As I have mentioned in the past, I don't really care for silicone bakeware. While it allows cakes and other baked goods to cook evenly, it doesn't produce any of the browning or caramelisation at the edges that I love to see. That being said, I do own several silicone cake pans, collected after trying to give them the benefit of the doubt. . I would give them away to a friend or someone who might actually get some use out of the nearly-new pans, but they seem to have become sticky to the point of unusability - and I have no idea why, nor does there seem to be much information about the issue online. Have any of you readers had the same problem? The pans are all dishwasher safe and the instructions say that they cab be soaked in warm, soapy water to clean them, as well. If I'm the only one, then clearly my pans are even worse than I originally thought. If I'm not, then I definitely recommend sticking with more traditional, easier to clean bakeware.

Many people love beans and they are a staple in the diet of hundreds of thousands of people all across the globe. The problem with beans is that they can have unwanted social side effects, like farting. Scientists in Venezuela have been working furiously, trying to eliminate or reduce this problem and have finally come up with a solution.

Farting is the end result of a process that begins when the soluble fiber in beans, not already broken down in the small intestine, is broken down by the large intestine. They found that adding two strains of bacteria, Lactobacillus casei and Lactobacillus plantarum, to the beans, reduced soluble fiber by 60% and lowered the level of another gas-causing compound known as raffinose by 88%. This means that there were fewer farts. It also increased the insoluble fiber in the beans by almost 10%, adding more nutritional value of the beans, in addition to uncovering the root of a social problem.

At Chowhound, there is an interesting discussion going on about dinner invitation etiquette. The question is whether you should extend an invitation to someone who probably will not be able to make it to the event. The chowhound who started the thread had a friend who was offended that she was not invited to a dinner, though she admitted that she probably would not have come anyway. On one hand, you might think that if she wasn't going to come, it does not matter whether she was invited. If she had decided to show up, though, it could have caused problems for the group, which was dining at a restaurant.

Excluding large events, like weddings, most dinner parties at restaurants or at home have a lot that depends on the dynamic of the group. When you are planning the party, you want to make sure that everyone will get along and that you have a good mix of people. You want to invite people who will get along and you have to know in advance how many people are coming in order to place a reservation or make the appropriate amount of food.

Personally, I think that the friend was out of line. Do you have to be included in every single thing a friend does? No - and if you're not going to come anyway, don't complain about it.