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March 20, 2018

Jim Beam's great grandson's guide to tasting bourbon

We met with Fred Noe, Seventh Generation Master Distiller and great grandson of Jim Beam, in Chicago recently, as he shopped his Signature Craft 12-Year at Chicago’s WhiskyFest. Between lunches and general hobnobbing with other whiskey big wigs like Wild Turkey Master Distiller Jimmy Russell, we asked him three things we should be looking for when trying whiskey.

March 20, 2018

10 best kitchen supplies

Real Simple tested the top gadgets on the market and came up with these kitchen-worthy winners.

March 20, 2018

15 cakes you would never know were cakes

Sometimes looks can be deceiving. We'd all love our asparagus to taste like chocolate cake, right?  Well, now you can have your veggies and cake, too. Here is a list of 15 fabulous cakes that look just like other, healthier meals. (Take a closer look. You won't believe these are really cakes.)  So if you're going to cheat yourself and binge on cake, try these. Those around you will have no idea your calorie intake has skyrocketed. Happy snacking. 

March 20, 2018

Find and cook the best bacon

Real Simple staffers pigged out on 58 versions of the best food on earth, bacon. These winning strips truly sizzled.

March 20, 2018

Where to drink like Jay Gatsby

Alcohol may be legal, but that hasn’t stopped a proliferation of hard-to-find drinkeries that recall the 18th amendment. As The Great Gatsby hits theaters, we uncover ten speakeasies where you can party like it’s 1922.

March 20, 2018

Top 10 baseball stadiums for craft beer

A few weeks ago, you may have seen a photo going around featuring the "Craft Beer Destination," a concession stand at Yankee Stadium that didn’t actually serve any "craft beer." Of the four drinks sold at the stand, one wasn’t even beer (it was cider) and all of them were produced by MillerCoors, a giant company whose beer cannot be considered "craft" for several reasons (detailed here.) And Yankee Stadium decided to rename the "craft beer destination" as the "beer mixology destination," which also makes us cringe — but we digress. The photo became a symbol of the sad state of beer at baseball stadiums: it’s always expensive and it’s typically nothing special. Although that might be what most of us think about ballpark beer, it's not always the case. Several ballparks are featuring better and better beer — you just have to know where to find it. With that in mind, we explored Major League Baseball stadiums across the country to find the 10 best spots for beer. Granted, you should probably have to have a reason aside from beer to actually go to these places — say, you want to see a baseball game? But if you end up at one of these ballparks, you can count on finding a good pint of beer instead of the lame beer options you’d have to settle for elsewhere.

March 20, 2018

Ice cream trucks that even adults would chase

It’s getting warm again and that only means one thing, the sweet, sweet sound of an ice cream truck. Yes, you may be way too old to chase them, but there’s no reason to forego the season of four-wheeling frozen treats. Luckily, the folks at Buzzfeed have pulled together a list of best adult-friendly ice cream trucks. Here are some of our favorites:

March 20, 2018

How to make Taco Bell’s Crunchwrap Supreme at home

Nothing sums up the deliciousness of a Taco Bell Crunchwrap Supreme more concisely than the love letter to it on the daily humor website McSweeney’s. All of the Crunchwrap’s beauty is perfectly summarized in that piece: the convenience of not having to choose between a soft or crunchy tortilla, the patches of sour cream randomly placed throughout it, and a creamy, indulgent nacho cheese sauce that is the ying to the meat’s yang. And it’s all wrapped together in a soft tortilla shell that makes it easy to enjoy one-handed without making a mess.   As one of the most successful products in the history of fast food (until that Doritos Locos Tacos came around), the Crunchwrap Supreme is loved by many because of its south-of-the-border flavors and ingenuity in design. Because it's shaped like a hexagon, the idea of calling it a "Mexagon" was once thrown around, but in the end the three words that perfectly describe it became its name: it’s got crunch, it’s a wrap, and it’s supreme in flavor. There are many reasons to make a Crunchwrap Supreme at home. It once was a limited-time item on Taco Bell’s menu, and the fear of ever losing it again is still something we hold on to almost every single day. At 540 calories and with 21 grams of fat, it’s no walk in the park for nutrition’s sake, but by making it at home you have more control over what is going in the dish. And lastly, it’s a fast-food item, and there are so many of us out there who can appreciate good taste, but aren’t always willing to line up at the drive-thru for it. And so it is for these reasons and probably even more that we’ve decided to take on the task of making a Crunchwrap Supreme at home. While the Irvine, Calif., company was unwilling to help us with our endeavor, we think we have been able to create a do-it-yourself recipe successfully for the home cook. We examined every aspect of the menu item, from the consistency of the meat and the spices used to flavor it to the wrap’s exact construction so that it upheld all of the same tastes, flavors, and ease-of-eating qualities that the store-bought one has. We even added a few additions of our own (like enjoying it with taco sauce), to make it special, unique, and — most importantly — homemade. They can’t blame us for copying them; they’re the ones who told us to think outside the box (or is it bun?).

March 20, 2018

Best BPA-free water bottles

Good news! Americans are finally drinking more water than the sugary drinks, like soda, we’ve grown accustomed to. We can’t argue with more people drinking water, but as more and more consumers are finding alternatives to pricey, not-so-eco-friendly bottled water, there’s a caveat — your reusable water bottle may be filled with more than crystal-clear H2O. It’s been a few years since news of BPA swept the nation. Exposure to BPA, or the chemical bisphenol A, is "widespread," thanks to the containers we’re eating and drinking out of — and it could have serious consequences, according to the National Institute of Environmental Health Services. Studies have linked BPA to some serious health effects, like certain cancers, reproductive problems, and behavioral problems in children to name just a few. And one Environmental Working Group (EWG) study found that BPA can be found in umbilical cords — so BPA can begin affecting children even in the womb. Once everyone began to realize that water bottles, canned goods, and food containers could leach chemicals into the food and drink they’re holding, companies sought to make BPA-free containers. And in 2012, the FDA banned BPA from children’s cups and baby bottles, but that doesn’t mean your water bottles are always safe. BPA comes from polycarbonate bottles, so some of your old Nalgene bottles (arguably the biggest name brand to change its plastics to BPA-free materials in 2008) may still be BPA offenders. (How to know if your old water bottles or food containers are made from polycarbonate? Look for a "PC" marker, or #7 on recycling labels, the EWG advises). To help you steer clear of the harmful chemical, we’ve rounded up some of our favorite, BPA-free water bottles — ones you will feel uber cool carrying around. You’ll find that most of the bottles are made from stainless steel or glass; while the price tags may seem shocking at first, it sure beats paying for bottled water all the time. And the one plastic bottle on our list, Bobble, is made from BPA-free plastics, like recycled PET. You’ll drink safe knowing that your water bottle is chemical-free. Look ahead to find our picks.

March 20, 2018

11 birthday candles you never knew you needed

The tradition of putting candles on a birthday cake is said to have roots in Ancient Greek and German cultures. In Greece, round cakes were made to honor Artemis, the goddess of the moon, with candles added to symbolize the moon’s glow — the Greeks believed that the candles’ smoke carried their prayers to the moon. In German tradition, the ceremony of Kinderfest celebrated the birthdays of young children, and around that time cakes began to take on a sweeter consistency and feature layers. In some stories, Germans are credited for placing candles on the cakes, saying that it represented "the light of life." Over time, cakes became popular for their taste and design, spawning the full-blown industry that they are today. And while every ceremonial gathering often features a cake, birthdays are the only ones that keep the tradition of the candle. Although it may just be superstition that a wish made when blowing out our candles will come true, we think it’s a tradition we want to keep around for a very long time. Birthday cakes nowadays have undergone serious development and growth. Cake aficionados make their careers solely on the production of these pieces of art. And while the art of the birthday cake is a feat to master, with questions of batter, icing, layers, flavors, shape, and more, we’d argue that the finishing touch always comes with the candle. And though most deem this an afterthought, the candles you use to top your ingeniously crafted creation are testaments to your ability to complete the package, and to complete the look. And although Australia has attempted to thwart the age-old tradition of blowing out the candles for health reasons — "to prevent the spread of germs," according to National Health and Medical Research Council via the Australian Daily Telegraph, except for in the case of an individual cupcake and candle for the blower only — we are still candle-heavy in this neck of the woods and are highlighting these little birthday toppers while we still can. So in honor of the underappreciated wish-carrier, we’ve rounded up 22 of our favorite, and most desirable, candles out there. With that, dear friends, happy birthday(s), and may all of your wishes come true.