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As there seems to be some interest in this thread, this will be the official Cooking and Recipe thread for 2013. Please feel free to post any recipes you may have or cooking creations that you want to share with the rest of Neowin.

Please be mindful of our members on dial-up and try to keep the dimensions of the pics and the size of the files to a respectable size for 1024 x 768 viewers. Please refrain from quoting images in your replies.

Enjoy!

Additional Note: If you're going to post a recipe from another site, please reference it accordingly. This thread was created for members who wish to share recipes they've created themselves, so if you find a good one elsewhere please link to it.

^ Thank you ! :D

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I love making cornbread that is quick & easy.

All you need to do is add egg and a little milk.

I jazz it up with a liberal amount of vanilla, and some extra sugar.

This is great with just butter or served with chili.

Or makes a great breakfast with milk and sugar on it. :p

Eassy hummus:

2 cups of chickpeas.

1/4 cup Tahini.

2 garlic cloves.

2 tbspns lemon juice ( to taste really ).

1/4 cup olive oil.

1/2cup finely chopped parsely

Cummins to your liking

Sea salt.

Mash and grind all ingredients together and presto! :p

Total time 20 min.

Serves and serve with: 10-15 - Pitabread o saltines

Result should kinda sorta look like attached immage

post-68048-0-96006200-1357230805.jpg

Oh dear... Biohazard 4!!! whoa cool mod! ( I just saw you took the time to move glassed silver post to the appropiate topic and not just delete it! ) you my friend, are the kinda mods we need :p

  • Like 2

^ Thank you ! :D

th?id=H.4559838759879355&pid=15.1&H=160&W=131

I love making cornbread that is quick & easy.

All you need to do is add egg and a little milk.

I jazz it up with a liberal amount of vanilla, and some extra sugar.

This is great with just butter or served with chili.

Or makes a great breakfast with milk and sugar on it. :p

i'll share my version, and you'll never look back.

Make as it says on the box, but add a packet/box of Instant Jello Vanilla pudding. add more milk and cooking time to compensate. you'll never find a better cornbread.

Baked Chicken Wings

Preparation

I buy the 'jumbo wings' - that's the full wing, even w/ the tip

Seasoning

  • lots of chili powder
  • Adobo seasoning
  • paprika
  • garlic powder
  • (add cayenne if you want extra heat)
  • add anything else you think would be delicious

Rinse each wing under cold water to wash off the chicken juice. Pat dry on paper towels.

Add wings to a bowl for the seasoning

Add a lot of the seasoning and toss to coat - honestly, more seasoning the better

Let sit in the fridge, covered, for x hours (whatever you can afford)

Preparation Cont'd

prepare a large baking sheet w/ foil (easier cleanup)

get out your wired racks (if theyre stackable, that's better)

add 1-2 cups of flour to a gallon Ziploc bag

add 3-4 wings to the bag and shake

shake off excess flour from each wing, place on wire rack

keep 1in space between wings, if possible

once all are placed, chill in fridge for 30-60mins (optional)

preheat oven to 425F (220C)

Cooking

bake wings for 50-55 mins, while lowering temp to 400F (204C), 1/2 way through

**note** do not put wings too close to the bottom of the oven - they'll burn

while they bake - prepare hot sauce

Hot Sauce

  • Franks Red Hot
  • 1TBSP brown sugar
  • couple splashes Worcestershire
  • couple splashes Apple Cider Vinegar
  • 1TBSP butter
  • Garlic flakes or fresh garlic

Melt butter in small sauce pan

add garlic and sautee for 30-60 seconds

add brown sugar and stir to melt

add Franks, stir

add vinegar and worchestershire, stir

heat and taste - make sure it's amazing.

When wings are finished, put them into a giant bowl and throw the sauce on top. Toss GENTLY until coated.

Server as fast as possible. the sauce cools quickly.

ENJOY!

Baked Chicken Wings

Preparation

I buy the 'jumbo wings' - that's the full wing, even w/ the tip

Seasoning

  • lots of chili powder
  • Adobo seasoning
  • paprika
  • garlic powder
  • (add cayenne if you want extra heat)
  • add anything else you think would be delicious

Rinse each wing under cold water to wash off the chicken juice. Pat dry on paper towels.

Add wings to a bowl for the seasoning

Add a lot of the seasoning and toss to coat - honestly, more seasoning the better

Let sit in the fridge, covered, for x hours (whatever you can afford)

Preparation Cont'd

prepare a large baking sheet w/ foil (easier cleanup)

get out your wired racks (if theyre stackable, that's better)

add 1-2 cups of flour to a gallon Ziploc bag

add 3-4 wings to the bag and shake

shake off excess flour from each wing, place on wire rack

keep 1in space between wings, if possible

once all are placed, chill in fridge for 30-60mins (optional)

preheat oven to 425F (220C)

Cooking

bake wings for 50-55 mins, while lowering temp to 400F (204C), 1/2 way through

**note** do not put wings too close to the bottom of the oven - they'll burn

while they bake - prepare hot sauce

Hot Sauce

  • Franks Red Hot
  • 1TBSP brown sugar
  • couple splashes Worcestershire
  • couple splashes Apple Cider Vinegar
  • 1TBSP butter
  • Garlic flakes or fresh garlic

Melt butter in small sauce pan

add garlic and sautee for 30-60 seconds

add brown sugar and stir to melt

add Franks, stir

add vinegar and worchestershire, stir

heat and taste - make sure it's amazing.

When wings are finished, put them into a giant bowl and throw the sauce on top. Toss GENTLY until coated.

Server as fast as possible. the sauce cools quickly.

ENJOY!

Pics or it never happened.

I'll repost my Margarita recipe from the other thread and add a food one.

The Best Damn Margarita.... Ever!

Use the 4/3/2 (oz) ratio: 4 parts fresh squeezed lime juice, 3 parts Simple Syrup (sugar water), 2 parts Tequila (no need to use the Top Shelf stuff when making mixed drinks, save that for sipping over ice) (Margaritavile (Jimmy Buffet), Pepe Lopez, Jose Cuervo works fine)

but don't use the bottom shelf stuff.

Simple Syrup: 1 cup water, 1 cup sugar, Heat on low-mid heat, stir until sugar is dissolved, Remove from heat, or reduce to make it more concentrated.

Juice the limes (for 4oz juice it takes about 1 1/2-2 limes), add 3oz Simple Syrup and 2oz Tequila and a handful of ice into a Shaker glass. Shake it HARD for about 30 seconds, with a strainer (or not, depends on if you like lime pulp). Pour into a rocks glass with a salted rim, with these, the salt makes a huge difference, helps cut the tartness. Makes 1 serving.

I knew cooking with fresh herbs/spices made a huge difference Vs the bottled stuff, but never really thought enough to apply it to drinks. I had the wife and my mom try them, They also said it was one of the best 'ritas they'd ever had. I even did a blind taste (yes with actual blindfolds, they both knew what I was making and I wanted a honest answer) test using Daily's mix. Handmade won out: had more lime smell/taste, and more of a general balance of salty/sweet/tart.

Yes, it's alot of work, but it's cheaper and tastes FAR better than the mixer they sell for 3x the price. For the lazy people, Rose's Lime Juice would probably work in a pinch though. Like everything in life, a little hard work pays off in the end.

This started out as a "I have some pasta & chicken and some spices" or a clean the pantry & fridge/freezer out and got expanded to what it is now.

Italian Chicken over pasta:

Ingredients:

Rotini Pasta

8-12 Chicken Tenderloins cut into bite size pieces

Italian Dressing

Splash of Extra Virgin Olive Oil

2 cans of Del Monte Italian Stewed Tomato?s (cut larger pieces into chunks)

2-3 Cloves fresh garlic, minced or pressed

½ of each Yellow and Green Bell Pepper (diced)

A few pinches of Italian seasonings

A dash of sea salt to taste

Prep:

Marinate chicken pieces in enough Italian dressing to coat (One hour at least)

Cook the pasta in boiler.

In a hot skillet, add a splash of EVOO and bell pepper & saut? chicken until seared

Drain chicken, reduce heat to low/mid heat and add both cans of the stewed tomatoes

Add minced/pressed garlic, sea salt, Italian seasoning

Simmer and reduce until done, stirring occasionally, season as needed

Plate:

Place a bed of pasta on plate and smother with chicken/tomato and serve with garlic bread.

Options:

Add fresh grated Parmesan cheese to the top

A drizzle of Italian Dressing

Juice of a lemon/lime wedge

Or all three

Makes 4 Servings (or more depending on serving size) Cooking time approx 20-25mins.

My Chili Recipe ?

Ingredients

  • 1-1.5lbs ground beef
  • (2) 14oz cans of beans (any), keep liquid, do not drain
  • (1) Large Onion, diced
  • (1) 28oz can diced tomatoes, or more if you like
  • Lots of garlic, minced
  • 1-2T Extra Virgin Olive Oil
  • 1/2 Cup, or more, Frank's Red Hot (crucial)
  • Red Pepper Flakes (optional)
  • Cumin (to taste, i like a lot)
  • Chili Powder (to taste, i like a lot)
  • S&P

Instructions

  • Cook beef in large pot until barely cooked through, drain the fat
  • Remove beef and place into a bowl
  • Heat olive oil in the same pot, add onion
  • Saute onion for 5 mins or so, until soft
  • Add garlic and cook for another few mins
  • Add beef, stir
  • Add all remaining ingredients
  • Bring to a boil, stirring occasionally
  • Reduce heat and simmer for however long you want. I simmer mine for about 20-30 mins, so the flavors come together. Stir often!
  • Taste and adjust seasoning, then serve

ENJOY!

  • 3 weeks later...

This isn't a very fancy recipe, but it is amazingly quick and simple.

When I met my wife, she didn't eat pasta. She ate this twice and ever since for the last 6 years she gets cravings for it, she absolutely loves it

Simple Bacon and Onion Macaroni

ingredients

  • 1x large Onion, diced
  • 2x cloves garlic, minced
  • 250g bacon, diced
  • 1 cup frozen peas
  • 250g cheese (chedder or a chedder/mozzarella mix works well)
  • 500g pasta shells, or twists

method

  • With a little oil in a saucepan, sautee the onion and garlic
  • Add bacon and continue cooking until bacon is done
  • Add peas and lower the temp. Cook until peas are hot through again
  • pour mix into a larger saucepan with cooked and fully drained pasta
  • mix through with cheese until melted

Thats it really. Its deceptive in its simplicity as it really is incredibly good to eat.

Sometimes its a side, sometimes its the main. Sometimes its cold for lunch the next day...

For a meal that takes 15min to make and satisfy, its perfect to keep on hand.

No seasoning is needed, maybe a little ground black pepper if you like. The salt in the bacon is enough that you don't need to add more.

My wife thought it fairly plain the first try, good the second. But then after that, like I said, she gets cravings for it now.

I don't know about you, but I love to cook. My favorite food is shrimp and pretty much anything that comes from the sea. Anyways, I got quite a few recipes for sea food, chicken, steak, etc that I want to share with those of you who appreciate the art of cooking so here they are. Enjoy.

f288edb49abec185547cd6a0f2a88bd0.jpg

SHRIMP MARINADE

1 LB large cooked shrimp, peeled and deveined

1 can of artichoke hearts, cut into quarters

½ cup of water

1 cup of red wine vinegar

½ cup of olive oil

2 cloves of garlic, chopped

1 tsp of salt

½ tsp of black pepper

1 tsp of fresh parsley, chopped

½ tsp dried oregano

Mix together marinade ingredients in a large bowl

Add shrimp and artichoke

Marinade in refrigerator for 24 hours

After 24 hrs, drain and serve.

-------------------------------------------------------------------

f0fb2825e787e442e6f627b9232d9218.jpg

Outback Steakhouse-Style Steak

Ingredients

4 pieces top sirloin steaks or 4 pieces

  • rib eye steaks
  • 4 pieces top sirloin steaks or 4 pieces
  • rib eye steaks
  • 4 pieces
  • rib eye steaks
  • 4 teaspoons
  • paprika
  • 4 teaspoons
  • paprika
  • 2 teaspoons
  • ground black pepper
  • 2 teaspoons
  • ground black pepper
  • 1 teaspoon
  • onion powder
  • 1 teaspoon
  • onion powder
  • 1 teaspoon
  • garlic powder
  • 1 teaspoon
  • garlic powder
  • 1 teaspoon
  • cayenne pepper
  • 1 teaspoon
  • cayenne pepper
  • 1/2 teaspoon
  • coriander
  • 1/2 teaspoon
  • coriander
  • 1/2 teaspoon
  • turmeric
  • 1/2 teaspoon
  • turmeri

Directions:

1 Mix together seasoning ingredients and rub into each side of steak.

2 Grill steaks on a large frying pan over medium-high heat; press down on steak with spatula or tongs to sear the edges.

  • 2 months later...

1ebUC3J.jpg

Pasta with Tiger Prawns

Ingredients:

2 Knorr Chicken Stock Pots

5tbsp olive oil

250g spaghetti

1 garlic clove, chopped

1 chili

chopped parsley

7-12 tiger prawns, shelled and de-veined (pre-done ones are fine)

Directions:

1. Boil water in a large pan. Add 1 of the Knorr Chicken Stockpots to season the water. Now add the pasta. Follow package instructions (mine was 10-12 minutes).

2. After the pasta has been cooking for around 7 minutes we can start with the rest. Get a large pan and put it on a medium-high heat, then add olive oil.

3. Finely chop the garlic and chili and add them to the pan. Once these are added we can add the prawns!

4. Add your final Knorr Chicken Stockpot to the pan of prawns. When the prawns are cooked your pasta should pretty much be done. Pour some of the seasoned pasta water into your prawn pan.

5. Drain the rest of your pasta and throw it into the prawn pan. At this point now add some fresh chopped parsley and mix and turn the heat off.

6. Coat the pasta in the sauce that has formed and plate.

7. Enjoy.

  • 2 years later...

This may be slightly advanced if you're just getting into cooking, but it's really not. It does require some babysitting though.

It was my night to cook so I did a pan seared/oven roasted pork loin. Actually had to cut it in half and use two skillets.

Did a dry rub with McCormick's Grill Mates Roasted Garlic & Herb overnight in a sealed container in the fridge, then did this:

Preheat oven to 300 degrees

Heat about a Tablespoon of oil on the stove top in a cast iron skillet and sear all sides of roast

Put skillet in preheated oven for about 20 minutes per pound, turning roast about every 8 minutes

Cook until internal temp reaches 145 degrees (about an hour or so)

Remove from oven, tent with foil and let rest 15 minutes

Slice, serve and enjoy!

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Just noticed something happened to my original post from long ago and it got cut off, so here's the whole thing:

Ingredients:

Rotini Pasta

8-12 Chicken Tenderloins cut into bite size pieces

Italian Dressing

Splash of Extra Virgin Olive Oil

2 cans of Del Monte Italian Stewed Tomato’s (cut larger pieces into chunks)

2-3 Cloves fresh garlic, minced or pressed

½  of each Yellow and Green Bell Pepper (diced)

A few pinches of Italian seasonings

A dash of sea salt to taste

Prep:

Marinate chicken pieces in enough Italian dressing to coat (One hour at least)

Cook the pasta in boiler.

In a hot skillet, add a splash of EVOO and bell pepper & sauté chicken until seared

Drain chicken, reduce heat  to low/mid and add both cans of the stewed tomatoes

Add minced/pressed garlic, sea salt, Italian seasoning

Simmer until done, stirring occasionally, season as needed

Plate:

Place a bed of pasta on plate and smother with chicken/tomato and serve with garlic bread.

Options:

Add fresh grated Parmesan cheese to the top

A drizzle of Italian Dressing 

Juice of a lemon/lime wedge

Or all three

  • 1 year later...

TATOR TOT TACO BAKE

Ingredients:

1 lb ground beef
1 small onion (diced)
1 garlic clove (minced)
1 small can black olives (sliced)
1 (1 ounce) package taco seasoning mix
1 (16 ounce) bag frozen corn
1 (4 ounce) can green chilies (diced and drained)
1 (12 ounce) can black beans (drained and rinsed)
1 (16 ounce) bag shredded Mexican cheese blend
1 (16 ounce) package frozen tater tots
1 (10.5 ounce fluid ounce) can enchilada sauce

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Spray a 9×13 inch baking dish with cooking spray. Heat a skillet to medium high heat. Add ground beef, garlic, and onion and cook while breaking the meat apart with a spoon or spatula until the ground beef is completely browned. Drain off any excess fat. Add taco seasoning mix, green chilies, frozen corn, and black beans to the ground beef. Cook until heated through.

In a large bowl combine ground beef mixture, ¾ of the Mexican cheese blend, and all of the tater tots. Stir well to combine.
Pour about 1/3 of the enchilada sauce into the bottom of the prepared baking dish. Add the tater tot mixture to the baking dish and lightly pat the mixture down into a solid, even layer. Pour the remaining enchilada sauce over the tater tots.

Place into the oven and bake at 375 degrees for 40 minutes. During the last few minutes of baking, top the casserole with the remaining Mexican cheese blend and the sliced black olives. Return to the oven and bake until the cheese is melted and bubbly.

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The Humble Store introduced a couple of new game bundles earlier this week. The Going Rogue collection begins with Rogue Legacy, UnderMine, and None Shall Intrude in the starting tier for $5. If you pay the $10 it's asking to complete the bundle, you also get copies of Brutal Orchestra, Moros Protocol, Nightmare Reaper, Home Behind 2, and Lynked: Banner of the Spark. If it's fighting games you're looking for, the new Arc System Works Evo bundle is carrying plenty. The three tiers of this bundle that go up to $20 carry games like Melty Blood Actress Again Current Code, GUILTY GEAR Xrd REV 2, KILL la KILL - IF, Blazblue Cross Tag Battle, Guilty Gear -STRIVE-, Blazblue CentralFiction, and more. Big Deals One of the biggest sale events of the year, the Steam Summer Sale, has just kicked off, and that means almost every PC game available is now featuring discounts. We have plenty of games for you to look over in our special hand-picked big deals list for the weekend below: Baldur's Gate 3 – $44.99 on Steam Anno 117: Pax Romana – $41.99 on Steam S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2: Heart of Chornobyl – $41.99 on Steam Indiana Jones and the Great Circle – $41.99 on Steam NINJA GAIDEN 4 – $41.99 on Steam Dying Light: The Beast – $39.59 on Steam Ghost of Tsushima DIRECTOR'S CUT – $35.99 on Steam Battlefield 6 – $34.99 on Steam Cities: Skylines II – $34.99 on Steam The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Remastered – $34.99 on Steam The Outer Worlds 2 – $34.99 on Steam Borderlands 4 – $34.99 on Steam Sid Meier's Civilization VII – $34.99 on Steam Mafia: The Old Country – $34.99 on Steam Split Fiction – $32.49 on Steam Assassin’s Creed Shadows – $31.49 on Steam HELLDIVERS 2 – $29.99 on Steam Diablo IV – $29.99 on Steam ARC Raiders – $29.99 on Steam Forza Horizon 5 – $29.99 on Steam Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice - GOTY Edition – $29.99 on Steam No Rest for the Wicked – $27.99 on Steam Metaphor: ReFantazio – $27.99 on Steam Ready or Not – $24.99 on Steam Kingdom Come: Deliverance II – $23.99 on Steam No Man's Sky – $23.99 on Steam Marvel’s Spider-Man Remastered – $23.99 on Steam DOOM: The Dark Ages – $23.09 on Steam Mewgenics – $22.49 on Steam Persona 3 Reload – $20.99 on Steam Hades II – $20.99 on Steam Two Point Museum – $20.09 on Steam Mount & Blade II: Bannerlord – $19.99 on Steam God of War – $19.99 on Steam Warhammer 40,000: Rogue Trader – $19.99 on Steam Returnal – $19.79 on Steam Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2 – $17.99 on Steam Cyberpunk 2077 – $17.99 on Steam Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora – $17.99 on Steam Star Wars Outlaws – $17.49 on Steam REPLACED – $15.99 on Steam Days Gone – $15.99 on Steam Age of Mythology: Retold – $14.99 on Steam Crusader Kings III – $14.99 on Steam Red Dead Redemption 2 – $14.99 on Steam Half-Life: Alyx – $14.99 on Steam Grand Theft Auto V Enhanced – $14.99 on Steam EA SPORTS FC 26 – $13.99 on Steam The Crew Motorfest – $13.99 on Steam Sea of Thieves: 2026 Edition – $13.99 on Steam Age of Empires IV: Anniversary Edition – $13.99 on Steam Dead Cells – $12.49 on Steam Schedule I – $11.99 on Steam BioShock: The Collection – $11.99 on Steam Fable Anniversary – $11.54 on Steam Hearts of Iron IV – $9.99 on Steam Kerbal Space Program – $9.99 on Steam Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon Wildlands – $9.99 on Steam The Riftbreaker – $8.99 on Steam Stardew Valley – $8.99 on Steam Total War: WARHAMMER III – $8.99 on Steam Sons Of The Forest – $8.99 on Steam Assassin's Creed Origins – $8.99 on Steam Risk of Rain 2 – $8.24 on Steam Tom Clancy’s The Division 2 – $7.49 on Steam Call of Duty: Modern Warfare® II – $6.99 on Steam CONTROL Ultimate Edition – $5.99 on Steam Dead Space – $5.99 on Steam The Quarry – $5.99 on Steam RV There Yet? – $5.59 on Steam Euro Truck Simulator 2 – $4.99 on Steam Terraria – $4.99 on Steam PEAK – $4.95 on Steam Detroit: Become Human – $3.99 on Steam Far Cry 3 – $3.99 on Steam A Plague Tale: Innocence – $3.99 on Steam The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt – $3.99 on Steam Assetto Corsa Competizione – $3.99 on Steam PAYDAY 2 – $2.99 on Steam Wreckfest – $2.99 on Steam Rain World – $2.49 on Steam Watch_Dogs 2 – $2.49 on Steam Planet Zoo – $2.24 on Steam Bendy and the Dark Revival – $1.99 on Steam CARRION – $1.99 on Steam The Binding of Isaac: Rebirth – $1.49 on Steam Plague Inc: Evolved – $1.49 on Steam Don't Starve Together – $1.49 on Steam Metro 2033 Redux – $0.99 on Steam Hotline Miami – $0.99 on Steam RollerCoaster Tycoon 3 Complete Edition – $0 on Epic Store Voidwrought – $0 on Epic Store DRM-free Specials The GOG store is in the middle of its own summer sale. Here are some highlights from the DRM-free store: Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 - $39.99 on GOG Hollow Knight: Silksong - $14.99 on GOG Resident Evil Bundle - $12.49 on GOG Tomb Raider I-III Remastered Starring Lara Croft - $11.99 on GOG Alpha Protocol - $9.99 on GOG Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines™ - $9.99 on GOG Fallout: New Vegas Ultimate Edition - $9.99 on GOG Disco Elysium - The Final Cut - $9.99 on GOG Dino Crisis Bundle - $8.49 on GOG Cold Fear - $8.25 on GOG Star Trek: Armada II - $7.49 on GOG Star Trek: Starfleet Command III - $7.49 on GOG Warhammer: Dark Omen - $7.49 on GOG Hollow Knight - $7.49 on GOG Mortal Kombat Trilogy - $6.49 on GOG Soldier of Fortune: Platinum Edition - $6.49 on GOG Heroes of Might and Magic 3: Complete - $4.99 on GOG SWAT 4: Gold Edition - $4.99 on GOG RollerCoaster Tycoon 2: Triple Thrill Pack - $4.99 on GOG Stranglehold - $4.99 on GOG ANSTOSS 3: Der Fußballmanager - $4.79 on GOG Firewatch - $3.99 on GOG Emperor: Rise of the Middle Kingdom - $2.99 on GOG Myst Masterpiece Edition - $2.99 on GOG Settlers 3: Ultimate Collection - $2.49 on GOG World in Conflict: Complete Edition - $2.49 on GOG Keep in mind that availability and pricing for some deals could vary depending on the region. That's it for our pick of this weekend's PC game deals, and hopefully, some of you have enough self-restraint not to keep adding to your ever-growing backlogs. As always, there are an enormous number of other deals ready and waiting all over the interwebs, as well as on services you may already subscribe to if you comb through them, so keep your eyes open for those, and have a great weekend.
    • Yup, that's a doozy right there 😄
    • It's a bundle of tools created by a variety of people, so things can go wrong sometimes. It's a great addition to Windows, and I use a lot of the tools on a daily basis. Also, it's still a 0.**** release so quick updates are to be expected 😉
    • Oh, I did. And it's even worse than I was hoping! Besides a lot of techno-babble jargon (yes I understand 100% of it but it's still all just techno-babble) there's 2 key points that make me super-weary about even considering testing this out. -- By default, after installation, a relay is automatically set up, so you do not need to care about that. * Non-chatmail apps use email servers as a long-term message archive while chatmail clients use email servers for ephemeral instant message relay. * Supporting the full variety of classic email setups would require considerable development and maintenance efforts, and complicate making chatmail-based messaging more resilient, reliable and fast. -- Basically, the end-user device is the 'server' (relay) so there is NO ARCHIVING whatsoever because every message is necessarily ephemeral. Great for techno-paranoia (and for illicit activities preferring no tracks to cover) but terrible for everybody else. It's also ironically contradictory to engineering principles of redundancies besides the transport layers due to the explicit absence of any persistent storage. Instead of 'classic email address' retaining multi-GB messaging archives on its server, now every device must retain 100% of those storage demands. (Email messages were originally meant to be short correspondences, not the multi-MB attachments boondoggle that now exists with unlimited spam engines flooding every potential recipient.) Any device swap or reset (or loss) makes the entire message history go bye-bye forever... lest there's an off-device auto-archival "relay" mechanism that's really a separate server that holds onto all transported messages (an email server) that utilizes 'chatmail email address' identities (like an email server) and its own persistent storage archive (like an email server). But... this solution is hoping to exist alongside real-world email address identities (based on the email server relay pathway) but simply render messages in chat thread format in an ephemeral manner (with contents being encrypted, and messages auto-expiring) ... In the end, it's a chat app/experience for the Web3/P2P-at-all-costs zealots. (I have accts on all sorts of federated web3 services so I understand the technical and non-technical alike.) For any practical users, however, it's just another service to download/install, register, cross-share id cards/qr codes, but know that there's no history/archive whatsoever (by design) so no account/message recovery whatsoever... update the device, install a bummed update patch, or dare upgrade your device... all history, poof, gone. Ya gotta start everything over again like they're a brand new person.
    • You've tried DuckDuckGo and Brave Search, now get serious with SearXNG by Paul Hill Over the last decade, it has become quite trendy to dump Google Search in favor of privacy-preserving alternatives such as DuckDuckGo, Startpage, and Brave Search. These search engines have done a very good job at highlighting dodgy practices by Google, such as adjusting search results based on what it thinks you’ll like (filter bubble) and stalking you around the web to advertise to you. While these search engines are good starting points when compared to non-private services like Google, there are still quite a few issues with them. For example, both DuckDuckGo and Brave Search require running non-free JavaScript in your web browser, which is comparable to running proprietary software on your computer, meaning you can be sure about what it’s actually doing in the background. Another issue is that these search engines are hosted on the respective companies’ servers, and you are using a service that you don’t control. Finally, DuckDuckGo, while offering privacy features, relies heavily on Microsoft’s infrastructure for its results and, in the past, has permitted Microsoft tracking scripts. If you are looking for a more private search solution than DuckDuckGo, Brave Search, and Startpage, then I recommend taking a look at SearXNG. It is a privacy-respecting metasearch engine that can be used via different public instances, which is useful for mobile users, or you can install it on your computer or server and run it locally with maximum control. Unlike Google, Bing, or Brave Search, which crawl the web and have their own search indexes, SearXNG is a metasearch engine, meaning it taps other search engines, stripping your identifying data, such as IP address, user agent, and cookies, in the process. Your search query is sent to the other search engines you enable before aggregating the results. SearXNG has deployment flexibility. If you are a casual user or a mobile user and don’t want to run SearXNG locally, you can use a public instance that is hosted by someone else. The main problem with this is that you are putting trust in the maintainer of the instance regarding stuff like logs that they may keep; good hosts should have a privacy policy explaining their policies. If you are trying to use SearXNG, you can also install the software on your device and then head to 127.0.0.1:8080 in your browser and search from there. While you don’t have to worry about a third-party admin like the public instances, search engines could ultimately block your IP address if they frown on you pulling in their search results locally. If you want to run it locally, it’s a good idea to use proxies or VPNs to hide your actual IP. You don’t have to worry about this with a public instance, as search engines never see your IP address. The main privacy benefit of using SearXNG is that it isolates your identity from the underlying engines that it’s capable of searching, such as Google and Bing. These search engines will only see requests coming from a generic server, so they can’t profile you and create a bubble filter that influences what results you see. This also ensures that your search engine doesn’t turn into an echo chamber that prevents you from reading alternative points of view. As a free software project, you are allowed to inspect SearXNG to make sure there are no negative features bundled inside. This sets it apart from the privacy search engines mentioned earlier because you can’t check their source code. As a meta search engine, you are not restricted to getting results from one source. Due to the fact that it scrapes content from other websites, your SearXNG instance will periodically get blocked from different providers, so it’s good to select a range of sources as a backup. While enabling all of the services will give you great results, this can make searching slower. I am personally happy with slower searches for the best results, but you can always check which providers are slowing down your search from the search results page and disable them to speed things up. If you want decent results quickly, enable the main search providers such as Google, Brave, DuckDuckGo, Qwant, Bing, and Yahoo. This way, you get wide coverage without the latency. On the Engines tab in Preferences, do note that there are different tabs, such as General, Images, and Videos, with their own providers that can be toggled and are not covered by "Enable all" while on the General tab, so be sure to dig into each. Just a note, if you want to enable everything, press "Enable all" in one tab, then hit save at the bottom of the page, then do the next tab, and so on. If you press "Enable all", then do that in each tab, and then save, nothing will stick. When I had just some of the search engines enabled, I searched “define nefarious” and results came back with the definition of “define” - obviously that was a sucky result. However, when I had everything enabled, it found dictionary pages for the word “nefarious” and even had an inline definition on the sidebar, which is quite nice too - that was delivered by WolframAlpha for anyone wondering! Probably the worst thing about this meta search engine is that the engines you select are saved with a cookie, so you must enable them on every new device you use SearXNG on, including if you decide to go into incognito mode with your web browser. Honestly, I would say this is the most annoying aspect, and perhaps if your browser lets you choose a separate private browsing search engine, then it would be best to use DuckDuckGo for this portion of your browsing. Another weakness of SearXNG is the random blocking of it by search providers. When you are on the results page, expand the “Response time” box, and it will show things like “Suspended: too many requests” or “access denied”. This is why it is good to enable several providers so that there is always a fallback to get results from. I won’t pretend SearXNG will be for everyone, however, if you enable all of the providers and put up with the slower response time, the results can be really amazing. Even if you don’t want to use it as your daily driver, keeping a bookmark handy that links to it is a good idea if you ever feel like doing a deep dive into a niche topic where other search engines are just failing to bring up any good result, due to the amount of sources it looks on. If you’re interested in radical user control over the software you use, installing SearXNG locally can also be a good idea, but be prepared to be temporarily blocked from sites if you trigger bot sensors without a VPN. Personally, I’ve opted to use a public instance, rather than install it myself. If you want to use it via a public instance, head over to searx.space to find a provider. Let us know in the comments if you have used SearXNG or its predecessor, Searx. What do you think about the quality of the results?
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