I hear people say this all the time, but it really isn’t true, is it??? I have used my Instant Pot exactly twice, once to make rice and once to make an Indian lentil recipe, and each time it took at least 15-20 minutes to come to pressure and then another 10-15 minutes to release the pressure. Sure, I set the timer…

Good god, the company I worked with was nothing like that. There was a limit in terms of the number of drinks, etc. but if going to a restaurant I was expected to order a three-course meal and one to two drinks, for myself and another person, with the full amount reimbursed and a fee on top of that. And I went to some…

Yes, this sounds like basically a combination of behavioral and geotargeting. Behavioral targeting can also end up being inaccurate if you are doing something like buy a gift - for example, getting something for a relative’s baby shower and then having ads targeting you as an expectant parent. But it can also be…

Ha, all I know is that I got some nice meals and drinks out of it for free, and usually $50 or so on top of that. They always paid me on time too. When you’re in your early 20s and making no money it’s nothing to sneeze at! 

Speaking as someone who works at these types of companies, the answer is sort of. The club card is a prime way to get very detailed purchasing information about consumers but credit cards tend to be a bit more circumspect about these things and focus more on larger segments (eg, “likes to travel” not “went to Florida…

I used to do “store detective” visits to restaurants and bars back when I was a broke 20-something and was told that this was something dishonest bartenders would sometimes do - keep refilling the top shelf bottle with low cost hooch and sell the stock out the back. We were asked to look out for things like a…

I’ve had something similar happen at the end of the evening - if there are just a few tables left it doesn’t make sense for all the servers to stay so just one person will handle the stragglers. (I am sadly all too often one of those stragglers as I go to the theater a lot with a friend who can never get out of work…

One of my best friends is from Baltimore and as such is a crab expert. We were making crabcakes one time from fresh, not frozen, crab meat (the kind you can get from a fish store in a plastic container) and she said picking the bits of shell out was always her task when she was little. Her hands were basically a blur…

I think the real issue here is not the double standard around attractiveness but rather the fact that such shitty roles are written for women. So many movies basically have one part for a hot chick that there’s little room for women who play anything else. But there are a few women who were able to break out without…

I once went to an all-you-can drink NYE party when I was in my late 40s. (Yes, I should have known better but in fairness they had an 80's tribute band playing). By this point in my life I would rather pay more for actual drinks I liked than get hammered on whatever house swill they were pouring, but clearly the…

With my family of four we made a new batch every other day and finished off the leftovers the next day. Since washing dishes was my assigned chore I then had to scrub off all the dried-on rice, a task I hated. Nowadays with the new super non-stick pots they all use you can just brush it all out with your hand! 

Ha, being Asian (my parents were both born in China) I grew up eating rice made by a rice cooker every.single.day. I never learned how to make it on the stove properly and my parents finally put me out of my misery and bought me one. I use it at least once every few weeks, and I live alone! 

I caved and bought one of these suckers during Prime Day and have used it twice - once for rice which was a total fail (based on my friend’s advice I added too much water, and it took WAY longer than my rice cooker) and once for a butter dal recipe (came out fine but I don’t make Indian food often). It’s huge, weighs…

She had an affair with someone who works for her - that’s where it crosses the line for me and merits resignation. Trump’s conduct is obviously far worse and includes rape and assault, but that’s a whole different issue.

I agree that she certainly never planned on being First Lady, not when she married him and not when he ran (the whole family clearly never thought he would win and just viewed this as a promotional exercise). That being said, it is VERY likely that she was fully aware he is a serial sexual harasser who crossed the…

I think all of this depends on what kind of wine you drink and how fussy you are. I’m typically buying wine in the $10-$30 range, which living in NYC is not really all that much, and will keep an opened bottle of wine (with either a stopper or the screwcap in place) in the fridge for a few weeks. Does it taste as good…

Don’t be that person. Italian rice balls and onigiri are completely different things and both are fantastic when done well. No reason to crap on Italian rice balls just because you like onigiri.

If someone said “I know R Kelly probably did some messed up stuff but I’m going to go buy his stuff on Spotify anyway” I think it’s fair to say they’re part of the problem. But acknowledging someone was a talented musician is basically just a statement of fact. And given the length of Jackson’s career there are plenty…

The thing is, quite a number of folks answer these surveys based on “I think I heard of these two people” rather than any understanding of their policies. And while it’s easy to blame them for not being informed, people who were never able to afford great educations and are working multiple jobs to keep a roof over…

What I usually look for is sugar on the ingredient list - many of the basic brands like Ragu have it WAY high up on the list and I find the sauce just way too sweet. Rao’s is the only one I personally buy though, I was disappointed not to see it on the list!