Hasta La Gadget!

Inspired by conversations on the Food52 Hotline, we’re sharing tips and tricks that make navigating all of our kitchens easier and more fun.

Today: Nuts are pretty comfortable in their own skin, but we can help you to do a bit of cajoling to get them out. 

There are a whole lot of things we can justify splurging on at the grocery store. Skinned nuts, however, are not at the top of the list. Maybe you’ve found yourself at the store, staring at a bag of bald hazelnuts or almonds and wondering why they are twice the price of their sheathed brothers. The answer? 

Well, nuts are pretty comfortable in their own skin — you’ll have to do a bit of cajoling to get them out. But if you don’t want to shell out (pun intended) the extra bucks for pre-skinned nuts, we’ve got a couple of easy methods for skinning hazelnuts and almonds at home. 

More: Put your skinned nuts to good use in this chocolate hazelnut brittle recipe.

Before you get started, consider if you really need to skin the nuts at all. Hazelnut skins are usually removed in baked goods due to their color, texture, and taste — a triple whammy. Blanched almonds are useful in finicky desserts, like macarons; when grinding your own almond flour, some cooks say that skinned almonds make for a lighter crumb and fairer baked goods.

If those reasons apply to you, here’s how to skin nuts with as little trouble as possible: 

Hazelnuts

Blanching

For every cup of nuts, bring two cups of water to a boil and add 3 tablespoons of baking soda. Do not be alarmed whe the water foams up — your fifth grade science education has prepared you for this moment.

Add the nuts to the boiling water and let them bob around in there for about 3 minutes. 

While the nuts boil, make an ice bath. Use a slotted spoon to remove a test nut. Submerge the nut in the ice water and see if the skin comes off easily. If not, boil the nuts for another minute or so, then take another nut captive. When the skin comes off your test nut easily, add the rest of the nuts to the ice bath and peel with your hands.

Dry the nuts using a paper towel or a kitchen cloth. If you want to toast the nuts, heat the oven to 350° F and cook for about 15 minutes.

Toasting

Preheat the oven to about 350° F and spread the nuts in a single layer on a baking pan. Bake for about 15 minutes, stirring or shaking every five minutes, until the nuts are fragrant and brown with papery skins.

Remove the pan from the oven and let the nuts sit until they’re cool enough to handle.

Rub the nuts between two sacrificial kitchen towels. The skins will come off with the friction of the towels, leaving clean, toasted nuts (and blackened towels). Try to turn down any obessive compulsive tendencies at this point: It’s normal for a small amount of skin to remain.

Almonds

To blanch whole almonds, bring a pot of water to a boil. Let the water boil for 1 to 2 minutes, then add the raw almonds and boil for one minute (no longer or your almonds will start to cook and soften!).

Drain the almonds immediately and rinse with cold water. Blot the nuts dry with a paper towel — their skins should be shrively. Use your fingers to squeeze and loosen the skin, just like you did with the hazelnuts.

Photos by James Ransom

This article originally appeared on Food52.com: How to Skin Nuts

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This light painting looks super eerie as we see an otherworldly Pac-Man being chased by ghosts as if they just broke through to our reality. That would be scary as hell. Luckily this is just a light painting by photographer and light artist Michael Bosanko.

This amazing piece of art shows Pac-Man being chased through a derelict building by three hungry ghosts. Apparently the fourth ghost is just eyes at this point. Probably regenerating and getting ready to give chase again. It looks like Pac-Man is about to chomp on a power pellet, so those remaining ghosts better beat a hasty retreat too.

[via Kotaku via Geyser of Awesome]

The name Rapoo is connected to being a leading manufacturer of wireless peripheral products, where they have managed to reveal their most recent collection of optical mice in the U.S. These happen to be the 3000P, 3100P, and 3300P models, where regardless of which particular model that you choose from, they will all boast of the 5GHz standard for wireless and interference-free use, in addition to a high resolution DPI sensor, as well as a sleek, compact design with a Nano adapter storage compartment to boot.

The 3000P Wireless Optical Mouse is said to be a travel-ready device, and also a must-have item if you happen to be using a notebook or Ultrabook. It is tiny and compact in size, which means carrying it with you on your travels is a snap. Apart from that, the 3000P would make use of advanced energy saving technology that enables the battery within to last up to 18 months of non-stop use. In addition, the 1000DPI sensor will also deliver complete control of the mouse movements in order to enhance performance and productivity, where one can choose from red, gray and blue colors for $19.99 each.

As for the 3100P Wireless Optical Mouse, this is touted to be the ideal option for both left-and-right handed users thanks to its symmetrical design. Apart from that, it comes fitted with rubberized grips on the sides to deliver optimal control, while the 1000DPI optical sensor also offers accurate movements. The batteries are said to last up to 18 months prior to a replacement. You will be able to pick up the 3100P in black, blue, and white colors with an elegant red design for $19.99 as well.

Last but not least, we have the most pricey of the lot, although by this we mean that it will cost just $5 more at $24.99 apiece, with the 3300P Wireless Optical Mini Mouse. This model is actually the smaller counterpart of the 3100P, being roughly the size of a matchbox, allowing you to sneak it in just about anywhere. Heck, it sure is small enough to be a biological mouse!

Press Release
[ Rapoo releases new range of optical mice in the US copyright by Coolest Gadgets ]

We all love our gadgets, that’s for sure, but exactly how much time do we spend looking at them? After all we can be entertained by our computers, mobile devices, and television, so which do you spend more time looking at? Well in a chart produced by Mary Meeker for her annual presentation on internet trends, she has broken down the average time spent looking at a screen based on country.

As we can see in the chart above, both Indonesia and the Philippines have taken the number one in terms of time spent looking screens. For Indonesia, this has been broken down into 132 minutes in front of the TV, 117 minutes on the computer, 181 minutes on smartphones, and 110 minutes on tablets, totaling a whopping 540 minutes spent in front of a screen!

Italy, according to the chart, spends the least amount of time in front of screens in general. Meeker’s findings revealed that Italians spent 89 minutes in front of the TV, 85 minutes on computers, 109 minutes on smartphones, and only 34 minutes on tablets, suggesting that maybe tablet use in Italy might not be as prominent compared to other countries.

For the most part it seems that time spent our mobile devices is the most, followed by computers, television, and finally tablets, indicating that perhaps engagement on tablets is not as high as it could be, but what do you guys think? Does that sound about right?

Chart Shows How Many Minutes The World Spends Looking At Screens

, original content from Ubergizmo, Filed in General, study,

John Chen is BlackBerry’s latest CEO, which is saying something because the Canadian company has gone through a number of CEOs in a relatively short period of time. Chen, for the most part, seems pretty optimistic that he will be able to turn things around for the company, and it was recently during an interview at the Code Conference that he shared his somewhat candid thoughts on his position.

Speaking on stage, Chen revealed that the chances of him being able to save BlackBerry was at 80/20. We’re sure BlackBerry loyalists would have preferred something more optimistic, but at the same time we can’t really fault Chen for being honest, not to mention it’s a sight better than his previous estimation of 50%. He stated that his is confident that “we can save the patient”, likening himself to a doctor.

He also expressed his honest opinion that he does not think that he is the most qualified person to run BlackBerry. He followed up by saying that he was the only one that BlackBerry board of directors could find. Like we said, it’s not exactly the most inspiring of statements, but it is honest, and we’re sure BlackBerry fans and users can appreciate that.

Chen also teased that BlackBerry had a handset in the works that he believes carriers will love, although he declined to comment as to whether it could be an Android device. What do you guys think?

BlackBerry’s CEO Thinks His Chances Of Saving The Company Is At 80/20

, original content from Ubergizmo, Filed in Cellphones, BlackBerry,