Ringing bells, jangling chimes, whirring reels and the flashing lights of casino slot games all beckon visitors to insert bills so they can win big. Once you’re in the chair — and some are even ergonomic — it’s hard to leave.
 
This doesn’t happen by accident.
 
Nothing in casinos (from restaurants located so you to pass by lots of slots and table games to no clocks on the walls to windowless rooms) is haphazard. It’s all designed to keep you gambling as long as possible, spending your money.
 
When Gambling Becomes a Problem 
Staying and playing too long can cause a player on a fixed income to make mistakes that can’t be resolved, like depleting a retirement account or savings. That’s a sure sign gambling has become a problem.
(MORE: How Addiction Happens: It's Not Just Poor Life Decisions)
 
“Twenty-five percent of the calls we receive for help each month come from someone 55 years or older or from a worried loved one calling about a relative in that age group,” says Brian Kongsvik, helpline director for the Florida Council on Compulsive Gambling in Sanford, Fla. “Besides slots, these same people also wager on card games and the lottery.”
 
To be fair, Florida may have more than its share of gray problem-gamblers because, according to the U.S. Census, 19 percent of all Floridians are over 65 years of age. The state also ranks fourth in the nation for gambling revenue, Kongsvik says.
 
Still, folks over 50 make up a segment of the population that tends to be more vulnerable for developing gambling problems, says Dennis McNeilly, a clinical geropsychologist at the University of Nebraska Medical Center in Omaha.
McNeilly has studied gambling extensively. He says people in that age range, who are often in transitions in both family and work life, may be bored, feel cut off or even have undiagnosed depression.
(MORE: 10 Tips to Prepare for a Great Life After Work)
 
Casinos Pull Out All the Stops
Although casinos try to appeal to everyone, they particularly cater to the over-50 folks.
 
“It’s mainstream entertainment, transportation is provided and they get freebies for joining a slot club,” says McNeilly. Who doesn’t want to get something for free, like dinner, drinks or coupons?
 
“Casinos regularly send mailings and even birthday cards. If you’re isolated or lonely, that matters,” McNeilly adds.
 
Plus, casinos are broadly user-friendly. Visiting the casino doesn’t require special knowledge; you don’t have to be in good shape; and it’s open 24 hours a day. If you’re frail or ill, it doesn’t matter — casinos go out of their way to accommodate people who need accessibility.  
 
Many folks see gambling as a social activity, and it can indeed be that. Someone may be visiting the casino three times a week and not have a gambling problem, says Dr. Timothy Fong, co-director of the University of California Los Angeles (UCLA) Gambling Studies Program.
 
If it’s improving the quality of someone’s life and they are meeting friends, going to concerts, sharing meals — then it’s their social time.
 
The majority of people gamble responsibly, without spending more than they have or depleting savings. It’s another form of entertainment.
 
There’s a fine line between gambling as an interest and as a disorder. The trick is watching out for when social time slips to behavior that’s compulsive or addictive, and that begins to harm the person doing it.
(MORE: How to Make Healthy Retirement Choices)
 
Kongsvik says those who have a compulsive personality can get roped in quickly.
 
“A national study of older adults with gambling problems hasn’t yet been done,” says McNeilly. “But the prevalence in the general adult population has an estimated range of 1.5 to 3 percent who meet the criteria for a pathological gambling diagnosis.”
 
Signs Someone Needs Help
 
“Unlike alcohol impairment, you don’t see the obvious signs,” says Fong. People with gambling addictions "may be irritable, not sleeping well and not doing things they like as much as they did in the past.”
 
Other indicators include selling possessions, staying away from family members, withdrawing from friends and being absent for long periods of time, says Kongsvik.
 
It’s important for either the gambler or a loved one to catch the problem early, because it spirals out of control quickly. People in the over-50 population can’t usually make back the money they’ve lost. Then they become a financial burden on their family, which can lead to severe emotional problems, illegal activities, like writing bad checks or stealing from family members and even suicide, Kongsvik says.
 
Getting Assistance
 
The National Council on Problem Gambling provides treatment and support in states that have funded services, says Fong. In states that don’t have affiliates, another state takes over for them. No matter where you live, you can call 1-800-522-4700 to get help. Gamblers Anonymous is a free 12-step program that Fong says works. Gam-Anon, an online resource, provides information and support to those affected by a loved one's gambling addiction. 
 
The problem gambler should also see his or her primary care physician.
 
“We have some medications that reduce the cravings of gambling, blunt the euphoria and help with sleep and anxiety,” says Fong. “But medications are only a small part of the recovery story. Gamblers also need group and behavioral therapy and daily work to manage a healthier lifestyle.”
 
Gambling is here to stay, Fong says, but it should only be one small part of a person’s recreational time.
Heather Larson writes about travel in her home state of Washington.


Avoiding the Pitfalls of Gambling After 50

Heather Larson

When Mark started gambling at age 11, it was a clandestine pursuit. He and other boys from their Brooklyn neighborhood huddled together for games of poker when their parents weren’t around. Later, he’d steal money from his sister’s piggybank and skip school to go to the racetrack. (He asked that his last name not be used for this story.)
Now 62, the Prescott, Ariz., resident says he’s in recovery from an addiction that stole his college plans, numerous jobs, apartments and relationships. It drove him to the brink of suicide. And though he hasn’t gambled since his 20s, “I can still feel what it would be like to have chips in my hand,” he said.
A Significant Increase in Gambling
Legalized gambling has spread broadly across the United States since the 1990s and older adults have increasingly joined the gaming ranks — even if they didn’t place bets in their younger years. One study showed 69 percent of adults 61 and older reported gambling in the past year.
The vast majority of older adults who gamble do so with no negative consequences, said Keith Whyte, executive director of the National Council on Problem Gambling.
But gambling addiction presents particular risks to this age group, and it can be difficult for older adults to view the problem for what it is, he said. “They have the lowest rates of seeing gambling as a treatable disorder and the highest rates of viewing it as immoral or bad behavior,” noted Whyte.
In rare cases, some individuals with Parkinson’s disease have developed a gambling problem as a side effect of the drug Mirapex (pramipexole).
A Casino in Every Smartphone and Computer
But a much bigger reason for the increase in problem gambling among older Americans is that nearly any adult can gamble now, Whyte said.
“There’s been a fundamental, massive shift in the availability and accessibility of legalized gambling, right when [older adults] are entering the prime of their life, where they've got the money and time to be able to spend on leisure pursuits,” he said. But, Whyte added, “They can blow their nest egg in a matter of months.”
The common perception is that the people gambling online with their laptops or smartphones are 18- to 24-year-olds. The online gaming industry favors this youthful image, Whyte said. In reality, “the industry is really bemoaning the fact that their players are the 50-plus — it’s slightly more likely to be senior women,” Whyte said.
Making Sure ‘the Bathrooms Are Clean’
Brick-and-mortar casinos, on the other hand, often cater to older adults, offering transportation and discounts on lodging, food and drink. They see 50+ women, in particular, as great customers, Whyte said.
“[The casinos] make sure the bathrooms are clean,” he said. “Often they prohibit smoking if they’re allowed. They want it to be a place that's very comfortable for women to come in and spend a few hours.”
Customers have responded; trips to casinos are popular outings at many assisted living centers and retirement communities.
When Is Gambling a Problem?
Gambling becomes a problem when you are unable to set a limit of money and time spent.
Other signs of compulsive gambling, according to the Mayo Clinic, include: a preoccupation with gambling, lying to others to hide your gambling, trying to recoup losses by continuing to gamble, jeopardizing relationships because of gambling, gambling to avoid negative feelings like depression or anxiety and stealing to get gambling money.
Even if you are in your 50s, 60s or older, it’s not too late to seek treatment, Mark said.
“Get help,” he advised. “There’s plenty of time left for recovery and quality of life.”
Compulsive gamblers can call or text the National Council on Problem Gambling’s 24-hour helpline at 800-522-4700 or visit its website.


Problem Gambling Among Older Adults

Emily Gurnon

If you’re an expert in some field, there’s a chance you and your plus one (if you have one) could take a cruise vacation for pennies on the dollar. This is particularly true if you know a cruise port destination inside and out.
These are temporary positions that might last a week or two, or sometimes a little longer — the length of your vacation.
“There is a need for those who know the general history, art history, geography, geology, oceanography, social economics, culture, wildlife and nature” of where the cruise is going, says a spokesperson at Compass Speakers and Entertainment. That’s one of the major companies in the cruise booking field, engaging speakers and entertainers for Azamara, Celebrity, Crystal, Cunard, Oceania, Regent Seven Seas, SeaDream Yacht Club, Silversea  and Windstar lines.
And the need for expert speakers applies for such diverse geographic areas as the Mediterranean, Asia, Africa, Antarctica, the Caribbean, South America, Australia,, Alaska, New England and Canada.
Also in demand, but not to the same extent, are people who can lecture to fellow cruise passengers about art, film, health, music, science, theater and world affairs.
Artists Wanted for Cruises
If your specialty is more creative, such as watercolors, pastels or drawing and sketching, some cruise lines might like to have you, too. The same goes for face painting, balloon twisting and other talents to entertain children during school breaks.
Paul DiFilippi, director of cruise ship enrichment programs for Sixth Star, another major booking company (for MSC, Royal Caribbean, Princess, Azamara, Celebrity, Cunard, Norwegian, Seabourn, Silversea and Disney), says during the summer, there’s even a call for grill masters.
For those with a more spiritual bent, cruise lines also can use members of the clergy (more for Catholic priests and rabbis than other denominations).
Upscale cruise lines including Crystal, Cunard and Silverseas also employ what are known as “gentlemen hosts.” These are men, usually single and over 40, hired to dance with women passengers and sometimes teaches dance classes. Besides knowing most ballroom dances, they’re expected to be outgoing and able to talk about many topics. There’s a year-round demand and the longer the cruise, the more hosts are brought onboard.
Paul Jones, of Orlando, has been a host on Crystal ships and Cunard’s Queen Mary 2. He says, “I spend about six hours a day, every day of a cruise — not just at-sea days — doing what I love almost better than anything else in the world: dancing.”
The Small Catch
What’s the catch?
Well, for the most part (unless you are in high demand), you have to pay a little for one of these jobs.
That may be $30 a day or as much as $65 a day. Art instructors are expected to provide supplies, so they pay less than those who don’t.
But keep in mind that the cruise might ordinarily run $500 or so a day, per person, so it’s quite a bargain. (You may be responsible for transportation to and from the ship.)
What You Need to Do on the Cruise
So, what do you have to do to get on a cruise this way?
Lecturers and instructors usually give three 45-minute presentations a week (on at-sea days when the ship isn’t in port) with a 15-minute Q and A following.
Occasionally, speakers may work as the cruise line’s representative on a shore excursion; in that case, the excursion is free to the speaker.
Otherwise, in exchange for your work on the ship, you receive accommodations, meals, beverages (on some ships) and access to amenities like the fitness center and pools. Sometimes, gratuities are included.
You can bring a plus one unless you’ll be a gentlemen host.
Allan Jordan and Bill Miller, noted ship historians, each speak on as many as 10 cruise lines a year, talking about the history of cruise ships and ocean liners. Richard Morgan, who worked for the Panama Canal Company for 25 years, lectures on numerous cruise lines as they transit the canal. Steve Friedman, a classically trained lyric tenor from North Bethesda, Md. and author of The Ultimate Broadway Musical List Book lectures on Crystal and Celebrity cruise lines about musicals, which entertains passengers.
Cruises With Experts on James Bond and Rum
Matt Sherman and Robert Burr do things a little differently. Sherman’s a James Bond expert and Burr is a rum aficionado. They organize their own cruises, book the ships, set the itineraries and promote the events.
For 20+ years, Sherman has been “bonding fans together” on cruises through his company, Bond Fan Events. His last cruise went to Jamaica and included seminars, themed games, scavenger hunts and tours of locales with a Bond connection from Goldfinger, Thunderball, Live and Let Die, Dr. No, The Spy Who Loved Me, For Your Eyes Only and Casino Royale. He chooses the cruise line according to the itinerary.
Burr, author of Rob’s Rum Guide, will lead an 11-day Rum Renaissance Caribbean Cruise though the Eastern Caribbean starting on November 11, 2019, departing from Ft. Lauderdale, Fla., on the Holland America Konigsdam. Guests will savor the best rums of the region with private seminars, tasting events, rum shopping and excursions to rum distilleries and visitor centers.
How to Get Started as a Cruise Speaker or Instructor
If you’re interested in becoming a speaker or instructor, contact one of these agencies: Compass Speakers and Entertainment and Sixth Star Entertainment and Marketing.
Be ready to provide a DVD of a presentation you’ve made or a link to one or more YouTube clips. Also, provide a resumé demonstrating your expertise. There may be an in-person or Skype/FaceTime interview.
If you’re accepted, the booking company will give you a list of open ships, dates, topics and itineraries and you then indicate your preference. After your first gig, if you like the teaching and cruising life and the cruise line is happy with your job, you can request back-to-back cruises if you wish.
A few tips:
Be prepared to accept a cruise that may not be your first choice in dates, cruise line or itinerary. Saying no the first time could mean not being called again.You can sell items related to your lecture, including books or CDs, but the ship may take a percentage of your sales.You must have a passport valid for at least six months from your original date of departure, even if you don’t plan to get off the ship. It’s up to you to determine if you need a visa or any vaccinations for any port on your itinerary.Most likely, you will be asked to not play at any table games in the casino and may be asked to not sit on bar stools or carry a drink when walking in public.You may have to wear a badge identifying you as a speaker (technically a crew member). You will be expected to mingle with the other guests.

How to Take a Cruise for Nearly Free

Judy Colbert

A just-released Prudential Financial report on Asian Americans finds that they’re faring better than the U.S. population overall, but face particular financial challenges, particularly related to caregiving.
“We know anecdotally that Asian Americans value their families,” said Srinivas D. Reddy, head of full service investments at Prudential Retirement, at a media briefing I attended Thursday about the report, 2016 Prudential Research Asian American Financial Experience. “But what was most striking in this report was that as a population, they provide more financial support to relatives by almost a threefold level compared to the general population. That’s staggering. And it says a lot about their financial outlook, makeup and savings behavior.”
Twenty percent of the 2,097 Asian Americans that Prudential surveyed provide financial assistance to their relatives, more than three times the general population’s 6 percent. And 10 percent of Asian Americans send money overseas to them at least once a month. The median amount sent each time: $400.
“Sending money overseas to help your family takes away some disposable income,” said Reddy.
A Third of Asian Americans Are Caregivers
A third of the Asian Americans Prudential surveyed said they’re caregivers — typically for a spouse, parent, other relative or special-needs child. (By contrast, 21 percent of the general public are.) What’s more, 70 percent of those caregivers pay some of the living expenses of the person they’re helping vs. 57 percent of the caregiving public generally. And 31 percent of the Asian American caregivers pay all those expenses.
One reason for all this caregiving: 13 percent of Asian Americans have parents or grandparents living with them, Prudential noted. Only 8 percent of the general population do.
When looking at Asian American subgroups, Prudential found that Indian Americans are more likely to provide caregiving for others and support others outside the country. Korean Americans and Japanese Americans, by contrast, are less likely to be financially supporting others outside the country or to be caregivers.
This report, a cross-section of the nation’s 11 million Asian American adults ages 25 to 70 (there are nearly 20 million Asian Americans in the U.S.), is the latest in Prudential's series on the finances of slices of the general public. Earlier reports covered money issues facing women, African Americans, Hispanics and the LGBT community.
Fascinating Findings on Retirement and Investing
The new report didn’t break out results by age, so there are no takeaways about Asian Americans in their 50s and 60s specifically. But there were fascinating findings about finances of Asian Americans overall (73 percent of whom are first-generation immigrants) as well as their retirement expectations and savings and investing habits.
The median household income of Asian Americans, Prudential says, is $87,000. That’s more than 40 percent above the general population’s $62,000.
And the median net worth of Asian Americans (excluding their primary residence or any business they might own) is $445,600, nearly $100,000 more than the general population’s $385,000. “That’s huge,” said Reddy.
Of course, not all Asian American subgroups are equally prosperous. A recent Brookings Institution report noted that Cambodians and Hmong are “on the lowest rungs of the economic ladder, with very high poverty rates, of 38 percent and 29 percent respectively.”
More Financially Secure Than Overall Population
Only 20 percent of Asian Americans that Prudential surveyed say they live paycheck to paycheck. Among the overall population, a more sizable 32 percent say they live this way.
Asian Americans, Prudential said, are more inclined than the general population to own individual stocks. About one in three do, compared to roughly one in four Americans overall. Only 38 percent of Asian Americans carry credit card debt, far below 48 percent of the general population.
When Asian Americans Plan to Retire
Concerning retirement, Prudential found that Asian Americans plan to retire at age 64.6, on average — 15½ months earlier than the general population. “That scares me,” said Reddy.
They also rank retirement goals as their top priority and are more likely to have access to a retirement savings plan at work than the general population: 76 percent vs. 66 percent.
“Contrary to the myth that Asian Americans want their children to take care of them,” said Reddy, only 4 percent of Asian Americans plan to receive assistance from their children in retirement and 4 percent from other family members. “They want to be self-sufficient,” Reddy said.
But just 46 percent of Asian Americans call “having enough money to maintain my lifestyle throughout retirement” a financial priority, much less than 56 percent of the general population. And Asian Americans are less likely than the general population to think they’ll need to supplement their income in retirement with part-time work; 25 percent have plans to do that vs. 38 percent of the general population.
Few Have Financial Advisers
Despite this optimism, only 31 percent of Asian Americans surveyed told Prudential they consider themselves “very well prepared” to make financial decisions. That’s about the same as the overall population.
And relatively few — just 18 percent — work with financial advisers; 26 percent of the general population do.
“We need to teach them the value of working with a financial professional,” said Hurong Lou, manager, financial services for Prudential Advisors’ regional office in Marlton, N.J. Added Smriti Sinha, vice president, individual life insurance strategy initiation and development at Prudential, “With Asian Americans, it takes a little longer to establish that trust factor.”
Reddy joked that it took him four years to get his own immigrant father to let his son create a financial plan for him. “I was new to the business and he wanted to make sure I knew what I was doing,” he said. “It took a while to earn his trust.”
Financial Breakdowns of Asian American Subgroups
Prudential broke out other differences about finances of subgroups, including Chinese Americans, Japanese Americans, Indian Americans, Korean Americans and Filipino Americans. According to Prudential's report:
Chinese Americans  They tend to have higher incomes, higher asset levels and greater equity in their homes. They’re self-described savers, with more knowledge about debt management and investing. They also own a greater diversity of financial products. They have the highest levels of investment in individual stocks and retirement plans and are more likely to trade stocks online, too.
Japanese Americans They’re generally optimistic about their own financial outlook, but less likely to think the next generation will be better off. They’re less likely to be living paycheck to paycheck.
Indian Americans They tend to have higher income levels and are also less likely to be living paycheck to paycheck. They are more likely to describe themselves as savers and report the highest levels of knowledge about all financial topics.
Korean Americans They are less likely to be living paycheck to paycheck, but more likely to be working to supplement income in retirement and to be receiving support from family in retirement.
Filipino Americans They tend to carry more types of debt, including a higher volume of credit card debt and cite debt reduction as a higher priority. In retirement, they’re more likely to plan to work to supplement income.


Money Challenges and Triumphs of Asian Americans

Richard Eisenberg

When you think of pad Thai, pumpkin probably isn’t the first ingredient that comes to mind. But it can add an exciting new dimension to Thailand’s national dish. Pumpkin’s sweet earthy taste is the perfect complement to the distinctive quartet of traditional Thai flavors: sweet, salty, sour and spicy.
 
Over the past 15 years, pad Thai’s popularity has exploded in the United States, and it’s easy to understand why: The blend of tangy sweet noodles and crunchy vegetables and peanuts is irresistible. But you don’t need to go to a Thai restaurant to enjoy these fresh, complex flavors. Pad Thai is essentially just a stir-fry that requires little more than chopping and stirring, and it’s a perfect dish for a solo diner. And this time of year, it's a way to eat seasonally and, for most of us, locally.
Dining for one doesn't get much more flavorful and exotic than this American-Asian Pad Thai. It's wonderful served on its own or as the star of a full-fledged three-course meal, with a supporting cast featuring a Chicken Satay with Peanut Sauce appetizer and an easy dessert of Gingered Apple Confit. This menu provides not just a full complement of tastes but a healthy blend of protein, complex carbs and (good) fats.
The one part of this menu that involves a bit of work is preparing the pumpkin, but it’s easier than you may think — and the awesome flavor is worth the effort. Pick a smaller, thinner-skinned eating variety, like sugar, New England pie or Cinderella. These are grown for sweetness and flavor (which the more fibrous jack-o'-lantern types lack), and they cook up beautifully. You can eat the carving kind, but they’re starchier and taste more like potato than pumpkin.
Adding pumpkin to rice noodles raises the dish’s nutritional profile. Pad Thai is relatively healthy to begin with — low in fat and featuring plenty of fresh vegetables — but the bonus of pumpkin is its nutrients: One cup contains 564 milligrams of potassium, 1.4 milligrams of iron and 3 grams of fiber, plus a decent dose of beta carotene, calcium and vitamin C.
The other unfamiliar ingredient in this recipe is rice sticks. These pale, translucent, flat noodles range in size from very thin to more than a quarter-inch wide. Unlike flour-based pasta, they don’t need to be boiled. Instead, you soak them in hot water until they’re tender, then quickly stir-fry them with the veggies. Look for them in the Asian section of large supermarkets or Asian grocers or order them online. 
 
Dining for one doesn't get much more flavorful and exotic than this American-Asian pad Thai. It's not just a delicious feast for your stomach but for all of your senses as well.
 
(MORE: Pumpkin Pie Goulash Casserole)
Menu
Chicken Satay with Peanut Sauce
Fall Pumpkin Pad Thai
Gingered Apple Confit
Drinks: You can pair this menu with beer or wine — or mulled cider. Try a German-style wheat beer, like a hefeweizen, or the classic Thai pale lager Singha. Both will balance nicely with the fresh flavors in the dish. A good wine choice is a straightforward white with a hint of sweetness, like a California, Alsatian or Finger Lakes riesling.
 
Chicken Satay with Peanut Sauce
This recipe can also be made with beef, pork or shrimp. Soaking the bamboo skewers in water before threading on the chicken will prevent them from scorching during grilling. 
2 servings
 
1/4 cup chicken broth
2 tablespoons low-sodium soy sauce
1½ teaspoons brown sugar
1 teaspoon minced fresh ginger
2 teaspoons fresh lime juice
½ teaspoon grated lime zest
1/8 teaspoon crushed red pepper
1 garlic clove, minced
8 ounces boneless chicken breasts, pounded slightly and cut into 1-inch-wide strips
4 to 6 (8-inch) bamboo skewers, soaked in cold water for 20 minutes

		In a shallow bowl, whisk together the chicken stock, soy sauce, brown sugar, ginger, lime juice and zest, crushed red pepper and garlic. Add the chicken and toss to coat. Let stand for 15 minutes. Preheat a gas grill to medium high about 15 minutes before you're ready to cook the skewers, or heat a cast iron or other grill pan over medium-high heat about 3 minutes before. 
		Make the Peanut Sauce (recipe below).
		Thread the chicken strips onto each of the skewers. Place the chicken on the rack or grill pan that’s been coated with cooking spray, and grill the skewers for 5 minutes on each side or until chicken is just cooked through.
		Serve the chicken with the Peanut Sauce.Peanut Sauce
1/4 cup peanut butter, preferably chunky, at room temperature
2 tablespoons low-sodium soy sauce
1 tablespoon rice-wine (or white) vinegar
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
In a small bowl, mix the peanut butter, soy sauce, vinegar, cayenne and vegetable oil until well blended.
 
Pumpkin Pad Thai
This Thai-restaurant favorite comes together at home in less time than you might imagine. It’s great as is, or you can toss thinly sliced chicken breast or peeled and deveined shrimp into the pan before adding the noodles.
2 servings
 
6 ounces dried wide and flat rice noodles (also called rice sticks)
2 tablespoons fresh lime juice, plus wedges for serving
2 tablespoons low-sodium soy sauce
1 tablespoon brown sugar
1 teaspoon chile-garlic sauce, or more to taste
1½ tablespoons vegetable oil
2 cups julienned fresh-baked pumpkin (see Cook’s Note, below) or other winter squash, such as butternut
1 garlic clove, minced
4 scallions, white and light green parts, thinly sliced
2 large eggs, lightly beaten
1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro
1/4 cup chopped roasted and salted peanuts

		Cover the rice noodles in hot tap water and soak cover in a large bowl until limp and white, about 20 minutes, or according to package directions. (Do not oversoak.) Drain well.
		In a small bowl, whisk together the lime juice, soy sauce, brown sugar and chile-garlic sauce until well blended. Set aside.
		Heat the oil in a wok or heavy skillet over high heat until very hot. Add the pumpkin and stir-fry until golden, 1 to 2 minutes. Stir in the scallions and garlic and cook, stirring constantly for 30 seconds. Pour in the eggs and cook, scraping the skillet with a spatula, so the eggs are almost set, about 30 seconds. Transfer the egg mixture to a plate.
		Add the noodles and soy sauce mixture to the skillet and cook, tossing constantly, to coat the noodles with the sauce, about 1 minute. Return the egg mixture to the skillet and toss to coat, breaking up the eggs gently.
		Serve the noodles with lime wedges, garnished with the cilantro and peanuts. 
Cook’s Note:
Small cooking pumpkins, like sugar, are the best variety to use for this recipe and surprisingly easy to prepare, just follow these steps. 

		Start with one small cooking pumpkin (2-3 pounds) and, using a large heavy chef’s knife or cleaver, cut straight down to one side of stem.
		Spoon out the seeds and pulp from the halves.
		Place the pumpkins, cut-side down, on a wooden board. Remove sections of the skin using a downward motion with the knife.
		Cut the pumpkin flesh into wedges, then cut into thin strips — or whatever shape you desire. Proceed with recipe.Gingered Apple Confit
Nothing says autumn like an apple dessert. Here, warm and juicy sautéed apples are perfect served over cold vanilla ice cream. 
2 servings
 
1 tablespoon butter
1½ teaspoons minced fresh ginger
2 cups (about ½ pound) diced (3/4-inch) peeled tart apples, such as Granny Smith, Cortland or Braeburn
3 tablespoons packed brown sugar
1/8 teaspoon ground cinnamon

		Melt the butter in a medium skillet over moderately high heat. Add the ginger and sauté until fragrant, about 30 seconds. Add the apples and sauté until just tender, about 6 to 8 minutes. Stir in the sugar and cinnamon, and cook for about 2 minutes or until sugar melts and apples are coated.
		Serve the warm apples over vanilla ice cream or frozen yogurt.Kathy Kingsley is a food writer and cookbook author in Newtown, Conn. 
 


Single Person’s Diet: Pumpkin Pad Thai

Kathy Kingsley

I’ve been thinking a lot about my charitable contributions recently, since I just filed my taxes.
 
As  I reviewed the charitable deductions on my 2011 return, I  thought of negative news stories I'd read not long ago about three  prominent charities, and it made me wonder whether the groups that  received my money were spending it wisely. I suspect you may have the same question about your own charitable donations.
 
 
 
Lately  I’ve used these sites both to read up on charities in the news and to  check out my personal favorites. (I learned that one of my preferred  charities had failed to provide requested information to two of the  sites, so I’m now  considering switching to a more transparent group.) 

You  don’t have to use all three websites to do your charity research — one  may be plenty. But if you don’t find a particular charity in the source you select, you  should try one of the two others.
 
Here’s a rundown on the three free charity watchdog sites:
 
Charity  Navigator rates 10,000 charities, focusing on their financial health,  accountability and transparency. It’s a fun site — you can spend hours  browsing its top 10 lists, which include the best charities, celebrity  charities (think Michael J. Fox and Lance Armstrong) and those most  routinely in the red.
 
The site has a four-star  rating system, with the full four going to charities that earn grades  of 60 or higher (the top score is 70). This makes it easy to compare  charities with similar missions. And in case you don’t know the names of nonprofits comparable to the one you're researching, Charity Navigator  lists some at the end of each review.
 
At Charity  Navigator, Susan G. Komen receives four stars, Invisible Children gets  three, and Central Asia Institute has a “donor advisory” (Charity Navigator's response to the negative news stories about Mortenson's nonprofit), which  supercedes any rating.
 
The  BBB reviews 11,000 charities, looking at how they spend their money,  their truthfulness, their willingness to disclose basic information to  the public, and how well they're run.
 
According to this  site’s basic rule of thumb, a charity's fundraising costs should  not equal more than 35 percent of its total expenses, and at least  65 percent of the group's money should be spent on programs. Komen meets  this standard (BBB calculates that fundraising accounts for 8 percent  of Komen's expenses; programming, 84 percent). Neither Invisible Children  nor Central Asia Institute is rated because both failed to respond to  BBB’s requests for information.
 
I have one small gripe about this site: Every time I tried to research a charity, I was asked for my location. That’s annoying.
 
A valuable clearinghouse that provides access to vital public information  about charities, Guidestar has the tax returns of all 1.8 million  nonprofits that file with the IRS.
 
Guidestar also  rates charities for their transparency, awarding a Guidestar Seal to  those that cooperate and answer its questions.
 
But  beware: The Guidestar Seal doesn’t necessarily mean that a group uses  its money wisely or that there is no wrongdoing associated with it. The seal simply indicates that the  charity has answered the dozens of questions Guidestar asked. 

Komen and Central Asia Institute have the Guidestar Seal; Invisible Children does not.
 
Guidestar also lets you share reviews about a charity after you log in.
 
A Charity Watchdog That Charges
 
If you want even more information about large U.S. charities than these three sites offer, consider sending $3 to CharityWatch(formerly known as the American Institute of Philanthropy) to receive its Charity Rating Guide of roughly 600 groups.
 
The  CharityWatch guide, published three times a year, provides detailed  information about nonprofits it rates and gives each a grade from  A to F based on three factors: the percentage of money spent on its charitable  purpose, fundraising costs, and the size of the group’s cash reserves.
 
  Although the guide itself is not available online, you might want to spend some time at CharityWatch’s Hot Topics area, which includes the watchdog’s take on charities in the news as well as its lists of top charities. 


How to Check Out a Charity Before You Give

Caroline Mayer

Visiting a museum might just improve your mental health, especially when combined with mindfulness. Around the world, museums recognize the benefits of practicing mindfulness, meditation, and related physical activities — like yoga — as self-care tools.
A yoga practitioner at the North Carolina Museum of ArtIn the US, many museums offer a variety of ways visitors and members can learn to de-stress. Some of these programs began prior to the pandemic, while others were initiated during a time when the museums' doors were closed to the public.
The Hammer Museum at UCLA initiated drop-in "Mindful Awareness Meditation" sessions in 2010. The staff was amazed at how quickly attendance grew with two or three hundred people gathering in the auditorium each week. During the pandemic shut down, the museum switched to using Zoom. More than 550 people from 25 countries joined the video conference.
How Mindfulness Meditation Can Help 
These 30-minute free segments are led by Diana Winston and other instructors from the UCLA Mindful Awareness Research Center (MARC). Sessions are currently held every Monday and Thursday via Zoom. Each session has a theme, guided meditation, silent time, and a new life practice for the week. 
"It definitely helps everyone feel more kindness and compassion towards other people - especially when we practice together as a community." 
"Mindful awareness meditation can help people in many different ways. Many of our visitors tell us it helps them with pain management. For others it can help them manage anger, or depression – it can be a way of identifying and handling physical and mental discomfort in the body," says Claudia Bestor, director of public programs at the Hammer. "It definitely helps everyone feel more kindness and compassion towards other people — especially when we practice together as a community."
In Washington, DC, the Smithsonian's National Museum of Asian Art conducts 30-minute free "Meditation and Mindfulness" classes three times each week. Appropriate for beginners or skilled practitioners, pre-registration is required. Each month features a different Asian spiritual tradition. Every Friday, a special guest teacher or artist incorporates art from the museum's collection into the session.
A neuropsychologist leads "Mindfulness Meditation" sessions the first Wednesday of each month at the Frye Art Museum in Seattle. Attend in person or view the free sessions online.
Programs Incorporate Nature 
The North Carolina Museum of Art "Mindful Museum" program is designed to "calm the mind, process emotions, cultivate inspiration, and find connection both with art and our community." Activities range from Tai Chi in the Park and slow art appreciation to solstice sunset yoga and art-inspired poetry. Costs and dates vary at the Raleigh museum. Mindful programming began in 2018 with indoor yoga classes within the special exhibition "You Are Here: Light, Color, and Sound Experiences."
Saturday mornings, the New Orleans Museum of Art (NOMA) hosts "Yoga in the Sculpture Garden." Attendees congregate on the 11-acre Besthoff Sculpture Garden adjacent to NOMA. Located inside City Park, some 90 sculptures are displayed among mature pines, live oaks, and magnolias bordered by two lagoons. The class fee is $5 or free for museum members — registration is recommended.   
Across the street from the Gulf of Mexico in Biloxi, Mississippi, the Ohr-O'Keefe Museum of Art offers "Yoga Under the Oaks" every third Tuesday. Named for a local potter, the modern art museum is housed in sculptural structures conceived by architect Frank Gehry, who also built the The Guggenheim Bilbao in Spain and the The Louis Vuitton Foundation in Paris. The price to grow stronger and stretch on the unique campus is $15.
"Gentle Yoga with the Manatees" classes provide views of the aquatic mammals swimming at the Bishop Museum of Science and Nature in downtown Bradenton, Florida. Since 1998, the Parker Manatee Rehabilitation Habitat has served as a temporary home to some 40 docile manatees. Classes run the first, third, and fourth Sundays of each month. The fee is $20 with group size limited to 15.
The Sculpture Garden at the New Orleans Museum of Modern ArtThe popular "Yoga at Rienzi" runs every spring and fall at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston (MFAH). A house museum for European decorative arts and paintings, the Rienzi contains a substantial collection of furniture, porcelain, paintings, and miniatures. After the $20 session ($15 for seniors 65+), stroll the manicured gardens.
Meditative Experiences for All Ages 
While taking in the majestic vistas of the National Elk Refuge and Snow King Mountain, participants of "Yoga on the Trail" engage in restorative movements at the National Museum of Wildlife Art in Jackson, Wyoming. Free classes are Thursdays in July and August. The 3/4 mile Sculpture Trail stretches along a bluff and displays bigger-than-life-wildlife sculpture in ever changing light.
Once a month, participants gather under the stars at the Bryan-Gooding Planetarium at MOSH (Museum of Science and Health). With views of downtown Jacksonville, Florida, the class entails self awareness meditations and affirmations, yoga practice, and sound healing vibrations. The cost for "Full Moon Yoga" is $40.  
"Gentle Yoga with the Manatees" classes provide views of the aquatic mammals swimming at the Bishop Museum of Science and Nature in downtown Bradenton, Florida. 
In the summer of 2021, San Antonio's McNay Art Museum initiated two programs designed to blend mindfulness, meditation, movement, and yoga practices with the peacefulness of the museum's landscaped grounds. "Storytime Flow" is geared towards preschool audience whereas "Be Well" appeals to adults. Frequently, "Be Well" is taught in both English and Spanish. The first modern art museum in Texas, the McNay's core building is a Spanish Colonial-Revival house on a hillside. 
Carnegie Museum of Art in Pittsburgh initiated a suite of programs and activities beginning in May and running through the end of 2022. Orchestrated for those over 55, the "Mindful Museum" allows early Wednesday morning access and a discount menu at the Carnegie Cafe. Participants get their exercise in with art stops throughout the museum and can meditate with prompts on their cell phones. Stimulate creativity with Drop-in Drawing classes — supplies are provided. 
Chair and wheelchair yoga moved from online to in-person. Each gentle session focuses on a piece of art with an instructor's movement complimenting the object. Additional benefits include social gatherings, art history lessons, and digital offerings. The cost to join is $50 for members and $80 for non-members. 
Simply put, mindfulness meditation means been present in the moment. Achievable wherever you are, practicing mindfulness can help develop a deeper connection with yourself, others, and art.


Learn Meditation and Mindfulness at a Museum

Barbara Twardowski

Jim Twardowski


	From the moment we’re born, we’re ranked. In the delivery room, we get an Apgar score. Doctors give us percentile rankings for height and weight. Schools test us constantly. FICO scores measure our credit worthiness. 

	 

	“Marketing scores are being used for all sorts of reasons beyond marketing,” says Pam Dixon, executive director of the World Policy Forum, a San Diego-based advocacy group. “Scores in themselves aren’t bad, but secret scores present a problem.”

	(MORE: Truth About Free Credit Scores)

	 

	Big Data is Watching You

	 

	Some of it is considered structured data like your age, sex, marital status and address, the kind of information you give a credit-card carrier or a bank. Increasingly, however, unstructured data, the things that can’t be so readily classified like photos and images, emails, and Facebook posts, are working their way into complicated analytics that will flag a merchant about your shoe fetish or a health insurer about your smoking habit.

	It’s a huge piece of the “big” in Big Data.
	(MORE: How Much Privacy Do You Need on LinkedIn?)

	 

	That means data collected on you, whether through surveys you took, tweets you shared or complaints you made to a call center, are intertwined and parsed through sophisticated algorithms to give government and businesses a deeper look at you. What comes out is a profile of you that could include such nuances as how likely it is that you will buy certain products, take medications on time or run a fraud ring.

	 

	 

	The Affordable Care Act, for example, has an “individual risk score” that is based on your demographic and health-status information. The primary source of that information is data already collected from employers and health plans. That then determines what you will pay for care under Obamacare because it allows insurance companies to spread the risk out.

	Marketing experts will tell you that these scores are not nearly as invasive as you might think and amount to nothing more than perfecting a sales pitch to you — customizing it based on your preferences, a hallmark of Big Data and Big Content’s contribution to a merchant’s sales-and-marketing playground.

	What’s more, they claim, this is what consumers consistently say they want: tailor-made information delivered where they want it and when they want it.

	 

	But the scoring track record is hardly perfect. The Federal Trade Commission’s 10-year study on credit scores released last year discovered that one in five consumers had errors on at least one of their three credit reports, which impacted the scores that dictate what kind of interest rates they will pay on a mortgage or whether they will get certain jobs.

	 

	Those scores are derived from some pretty specific credit-card and loan data in your credit report, which itself can be a nest of misinformation. But we get to look at that and make corrections if needed.

	Imagine now that a report we can never see incorrectly determines you’re a dog lover who never follows the doctor’s orders. You could end up with a bevy of dog-grooming coupons and higher health-insurance rates and be denied for a jumbo mortgage loan, too.

	 

	“The quality of data matters,” the reports says. “Errors in data used to make a score create a score that is not predictive. With thousands of factors, error rates and false readings become a big issue.”

	 

	If you can’t see the scores, how do you know if they’re accurate? “When other consumer scores enter the marketplace without transparency or the limits that apply to credit scoring, consumer benefits are much more uncertain and unfairness is more likely,” according to the report.

	 

	To that end, Dixon and Gellman are calling on Congress to force data miners and marketers to make this information transparent to consumers, much like our credit scores and reports are.

	 

	Sometimes, Cash is Still King

	 

	Until then, you can game the system to a certain degree by choosing cash over credit or debit cards for some purchases.

	“If you have something sensitive to purchase, pay in cash,” Dixon suggests. But if you’re buying something from, say, a sports retailer or equipment maker, use a credit card. “That assumes you’re athletic and may have a potential positive influence on the amount you pay for health care,” she adds.

	 

	Here’s a rundown of some of these alternative consumer scores and why they’re used, according to Scoring in America:

		Churn scores — These are abundant and can predict when you might dump your bank or cellphone provider for a competitor. In-house scores are used by layering historic customer sales data with outside analytics to build custom scores.
		Tenant score — These give a history of evictions and use credit bureau and other data to determine if you will be a trustworthy lessee. They do fall under federal privacy regulations.
		Insurance scores — These also are under federal mandates because they use credit scores and credit information to determine the costs of auto and homeowners insurance. Insurance scores, however, differ from credit scores because many companies have their own algorithms.
		Health scores — Seven years ago, when Dixon and Gellman first did research on consumer scores, they found few health scores. Now, however, they have uncovered “significant and high-impact consumer health scores in use.” Health records held by health-care providers or insurers are subject to federal health privacy rules, but there is a growing record of health information that falls outside those parameters. The information you give to health and fitness clubs, cosmetic-medicine services, massage therapists, even transit companies is compiled. “Consumers routinely disclose health information to companies that promise to provide coupons,” the report says. “Consumers rarely understand that companies can collect personal information that they can later sell.
		Frailty scores — These generally are for the elderly and are growing in importance as our population ages. They can point to the likelihood of patient post-operative surgical complications or readmission to a hospital as well as mortality, to within one year.
		Peer-to-peer energy people meter score — You may have seen some form of this already in your gas or electric bill. It measures a residential customer's energy consumption patterns and compares them to his neighbors, in hopes of inspiring better energy efficiency.
		Social scores — These collect individual and household social engagement and not all are opaque. Klout, for example, will very transparently gauge overall social-media influence while Tweet Grader will analyze your Twitter account to help you step up your influence.
		Law enforcement scores — A 2013 Rand report uncovered much about predictive policing and how law enforcement creates and uses risk scores to figure out who the bad guys are.
		Homeland Security scores — We don’t know much about how these scores are collected or used, but we do know that airline passengers have been screened for some time now. Homeland Security collects data and links it with other sources to establish a risk score for each passenger. The Transportation Security Administration uses it too.
		Fraud scores — These are used to help detect if you’re a victim of fraud or how likely you are to become one. In some cases, they can reduce fraud by 50 percent. But fraud scores are also used to figure out if you are the fraudster.
		Predictive anti-fraud scores — The U.S. Postal Service uses predictive analytics to scale through more than 30 indicators to “flag and rank instances of suspicious activity.”
		Casino-gaming propensity score — All bets are on that this one can predict gambling addictions based on online and in-person visits to casinos and gaming sites.
Jennifer Waters is a MarketWatch columnist based in Chicago. Follow her on Twitter @JenWatersMKW.


Secret Numbers As Important As Your Credit Score

Jennifer Waters

Not so long ago, the phrase “recipe search” meant leafing through page after page in cookbooks or folders full of stained and dog-eared photocopies. But today’s Web-fueled crowd-sourced world offers an easier approach: Just bookmark a few favorite food blogs on your computer or tablet and have at your fingertips all the cooking information and recipe inspiration you’re likely to ever need.
Don’t get me wrong: Cookbooks still hold a cherished place on my kitchen shelf. Among my many old standbys are Julia Child’s Mastering the Art of French Cooking, the California Culinary Institute’s Cooking A to Z, The Joy of Cooking and Marcella Hazan’s Classic Italian Cooking, to name just a few.
But as food trends and tastes change and many of us bump health and dietary concerns up the priority list, we want to find new recipes. And what better place to search than the Internet, with its infinite offerings.
There is one downside to this paperless approach, however: an embarrassment of riches. As of May 2012 there were 8,390 active food blogs on the Web (and that’s just in English). Add to that all the food websites, magazines, newspapers, chefs and brands that offer recipes on the Internet, and that number easily climbs into tens of thousands.
For those still not sure what the difference is between a blog and a website, the former is a collection of personal journal-like postings (Web log = blog), usually with frequent updates, whereas websites (like Epicurious.com) tend to have vast amounts of “static” (unchanging) content.
So how does one find the best blogs out there? Even if you don’t “live” in the food blogosphere, you may already have a few favorites. But with the landscape changing daily, there are always new ones to discover and enjoy.
To save you from getting totally overwhelmed, I’ve curated a “short list” of 25 excellent food blogs that I think are worth their salt. I made my selections based on the following criteria: recipe writing and detail, design and layout, photography, organization, topic coverage, frequency of updates and blogger credentials. From there I broke them down into categories, so you can pick the ones that most interest you.
(MORE: Easy Gourmet Dinner Guaranteed to Wow Your Guests)
25 Fantastic Food Blogs
General Food and Cooking

		Food52 A crowd-sourced recipe blog that proves home cooking doesn’t have to be complicated to be excellent. Founded by two foodies, New York Times Magazine writer Amanda Hesser and Merrill Stubbs, the site serves up inventive yet tested recipes from their own weekly (hence the name) contests. The site also has a "hotline" page, where readers can ask or answer cooking-related questions.
		The Salt NPR has a foodie blog that is, as you might expect, full of interesting news and stories about food and eating. The posts are quirky and informative, with sections relating to eating and health and movers and shakers.
		Shockingly Delicious Dorothy Reinhold, a former newspaper writer and editor and longtime recipe developer, shares her tried-and-true dishes, which she describes as "scary good recipes that will make you a star in the kitchen.” And I have to agree. The recipes are excellent, and the easily navigated site has interesting categories, like Cheap & Easy, Cooking Class and Favorite Things.
Cooking for One or Two 

		Joe Yonan This wonderful collection from, you guessed it, Joe Yonan (whose "Cooking for One" column appears in The Washington Post) is chock-full of his fabulous recipes and his lively writing.
		Kitchen Scoop — Cooking for One or Two This blog is defined by its easy, quick recipes for one or two, but it also includes nutritional information, money-saving tips and cooking advice.
Baking and Dessert 

		Pastry Studio Enticing photos and a straightforward writing style make this blog easy to navigate and enjoy. Every recipe includes bench notes that lead you to conclude you’ve stumbled upon one talented baker.
		Tartelette Blogger-in-chief Helene Dujardin displays some serious baking and photography skills on this visually stunning site. It's loaded with solid recipes and in-depth baking information. There’s even an extensive gluten-free selection.
		Joe Pastry The blogger known only by the moniker “Joe Pastry” offers some of the best instructional culinary content on the Web, including visually impressive tutorials on baking and pastry techniques. (There's even some non-pastry savory content here.)
Special Diet 

		Sodium Girl Jessica Goldom Foung’s personal health issues were the spark for this blog. She is on a mission to bring color and flavor to low-sodium cooking, and this site’s popularity is a testament to her success. It has great recipes but also covers shopping, traveling and dining out from the low-salt diet perspective.
		Gluten-Free Doctor Chef Jean Layton became a naturopathic physician after losing her first husband to cancer, and started blogging to teach people that Hippocrates was right and that "food is the first medicine.” Her focus on gluten-free living came about because of family health matters, but even those not affected by gluten issues will appreciate her creative recipes.
		Kalyn’s Kitchen Blogger Kalyn Denny shares her love for healthy, lower-glycemic home cooking. Started in 2005 as a place to store her own recipes online, Kalyn’s blog has blossomed into a valuable resource. She also includes recipes for the low-sugar South Beach Diet and gives advice on gardening.
(MORE: Finger-Licking-Good Chicken Recipes)
Vegetarian and Vegan 

		Herbivoracious This sophisticated meatless-cooking blog is filled with recipes notable for their big, bright flavors and international essence. A plus: Blogger Michael Natkin is an engaging writer.
		Straight-Up Food Blogger and culinary instructor Cathy Fisher delivers delicious vegan recipes designed for the everyday cook. Her niche: There’s no salt, sugar or oil in any of the recipes. This is no simple task, but Fisher has managed to master it.
		Vegalicious The focus of this blog is on vegan dishes from around the world, and the two bloggers and guest author who run this site offer up more than 600 dishes to choose from. Find recipes organized by ingredient or meal, and take some time to browse through their informative reviews and news sections.
(MORE: Fiftysomething Diet: 8 Great New Meat Alternatives)
Healthy Cooking 

		101 Cookbooks This blog by Heidi Swanson makes almost every “best healthy cooking” blog list. Along with a great selection of easy-to-follow seasonal recipes, there are stunning photos. Adding to the blog’s huge appeal is that she writes about and posts photos from her frequent travels.
		The Sweet Beet Michelle Madden’s recipes are simple yet appealing, the images are gorgeous, and her desire to get people to eat healthier whole foods is genuine and never dogmatic.
		Nutrition Blog Network This is a collaboration of hundreds of registered dietitians who post recipes, health tips and fitness advice. The categories are well organized, including one called Senior Nutrition, and the bloggers post often, making it easy to find new recipes, tips and the latest health news.
Food and Travel 

		The Rambling Spoon Karen J. Coates, former Asia correspondent for Gourmet magazine, knows about the intersection of food and culture, and she communicates it masterfully in this blog. Her focus is mainly cooking, eating and traveling, but she also writes about the environment, history and politics as they relate to food.
		Eating Asia This is armchair travel and eating at its best. Robyn Eckhardt has been living, cooking and eating in Asia for more than 15 years. She began writing about food and travel eight years ago and never stopped. This effort is a collaboration with her husband, professional photographer David Hagerman, who's responsible for the site’s extraordinary photos.
		Worth the Whisk Blogger Patti Londre has worked in the food industry since she was 16, and her no-nonsense approach to food and cooking is inspiring. The recipes are easy to follow, and her documented foodie trips are not only vicarious fun but loaded with helpful information and links.
Global Food 

		Just Hungry Makiko Itoh’s very instructional blog about Japanese home cooking is geared to beginners and those who don’t have access to a wide selection of Japanese ingredients.
		What Katie Ate This Australian blog stands out because of its amazing visuals. Commercial photographer Katie Quinn Davies’ colorful, perfectly staged images and inspired recipes make you want to drop what you’re doing and go get creative in the kitchen.
Wine 

		Good Wine Under 20 A blog dedicated to helping readers find varied wines from all over the world that are interesting to drink and (mostly) under $20. The site’s architecture lets you locate wines by variety, region or price.
		Vinography An extremely popular wine blog, and for good reason: Alder Yarrow knows what he’s talking about, and his storytelling style is a great vehicle for conveying a lot of information.
		Jamie Goode’s Wine Blog British wine writer Jamie Goode offers refreshingly candid posts about the daily life of a wine professional in this blog (that’s part of his website Wineanorak).
Web Recipe Organizers
Getting all of your favorite recipes stored online in one place can be a daunting task, but there are plenty of free tools to help you. Here are a few of the better ones.

		Springpad This Web and mobile app with a special section for recipes combines a Pinterest-like collage board with features that let you create notebooks, type notes, upload images and add tags for better sorting and searching. The design is clean, easy to navigate and user-friendly, and it also features sharing.
		Evernote This cloud-based application lets you save recipes, photos, videos, PDFs, URLs and more, and it automatically uploads everything you put on its servers, letting you sync up to all your devices. With its organization, tagging and search features, Evernote makes keeping and finding your recipes a cinch.
		One tsp. If you’re looking for a no-nonsense approach for storing Web recipes, this may be the organizer for you. You can copy and paste your favorite recipes from other sites or install a bookmarklet so you save them with a single click. The software also allows you to access your recipes from any computer or mobile device and create shopping lists.

25 Best Food Blogs for Boomers

(Bill and Ina Garrison Mahoney are a globetrotting couple who recently wrote Vagabonding through Retirement: Unusual Travels Far From Our Paris Houseboat.) 
To save on expenses when you travel in retirement, it helps to first ask yourself a few questions: What are your travel goals? Do you want to be a passive observer or an active participant? Are you on a quest for information about the country and its people or is your interest in visiting museums and seeing tourist attractions?
Once you’ve determined your reasons for traveling, you can then decide on a destination and begin employing some of our suggestions below for ways to save.
One overall tip: Most countries with former youth hostels have now opened them to adults, even seniors. These are great money savers; Hostels.com is a helpful resource. Mexico, in particular, has a large backpacker culture with many hostels. If you want to avoid the exuberance of the young, many hostels have rooms where you can have privacy — although many seniors find the young helpful, since they are often eager to share their money-saving tips.
How to Save When Traveling In Developed Countries
A few tips if you'll be visiting developed countries:
Book in advance You can get a better rate not only on accommodations, but also on entrance fees if you make prior bookings online.
Consider a kitchen If you stay in a place with one, you can save money by preparing some of your own food. Pick up a frozen dish to microwave. (If you’ll be visiting Paris, we recommend stopping at Picard, a gourmet frozen food store with many tempting selections.)
Make lunch a picnic, not a restaurant meal Buy a baguette, cheese and ham from a supermarket and enjoy eating in one of the quiet parks or by the riverside. If you will go to restaurants, choose ones away from tourist areas where prices are often inflated.
Take advantage of free entertainment Many cities have free museum days on the first Sunday of the month. Large tourist attractions like Pompidou Center in Paris are particularly lively on Sundays, so enjoy them!
If you’ll visit Australia or New Zealand, consider package tours There’s a lot of territory to cover, but it isn't easy to save money on your own. Getting there is expensive, as is traveling within the country, because of the distance involved.
How to Save When Traveling In Developing Countries
And if you'll be visiting developing countries:
Get a good guidebook The Lonely Planet or Rough Guide series are good choices. They include more bargain tips than most American guides.
Eat your heart out Food is often quite good and inexpensive in developing countries.
Seek out alternatives to taxis In Asia, you might get around in small trucks with benches in the back. Though you will probably be crowded in adaptations like these, the locals appreciate you traveling as they do.
See religious practices in action Thailand is great for learning about the Buddhists, India for Hindus, and Bali for a type of Hindu-animistic religion. These countries are all moderately priced and their food is delicious.


How to Save Money When You Travel In Retirement

Bill Mahoney

Ina Garrison Mahoney

There is power in talking openly about mental health and mental illness. Featuring expert insight and personal stories, find support and resources on how to challenge stigma and rethink mental health as we age.

In the last 10 years, Americans aged 60 and older have amassed debts quicker than all other age groups, partly because too few saved enough to retire comfortably. This series seeks to raise awareness about common debt traps and how to escape them

For some, leaving the workforce proves to be unfulfilling or not financially sustainable. We’ll feature stories about people who ‘unretire,’ including those who start a new business.

Nationwide workshops and festivals offer community for aging artists

Talking About It: Aging and Mental Health

Debt Free

The Great Unretirement

Art + Aging in Community