AntSaint

Stunning Pictures and Photos from Smashing Magazine

Smashing Magazine is one of my favorite online publications. And this post, from Monday, contains some of the most breathtaking photos I've ever seen.

Link: (Really) Stunning Pictures and Photos | Monday Inspiration | Smashing Magazine.

"Below you’ll find 50 brilliant photos and stunning pictures — some pictures tell stories, some are incredibly beautiful, some are funny and some are very sad"

Are Your Images Appearing in Google Image Search?

Images are becoming more and more important in search, so site owners and marketers are getting savvier about making sure their images are showing up in Google Image Search:

Link: Check if Your Images Appear on Google Image Search.

"So if your images are not getting indexed, check your robots.txt file to make sure it is not blocking the access to them"

"True" Indian Curry

Try as I might, preparing Indian food has always kind of eluded me. I've been working on it though, and this helpful (and appetizing) article in the R-G has me feeling more hopeful about preparing a good curry:

Link: True curry: The Register-Guard, Eugene, Ore..

"Many delicious curries are easy to create. Before embarking on your curry journey, take stock of your spice pantry. And don’t bother with that prepared curry blend. Blending your own mix of whole spices will reward you with honest and delicious Indian food"

Eugene's SeQuential: Green gas station transforms bad land

Jodie and I sometimes fuel up at the SeQuential Biofuels on McVay Highway, out near LCC. We've been impressed with everything about the place, from the solar power and green roof, to the nutritional snacks and knowledgeable staff. I had no idea, however, how SeQuential made their land green from underground up. A previous owner/tenant had caused a lot of environmental damage on the land, and the R-G has done an interesting story on how polluted that land was, and how much clean-up has been done:

Link: Polluted to squeaky green: An environmental clean up story: The Register-Guard, Eugene, Ore..

"The patch of dirt under SeQuential Biofuels on McVay Highway is rapidly becoming the most famous half-acre in all of Lane County.... Over the past four years, the site has been the scene of a night-to-day, muck-to-magificent, rags-to-riches conversion — a turnabout in which the filth was literally scoured by the light."

Tony Legner’s Habanero Premium Steak Sauce

The mere tangy, tingly sheer steakness of this sauce makes me want a few bottles cases. The suggestion to mix some in with burgers is a great idea — offhand, I'm thinking a tablespoon to a pound of meat? Hmmm...

Link: Review: Tony Legner’s Habanero Premium Steak Sauce | Hot Sauce Blog.

"Laura & I went through almost half the bottle with this one steak and I tried it out the other night on burgers - fantastic! If you’ve got any sort of plans to grill this summer, do yourself a favor and get yourself a few bottles of Tony’s steak sauce - you won’t be disappointed"

Build a Better To-do List (hint: do it now)

I wound up trying this today. There were a few tasks, none of them necessarily time-consuming, that I'd simply not been doing. I would note that they still needed to be done, and then skip right along to something else. You know how somethings would take less energy to just knock out and have done, instead of constantly going, "yup, that still needs doing"? These were all like that. So I finally did them. And yes, it was good.

Link: The Renegade Writer Blog � Blog Archive � Build a Better To-do List.

Rather than list tasks that you know you’ll get done today because you have the flames of hell toasting your buttocks or just adding stuff like “do laundry,” “buy new file folders,” and “organize paperclips,” write down the three tasks you’ve been putting off. Go on, try it. The tasks can be anything, personal or business-related, as long as they’re creating even the vaguest sense of dread in your stomach

Legal & Blogs, Search Spiders, Redesign and Email - Markeing Profs Round-up

Here are some thought-provoking articles from this week's Marketing Profs newsletter:

• Corporate Blogging: Getting Past 'No' If You're Not the CEO – "how does, say, a midlevel corporate marketer or product manager set out to create an "official" blog with the blessing and sanction of Legal?"
• Redesigning Web Sites to Put Customers in Charge of Their Experience – "The role of Web sites in both consumer and business-to-business markets is changing and evolving, enabling customers to engage brands increasingly on their own terms"
• All Search Engines Love Spiders: How Meta Commands Can Help You Love Them Too – "Here are some of the more popular [individual meta commands] and reasons you might want to use them (or not)"
• What Not to Do for Email Marketing Done Right – "Email marketers must keep in mind that consumers who decide to opt in to the brand's email channel is likely a fan of that brand. Do not lose those consumers by making the following mistakes"

Projects and blogs - Focusing by diversifying

It's been an interesting past few months behind the scenes at Antsaint. In addition to launching my new Ural blog, Ride Three, there are some other projects going on. I'm working on my own profile/resume site, for one. Jodie and I are also working on a project together. They're in early stages and not ready for primetime, but it's exciting to be diversifying.

And that's what I'm noticing. Working on some new projects, trying out some new ideas, planning and discussing and coding, has been working wonders for other things I want to work on overall, and for this site. I wouldn't have thought that tacking on some new projects would be such a help in focusing, but it is.

I've no idea yet where things are going on each of the sites, but that's part of the fun of the ride, really.

The hardest part is keeping a good balance. Ride Three has definitely been taking more time lately (that and there's a server issue we've been working on), but I've been all right with that. Antsaint always had a pretty healthy amount of posts, and a few weeks where things are slim is all right. As time goes on, though, I can see focus for Antsaint content improving, and hopefully there'll be some more details and visible changes on that soon.

Barefoot Contessa's Rosemary White Bean Soup Recipe

I might do the main share of the cooking in our home, but Jodie is tops when it comes to finding good recipes. Recently we raided the dry bean stocks at Winco, and came home with a hefty amount of white beans. We generally don't bother with soaking beans, but otherwise (well, add some cayenne...) this sounds like a good hearty soup for a rainy Oregon evening. Note that if you want to puree the soup, as per the recipe, you can also use an immersion blender (very handy). Or, if you'd like to leave the beans whole, add 1/2 to 1 tsp. vinegar or lemon juice, to help keep the bean skins intact:

Link: Barefoot Contessa's Rosemary White Bean Soup Recipe | Recipezaar.

Booze & Espresso - correcting my coffee

A Christmas gift moka espresso pot has made me and Jodie even bigger fans of this stovetop style of espresso-making. But what I really love? When we're in for the evening, whipping up some moka espresso, and doing what the Italians refer to as "correcting the coffee" (well, except probably in Italian). Or, in plain English, adding a wee dollop of booze. Jodie is partial to a wee slug of Bailey's Irish Cream; for me, there's nothing better than a bit of ameretto. Ah, yes, now we're talking.

Do you correct your coffee? If so, with what? And what type of coffee?