Work from Home

Describes motivation process for creativity with emphasis on intrinsic motivation by Corey K Katir

I sat in on a French pastry class at PCC last week, where instructor Laurie Pfalzer gave us a skillful demonstration on how to make mouth-watering pate brisee and gougeres and crepes — all much easier than you might expect — and then gave us something entirely different to think about. One of the students asked Pfalzer for advice on a souffle-like cake recipe that had been baffling her. She tried it again and again and it never seemed to work. What, she asked, was she doing wrong?

There was a chance that the non-stick pan the woman was using was the problem, Pfalzer said — the cake didn’t have anything to grab onto as it rose. But also, “There’s always a chance it’s the recipe,” she said.

“The first time it doesn’t work I’d assume it’s my fault. The second time it doesn’t work I’d assume it’s their fault. The third time is just to make sure it’s their fault.”

It reminded me of something I’d found in my years of testing recipes at home before printing them in the paper: Some cookbooks are complete duds. Some of them have recipes that clearly haven’t been properly tested or edited before going into print. They might be missing key steps, or oversimplifying a professional recipe to the point where it won’t work at home.

Pfalzer’s advice? Rely on cookbook authors with a great track record of successful recipes that work for the home cook. She’s a fan of books by Dorie Greenspan and David Lebovitz, and I’d second those nominations. (I once spent most of the summer happily working my way through Lebovitz’s “The Perfect Scoop.” ) I also count on Jerry Traunfeld’s cookbooks and on recipes by Jess Thomson (more soon on her new gem, “Pike Place Market Recipes.”)

There’s also the point that Beth Howard reminded us about in her pie-baking talk: Not all recipes can be written to the point where they’re one-set-of-directions-fits-all. A pie’s success depends on the humidity and on the quirks of your own oven and a dozen other factors, and you just have to know how to assess the dough. Similarly, a writer in The Guardian recently argued that you need to know how to cook rather than how to follow a recipe. That’s true sometimes — if I’d been reading from a book rather than watching a pastry chef like Pfalzer at work, I doubt that cream puffs would seem as unintimidating as they do now. But plenty of times it’s not as complicated as that, it’s just a problem on the other end.

Which cookbook authors do you trust (or avoid)?

Welcome to Spark an Idea Thursdaya.A Each week weall be sharing some great ideas for a topic of interest to our readers.A We invite you to grab our image and carry the tradition through to your own blog!A If you do, please link back to this post so we know where you were inspired! Todayas [...]

My name is Nick Bostic, I’m one of the Sparkplugging A interns and I’m a PC. The fact that I’m a PC has been further solidified lately and is part of the reason you haven’t seen me here yet. A Apple has been killing my PC. A Let me back up a moment… I grew up on PC’s. I assembled [...]

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When your job interferes with your marriage it causes all sorts of problems. You know what I’m talking about. Too much time at work, thinking and talking about work when you are at home, and getting upset over things at home because of work stress.

Sometimes we lose sight of all the things the mother of our children, or our own mother when we were youngsters, does on a daily basis. When you stop and think of the things that a mom does every single day (now, that doesn’t mean there aren’t dads doing the same thing) it really [...]

Thatas the provocative question being asked by researchers in a recent paper, which was flagged by Lauren Stiller Rikleen in a Harvard Business Review blog on Thursday. The researchers a Arthur Brief, Dolly Chugh and Sreedhari D. Desai a used national surveys like the General Social Survey from the National Opinion Research Center, as well as direct results from studies of married male managers and students with full-time jobs. And they found that employed men with wives who did not work or who worked part time, compared with those with wives who worked full time, tended to: Read full article >>

The Families and Work Institute recently released its 2012 National Study of Employers. And thereas an interesting juxtaposition in their new set of data thatas worth noting.

The good news? Companies are getting more flexible in how employees spend their hours. From 2005 to 2012, the percentage of companies that allowed at least some employees to periodically change starting and quitting times grew from 68 percent to 77 percent. Also encouraging: The percentage of employers allowing at least some staffers to work at home on an occasional basis grew from 34 percent to 63 percent over the same period.Read full article >>

Does what you wear affect how well you work?

Quite possibly. Weave all had the experience of feeling more motivated and focused when weare dressed up for workawhether that means donning a suit when our usual office dress is khakis and a golf shirt or, for those who work from home, simply getting out of pajamas. But new research shows that wearing certain items of clothing identified with certain qualities could help improve performance, too.Read full article >>

Wayne Newton was sued, along with his wife and her 76 year old mother,A byA CSD, LLC this Wednesday for delaying a project that would convert Newton’s home into a home museum so that it would never open. Wayne Newton and family are being accused of unreasonably delaying the project the would turn Newton’s home into ‘Graceland [...]

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George Zimmerman’s past has become murkier, following the recent release of new evidence in the murder trial of Trayvon Martin, who Zimmerman shot down on February 26th, as an interview has been released by a former co-worker who filed an H.R. complaint against the accused man. The unnamed coworker stated, according to ThinkProgress.com, that Zimmerman [...]

George Zimmerman’s Former Co-Worker Alleges Racist Remarks is a post from: The Inquisitr

Pau Gasol, who chose to play professional basketball instead of pursuing a career in medicine, was voted the 2011-12 winner of the NBA’s J. Walter Kennedy Citizenship Award. The award, named after the NBA’s second commissioner, is presented annually by the Professional Basketball Writers Association.A The annual award is given to the trainer, coach, or [...]

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