tiled windows on your screen so that you can compare the prices of the flight you chose.  It is fairly easy to go from one site to another fairly quickly so you can compare the information on the three sites.

On all three sites, you'll find similar information.... flight number, price and links so you can purchase the ticket and reserve your seat. Once on any of the 3 comparison sites, users can edit/change any information (ie departure time or departure city and more). 

Users can use FareCompare to find hotels and get great deals on flights by click on these links: Hotels, Deals. There is also a very helpful section on the site called 'Travel Advice'.  New users can sign-in to FareCompare in order to get fare alerts, information and more from FareCompare.com.

Finally, there is a section on the site called 'Ask Rick'.  Rick is the CEO of FareCompare and this is the section that has articles like, 'Surprising Things About Super Bowl Airfare', and '8 Airline Gotchas You Need to Know About' and '6 Travel Mega-Mistakes: When Airlines say 'Oops!'  Basically this is the fluffly, PR section on FareCompare.  That said, the articles are pretty interesting and certainly current and entertaining.

So there you have it...FareCompare.com and how it can help you to find the information you need so you can save money. And isn't that something that we all want to do these days?

Enjoy the links and the sites and the flights and the money you'll save by using FareCompare.com

Regards,
Stu

PS - At some point in the future I will probably discuss Priceline.com - the 800 pound gorilla in the hotel/room finding industry and the find-a-flight industry as well as the rental car industry.  Stay tuned.

Cold Weather Blues

Hi All,

Cold weather seems like it is the norm lately here in Farmingdale - and on Long Island. Click on this link for cold weather facts from the National Safety Council.  They discuss things like dressing warm, frostbite, hypothermia and more.

Another link that might be of interest to cold weather fans is this one from 'The Weather Channel'.  Entitled 'Deep Freeze Recap: Coldest Temperatures of the Century for Some' the article talks about how records have fallen in many cities around the country during this last cold weather snap.

Click on this link to learn how to stay warm without a heater...brought to you by Wikihow. 

From ApartmentTherapy.com comes this entry with the title, '14 Ways to Keep Warm Without Turning on the Temperature or Turning the Heat Up'.

And remember folks, bring those pets indoors during these bone chillingly cold nights.  With temperatures around 10* and wind-chill factors near -10* you need to bring your cat or dog inside ASAP.   Click on this link to learn how to keep your pet warm after you bring him in from the cold. 

Remember to keep your car maintained so that you don't have a dead battery in the morning.  Click here for some advice on how to winterize your car - fyi, its a video.  Click here for another article on winterizing your car...this one is entitled '9 Ways to Winterize Your Car.'


Finally, click on this link from Google Images for lots of pictures of icy cold tundra like conditions.  Hey, some folks like this weather - others not so much...

Enjoy the links and stay warm.

Regards,
Stu

The First...

Hi All,

Welcome to the first blog post of 2014.  And what better time and place is there than this entry to talk about the 'first' of 'things'? 

In this blog entry I'm going to talk about 'all things first'....

So, without further ado...

USFirst.org - is a website that is an acronym for 'For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology'.  The stated mission of USFirst is to 'inspire young  people to be science and technology leaders, by engaging them in exciting mentor-based programs that build science, engineering and technology skills that inspire innovation, and that foster well-rounded life capabilities including self-confidence, communication, and leadership.

First Amendment Center -  all things 'First Amendment'.  As the website explains, '
We support the First Amendment and build understanding of its core freedoms through education, information and entertainment.  The center serves as a forum for the study and exploration of free-expression issues, including freedom of speech, of the press and of religion, and the rights to assemble and to petition the government.

The center serves as a forum for the study and exploration of free-expression issues, including freedom of speech, of the press and of religion, and the rights to assemble and to petition the government.
The center’s programs, including the Religious Freedom Education Project at the Newseum, provide education and information to the public and groups including First Amendment scholars and experts, educators, government policy makers, legal experts and students. The center is nonpartisan and does not lobby, litigate or provide legal advice.

First Book - simply put 'First Book' gets children in need access to new books.  Great stuff for learning and for helping children get a great start in life.

First Monday - is one of the first openly accessible, peer-reviewed journals on the Internet, solely devoted to the Internet. Since its start in May 1996, First Monday has published 1,339 papers in 212 issues; these papers were written by 1,819 different authors. 

First Ladies - brought to you by the White House, the site has pictures and biographies of all the First Ladies.  Interesting stuff for the student or history buff in all of us!

First Night - celebrations around the world to celebrate New Years Eve.  This is the link from Wikipedia to the article about First Night's around the world (especially North America). 

Enjoy the links!  And Happy New Year (belatedly)

Regards,
Stu