Add 5 ounces (142 g) of boneless pork loin that's been cut in -inch (6-mm) thick strips and 2 teaspoons (10 ml) of dark soy sauce to a bowl. Mix the two together well so the pork is fully coated and let the meat sit for 10 to 15 minutes. You can omit the pork from the soup if you want to make a vegetarian version. Add 4 small Chinese dried black mushrooms and 12 dried tree ear mushrooms to a large bowl or pot. Pour 3 cups (710 ml) of boiling water over the mushrooms, and let them soak for until they are softened, which should take approximately 30 minutes. You can usually find Chinese dried black mushrooms and dried tree ear mushrooms at Asian grocery stores. Make sure that the water completely covers the mushrooms. Use a large bowl or pot that has plenty of extra space because the tree mushrooms will expand significantly as they soak. While the mushrooms are soaking, turn them over every so often to ensure that they soften all over. After the mushrooms have softened, use a knife to remove the stems from the black mushrooms. Squeeze the mushrooms over the bowl to extract the excess liquid, and slice them thinly. Set them aside on a plate for the moment. If there are any hard portions of the black mushrooms, remove them with the knife. After you've removed the black mushrooms from the bowl, lift out the tree ear mushrooms. Use a knife to remove any hard portions, and set them on the plate with the black mushrooms, reserving the soaking liquid. If the tree ear mushrooms are very large, you should cut them into bite-size pieces. Once you've removed the mushrooms, mix cup (59 ml) of the liquid that the mushrooms have soaked in with 1 tablespoons (12 g) of cornstarch in a small bowl. Whisk the two together until they're fully blended and smooth. Set aside the mixture for the moment.
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One-sentence summary -- Toss the pork loin with the dark soy sauce. Soak the mushrooms in boiling water. Trim and squeeze the excess moisture from the black mushrooms. Cut any hard bits from the tree ear mushrooms. Combine some of the mushroom soaking liquid and the cornstarch.

To check for soil pH, and other soil properties, you need to use either a liquid test kit, which is comprised of tubes, an eyedropper, and testing solution, or a probe which you stick down into the soil. Probes and liquid tests kits seem to give about the same quality of reading, but probes can give out where liquid tests won't. You can buy a basic probe or test kit fairly cheaply (around $10) at home improvement or garden stores. Before you purchase lime and start spreading it, you always want to make sure your soil needs it. This test will tell you what the pH of your soil is and whether or not it needs lime. A pH of between 6 and 7 is typically where your lawn will grow best. Lime corrects soil acidity by raising the pH, so if your soil tests below 6, it probably means you need to spread lime. Follow the specific testing guidelines on the product that you purchase. The basic home test will give you an idea if your soil is too acidic and needs lime, but it will not tell you exactly how much lime you need to raise the pH to the best spot. So it is also recommended to get a professional test done to find out how much lime your soil needs to correct the problem. Finding a soil testing lab near you may be a little difficult, but many labs allow you to send your sample in through the mail and they will send a report back. Both the University of Tennessee Extension and the University of Massachusetts take samples by mail, so a good option may be to contact a university near you and find out if they do soil testing. This process can take a week or so to complete.
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One-sentence summary -- Buy a pH probe or test kit. Test your soil's pH. Get the soil professionally tested.

If you feel the snake become easier to rotate, this means that you've hooked and loosened whatever large mat was clogging your drain. Give the handle one more full turn to make sure that the obstacle is fully hooked, and then stop rotating the snake. If you keep spinning the snake and forcing it deeper into your drain, you'll risk losing part or all of the mat further down the drain pipe. Be gentle with the snake so you don't accidentally damage the pipe. Spinning the snake in the opposite direction will make it easier for you to draw the snake out of the shower drain. Pull slowly and avoid yanking on the snake, in order to avoid leaving any clumped hair behind in the drain pipe. Once you've fully withdrawn the shower snake from your drain pipe, use your gloved hands to pull the bits of hair and other debris from the snake. Throw this material in a trash can. At this point, you can also re-attach the shower drain cover, if you removed this part before beginning to snake the drain. If you're still having trouble getting your shower or tub to drain, call a local plumber. An experienced plumber will effectively diagnose your draining problem and should be able to fix it within a day or two. A plumber will also be better equipped to handle serious drain clogs.
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One-sentence summary -- Snake the drain until you feel resistance lessen. Turn the handle counter-clockwise and withdraw the snake. Dispose of the gunk the snake draws from your drain. Call a plumber if the shower still doesn't drain.

Open the file of the picture you want to edit. Go to the "Image" selection. Scroll down to "Adjustments." Highlight this option. Another selection box will open. One of the choices is "Curves." Select this option. This will open a graph like box with a line in the middle of it. By moving the line upward, you will notice the picture becomes brighter. By moving the line downward, the picture becomes darker. Once you achieve the desired result, go to the "File" menu option and click the "Save As" option.
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One-sentence summary --
Open Adobe Photoshop CS2. Use your mouse to click on the line in the middle of the graph. Move the line up or down to the correct the amount of brightness within the picture.