The Best USB Battery Pack for Travel | The Wirecutter. Only $40, nice.

Meet the game that shows us the future of storytelling — The Message — Medium. Robin Sloan suggests how to play Gone Home for non-gamers and goes into why this is a form of video game that is worth paying attention to. Via Waxy.

10 Years, 10 Great Games: Jessica’s picks | Joystiq.

The secret of Minecraft — The Message — Medium. A very good perspective on what Minecraft is an exactly why it matters.

$7 Portal Mod Has Fans Riled Up | Game|Life | WIRED.

Cool Tools – Panda Ultra Wifi 1540Mbps Wireless N 2.4Ghz Adapter. A teeny tiny adapter that can work as an access point at those hotels that offer you wifi for one device. Nice.

The last of the great Twitter apps at Kottke. I’m looking at #2 on the list here, TweetBe.at, which makes it much easier to sort and edit Twitter lists. I’ve recently been asking friends about why they prefer to communicate with Facebook or Twitter and the Facebook people site overload on Twitter with Twitter list making is too time consuming to use properly. It is indeed a pain and it used to be much easier.

Padrón peppers are delicious and they are also like a little game of surprise – most of these are mild but ever fifth one is hot. This can be especially amusing if somebody at your dinner is likely to break out into hiccups when they bite into a spicy pepper. (Ahem, Scott!)

Traditionally these are fried in a skillet but we find them just as delicious when tossed with a little olive oil and grilled. Add some good salt to finish and that’s all you need. They practically melt in your mouth, yum. If you have not encountered these yet, I somehow got to adulthood without being introduced, I recommend you seek some out soon.

A shout out to Maggi who introduced me to these a few years back! Also Shishito peppers are similar, every tenth one is hot.

Happy almost Independence Day! A few of the links below are Fourth of July themed, the rest are yummy:

What to Drink on July 4th | Serious Eats. Mostly I’m eyeing the Campari-laced version of the Starfruit Sangria here, the slice of starfruit is such a simple decoration for the Fourth.

The Scientific Way to Cut a Cake – YouTube. By Numberphile. A very clever way to slice a round cake so that you can keep it as fresh as possible day after day, and the suggestion is from 1906! Via The Morning News.

Sprinkle Bakes: Crème Brûlée Filled Strawberries. So tiny and so fancy.

Southwestern Coleslaw Recipe | Simply Recipes. We’ve been making this a lot lately, it’s tasty and very simple to make if you have a food processor with the shredding attachments. Also, this is a very simple vinegar and olive oil dressing for those of you who like a more simple cole slaw.

Smoky and Spicy Yogurt-Marinated Chicken Kebabs | Serious Eats. If you can remember to make them early enough to allow for the time to marinate them these are easy and really delicious.

See also: Marinades for Chicken | Ask MetaFilter. Lots of great suggestions and regional options I’d never heard of.