Take 1 pound (454 g) of dried red beans that have been rinsed and place them in a large bowl or pot. Cover the beans with 2 inches (5 cm) of cool, clean water. Before rinsing the dried beans, spread them out on a baking sheet or towel to sort through them. Discard any shriveled or broken beans and any other debris you might come across. Rinse the beans under cold, running water in a colander. To remove indigestible sugars from the beans, it's important to allow them to soak. For the best results, let them sit in the water for 8 hours or overnight at room temperature. If your kitchen is extremely hot, place the beans in the refrigerator while they're soaking to keep them from fermenting. After the beans have soaked for several hours, transfer them to a colander and drain well. Make sure to shake out all of the excess water, so the beans don't get mushy. Set the beans aside while you work on the other ingredients.

Summary: Place the red beans in water. Soak the beans for several hours. Drain the beans and set aside.

Change can be good. Perhaps the relationship was emotionally taxing and causing you more stress than reward. Recognize the freedom you now have, which brings about new opportunities. Feel the relief of not having to worry about the other person or be concerned with the drama they brought into your life. Spend time outside of work developing healthy relationships with friends, and others who could become romantic interests. Keep things "light and airy", which means: stay away from deep thoughts, discussions, troubles or complaints. Portray a sense of calm and optimism that can't be pulled down by the negativity or awkwardness of the situation. Focusing on the positive will guard against being pulled into negative discussions. No one can take your power away from you if you remain positive. Reacting to an agitating remark will give your power to the other person. You are in control and responsible for your feelings. It is an important job. Be accepting of yourself. If you are feeling guilty or remorseful about having a relationship with someone in the work place, at school or with your roommate, you will need to forgive yourself. It doesn't mean that you forgive and "forget" what you did, and then do it again. Forgive with the intent of learning from your mistakes and stopping any attempts to self-sabotage yourself in the future. Actors get paid to pretend. You may not be an actor, but there might be a time when you need to pretend that you are doing fine when you really aren't. It is a way of protecting yourself from further hurt. Get yourself through an awkward interaction in any way that you can. Discuss it later with a trusted friend or family member, which will allow you to process the feelings that were stirred up. Venting your feelings is a legitimate way of processing feelings and will probably make you feel better. Many people are not comfortable with silence. They feel compelled to put words into the air as if they will ease the tension in the situation. Develop a level of comfort with silence. When you don't know what to say in a situation, say nothing. Choose to be comfortable with silence, and you won't feel as awkward in situations that come up. Silence isn't being rude. Remember, a lot of people are uncomfortable with silence so they may say things or ask you things. Answer them in a manner that you see fit.

Summary: Make the most of the situation. Stay positive if you come in contact. Avoid being judgemental. Fake it 'til you make it. Use silence to your benefit.

Caramel sometimes keeps its shape until after you stir it. Open the slow cooker and give the caramel a stir with a rubber spatula. If you don't see any lumps, you're all set. If you do see lumps, let the caramel cook longer. Depending on how many lumps there are, you may have to cook the caramels for another 15 to 30 minutes. You can keep the caramel in the slow cooker for up to 2 hours on a WARM setting. This is great if you're dipping lots of caramel apples or serving it at a party. Be sure to let the caramel cool to room temperature first, however. If you put hot caramel into the fridge, the temperature inside the fridge may rise and cause the food to spoil. Use the caramel within 3 months. You can reheat it using whatever method you want.

Summary: Stir the caramel, then let it cook longer, if needed. Pour leftover caramel into a jar, then store it in the fridge.

Video is a visual medium, and while voice overs and text are great to get information across they are not incredibly compelling. If you're shooting alone you will not be able to use dialog, actors, or a ton of sound to tell your story. What you have, however, is all the time in the world to set up great shots, capture good video, and work on creating compelling angles. Have the mind of a photographer on every shot. Ask yourself if, on its own, the image is interesting. A storyboard is just the comic book version of your movie. They are invaluable ways to design your film, allowing you to "see" the movie before shooting. It then acts as your guidebook to the film. You can find and print templates online, or simply draw out your basic shots in advance with pen and paper. Improvising for the camera has it's place, of course. But storyboards are a good way to plan where the camera should go. Camera microphones are notoriously bad, and they become useless when the camera is far away from the action. An external microphone will make a huge difference in your production quality, since most audiences notice bad sound before rough video. Make discrete, compelling "scenes" instead of turning the camera on and letting it run while you move around. This ensures that you think about each scene individually and it makes editing much easier. Focus works by sharpening the image at one particularly distance from the camera. If you move around the camera will struggle to keep up, shifting focus or becoming blurry. Put down a small piece of tape that tells you where you need to sit or stand for each take. Films of any lengths are built in the editing booth.The more raw material, or film, that you have to work with the happier you will be, and the easier it will be to make a great movie. Grab different angles of the same shot, run through different lines, or videotape your environment for atmospheric shots. Every extra shot counts. Experiment with shots. Take crazy angles, get weird, abstract shots of everyday objects, and really explore your area with the camera. You may not use the footage, but even grabbing one compelling shot out of 100 will be worth it.
Summary: Focus on telling your story or idea visually. Make a storyboard of your film. Use an external mic instead of the camera microphone. Shoot in short bursts, not long single takes, when getting lots of footage. Stay in one place if you are filming yourself. Get 3-5 times the footage you think you need.