Sometimes, while cooking, I realize that I am out of an ingredient. Did you know that you can almost always substitute an ingredient in a recipe? An added perk - sometimes, the substitution may be even healthier for you.
Here are some healthier substitutions for cheeses:
Cream cheese - American Neufchatel (don't confuse it with French)
Brie - Camembert
Gruyere - Swiss
Havarti - Gouda
Cook your own pumpkin
You can make your own pumpkin puree very easily. Buy a sugar or pie pumpkin (don’t use the big pumpkins that you carve — they don’t taste good), cut in half and remove the seeds. Brush the inside of the pumpkin halves with vegetable or olive oil. Place them on a large rimmed baking sheet, cut side down, and pour in about 1 cup of water. Bake the pumpkin at 350ºF until tender (it can take between 1 and 1 1/2 hours, depending on the size of the pumpkin). Let it cool, then use a spoon to scoop out the flesh, and puree it in a blender or food processor. You’ll get about 1 cup of puree per pound of pumpkin. Pumpkin freezes well and can be used in recipes later in the winter.
How to recycle your CFL bulbs
We have been slowly replacing our old lightbulbs with energy-saving Compact Fluorescent lightbulbs. Today, our first CFL burned. Since CFLs contain mercury (look for symbol Hg on the lightbulb to confirm whether it contains mercury or not), they CANNOT be disposed in your regular garbage. Click on the link here to learn how to dispose of your used not-broken CFLs.
Wedding Photography
Photography is one of the most important things on your wedding day. You want all of your precious moments and memories to be captured for future generations. However, with some professional photographers charging up to $10,000, what a bride to do to get her wedding memories preserved? You would be surprised how many other options there are besides having your aunt Rose taking amateur shots… Of course, there is nothing wrong with having your guests take amateur pictures. However, please do not rely solely on those or you will regret it for the rest of your life. If you are on a budget, as most brides are these days, consider supplementing your amateur photos with some taken by a professional photographer hired only for few hours. Here are some suggestions on how to get the best wedding photographs without breaking a bank:
1. HIRE A PROFESSIONAL ONLY TO SHOOT & ASK FOR HIGH-RESOLUTION DIGITAL IMAGES ON A DISK
3. RETOUCH PHOTOS TAKEN BY THE PROFESSIONAL AND GUESTS AFTER THE WEDDING
When you get your high-resolutions digitals from the professional photographer, they will be unedited and not retouched. The same goes for your guests’ amateur photos. If you are using Snapfish or other photo sites, some basic retouching such as color correction and cropping is offered to you for free.
Here are some sites where you can get more advanced retouching and editing -
If you’re really on a budget, there are many free photo editing programs that you can download. These programs give you basic image editing features to perform standard photo enhancement tasks. Click here for a list of top 10 Budget Photo Editors for Windows (PhotoScape, GIMP for Windows, Paint.NET, Serif PhotoPlus, Pixia, VCW VicMan's Photo Editor, PhotoFiltre, Ultimate Paint, ImageForge, Picasa).
5. MAKE YOUR OWN ALBUMS
If you purchase the digital files from the photographer, you can make your own photo albums through any of the photo sites such as Snapfish, etc. If you purchase the albums from the photographer, they would cost you hundreds, if not thousands, of dollars (albeit, the photographer’s albums are of better quality and may last a little longer, but then you have your own CD/DVD with all the images – you can always reprint your albums in the future if their quality suffers over time). Here are some other sites through which you can make your own albums:
Have fun!
1. HIRE A PROFESSIONAL ONLY TO SHOOT & ASK FOR HIGH-RESOLUTION DIGITAL IMAGES ON A DISK
- It seems that gone are the days when the wedding photographs consisted solely of formal unnatural posed shots. Yet, the photographers who were trained in that style are still around, and you can find one for very little money (even as little as few hundred dollars for 6-8 hours of work!). However, if you're like me, I prefer a more photojournalistic, story-telling, non-intruding style – which is more artistic and therefore expensive. An experienced professional who takes photojournalistic photos can charge up to $10,000 (depending on location), but you can find a less experienced (yet with some experience) photographer on Craigslist at a fraction of a cost. Just make sure you review their work (and their blogs) and interview several photographers to pick from.
- If the photographer can be retained by the hour, consider hiring him/her only for the hours you need and insist on getting all high-resolution images on CD/DVD.
- If the photographer only offers packages, purchase only the basic/budget package and insist on getting all high-resolution negatives on a CD/DVD. This is where you will save a lot of money. You can print your own pictures from the digital negatives at a fraction of a cost.
- Consider calling your local school and asking for a student photographer. They may need to build their portfolios and you will get your wedding pictures at a fraction of a cost.
- Browse bridal blogs in your area and search for recommendations from other brides. In fact, that is how I found our photographer.
- Attend local bridal shows to get recommendations.
3. RETOUCH PHOTOS TAKEN BY THE PROFESSIONAL AND GUESTS AFTER THE WEDDING
When you get your high-resolutions digitals from the professional photographer, they will be unedited and not retouched. The same goes for your guests’ amateur photos. If you are using Snapfish or other photo sites, some basic retouching such as color correction and cropping is offered to you for free.
Here are some sites where you can get more advanced retouching and editing -
399retouch.com
Charges $9.99 for Standard Cosmetic Retouch per photo with 1 person to be retouched – retouch will include things such as dark areas under the eyes, yellowed teeth, minor wrinkles and scars. For $3.99, you can get cropping and color correction of your photos (but remember that you can also get those services at photo sites such as Snapfish for free). The site also offers wholesale retouching prices on 25 or more images. You must certify that you either own the copyright (i.e. you or your guest took the photo) or have permission of the copyright owner (i.e. professional photographer) to have them modified by 399Retouch.com.
photohand.com
Photo retouching starts at $3.50 for simple, $5.95 for moderate and $11.95 for complex retouching. The site also offers photo restoration services (starting at $11.95 for simple, $24.95 for moderate and $37.95 for complex) and photo book design that starts with $6.00 per page for design only or $9.00 per page for design and retouching.
Retouchassistant.com
The site charged $5.00 for “flagship retouch” - all of standard facial retouching such as stray hairs, softening bags under eyes, removing blemishes, whitening teeth/eyes, removing a second catch light, softening facial glare, etc. For $10.00, you can get all of the above retouches plus more extensive work such as eye enhancement, removing bags under the eyes, wrinkles, opening eyes, swapping heads, etc. For $20.00, in addition to the above services, you can add or remove people, recover images (under/over exposed images), slim your body and add other glamour retouching. All prices are flat per photo no matter how many people are in the photo.
Photorelive.com
The site charges $6.99 for face smoothing, color correction and some enhancements; $9.99 for wide retouching, skin smoothing and full body enhancements; $14.99 for technical work such as torn photos, colorizing, black & white. Make sure to check out special “offers” on the bottom of the page.
Retouchmax.com
All retouches are $10.00.
Carranddash.com4. DO-IT-YOURSELF EDITING AND RETOUCHING
$39 for artistic photo-retouching per photo. Although it is the more expensive service, you may want to get a couple of those very fancy artistic wedding photos.
If you’re really on a budget, there are many free photo editing programs that you can download. These programs give you basic image editing features to perform standard photo enhancement tasks. Click here for a list of top 10 Budget Photo Editors for Windows (PhotoScape, GIMP for Windows, Paint.NET, Serif PhotoPlus, Pixia, VCW VicMan's Photo Editor, PhotoFiltre, Ultimate Paint, ImageForge, Picasa).
5. MAKE YOUR OWN ALBUMS
If you purchase the digital files from the photographer, you can make your own photo albums through any of the photo sites such as Snapfish, etc. If you purchase the albums from the photographer, they would cost you hundreds, if not thousands, of dollars (albeit, the photographer’s albums are of better quality and may last a little longer, but then you have your own CD/DVD with all the images – you can always reprint your albums in the future if their quality suffers over time). Here are some other sites through which you can make your own albums:
Have fun!
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