Happy Birthday! This website has officially existed for one year! To celebrate, I've tried to use a little bit of Javascript to add this animation. It was my idea to have Pac Man eating a cake and my mom's idea for him to pass a bit of gas when he starts eating. Just a bit of silliness during this difficult time while the world is experiencing a pandemic.
I don't have any new recipes today, but I would like to share a couple of links that I think are helpful for learning. The first one is W3School's Java tutorial. I think this is much better than reading a textbook because it gives clear explanations of concepts as well as the ability to practice them in the browser. My mom is interested in learning programming, so I think this is a good place to start. The second link is for TypingClub. This website is one I'm trying to use to learn touch typing. I usually don't spend a lot of time hunting for letters, but I still waste time looking down at the keyboard. This website looks like it is for kids. I don't care which age group it was intended for because I can still learn from it. Especially when typing symbols, the visual below the print is helpful because I tend to forget what to do. I have a lifetime of bad typing habits to fix, so I hope this is a good place to start.
It took less time than I expected for my mom to decide that this new layout is the one she prefers. So, for the next couple of days, I will be updating all the pages and checking the links. Since I'm not adding any new recipes today, I will like to take the time to share two links. Both will be available on the other page. The first one is a link to my favorite YouTube channel, Self Sufficient Me. My mom and I both enjoy Mark's videos. Especially the gardening ones because they are short yet, informative, with a touch of humor.
This page currently looks drastically different from any other page on this website. I'm trying this layout out. Hopefully, my mom will choose one she prefers by spring break. Then I can change the pages so that this website can start to look less like a jigsaw puzzle assembled from different boxes. Also, I've separated the posts from last year onto another page so that this page doesn't endlessly continue to grow as the year passes. This change might cause some problems with some of the links on this website so, I need to check them. I wonder if there's a way to automate the process or figure out how to organize the pages so that a small change doesn't affect so many pages.
I've also add a Instant Pot Barley Recipe. This is very filling, and it goes great with lentils or salad. I'm not sure why half a cup is considered a serving. I've never been able to eat that much barley in one sitting. In case you were wondering, the zero minute pressure cooking time is not a mistake. In my experience, it takes less time to cook something after it has been soaking for several hours. So, it turns out that 0 minutes after soaking for at least 5 hours does result in fully cooked barley.
Welcome to a new year! I'm so excited to see what this year brings. I've added a basic Instant Pot Lentil Recipe. This is not a soup and I've tried this recipe with both red and green lentils. I prefer soaking lentils for at least 4 hours before cooking because I've noticed that it causes less gas and bloating for my mom compared to when they are unsoaked. I've read that soaking lentils helps your body digest and absorb nutrients, so maybe that is why soaking makes a difference. I originally learned how to cook lentils from this blog post. This post contains a lot of helpful information and ideas, so I certainly recommend reading it as well.
I'm hoping to focus more on the appearance and organization of this website this year. I'm still going to continue adding more content as I continue experimenting with cooking and notice new things. Last year I thought this would be a temporary project which would later be moved to a more professional website using WebPress with a more familiar .com domain. The funny appearance of this website is starting to grow on me so I would like to continue working on it. My mom and I actually look at the recipes on this website, so I'm so thrilled that I created something useful.