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Monday Q&A | Beginning a weblog, automobile upkeep, and extra

Monday Q&A | Beginning a weblog, automobile upkeep, and extra

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Each Monday, I reply a number of of the questions that my readers ship me. When you have a query you’d like me to reply in a future Q&A submit, simply go away me a remark right here or electronic mail me (thefrugalgirl [at] gmail [dot] com) and put Q&A within the topic line. I look ahead to listening to from you!

I’m curious as to why one of many high sides of normal loaves of bread are inclined to crack and rise greater (throughout baking) than the opposite aspect (like in your cinnamon oatmeal bread images)?

-Elizabeth

You already know, I’ve by no means considered that earlier than! It appears to me that this principally occurs in loaves which have a filling (just like the cinnamon swirl bread) or in breads which have hearty grains in them (like oatmeal bread). I’ve additionally had it occur after I’ve rolled two totally different doughs collectively (like entire wheat and white dough, to make a swirl bread). Within the case of the totally different doughs, I believe it should be as a result of they rise at totally different charges. Within the case of the oatmeal bread, I’d think about that the decrease gluten degree would trigger the bread to crack (extra gluten means a stretchier dough, so decrease gluten would contribute to cracking). I don’t actually know why cinnamon bread tends to separate, although! Readers, any concepts? I’d say it was from the oatmeal in my oatmeal cinnamon bread recipe, however my common cinnamon bread generally splits too.

I do assume the break up aspect rises greater as a result of it’s free of the remainder of the loaf. However I don’t assume it splits the loaf as a result of it’s rising greater (if that is sensible!). 😉

I’ve been having fun with your weblog and contemplating stepping into the world of running a blog myself however unsure the place to start out. Most of my favourite blogs seem on Blogher however I’ve realized they aren’t the place one begins……do you will have any recommendation on the place to start out a weblog?

–Amy

Sure, I do! 😉 I at all times, at all times suggest that you just begin out with a WordPress weblog. I do know lots of people use Blogger and adore it, however if you wish to be in any respect severe about running a blog, I’d positively let you know to go along with WordPress. Many of the massive, fashionable blogs I learn are powered by WordPress, and I maintain seeing blogger after blogger transferring from the Blogger software program to the WordPress software program. So, save your self the difficulty and begin out on WordPress!

Why do I like WordPress?

I’ve to say, the principle motive I like WordPress is that they make blogs look glossy {and professional}, a lot moreso than Blogger blogs. Some individuals customise their Blogger blogs and make them look nice, however most WordPress blogs look superior proper out of the field (which is nice for a coding fool like myself).

(In fact, Blogger and WordPress aren’t the one two choices on the market…Typepad blogs look fairly snazzy, in my view, however I don’t assume that Typepad is as widely-used as WordPress is, which implies that it doesn’t have as many themes, plug-ins, and tutorials as WordPress does.)

I additionally like WordPress’ dashboard higher than Blogger’s, and I like the way in which feedback operate higher on WordPress (you don’t need to open a brand new window to depart a remark). As well as, WordPress has a very helpful built-in stats counter and spam catcher (Oh, Akismet! How I like you!). The spam catcher implies that these annoying Captcha codes Blogger provides within the feedback are utterly pointless, and with out these codes, your readers usually tend to go away feedback in your posts.

The place to start out

You possibly can host your weblog on WordPress.com, which is what I did at first….my weblog deal with was www.thefrugalgirl.wordpress.com. When your weblog is hosted on WordPress’ servers, although, you will have restricted choices so far as customization and placing adverts and varied media in your weblog. After a number of months at wordpress.com, I purchased my very own area and internet hosting providers, so now WordPress is put in and hosted alone server (and now my weblog deal with has no “wordpress” in it.)

The opposite form of massive change I made was shopping for the Thesis theme. Not like a variety of different WordPress themes, Thesis requires a purchase order, however it’s SO price it, in my view.

Why is Thesis so fabulous? Properly, if you realize html and css, you’ll be able to modify free WordPress themes to your coronary heart’s content material. I, nonetheless, am virtually utterly clueless about code, and that’s why Thesis is so stinking superior for me. I can change a bazillion issues about my structure and design all with the contact of a button, and that makes me a contented woman. I makes use of Thesis for this weblog, for my 365 weblog, and for my overview weblog.

You talked about BlogHer, and I might be remiss if I didn’t acknowledge that they’re one superior weblog community. When you have a weblog and also you’re desirous to earn some cash with it, do signal as much as get onto BlogHer’s promoting ready listing. My Blogher adverts have positively been the perfect income for my weblog to date.

So in a nutshell, my suggestions are to 1) weblog on WordPress, 2) use the Thesis theme, and three) enroll with BlogHer.

I’ve additionally written a number of (okay, two!) different posts about running a blog, so that you may need to test these out as properly.

So I’m curious. I learn your submit from final 12 months about fixing your van’s door deal with, however what does your loved ones do about routine automobile upkeep?

-Ben

Properly, that depends upon how routine the upkeep is. Relating to stuff like oil adjustments, air filter adjustments, and the like, my husband is completely able to doing the work himself. When we have to do extra concerned stuff (particularly stuff that’s means simpler to do in an actual storage with a carry), we’ve got our trusted mechanic do the work.

We by no means, ever go to the seller to have work achieved, although, as they cost an arm and a leg and the work they do is inferior to the work our mechanic does (plus, I type of favor to offer my cash to somebody who owns a small, native enterprise).

And although we attempt to repair issues ourselves once they come up, generally we pay our mechanic to handle these. For example, we mounted our door deal with, and my husband and my dad put in a brand new air/gasoline sensor when ours went dangerous, however we lately paid our mechanic to repair our blower. Fixing that concerned eradicating your entire entrance dashboard, so to us it was greater than definitely worth the $100 to have our mechanic do the work (it seems a small animal had made a nest inside our blower!).

Do you ever attempt to put together different ethnic meals for your loved ones? For instance, pad thai, Vietnamese Pho soup, or Chinese language and Indian meals? If not, do you expose your youngsters to those totally different sorts of meals, and do they take pleasure in them?

Virginia

I do make some Asian meals, like stir-fries (although not as typically as I ought to, most likely!), and our youngsters love takeout Chinese language meals (won-ton soup particularly), however we don’t eat a lot in the way in which of Indian and Thai meals. In truth, I don’t assume that I’ve ever had Pad Thai!

Typically, I’m discouraged from attempting ethnic recipes due to the lengthy lists of surprising, hard-to-find components. Nevertheless, I’ve seen a number of recipes from Cook dinner’s that supply easy substitutions, so I hope to strive a number of of these (I do know not less than a kind of was a Thai soup).

Our children eat precisely what my husband and I eat (I make one meal they usually can select to eat it or select to not eat it, however I don’t make separate meals), so their weight loss program is rather like ours (I wasn’t certain in the event you have been questioning about that or not!). I’m at all times attempting new recipes and new varieties of meals, in order our weight loss program expands, so does our kids’s.

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Readers, as at all times, do be happy to share your enter within the feedback. 🙂

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