If you’re looking to give a great gift to an important guy in your life, then consider what the best presents for men might actually be.

Every woman I know seems to have a closet or cabinet full of various bath products, lotions, and perfumes… Most of which are unused.

In a similar way, there are presents that men often receive that, while well-intentioned, will go unopened or unused.

The items below made my list of things people often buy for someone when they aren’t sure what a good gift would be. They are the “safe” options… You know.. The ones that line the aisles of big box stores this time of year.

Most of these aren’t what I consider to be “bad gifts”, and for the right guy, some of these might even be great! However, for most guys, these gifts end up leading an unfulfilled life in a closet, forgotten shortly after they are received.

The List

 1.  Grooming Kit
Lining the gift isles right now are little boxes of grooming supplies that guys are supposed to love. There are usually nail clippers, a razor, a file, tweezers, and some scissor-looking things that, honestly, I’m not really sure what they’re for. This isn’t really the kind of thing making men’s wish lists. And, we probably already have this area covered. We might like it, but the odds are that it will go unused.

2.   Gag Gift
As much as we appreciate the humor associated with receiving a Shake Weight or some nice handerpants, it also suggests that perhaps you don’t take the recipient seriously. After all, what’s supposed to happen after Christmas? Am I obligated to hang onto this unicorn meat forever, or can I just throw it away?

3.   Tie
For the right guy, ties might be great. However, these days few men wear a tie every day, and of those that do, have ties that coordinated with the rest of their wardrobes. That means a lot of men will have a surplus of ties, and yours has a good chance of hanging out in the closet, never seeing the light of day.

4.   Wallet
Men love having a nice wallet. The thing about nice wallets is they last a long time. Once we’ve found one that we like, it’s probably going to see daily action for years to come. This means, men often receive a lot more wallets than they will ever use, and often the one we end up using we found for ourselves, anyway.

5.   Random Tools or Gadgets
Sure, we tend to like things that require power and come with warning labels, but if the widget came from SkyMall or Sharper Image, you might be better off just going with a gift card. The nose hair trimmers, remote key finders, and motorized grill brushes aren’t for most of us.

6.   Hobby-related Novelty Gift
It’s easy to be pigeon-holed into one area. When your family notices that you have a particular hobby or, perhaps have a favorite sports team, they try to do well by giving you anything they can find that is somehow related. This can result in a tidal wave of random items that happen to have a sports logo stamped on them.

7.   Watch
As with most of the items on this list, a watch isn’t necessarily a bad choice for a gift… But, like wallets, most of us prefer to pick out our own watches. And recent studies have suggested that not as many people are wearing watches as in previous times. I suggest if the guy on your list does wear a watch, determine whether it’s for function or fashion, and choose appropriately.

~J.C.

The post 7 Gifts For Men You Thought Were Great (But Aren’t) appeared first on Metal Master Shop.

Thanksgiving is like the Super Bowl for food. All year, this is what you train for. Everything you have done up to this point is just practice for the big day. It’s the only holiday where it’s socially acceptable to refer to it by the meat you’ll be eating that day, i.e. “Turkey Day”.

Turkey Day will test not just the limits of the elastic in our sweatpants, but also our mastery of food preparation. That’s why, when the day arrives and I need to make a big play, I know exactly what to do with that turkey — wrap it in bacon.

Prepare Yourself for this Meat Tornado

The Recipe

Ingredients

1 turkey (12 – 14 pounds, thawed, giblets removed)
4 garlic cloves
½ pound butter
1 large handful mixed fresh herbs (rosemary, thyme, parsley, sage)
1½ pound thick-cut bacon
3 carrots, chopped
3 leeks, chopped
2 stalks celery, chopped
1 onion, quartered
2 apples, sliced
Salt and pepper

Directions

Pre-Turkey Day Check:
A frozen turkey can take a little while to thaw. Depending on the size of your bird, it can take anywhere from 2-5 days to thaw it in the fridge, so be sure to follow the thawing guidelines to avoid a frozen turkey on the big day! Another thawing option is to let it rest in cold water for 24 hours.

Before the big day, it’s always a good idea to run through your ingredient list to make sure you have what you need. No one wants to make that last minute run to the grocery store! Also be sure you have a properly fitting pan for your turkey. We can’t afford any mistakes come Thursday.

Step One: Prepare the Turkey
Move oven rack to the bottom of the oven. Set the oven to 450 degrees. You might have noticed your turkey still has some extra parts. Reach inside and remove the neck, gizzards, liver, and heart. You can just throw them away or use them for gravy. Rinse your bird our with cold water. Now, carefully slide your hands between the turkey and the skin to separate and lift. We’re going to stick some bacon butter in there.

Step Two: Bacon Butter
Finely mince your garlic cloves using a food processor. Add in other herbs, briefly pulsing to chop them up. Finally, add the softened butter and ½ pound of bacon. Use pulses to carefully chop up the bacon with the other ingredients.

Take half of your bacon butter and spread it underneath the turkey skin. Really get in there. Once you’ve gotten under its skin, massage the other half over the skin. Season with salt and pepper.

Step Three: Blanket of Bacon
Begin by wrapping the drumsticks with bacon. Cover each one with overlapping strips of bacon.

Just below the neck (hole), lay a horizontal strip of bacon across the breast. Then place a vertical strip on one side, going from top to bottom. Continue alternating horizontal and vertical strips to weave a grid-like blanket of bacon onto your turkey.

Step Four: Cooking
Place the carrots, leeks, celery, apples, and onions in the bottom of your roasting pan. You’ll then place the roasting rack on top of the vegetables, and then the turkey on top of that.

Cook the turkey at 450 degrees for 30 minutes.

At this time, cover the bacon with tin foil. You’ll then reduce the temperature to 375 degrees and continue cooking for up to 3 ½ hours. When it starts getting close, you’ll want to check the internal temperature of the turkey using a thermometer. Your turkey should reach 160 degrees.

Simple, Yet Effective
While there is a small amount of preparation and you need to keep your eye on things, this turkey recipe is pretty easy. There’s no brine or any stuffing of weird stuff inside the bird; it’s really all about the bacon. And I think that everything should always be about the bacon.

~J.C.

The post J.C.’s Incredible Bacon-Wrapped Turkey appeared first on Metal Master Shop.

Miami is in the top ten for the most haunted cities in America. Our city has many historic places and a long history of ambitious building projects. When combined with the various cultural influences we have, and some interesting history we’ve experienced, many of our favorite places have left more than a few visitors questioning their senses after an unsettling visit.

The Six Most Haunted Places in Miami

Deering Estate

Photo credit to Zoohouse, shared under CC BY-SA 3.0

If there is one thing I’ve learned from watching horror movies, it’s that you’re not supposed to build things on Native American burial grounds. The builders of the great Deering Estate didn’t have the benefit of such wisdom, and now hundreds of people flock to the mansion looking for ghosts. It’s a frequent stop for paranormal investigators and ghost tours, and has been featured in countless TV shows and magazines.

Villa Paula

Back in 1926, Cuban consulate Domingo Milord built this neoclassical mansion as his Miami residence. Not too long after moving in, his wife Paula died in one of the bedrooms due to a complication with a leg amputation.

The property has changed hands a few times and fell into disrepair. It was during the restoration of the residence that strange things began to happen. Rumors of a black-haired woman floating down the hallway circulated, and she only had one leg.

Workers would smell brewed coffee and roses when there weren’t any in sight, piano music is often heard coming from nowhere, and dishes spontaneously fall to the floor. If that’s strange to you, consider that three cats have been killed on the property by a back gate slamming shut on its own.

Casa Casuarina, AKA the Versace Mansion

This old estate was purchased by Gianni Versace, who then spent tens of millions of dollars renovating it. He didn’t get to enjoy his dream palace for very long, as he was murdered right on his front steps after getting his morning newspaper.

Biltmore Hotel

There is no better place than the Biltmore for ghost stories, and its own history provides plenty of fodder. During its early days, the first well-known death on the property came from the death of gangster Tommy “Fatty” Walsh, who was shot and killed on the 13th floor. They say he still hangs out up there smoking cigars to this very day.

The hotel was then converted into a military hospital during WWII, and for decades it was THE place for kids to break into who were looking for some frightening fun. There are many reports of ghosts in military uniforms, severed limbs, and just people seen waving from the windows of the hotel — who then disappear.

Miami City Cemetery

Our oldest cemetery is the final resting place for many Miami notables; including its founder, Julia Tuttle. Aside from some of the strange plots and the general spooky atmosphere most cemeteries have, other activities on-site raise some questions. Dead animals, including a headless goat, have been found there alongside signs of animal sacrifice.

Miami River Inn

Have you ever been to a hotel that was so comfortable and luxurious that you never wanted to leave? The Miami River Inn has been in business for over 100 years, and some of their past guests may have made it their permanent home. Every night at 11pm, patrons can hear the front door opening and closing, someone wiping their shoes on the doormat, and then their footsteps as they come inside.

Is Miami really haunted?

Whether or not you believe in ghosts, it can be hard to spend any length of time in some of these places without them feeling a little spooked. Miami’s historic places often seem alien, containing the stories of the people that were once there.

It’s easy to see how the mind might play tricks on you, especially as you dwell on events that occurred in a (reportedly) haunted place. I might be a little skeptical myself, but that doesn’t keep me from walking just a little bit faster under the right circumstances.

Have a safe, and spooky, Halloween in Miami, everyone!

~J.C.

The post Miami’s Most Haunted Places 2016 appeared first on Metal Master Shop.