Photo: Joshua Resnick (Shutterstock)

Now that spring has arrived, it’s time to start thinking about your outdoor plans for the next few months. Is there a particular park that you have visited as a guest and that you would like to be involved in for the entire season? What about camping and hiking permits?

Whether you’ve already bought the ones you need for this year or are still thinking about it, Mountain Dew is offering to reimburse you $ 25 for any passports, licenses, or permits you need to get outdoors this spring and summer be. Here’s what to know.

Authorized IDs, permits and licenses

To be eligible for a refund, the Outdoor Pass must fall into one of these approved categories. as specified by Mountain Dew::

Passes

• National Park Pass (annual or otherwise)
• Snowboard or ski pass
• Mountain bike pass
• Backcountry or Wilderness permits (some are free, some are paid)
• America the Beautiful Interagency Annual Pass
• Senior or Military Access Passes
• Recreational day passes, season permits, day permits

Any fees associated with any outdoor activity or visit, including:

• Entrance fee to national parks
• Wilderness permits (backpacking, overnight camping, etc.)
• National Monument Admission
• State Park and Sno-Park fees

Licenses

• Fishing license
• Trapping license
• Athlete license
• Boat license
• Jet ski license
• ATV or off-road vehicle license
• Hunting license, including large or small game, waterfowl or highland birds, any other legally licensed game

G / O Media can receive a commission

How To Get $ 25 For Outdoor Recreation

This giveaway is part of the Soda brand “Outdoor Stimulus” programthat started last year. And while it’s a contest that you have to enter, 40,000 people will win the $ 25 prize. So at least your chances are good.

You must have a DEW Outdoor Stimulus account to participate. So start with Registration for aif you haven’t already. Once that’s done Upload or scan a photo Your valid outdoor pass or license on the competition website. If you haven’t already purchased your pass or permit for the year, you can Download an image from the competition website and scan that instead.

You will find out immediately if you won the $ 25 refund. If you’re in the lucky 40,000, you’ll receive a $ 25 gift card by email four to six weeks later. Or, you have the option to donate that $ 25 to one of Mountain Dew’s selected outdoor causes. including: River Network, Outdoor Afro, Protect Our Winter, Team Rubicon, Backcountry Hunters & Anglers and Pheasants Forever.

The fine print

You must be at least 18 years old and a US resident to participate. Once you have created your Outdoor Stimulus account, you can enter the competition once a day and win up to three times during the competition period ending June 12, 2021 at 11:59 p.m. ET. Further rules, terms and conditions are available on the competition website.

Photo: tarapong srichaiyos (Shutterstock)

I wish I had a good reason to lie in bed on a Friday morning and try jellied beer from a cocktail glass – but the real explanation is anime. Anime has been my and my spouse’s pandemic hobby, and we’ve seen at least two dozen series in the past year. We recently finished The Disastrous Life by Saiki K., a show about an all-powerful high school clairvoyant who is desperately trying (and failing) to be mediocre. The title character has a weakness for dessert – especially coffee jelly, a gelatinized coffee dessert. Gelatin always spoiled me a little, and I’ve only made Jell-O once or twice, but I wanted to try coffee jelly myself.

What began as a serious attempt to recreate this actually good dessert quickly developed into a barely scientific mission to gelatinize all the liquids I could think of. The results have always been surprising, often tasty, and at times terrible, but I’ve gained the confidence to use gelatin when a recipe calls for it.

Gelatin comes from collagen, a widely used protein with a wound triple helix shape that gives structure to connective tissue in animals. Heating gelatin in water induces a hydrolysis reaction that breaks the proteins into smaller pieces. When you mix a powder made from these pieces with a liquid in solution, you heat the solution to activate it and allow it to cool. “The gelatin molecules rewind and form this beautiful gel network,” which encloses the liquid. E. Allen Foegeding, Professor Emeritus in the Department of Food, Bioprocessing, and Nutritional Sciences at North Carolina State University, who graciously offered explanations for my mistakes. (Scientists measure the strength of a gelatin’s networking abilities with a measure called “flower number,” named after scientist Oscar T. Bloom.)

Gelatine dishes come from medieval Europe, reported Sarah Gray For Serious Eats, however, making collagen from bones was time-consuming. Peter Cooper submitted and patents to improve the convenience of gelatin in 1845, while the famous brand name Jell-O comes from the patent of a cough syrup manufacturer from 1897 and – loudly Julie Thompson for the Huffington Post– Coffee jelly appeared in a British cookbook as early as 1817. Today the dish appears more often in Japan, where jellied liquids have one Centuries of history. Instead of using gelatin, these desserts contain agar, a substance found in red algae that behaves similarly to gelatin.

G / O Media can receive a commission

Photo: Ryan F. Mandelbaum

Recovering this coffee jelly was extremely easy; I followed this recipe from Allrecipes.com. Me first “flourished“Make the gelatin (unrelated to Oscar T.) by dissolving a .25-ounce bag of Knox Unflavored Gelatin in some warm water, then mix with two cups of my favorite coffee and some sugar and bring to a boil. I poured the mixture into individual serving size cups and chilled them to sit before serving with whipped cream.

The result was a refreshing dessert with a softer texture than the Jell-O you’d find in a diner and a pleasant way to get my morning caffeine boost. I had coffee jelly for breakfast for several days before realizing that if it were that easy to turn coffee into jelly, then I could probably turn many other liquids into jelly as well. I made a list of the liquids I encounter most frequently – coffee, tea, soda, wine, beer, and miso soup – and decided to gel them all.

The London Mist, my favorite tea drink and a mix of Earl Gray tea, milk, and vanilla, was the first gelled liquid I tried myself. I prepared the ingredients according to the proportions of the tried and tested coffee and jelly recipe: two cups of London Fog, a sachet of gelatine powder and three tablespoons of sugar. I made a big mess – that Protein molecules in milk acted as a foaming agent and let it boil over the little saucepan I used. I tried again and went to a larger pot.

Photo: Ryan F. Mandelbaum

The results were … okay. A film of unsavory and somewhat gummy milk fat formed on the surface of each serving plate. The texture was more or less the same as coffee jelly, albeit a little milder than the milk. It tasted like a London mist, but the sweetness felt overwhelming – I’d forgotten the lactose in the milk. After a few bites, I tossed the rest of the wobbling mixture in the trash.

Next I tried Dr. Pepper Jelly and made some changes to my previous test. I had noticed that many gelatin dessert recipes online called for one sachet of gelatin per cup of liquid instead of the one sachet per two cup ratio that I had used. After the fog incident in London, I also found that Dr. Pepper alone was sweet enough not to need any added sugar. Finally, I had seen some recipes – especially for children – use a microwave to heat the gelatin.

I prepared the soda and gelatin solution, swirled it in the microwave in three one-minute increments (between each stir), and then let the mixture harden. The result was … hideous.

By doubling the gelatin powder ratio, I had created a stronger gelatin network – the Dr. Pepper had turned into a thick, jiggling block that felt hard to chew compared to the melt-in-your-mouth texture I had enjoyed from the coffee jelly. While the higher ratio was advertised as “tasteless,” it expressed a slightly meaty essence, similar to the aftertaste of rind. Although it tasted sweet like a liquid, the mixture barely tasted sweet like a jelly solid, and the Dr. Pepper wasn’t enough to mask the piggy.

When I asked Foegeding on the phone why the Dr. Pepper gelatin doesn’t taste sweet, He explained that making a firmer gel decreased my perception of sweetness by reducing the contact the gel made with the taste receptors on my tongue. At least at least a study found that we perceive firmer textures as less flavorful, regardless of the amount of food flavor molecules in our nose.

Fortunately, there was a good side to these less successful experiments – I had two principles outlined that I would bring to the next round of jellies:

1. The ideal ratio for a gelatin-based dessert is a 0.25 ounce pouch to two cups of liquid
2. Finding the optimal sweetness is a moving goal based on context and texture.

After feeling a bit drained after two mistakes, I had low expectations of the wine jelly and thought gagged about the idea of ​​the beer jelly. But I pushed forward – a bag of jelly for two cups of red wine. The wine tasted dry and I didn’t feel like thinking about the taste chemistry of alcohol, so I took three tablespoons of sugar. I liked the microwave method so I went for it.

This time I had hit the sweet spot. The texture was ideal, and while the taste bordered on Manischewitz’s, the wine’s own taste seemed through enough to make the experience enjoyable. I gave one of the cups to my neighbors who finished and enjoyed it. I later learned that Thomas Jefferson wrote a recipe for wine jelly by himself.

The beer was even more surprising; I reduced the sugar to just over two tablespoons and the result tasted great, like something I’d love to eat on the beach. Granted, I used one beautiful craft– a sour ale with guava – that enhanced most of the flavor. I don’t think I could stand a Coors Light Jell-O.

There are many other considerations when it comes to making a jelly out of your favorite beverage – too much alcohol and the gel network may not form properly. Foegeding reminded me in our conversation that certain fresh fruits like pineapple and kiwi contain protease enzymes that break down protein molecules. These enzymes are excellent for tenderizing meat, but also inhibit the gelling properties of gelatin.

For the final step of the powdered gelatin journey, I’ll try a hearty dish. I’m trying not to eat meat (despite the powdered bone protein trip I just completed) so I went for it vegan recipe for corn and miso aspicI swapped gelatin for the recommended agar as I already had gelatin on hand. I noticed that this recipe used a bag-per-cup liquid ratio that I found acceptable for a hearty dish.

This last recipe was my ultimate gelatin mistake. I poured the gelatin sachet directly into boiling water instead of dissolving it in the liquid first. This set off a reaction that caused the gelatin to turn into hideous gummy beige lumps. By lowering the packet into heated water without dissolving it beforehand, the gelatin network began to form without any water being trapped. It was like nailing into a stack of 2x4s before aligning them to form the structure, Foegeding told me. I restarted, this time first dissolving the gelatin and then slowly pouring the miso soup and jelly mixture into cups full of corn and nori.

I’m pretty sure the result turned out as it should and I can’t find any specific complaints with it. It tasted like miso soup and corn, and the texture was clearly gelatin and corn. However, I couldn’t take more than a full bite without gagging. Spicy gelatine dishes are not for me. [Editor’s note: Aspic can take some getting used to if you weren’t raised on it. —Claire Lower]

All of these gellings left me with a few general powdered gelatin tips for other beginners hoping to gel drinks:

• Start with 0.25 ounces of gelatin powder per two cups of liquid. Take into account that firmer gels decrease your taste perception and require more sugar than you think.
• Know the fresh fruit too a lot of protease Like pineapples, kiwi, papaya and figs inhibit gel formation.
• Once you master the grocery store gelatin powder, there is a whole world to explore including gelatin powders and sheets of various flower numbers, agar, and other cooking agents that thicken foods and produce gels in the kitchen.

Gelatin is amazing from a chemical standpoint, and small changes to various ingredients in your recipe or the type of gelatin you use can have a big impact on the texture and mouthfeel. I have certainly learned from my many mistakes, although I actually made the experience of seeing the proverbial sausage a bit repulsive. Here’s a general lesson: dive deep into the science and history of an unfamiliar ingredient, conduct experiments and record where you screwed it up and why this is a great way to grow as a chef. But I also don’t plan on eating more gelatin for a while.

Photo: LightField Studios (Shutterstock)

Our digestive system is an extremely important part of our body, and we rightly care about its health. Without good gut health, we could be in pain, or have embarrassing symptoms, or worse. However, it does not follow from this that we need to load up on foods or products that promise to improve our intestinal health.

As it turns out, gut health is not a well-defined concept. That said, it is not always possible to tell if it is improving or if we have any problem with it at all. Two researchers from Deakin University’s Food & Mood Center wrote recently in an article in a lancet journal and on the conversation on the fact that gut health has become a marketing buzzword rather than a scientific or medical phenomenon.

After all, what do we mean when we talk about gut health? Often it is either the absence of uncomfortable symptoms such as diarrhea or the absence of conditions such as Crohn’s disease. These conditions and symptoms vary, so there is not a single “bowel health” state that we can achieve to prevent them all. Scientists are still trying to understand the detailsand research is ongoing.

The microbiome is also important, but here, too, scientists have not been able to reliably tell the difference between a healthy and an unhealthy microbiome. For example, the exact population of microbes in the gut of two healthy people may differ from one another. And despite ongoing research, we still can’t test your microbes or tell you what’s wrong with you (aside from a few specific cases like Clostridium difficile infection).

G / O Media can receive a commission

But the idea that gut health must be important has provided a marketing boost for a wide variety of products, foods, and practices that are supposed to be good for us. For example, probiotics are recommended to treat or prevent gastrointestinal problems. But many fermented foods like yogurt and kombucha don’t affect the makeup of our gut microbiome, and even when they do, we don’t always know if they affect it for the better.

When someone says that a certain food or diet is supposed to be good for your gut health, they usually assume they can’t back it up. The scientists Amy Loughman and Heidi Staudacher write:

For example, there is as yet no solid human evidence that ingestion of processed foods or refined sugars has a negative impact on all of the above gut health parameters. Also, lists of the top ten gut health foods aren’t particularly helpful or insightful. Instead, they simplify the complexities of diet to a handful of high fiber foods without considering important nuances.

They also indicate that there are many types of fiber and that they are unlikely to be all equally good for us; There is evidence that some fibers can be harmful if we overeat them.

A generally varied diet of whole grains, fruits, and vegetables is likely to be good for our intestinal health. This also applies to other healthy habits such as exercising and avoiding smoking. As they discuss further in the conversation article, you cannot achieve intestinal health by drinking kombucha or avoiding sugar: “It is eating habits and general habits, not individual foods, that shift the dial.”

Photo: NYC Russ (Shutterstock)

For anyone curious about the salary of a new gig, Glassdoor is the place to go, as the site has crowdsourcing salaries for various positions at literally thousands of companies. When you take Glassdoor’s salaries at face value, you have a pretty good indication of what that potential job might be paying for. Correct?

Maybe not. Because there is a glass door Salary numbers are compiled With a combination of self-reported employee salaries and AI-generated algorithms combing through millions of data points, a major constraint hovers over most, if not all, of the pay slips presented on the website. (In rarer cases, companies offer salary ranges themselves, although this information is usually closely guarded.)

But without a big, trusted brand name, how can you research what to expect in a newly found and enticing job? There are other tools out there, and just because they don’t have the sleek interface of a well-funded tech site doesn’t mean they aren’t worth your time.

How do Glassdoor salaries work?

As mentioned earlier, Glassdoor works with the honor system. This means that former and / or current employees offer their salaries on their own initiative. This does not mean that these employees lied or that the numbers they reported are inaccurate. However, the salaries, which were correct at the time of reporting, could have changed drastically at the beginning of your research.

G / O Media can receive a commission

Glassdoor’s trust in machine learning to generate the large salary ranges for various jobs that you see below the listings also makes it difficult to get a real understanding of the results. The company is pretty open about this and writes in its FAQ section:

Glassdoor also reminds you that salary estimates are estimates. They are not a guarantee of actual salaries and are not necessarily approved by employers. The purpose of salary estimates is to use predictive data science to provide job seekers with a likely salary range so they can make more informed job decisions and help employers recruit informed, quality candidates. For this reason, Glassdoor does not guarantee the accuracy of the estimates.

The salaries are constantly changing

In addition, since sharing salary information is still a taboo in the US and companies are reluctant to post it publicly, it is rare for companies to list their information on Glassdoor. If so, you will find that Glassdoor displays “Employer Est” when providing salary information by employers. on job offers ” the company says.

Salaries are constantly changing due to inflation, and the reported salary you are viewing may be lower (or higher) than what you are prepared for as location is an important factor in calculating your salary grade. Someone in Davenport, Iowa, doesn’t get paid as much as a colleague who does the same job in Chicago, for example, because the cost of living is higher in the bigger city.

In addition, salaries can vary widely within the same job title. Occasionally, people stay in a single job for several years without receiving a promotion but still receive salary increases, whether through earnings or annual company increases. Job titles are also often not indicative of anything specific, which means that two people with the same title can have very different roles and salary levels in different companies.

How Explain Rush Recruiting and HR::

Peers may have the same role on paper, but that doesn’t mean they actually have the same job. Organizations may use generic terms such as “Marketing Manager” or “Senior Marketing Strategist,” but their hierarchies may assign different seniority to these titles.

A tip: at larger companies, the payrolls are often a little more precise. More employees usually indicate a higher level of crowdsourced data, not to mention consistency across the board.

Alternatives to using Glassdoor

It never hurts to ask people who have previously worked or are still in a company that you want to apply to. Talking about money is important when it comes to getting a job and creating a job that is conducive to positive morale, and many employees – acquaintances or friends – will likely be happy to tell you what the pay is like.

Alternatively, the Labor and Statistics Bureau is a good resource. Take it for what it is – a huge repository of government data – and go from there. The BLS uses data collected from employers, all of whom are legally required to accurately report their numbers. While it’s kind of a general look at what certain industry workers are doing, it’s definitely useful.

You have to look within your own industry, but you can get pretty specific. Take a look at the office, for example Average salaries for museum and historical site employees.

There are other sites like Salary.com and Pay scalethat do much the same as Glassdoor does. With Payscale, you can navigate by job title, industry and degree in addition to other criteria. While no online database will give you a perfect indication of a potential salary, using a number of these tools along with word of mouth information you can gather should help you get an idea of ​​what to expect.