• very efficient use of energy, which means:
  –doesnt give off heat –> no burns, no unwanted heat
  –less wattage –> save money
  –last longer –> rarely need to change lamps
• easily dimmable
• directional light (can also be con, see below)
• can be made to give off any color
• LEDs do not give off nfrared nor UV light, which damage objects such as paintings and textiles

CONS:

• expensive
• hard to find, especially for regular indoor lighting
• not easy to make — need a driver for use with AC power, plus considerations about R, max current, etc
  –expensive to make for retrofitting into standard bulb sockets
  –should really be utilized in a different manner than the current standard
  –> more electrical work to convert to LEDs
  –> this is why LEDs typically only used for outdoor or accent lighting

for more general information on LEDs, check out these pages:

• toolbase.org - great breakdown on LEDs and their current benefits
• gizmology.net - more technical info on LEDs, lots of details

For LED manufacturers:
[Note: for retrofitting into standard incandescent bulb …, look for ‘retrofit’, ’standard’, ‘Edison-type’, or ’screw-in’. Also keep in mind the COLOR of light you wish to have. For indoor lighting, I would suggest ‘warm white’.]

• LEDtronics - excellent supplier, with all types of LEDs. includes an “incandescent to LED” converter
• HollySolar - page with their ‘retrofit bulbs’
• lc-LED - this page has their ‘replacement LEDs’ for halogens, standard incandescents, and more
• theLEDlight - offers various types of LED lights for the home and more

For those wanting to tinker with making their own LED lighting from scratch:

• theLEDlight - great starter page on technical details about LED circuitry
• taskLED - supplier of LED drivers
• allelectronics - link to their ultra-bright Cree LED light
• Cree - manufacturer of ultra-bright LEDs — link to their new high-output XLamp LED
• Arrow - supplier of all types of LEDs, this page searches their catalog

1 stick butter
1/3 cup sugar
1 large egg
dash vanilla
dash lemon extract
2 cups flour
1 tsp baking powder
dash salt
3 tbs milk
poppy seed mix

For those of you lucky enough to get your hands on ready-to-bake poppy seed mix (they do sell an overly sweet version in the states in cans in the baking section), there is no need for a poppy seed mix recipe. Once I got a mohn-fuelle that needed only milk added — it was a 250g package, and I had to add 75g (or 5 tbs) milk to mix. If you want to work completely from scratch, say, from ground poppy seeds, then you will need to add some sugar and vanilla or lemon, as well as milk. One of the links above had more of that info, but in German. If you need a translation, let me know.

Beat the butter and sugar together till a bit fluffy, then add in the egg. Beat more, then splash in some vanilla and lemon extract for flavor. Pour in the flour, baking powder, and salt, and mix. It will be dry, so you will then need to add the 3 tbs of milk until the dough holds together.
Take any shape pan, medium sized (I used a 9″ diameter circle), and press half the dough down. Make sure the edges turn up a bit, to hold in the poppy seed mix. Pour in the poppy mix, then cover the top with strips of dough. Bake at 350 degrees til done.
Note:
On some ovens, the top will brown too quick while the bottom stays uncooked underneath the poppy mix. In this case, cover the top with aluminum and bake longer. Or, pre-bake the bottom layer (without poppy mix), so that it gets at least half-done beforehand. Be careful, though, because overbaking will make the cake part of the Mohnkuchen a bit dry.

Well, the other day, I had the true pleasure of receiving a REAL package from my loving grandmother in Europe. She is from a time when people took effort to perform simple(now) tasks in their daily lives, and when everything was done by hand. No generic envelopes or force-fed commercial packing. Here is a picture of her package:

And inside:

And inside that? Well, you know, some german toothpaste I asked for (for my birthday), plus some typical german chocolate (Milka - you can’t get it here, really), plus some other little things, all neatly packed tight - you could tell she put thought into the whole thing.

You should have seen my face walking out with it at the post office: gleaming. I felt so special! Also, you should have seen all the passersby eyeing my box - they knew it was a unique treat you don’t see too often nowadays.

4 c milk
1/2 c sugar
1/4 c cornstarch (4 tbs)
1/4 c cornmeal
1 tsp vanilla
dash of salt
lemon rind
cinnamon

Pot on stove, pour in milk. Add in sugar, cornstarch, & cornmeal. Start mixing and don’t stop. Add in the dash of salt, a bit of vanilla, and the lemon rind. Keep mixing until the pudding starts to boil. Remove from heat, mix more, & allow to cool a bit. Pour into bowls. Sprinkle cinnamon on top.

adapted from:

Goya package majarete ingredients - uses sugar, cornstarch, & cornmeal
El Colmadito’s rice majarete recipe - a rice pudding adding coconut milk
Que Pasa’s rice majarete recipe
Pastry Sampler’s Vanilla Cornstarch Pudding
Welcome to DR’s corn pudding recipe - uses cream of corn
and other recipes actually using corn to make corn pudding

I chose to make my recipe simple, using cornmeal instead. This way I’m sure to have the ingredients on hand. Keep in mind, my majarete came out thick - once cooled, it’s almost like cake. Some people prefer it like that, others like a softer, creamier version: just reduce the amount of cornmeal, cornstarch, and maybe even sugar. The lemon rind gives off great flavor! If you don’t have lemon, you could use lime or orange rind instead.

But if you really want to hack your non-smartphone cell, check out Pogue’s post “How to make your cellphone act like a Blackberry.” There he outlines a bunch of neat tricks to make your regular phone step to the next level.

Now what do you do when the person you would like to call does NOT have a computer nor internet service? You set up yourself and that person (make an account for them) on Jajah. This is what I did to call my grandmother in Europe. We both were talking on our regular phones, but were connected through VOIP by Jajah. Amazing, and the quality is great! My grandmother couldn’t believe that such a clear long-distance call was free. You do, however, need to beware all the limitations that keep your account ‘active’. Calls are only free when you call an ‘active’ user. Gizmo is touting a similar ‘All Calls Free‘ plan, but I their limitations seemed way too stifling.

Another mover-upper is Gtalk-to-Voip. I had visited their site months ago, and saw nothing spectacular. Now I go there, and it’s like “WOW!” They have truly integrated different VOIP services (even on different protocols!) over the internet for open and free internet calling. It looks like all the major players (except Skype, of course) are included, such as GoogleTalk, Gizmo, Yahoo, SIP providers, etc. I’m very excited to explore this service further.(..thanks Yannick!)

My original favorite, Ekiga, has been making moves lately as well. With a new version out, a Windows version, and some new features, oldie-but-goodie Ekiga is still up in the running. I particularly like their new “presence” feature - you can add a button anywhere online to show your status and allow people to call you with just one click.