In a large bowl, combine the boiling water, star anise, ginger, cinnamon stick, dried bay leaves, cloves, and salt. Stir the brine together until the salt fully dissolves. You can prepare the brine before or after frying the chicken, depending on whichever you find easier. If you prepare it beforehand, however, loosely cover it and let it sit aside at room temperature until you're ready to use it. Dunk the fried chicken feet in the bowl of chicken brine. Make sure that the brine evenly covers all the feet. Pour the rice wine and cold water into the same bowl as the brine and chicken feet, then stir gently to combine the ingredients. The cold water should be nearly as cold as ice water. The low temperature will quickly drop the temperature of the brine and the chicken feet, thereby halting the cooking process. Loosely cover the bowl and place it in your refrigerator. Allow the brine to marinate the chicken feet for at least 2 hours. After 2 hours pass, don't be alarmed if the chicken feet look puffy. This is normal and can actually improve the final texture of the dish. Pour the contents of the bowl through a colander. Set the chicken feet aside and discard the excess brine.

Summary: Combine most of the brine ingredients. Submerge the feet in the brine. Add the remaining brine ingredients. Refrigerate for 2 hours. Drain and discard the brine.


Make sure you know each other a lot before you try this, or it will totally backfire!  Sneak up on her from behind, and gently grab her waist. Don't squeeze her skin or anything, just put your hands on her waist and leave them there. She may freak out a little at this––remember, someone has just sneaked up on her and put their hands around her waist! If she jumps slightly or screams and turns around, says, "It's only me!" and then smile. Do not laugh. Keep your hands on her waist. If she likes you, she'll smile back and maybe giggle a little bit, then return to her original position. Your hands should still be on her waist. Notice whether or not she leans in closer to you. If she does, tighten your grip ever so slightly, but then let go. If she is not interested, she'll probably just laugh and walk away. If you two are shy friends, she'll probably ask why you're doing this, and how do you explain that? Have a ready answer prepared beforehand, such as "I was just feeling affectionate". Note: only attempt this if the waist grab test was successful. Go up to her and hug her for no apparent reason. Make sure you hug her gently, not like you would with one of your guy friends. Put your hands on her upper back (steering well clear of her bra!) and slowly rub your hand in up-and-down or circular motions. If she's interested, she'll hug you back.  Notice whether her chin is resting on your shoulder. If it is, there's some chemistry there. Rest your chin on her shoulder too, and bow your head a little bit so it looks like you're looking at the ground. If she doesn't hug you back and moves away, she's not interested. If you're lucky enough to sit together in a class, attempt to hold her hand. But this has to be done very carefully. Make sure her hand is off the table and resting on her seat. If she's right-handed, sit on the left side of her. If she's left-handed, sit on the right side of her. Slowly move your hand towards her and gently touch her wrist. She may jump a little at first; remember, this girl may like you. If she does, try to stay holding hands for the remainder of the lesson. If she has a strand of hair in her face, gently tuck it behind her ear.  If she's interested, she'll likely smile. If she's not interested, she'll likely move away. If this girl does like you back, seeing you flirt with another girl will just make her feel stupid. She won't know you're doing it to see what her reaction is- she'll think you're doing it because you have a crush on the girl you're flirting with.

Summary: Try the waist grab Test. Try the hug test. Try to hold her hand. Play with her hair. Do not flirt with other girls to see what her reaction is.


If you own an RPG, don't go mad with power. If you want to assign moderators of the group, don't let them all be other accounts you have control over, especially if no one knows that those accounts are you (that's called sock puppeteering). It's not fun if you get people to join only to declare supreme power over them, because that'll make you look like a control freak and it'll cause people to leave. Let the members of the group be independent and if they don't want to participate sometimes then let them be. Only talk to them if they turn down opportunities consistently.
Summary: Be a responsible owner. Avoid appearing power hungry.