If there鈥檚 one place in the house that we鈥檇 vote to streamline first, it鈥檚 the kitchen. No shame in being utilitarian here instead of filling your cabinets with five-piece decanter sets. In fact, the ideal no-frills kitchen almost exclusively requires items under $30 (with the exception of two splurges).听We distilled the perfect toolkit that鈥檒l get you through daily meal prep, supply you with money-saving homemade training fuel, and make the occasional fancy dinner party effortless.听

A Versatile Knife Set

For knife recommendations, we turned to听, the听regional head chef for in San Francisco. He says you need at least听four different blades:

• A 3-inch paring knife:听鈥淔or smaller, hand-held work like trimming.鈥澨�
• A听chef knife:听鈥淓ither traditional or [Japanese]听Santoku shape is fine.鈥�
• A serrated bread knife.听
• A stiff boning or听fillet knife,听鈥渋f you're interested in doing any butchery.鈥�

Our pick: 听($40). Bonus carving knife included!

Set of Three Cutting Boards

Proper sanitation during prep is always important, and it鈥檚 a must if you work with uncooked meat. 鈥淐ross contamination can happen when cutting potentially hazardous foods, so keeping food types separate by using separate cutting boards is a good idea,鈥� says Tishman. You should have one board reserved for meat, and one that you never use to chop strong-flavored ingredients. 鈥淐utting strawberries on a board after cutting onions or garlic is a terrible idea.鈥澨�

Our pick: ($12)

Saucier Pan听

The closest you'll get to a one-size-fits-all stovetop item: a multipurpose saucier pan.听Molly Pam, a New York City-based freelance chef, recommends investing in a nice one听that holds at least three quarts. 鈥淵ou can saut茅 in it, you can boil water for pasta or cook grains in it. It is the most versatile pan I own, and you almost don't need to own any others,鈥� says Pam. Hers is made of听stainless steel, which 鈥渉eats evenly and quickly, cleans easily, and is heavy enough that it won鈥檛 warp over time.鈥�

Our pick: ($182)

Cost-effective alternative: ($50)

Metal Baking Pan

Don鈥檛 overthink听it:听A 13-by-9-inch dark听metal pan is impossible to break and easy to clean. And if you're not a serious baker, it eliminates the need for any other oven tool.听During the week, compartmentalize it with foil to听bake your vegetables and protein side-by-side. Line it with sturdy听foil wrappers to bake power muffins for your weekend ride.听And听on special occasions, it takes care of your fancy roast听补苍诲听your cake.

Our pick:听听($23)

Blender

Don't skimp here. A good blender is going to take care of your smoothies, homemade sport chews or energy balls,听blended soups,听hummus, pesto, etc.听Cheaper options won't be powerful enough to double as food processor, plus they're much more likely to break within the year.听鈥淣othing works like a Vitamix,鈥� Tishman says. 鈥淭hey are the best for a reason!鈥澨�

Our pick: ($359)

Corkscrew 补苍诲听Bottle Opener

There鈥檚 no substitute for this one. Whether you鈥檙e drinking a microbrew or a nice bottle of vino with dinner, you need something to open the bottle (do not use your teeth).

Our pick: ($11)

The post The Chef-Approved Guide to a Perfect, Minimalist Kitchen appeared first on 国产吃瓜黑料 Online.

It was less than 20 degrees in Nashville, Tennessee, when Matt Cairns stood in the shoulder of Interstate 440 westbound with his arm outstretched and his thumb in the air. It was February, and a rare bout of severe cold weather was slamming the American South. Cairns wore four layers, thick gloves, and a wool hat.

Tall, lean, and clean-shaven, the 25-year-old did not fit the stereotypical image of the hitchhiker鈥攄irty, derelict, and desperate. With his tousled hair sticking out from underneath his puffy cap, he looked instead like an all-American boy.

Blame it on being an extrovert, a middle child, or growing up in a conservative household, but Cairns has always possessed an unquenchable urge to travel and meet strangers. He has already visited five continents, and none of his trips have involved a beach chair and a good novel. The ideal getaway spans at least one month, more nights sleeping outdoors than indoors, and going far off the grid. He鈥檚 motorcycled from Chile to Colombia. He鈥檚 canoed his way from Winnipeg to Churchill in Manitoba, Canada. But his most preferred mode of transportation is hitchhiking.听

Armed with an 80-liter听camping backpack and a Canon 6D camera, the 听didn鈥檛 have to wait long before Sam, a friendly healthcare worker, pulled over to pick him up. Sam was running some local errands and only able to take Cairns two exits west, but when you鈥檙e hitchhiking in sub-freezing temperatures, no ride is ever too short.听

Concrete statistics on hitchhiking are hard to find and verify; what鈥檚 clear is that while hitchhiking was once a convenient, cost-free, and somewhat common practice, its popularity has declined rapidly, especially in the U.S., since the 1970s. There are a few reasons for this.听

For one, public transportation has become more expansive and relatively cheaper. 听Air travel, once the most expensive mode of transportation, has become more affordable thanks in large part to the Airline Deregulation Act in 1978, which made it so ticket prices were no longer regulated by the government. The rate of car ownership has skyrocketed, too. According to data collected by the Bureau of Transportation, there were approximately 61 million cars owned by Americans in 1960, good for one car for every three people. In 2008, this number rose to over 137 million cars, or a little less than one car for every two people.听

The most obvious reason for the demise of hitchhiking, though, is the stigma attached to it. Most often, it was hitchhikers themselves who were considered to be in danger.听As Ginger Strand writes in her book , 鈥渉itchhiker murders were publicized throughout the seventies.鈥� Serial killers such as Edmund Kemper and Dean Corll made headlines after targeting hitchhikers in the 1970s.听Charles Manson and his followers were also rumored to have killed a number of hitchhikers after Manson went on trial in 1970.听Around this time, the Federal Bureau of Investigation was running campaigns .听Some cops even began taking in young female hitchhikers 鈥渇or their own safety.鈥澨�

Cairns doesn鈥檛 consider himself a spokesperson for hitchhiking, but he does 鈥渨ant to give hitchhiking a good name.鈥� At the same time, he鈥檚 aware of the risks that he faces as a hitchhiker stepping into a stranger鈥檚 vehicle. Cairns, a natural conversationalist and perpetual optimist, made a point of telling me that he never felt threatened on any of the over 50 rides he accepted on this trip. But there were times he was uncomfortable. One time, for instance, he found himself riding with a driver who was clearly under the influence of some substance. There was no confrontation, but Cairns did ask to be let out early from that vehicle.听

Just outside of Memphis in February, a Utah-based trucker named Dustin picked up Cairns and ended up taking him over 1,000 miles west to Denver.听

Cairns can only describe Dustin as 鈥渙ne of the nicest people I鈥檝e ever met.鈥� During their two-night trip through Arkansas, Oklahoma, Kansas, and Colorado, Dustin played DJ and switched back and forth between 80s hair metal and Mormon books-on-tape. While sipping a can of San Pellegrino, which he always kept stocked in a cooler while on the road, he told Cairns that he was raised, and still is, a devout Mormon. He subsequently feels guilty when he indulges in some of his favorite hobbies, like karaoke鈥攚hich of course they did together on their last night, at a dive bar outside of Denver.听

Cairns ran into lots of other unique people on his transcontinental journey (he 听on his webpage for the project). There was an ex-gang member, his arms covered in tattoos, who changed his life to become a family man. An 18-year-old girl who left her home in Michigan to search for her true purpose in life. A homeless, schizophrenic man with only one good eye鈥攈is name was Chad, and with his deformed right eye, dirty fingernails, and a gnarly beard, even Cairns admits that he 鈥渉ad an initial fear of him.鈥� But he felt ashamed of this when he offered Chad a razor and shaving cream so that he could neaten up, and Chad attempted to pay him back for the gesture. 听

When a young Egyptian immigrant dropped him off in front of his apartment, he had spent 15 nights on the road, accepted somewhere between 50 and 60 rides from strangers, and met more than 100 people, most of whom he will almost certainly never see again. They鈥檇 all come from very different walks of life, and they鈥檇 all been kind to him. It seems that some people just like a man who gives them a 鈥渢humbs up.鈥�

Matt Cairns is a photojournalist based in Arizona. .听

The post What It’s Like to Hitchhike Past the Serial-Killer Stereotype appeared first on 国产吃瓜黑料 Online.