English Corpus

On top of the numerous and amazing uses of baking soda, my favourite will have to be in dessert baking.

Baking soda is not to be confused with baking powder. So if a cake recipe calls for baking powder, make sure you don’t mistake this with baking soda.

So what is the difference? Here are some quick notes that you should understand to ensure your success in dessert making and home baking.

* What is Baking Soda?

Also called Bicarbonate of Soda (NaHCO3), baking soda is pure ‘Sodium Bicarbonate’.

How does it work?

It reacts when it comes in contact with liquid acids in recipes and produces gasses, carbon dioxide. You will notice that any recipes with baking soda will also have a liquid acid ingredient, such as lemon juice, honey, buttermilk, brown sugar, fruits, etc.

It is this ‘fizzy’ chemical reaction with liquid acids that creates the necessary rising in your dessert recipes.

The chemical reaction of baking soda happens instantly the liquid acid ingredients are added to it, therefore you need to make sure that you bake your cakes or desserts almost instantly and do not allow batter to sit and “flop”.

Baking soda is used in fizzy soda drinks, so you can remember this to for how the bubbles quickly dissipate and disappear. Trick is to have all your ingredients measured and prepared before mixing and getting your batters into the oven straight after mixing.

Test for Usage:
Mix about 1 teaspoon of baking soda with about 4 teaspoons of vinegar. It should bubble like fizzy drinks.

* What is Baking Powder?

Baking powder is a dry acid and is actually a combination of baking soda with other key ingredients.

How does it work?

Baking powders are called a “double acting” leavening agent because if its difference to the baking soda. Baking powder not only reacts in your recipe mixture (same as with the baking soda), but it also reacts again once you place it in the oven to cook. The difference to baking soda is that baking powder has slower acting agents in the mix which only reacts with heat, or, at baking.

Baking powder is advantageous for more complex recipes that requires longer preparation time as you don’t have to rush it into the oven.

Test for Usage:
Add 1 teaspoon of baking powder to 1/2 cup hot water. It should bubble and fizz.

Never add more or cut the amount of baking soda or powder asked for in dessert recipes.

Adding too much…
Too much making soda or powder in your batter mixture can make your baking result taste bitter or react too much that causes it to flop and fail.

Adding too little…
Not adding enough baking soda or powder will cause your baking to end up tough and have a dry texture.

Also obey baking recipe temperatures as stated. The gas produced by these leavening agents, carbon dioxide, will expand quicker with altitude.

Baking Soda vs. Baking Powder…

- “Single Acting” vs. “Double Acting”
- Must work swiftly vs. Can take your time
- Long shelf life (indefinite if stored in an air-tight container) vs. Shorter limited shelf life up to one year
- Use as is vs. Need to be pre-mixed (if not bought)

To make your own baking powder, sift and mix together,
- 2 parts of Cream of Tartar, to
- 1 part baking soda and
- 1 part cornstarch.

Or, for 1 teaspoon of commercial baking powder substitute, it is:
- 1/4 teaspoon of baking soda,
- 1/4 teaspoon of cornstarch, and
- 1/2 teaspoon cream of tartar.

With these basic knowledge of the difference between baking soda to baking powder and how they should be used, you can be rest-assured that your cakes or baked goods will rise.

Just remember to follow the recipe and how these baking agents work, and you can achieve great tasting home-baked treats like a professional!

~* Janlia Chong has held onto her title as Baking Sensation because of her near endless knowledge of baking and packaging treats. Her ability to impress is one of her biggest traits. What’s her trick? Simple, she takes something that sounds difficult and makes it easy and fun. Follow Janlia’s advice and you’ll be busy baking treats for the entire family. Visit http://www.BakingHugs.com *~

Comments Off

Tradition has it that speeches are made at weddings. If you have been asked to make the wedding speech, your mind may be whirling with the awesome prospect of getting up in front of a group of strangers and giving what may be your first speech ever!

You may be the best man, the bridesmaid, the matron of honour or the father of the bridge - fear not, many have gone through this and survived to tell the tale. There is a great tradition of what to say and many have trodden this path before you. Sadly, a few have gone in unexperienced and unprepared and been disappointed with the outcome.

There are many excellent resources to help with the writing of a wedding speech, you can buy books with pre-written speeches in a bookshop or even download an Ebook if you’ve really left it to the last minute. If this is the first time you’ve made a speech, you should consider buying one of these books to help you.

Here’s a few hints & tips:

What NOT to do:

make jokes about the bride
make jokes about the bridesmaids or the brides mother
drink too much before you speak
go on much longer than 15-20 minutes!

What you MUST do:

prepare
include at least one anecdote about the bridegroom
write down some notes
smile & enjoy yourself!

Remember, the wedding day is one that will be remembered for years to come - your part in it is only small, but nevertheless important. Prepare well, take advice and your wedding speech will go well and be appreciated by all.

For further ideas on your wedding speech, visit Wedding Speeches.

This article was submitted by Jen Carter, compiler of the Wedding Poems book.

Comments Off

Should one use Windows Update?

This topic has good and valid arguments on both sides. Some would say keeping your windows up to date is essential in keeping it free of the newest, worst viruses and the like. Others would say that updating your windows is overemphasized, unneeded and a waste of time.

In the future, Microsoft will have ways of detecting whether your version of windows is actually store-bought, or pirated. With so many copies of pirated windows on the market, such a move by Microsoft is almost required in order to continue cornering the OS market. For instance, when SP 1 (and 2) came out, you had to have an authentic windows serial code in order to download the update. There are of course ways of getting around this, but it deterred much illegal upgrading to the new service packs. Had you have had a pirated copy of windows (and the majority does), then you could have downloaded a copy of windows SP 1/2, but you would have had to completely re-install and possibly format in order to install it.

If you had an original windows serial code that came with the product, you could have just downloaded the packs from the windows update servers.

So yes, having a non-pirated copy of windows is a convenience. However, some would remember a stunning virus that was released not too long ago; MyDoom. It managed to find its ways onto the Microsoft windows update servers. When you got the virus, you would have 30 seconds before the computer shut down. Should you have formatted, just to re-install windows with automatic updates turned on (and they are by default) you would get the virus again.

And not to mention Windows Updates are a large time factor. Some updates (especially the first time you use Windows Update) are colossal, and the download speeds are not always at their greatest. Someone on 56k would have a very hard time using windows update at all (and if you do, I recommend not bothering).

Now, you ask, what exactly is Windows Update? It’s simply Microsoft engineers working hard to fix bugs, problems and backdoors in Windows. What are these problems, you ask? Well, when Microsoft released windows it wasn’t exactly a perfect OS. With every version of Windows, it becomes more and more hi-tech. But there has always been problems with Windows being insecure.

The only way to find that Windows has a certain vulnerability is first for that vulnerability to be exploited. Eg, Microsoft using white hat hackers (the good guys) to breach windows, or for a hacker to break into a version of Windows and it is reported.

So, to answer the question, is it important to update your windows? It’s hard to say, without the answer being a biased opinion. I will give both sides of the argument merit, but it honestly depends on what you want to do with your PC. For large businesses with intranets, windows updates are likely a good idea. It only takes one serious OS fault for a hacker or a bad virus to leak in and infect the whole network. Windows faults and security issues, IE backdoors, etc. Windows update constantly has fixes for these problems.

For a home desktop, even for a home network, windows updates really aren’t that important. No one wants to hack the small guy; there is nothing to gain from it. Should you use a simple firewall, even the windows in-house firewall, you are protected from most threats. But big business is always at risk; major websites are constantly under the gun from DoS attacks and IE “tricks.” Windows Updates cannot really help DoS attacks, but they can prevent hackers, crackers, viruses and the like from entering their network computers from faults in the windows code.

So to answer the question - should I use windows update? If you’ve got a lot of infrastructure you want to protect, yes. If you’re a small guy, one PC at home, one laptop; even a few computers thrown together in your home network. The answer is no. I don’t recommend it, anyway. Just throw on your windows firewall, Black Ice Defender, Norton, Avast….what have you. And enjoy browsing. That’s about it.

I am a young, aspiring computer engineer into Internet Marketing, hardware, software, web design, SEO and just about anything related to computers. Please come check out my growing PC forum at http://www.markspcforum.com

Comments Off