Saturday, February 24, 2007

Cleaning Tips for your Kitchen


Best ways to clean your Kitchen


Author: Michael Douglas

- To rid the yellowing from white appliances: Mix together 1/2 cup bleach, 1/4 cup baking soda and 4 cups of warm water. Apply with a sponge and let set for 10-15 minutes. Rinse and dry thoroughly.

- To clean a greasy blender: Fill with a little hot water and add a drop of detergent. Cover and turn it on for a few seconds. Rinse and drain dry.

- To rid cutting boards of onion, garlic or fish smell, cut a lime in two and rub the surface of the board. You can also apply a paste of baking soda and water and rinse.

- To clean copper and brassware, dip lemon halves in salt and rub. A solution of vinegar and salt sprayed liberally will also do the trick.

- For a fast and thorough clean-up of the grater, use a toothbrush to brush lemon rind, cheese, onion or whatever out of the grater before washing it.

- Before washing a meat grinder, run a slice of bread through it.

- To open a clogged drain: either use a couple of denture tablets, or pour a cup of salt and a cup of baking soda into the drain followed by a kettle of boiling water. The grease will usually dissolve and open the drain.

- Following a spill in an oven or on a stove, sprinkle with salt immediately. When oven is cool brush off burnt food and wipe with a damp sponge or cloth.

- Burners of gas stoves can be cleaned by soaking them in a solution of warm water mixed with ammonia. Use a wire brush to clean the burner holes. Rinse and dry.

- Coffee or tea stains from plastic cups can be scoured out by rubbing with baking soda. Rinse and dry.

- To rid plastic containers of foul smell, place crumpled newspaper (black and white only) into it.

- Cover tightly and leave overnight. Wash and dry in the normal way.

- To prevent mildew from forming in a refrigerator, wipe with a cloth dipped in vinegar. The acid effectively kills the mildew fungus.

- After the freezer has been defrosted, coat the inside with glycerine. The next time you defrost, the ice will loosen quickly and drop off in sheets.

- To help eliminate odours in the refrigerator, fill a small bowl with charcoal and place it on a shelf in the fridge. It absorbs odours rapidly. An open box of baking soda will also absorb odours from the refrigerator for at least a month or two.

- For a sparkling white kitchen sink, place paper towels across the bottom of your sink and saturate with household bleach. Leave for an hour or so. Scrub and rinse.

- Spots on stainless steel sinks can be removed with methylated spirit or with white vinegar. Club soda can also shine up your sink in minutes.

- To renew and freshen a cleaning sponge, soak overnight in salt or baking soda water. Wash out in the morning.

- To remove lime deposits from a tea kettle, fill with equal parts of vinegar and water. Bring to a boil and allow to stand overnight.

- To keep a thermos flask free of foul odours while storing, wash with warm soapy water. Rinse and dry well in the sun if possible. Place a tablespoon of sugar granules in it and store.

- To remove rust from tin pie pans, dip a raw potato in cleaning powder and scrub.

- To eliminate strong or pungent odours from a microwave, heat four tablespoons of vanilla for a minute in the microwave and leave overnight.

- To remove the smell of burnt food from a pan, simmer a few slices of lemon in water in it.

- If a cup of coffee is placed in the refrigerator, it helps in keeping the fridge smelling fresh.

- To avoid strong smells of fish, garlic etc from filling up your home, place white vinegar in a small bowl next to the stove while cooking.

- To clean and freshen dusty artificial flowers, put them in a paper bag with a handful of salt and shake well. The flowers will look as good as new.

Source: ArticlesBase.com

Sunday, February 04, 2007

Salad Recipe


Refreshing Cucumber Salad Recipe


Cucumber salad is particularly ideal for those long, hot afternoons, it is an ideal salad recipes for tropical countries and those countries with summer season.Very ideal for the dry summer seasons.

BALINESE CUCUMBER SALAD RECIPE


Ingredients:
3 tablespoons peanuts, dry roasted, coarsely chopped
1 cucumber
OR
1 large regular cucumber
1/4 sweet onion, large, such as Vidalia
3 tablespoons rice vinegar
1 1/2 tablespoon sugar, or more to taste
1/2 teaspoon salt, or more to taste


Directions:


Cut the cucumber crosswise into 3-inch sections, then lengthwise into spaghetti-thin strips.Combine the vinegar, sugar, and salt in a serving bowl and whisk until the sugar and salt are dissolved.Cut the onion into as thin crosswise slices as possible.
Stir in the cucumber and onion.Peel and seed the cucumber.Add the peanuts and heat until lightly browned, about 2 minutes, shaking the pan occasionally.Taste for seasoning, adding sugar or salt as necessary;Sprinkle the salad with the peanuts and serve.

Sunday, January 28, 2007

Achieve Great Relationship


How to Achieve Great Relationship


You have to live with the decisions and the actions that you make.
Perhaps you could save yourself the embarrassment of failure and rejection if you just pretend that you have never heard the difference between good partners and great ones.
Instead, you would make sure that your performance is top notch and if it is, then you probably will not have to ask for the raise.
Make sure that you ask questions that promote a positive direction not only for yourself but also especially for the future of your relationship.
Be consistent in love with the words that you speak and especially in the words that you do not speak.
Where you are right now in life is the result of the kind of questions that you ask.
When I am not sure how to model myself as a great partner in a particular situation I like to ask the question, "How would the partner I'd like to be do the thing I want to do?
Greatness as a partner demands that you expand your ability to love.
Make sure that this is done to the best of your ability.
It means doing things that you do not feel like doing and listening to the same complaint over and over again.

Saturday, January 13, 2007

Tips on Vegetarian Gourmet Ingredient


Ben Ehinger wrote:


My 5 Gourmet Ingredient, Vegetarian Cooking Done Right


Are you a vegetarian or thinking about becoming a vegetarian? Do you want to know how to become a vegetarian that can cook great meals? Learn the 5 ingredients that I use to make just about any vegetarian meal taste better.


The first ingredient that I will introduce to you is garlic. Garlic is a spectacular for cooking and can add a ton of flavor to just about anything. If you are a true vegetarian you use olive oil or something other than butter to cook with. This means that garlic will be even better for you because garlic gains a wonderful and potent flavor when you cook with olive oil.


That leads me to my second ingredient, olive oil. Olive oil is a wonderful oil for cooking and comes directly from the land. Make sure to use extra virgin olive oil because it is richer in minerals and is has a more pure taste. Even adding a dash to a salad or using olive oil to create a vinaigrette dressing can add a great flavor.


This brings me to my third ingredient, red wine vinegar, which is very popular to create the vinaigrette I just mentioned. Red wine vinegar has a very natural and great flavor. It goes well with many vegetables and actually is great when mixed into a fruit salad full of melons. If you are a vegetarian that eats fish, then you will love using red wine vinegar when cooking fish.


My fourth ingredient for vegetarian cooking is using wines. Both red wine and white wine are great for cooking. Just try cooking squash mixed with other vegetables with white wine. I prefer a good chardonnay. Make sure when you are picking a wine to cook with that you do not go too expensive because the price will not make a big enough difference for your money.


My fifth and final ingredient for vegetarian cooking is liquor. I love to cook with vodka, brandy, whiskey, and tequila. These liquors can all add a great flavor to any vegetarian dish. I love using whiskey and brandy with fruits. You can also mix in other liquors such as flavored liquors. You can experiment with all types and you will be pleasantly surprised by most of them.


Now you have 5 great ingredients to add to your vegetarian dishes. You can invent some wonderful dishes with these ingredients and become a wonderful vegetarian chef.


Friday, January 12, 2007

Guide to Top 10 tips for a perfect will


Guide To Tips on perfect Will


NO ONE likes to talk about death, especially their own. But if you don't make plans on how you want to distribute your worldly wealth while you're still alive, you can leave a host of problems and hardships for your grieving family sort out.
Take the billionaire aviator turned recluse, Howard Hughes. It took 15 years of legal wrangling before his fortune was handed out among surviving family members because he hadn't bothered to make a will.
Maybe he, like many other people, felt daunted or even afraid by the process - or was it the cost?
But in reality, the business of making a will can be quite straightforward and it won't cost the earth provided you are aware of the major pitfalls.
Here are our top ten tips on how to end up with the perfect will.

1. Choose who draws up your will wisely

You can make your own will using a DIY kit available from the local stationers but the process is full of pitfalls and errors are easy to make. Lawyers make a lot more money sorting out badly drafted wills and dealing with claims against those wills, than they make for drawing up wills. DIY is OK for home improvements, but, unless you're extremely confident and knowledgeable, it's not for wills.


2. Choose your executors well

Executors are responsible for exercising your estate in accordance with your instructions after you have died. It is a responsible and demanding role, and involves handling large sums of money. And don't forget to check that the people you choose are happy to take on the role.


3. Appoint a default or substitute executor

If you are married, you will probably want your spouse to be your executor, but don't appoint them as your sole executor. If you both died together in a plane crash or a car accident, neither of you would have an executor living. Always appoint a default or substitute executor as a fall-back position in case your spouse is unwilling or unable to act.


4. Appoint guardians

If you are the last living parent and you die leaving children under age 18, a guardian will be appointed by the court if you have not specified who this should be in your will. If you are unmarried but you and your partner have children, you might not even get guardianship of your children. If an unmarried man dies, his female partner automatically gets guardianship of their children, but if an unmarried woman dies, her male partner does not. You should appoint each other as guardians in your wills to overcome this problem.


5. Appoint trustworthy trustees

This might sound obvious, but if you are setting up a trust in your will or if your beneficiaries could be aged under 18 when you die, you will need to appoint trustees. Trustees will be responsible for managing and investing money, or looking after property until it passes to the beneficiaries, so make sure they are people with a good grasp of financial matters - and that they are still young enough so they don't die before you do.


6. Make specific legacies

If you want to preserve family heirlooms or items of special sentimental value, (for example, a grandfather clock, or a wedding or engagement ring), you should leave these items as a specific legacy to a named beneficiary.


7. Make sure you leave a residual legacy

The 'residue' is what is left over in your estate after you have made any specific legacies. You must specify who this goes to, as if you fail to do so, you will create a partial intestacy in your will. In other words, the small gifts and legacies would pass according to the will, but the residue would be subject to the laws of intestacy.


8. Save tax with a trust

Inheritance tax is becoming a burden for many families, particularly where the value of a property pushes the value of an estate above the nil rate band for inheritance tax. If you are married, you can include a discretionary trust in your wills, which could save your children more £110,000 in inheritance tax at current rates.


9. Sign your will

It's all very well having your will drafted, but if you don't sign it in front of two independent witnesses, it will not be valid. A witness cannot be anyone mentioned in the will or anyone married to anyone mentioned in the will.


10. Get it stored safely

Once your will has been correctly signed and witnessed, have it stored in a proper safe storage facility. This will protect it from fire, flood, damage, or loss. Your executors will be provided with a certificate showing them where your will is stored and how to get hold of it if you die. Whatever you do – don't hide your will. Your will is no good to anyone if it cannot be found after your death.




From:
www.thisismoney.co.uk

Tuesday, January 02, 2007

CHINESE VEGETARIAN FRIED RICE


CHINESE VEGETARIAN FRIED RICE


Serves 2 people

Ingredients

5 dried Chinese mushrooms

2 tablespoons peanut oil

1 tablespoon sesame oil

1 teaspoon finely chopped fresh ginger

1 teaspoon finely chopped garlic

3 cups cooked white Rice

1 cup bean sprouts

1/2 cup frozen peas and carrots

1/4 cup chopped green onions

3 tablespoons soy sauce

Cooking Method



1. Soak mushrooms in warm water for about 15 to 30 minutes. Drain and squeeze excess water from mushrooms.

2. Discard stems and cut mushrooms into thin strips; set aside.

3. In a large skillet, heat oils over high heat and cook ginger and garlic until fragrant, about 1 minute

4. Add mushrooms and stir fry until hot, about 2 minutes.

5. Add cooked rice, bean sprouts, peas and carrots and green onions; stir to combine. Cook until heated through

6. Sprinkle soy sauce evenly over rice; toss and serve.

Wednesday, December 20, 2006

Chickens And Pigs Help Define Two Things We Need For Success

Involvement and Commitment


This article is about involvement and commitment, two of the things we need to be successful. This applies to our jobs or businesses, relationships, and even our recreational pursuits. Any type of success, whether it is personal, professional,
academic, or athletic, will usually require a combination of involvement and commitment.
I hope the headline stirred your interest. Here is how chickens,
pigs, and even cows, can help define involvement and commitment.Think about a meal consisting of eggs and ham and consider the contributions made by a chicken and a pig. A chicken provided theeggs and a pig provided the ham. It can be said the chicken was involved, because the chicken continues to live as it lays more eggs. It can be said the pig was committed, because the pig gave its all to provide the ham and other pork products.
The same principle can be applied to two cows and a cheeseburger. The cow that provided the milk to be processed into cheese was involved, while the cow that provided the beef for the hamburger patty was committed.
It is not my intention to make light of animals that lose their life to provide food for humans, nor to offend anyone that does not eat beef or pork for religious or dietary reasons. These examples simply illustrate that being involved may mean being a participant with little or no effort, while being committed takes time and energy, and means much more than just being involved.
Consider a recreational activity, such as a game of chess, or a softball game. You can be involved by just playing the game, no matter how good you are. However, to really be successful, to win more than you lose, you must have made a commitment at some point in your life. For chess, it means taking the time to understand the game and study winning strategies. For softball, it means at some point you practiced hitting and throwing a ball. There are a few fortunate people with a large degree of natural ability to do certain things, but most of us need to work at it.
Most of us have made some commitments for which we put forth a small effort on a regular basis. For example, things like taking a bath/shower and brushing our teeth are often taken for granted.However, those things can be thought of as a commitment to good grooming and proper hygiene.
Marriage definitely takes involvement and commitment. You can be involved just by signing a marriage license and saying some vows.For the marriage to be a lasting success, it takes a commitment from both people. It means working together toward shared goals,communicating with each other, and resolving the occasional conflicts that may happen. It may take a little effort, but the personal rewards are well worth it.
A commitment isn't something to fear, nor does it mean that your entire life must revolve around the commitment. You simply direct some time and effort toward accomplishing your goal. You may have several goals in your personal and professional life. Things such as striving for a promotion, improving your golf game, losing that extra twenty pounds, and being a better spouse or parent are examples of worthy goals. It takes a commitment of both time and effort to reach each milestone.
Involvement and commitment are also important when it comes to business opportunities; especially network marketing (MLM). You need to put forth some effort to really make things happen, no matter how much hype you hear about your downline being built for you. When you look at an opportunity, try to find out the level of commitment that is needed to reach a desired level of success.
People who are successful in their chosen endeavors agree that we can all get more out of life when a little bit of involvement and commitment is applied to the things we consider to be important.
Start making improvements today by deciding which things are most
important to you and make a commitment to do those things better.Often, just a little more effort will produce tremendous results.
--by Gordon Bellows

Tuesday, December 12, 2006

Why People Become Vegetarians

Reasons for Becoming a Vegetarians


Many nonvegetarians wonder what drives vegetarians to give up meat and adopt an entirely different lifestyle. There is no single answer to this question. Nonvegetarians become vegetarians for a number of different reasons - some even for multiple reasons.
Most vegetarians claim that they became a vegetarian for one of three reasons.
The first reason, which most vegetarians claim, is that
they have ethical problems with eating meat. Most disagree with how chickens are debeaked, forced to live in small cages, and are then slaughtered when they do not produce eggs fast enough. Most vegetarians also disagree with the crowded and
stressful environments animals are forced into; and the hormone-laden feed used to make them grow faster and produce more.
People who become vegetarians for this purpose often draw ethical boundaries in different spots, depending on their personal beliefs. For instance, some staunch vegans wont consume yeast, wear wool, or even eat certain vegetables, such as carrots, that require killing the plant to harvest.

On the opposite side of the spectrum, some vegetarians-- sometimes referred to as pseudo-vegetarians--will actually eat fish and chicken on a regular basis.
The second biggest reason vegetarians claim for not eating meat is that it conflicts with their dietary preferences.
Some of these vegetarians simply do not like the texture and taste of meat; others do not eat it because it is high in cholesterol and often contains high concentrations of hormones and preservatives.
The third and smallest group of vegetarians cite environmental reasons for not consuming meat. They complain that consumption of meat causes farmers to continually deforest land to create grazing land for cattle.
In addition to these three major groups, there are a number of other smaller groups of vegetarians who stopped eating meat for entirely different reasons.

Tuesday, December 05, 2006

Kwan Yin Mantra

Kwan Yin


Kwan Yin Picture for Good Luck


This morning, opened my email, there were 700 over unread mails in the inbox. First thing I do is to read the latest mail. The title Kwan Yin strike me. Send by a friend of my, Mr Yu. I immediate opened it, and a Picture of nice Kwan Yin appeared. The text read "send to 10 of your friends for good luck", why not, I think. It strike me, why not I post this in my blog. Many people can see and also tell there friends about it. This will be interesting.On the right of the side bar, there is a blue rectangular bar, with a red arrow, click on this to send to 10 or more of your friends and receive more good luck for the coming year.
kwan Yin Mantra

What do you know about Kwan Yin


Kuan Yin is the Chinese name for the Bodhisattva Avalokiteśvara. However, folk traditions in China and other East Asian countries have added many distinctive characteristics and legends. Avalokiteśvara was originally depicted as Buddha when he was still a prince, and therefore wears chest-revealing clothing and may even sport a moustache. However, in China, Kuan Yin is usually depicted as a woman. Also, some people believe that Kuan Yin is neither man nor woman.
In China, Kuan Yin is usually shown in a white flowing robe, and usually wearing necklaces of Indian/Chinese royalty. In the right hand is a water jar containing pure water, and in the left,a willow branch. The crown usually depicts the image of Amitabha Buddha, Kuan Yin's spiritual teacher before she became a Bodhisattva.

In some Buddhist temples and monasteries Kuan Yin images are occasionally depicted as a young man dressed in Northern Song Buddhist robes sitting gracefully. He is usually depicted looking or glancing down, symbolising that Kuan Yin continues to watch over the world.
There are also regional variations of Kuan Yin depictions. One of these is that of Kuan Yin with fish. In this depiction Kuan Yin is depicted as a maiden dressed in Tang dynasty style clothing carrying a fish basket. This is popular in the Fukien region of China.
In Chinese art Kuan Yin is often depicted either alone, standing atop a dragon, accompanied by a bird, flanked by two children or flanked by two warriors. The two children are her acolytes who came to her when she was meditating at Mount Putuo. The girl is called Long Nü and the boy Shan Tsai. The two warriors are the historical character Guan Yu who comes from the Three Kingdoms period and the mythological character Wei Tuo who features in the Chinese classic
Canonisation of the Gods.

Tell Your Friends About Kwan Yin


Tell your friends about kwan yin now and you will have good luck.

Wednesday, November 29, 2006

VEGETARIANISM

Straits Times Interview with George jacobs, 54,
The President of The Vegetarian Society of Singapore


GEORGE JACOBS, 54, IS THE PRESIDENT OF THE VEGETARIAN SOCIETY OF SINGAPORE. HE IS A TIRELESS ADVOCATE OF VEGETARIANISM, WHICH HE BELIEVES IS THE RIGHT TYPE OF DIET FOR A HEALTHY PLANET. SHEFALI SRINIVAS CATCHES UP WITH HIM TO FIND OUT THE ROOTS OF HIS PASSION.

Have you always been vegetarian or are you a convert?


I've been vegetarian for almost half my life. I started at age 28. A key push was a book titled Diet For A Small Planet. The book explains that eating meat is very inefficient because we have to feed lots of plant food to the other animals which we later eat. Plant-based diets are more efficient because we eat the plants directly. That means more food available for people without enough food. It also means that we don't have to cut down or burn down so much rainforest area to grow food.

How has going vegetarian impacted your health?


You might be surprised to hear that I'm not a vegetarian for health reasons or for religious reasons. I don't claim that being vegetarian is necessarily better for human health than a low-meat diet, but I do believe that being vegetarian is perfectly adequate for good health. And, of course, it's much, much better for the health of the animals which live short, horrible lives so we can eat meat.

What damage does eating meat do to health, in your opinion?


I'm currently reading The China Study, a book based on a joint research project of China's Ministry of Health, Oxford University and Cornell University, plus lots of other research. It links animal-based foods to most of our well-known health problems, such as diabetes, high cholesterol, high blood pressure, heart disease, obesity, osteoporosis and some cancers.

How do you unwind?


I hang out with my wife, Fong Cheng Hong - she's an economist, niece Minnie, and nephew Vinnie (who's bugging me right now while I'm trying to type this answer), work out, watch TV, read children's literature and follow professional basketball on the Internet.

What do you eat when you're being sinful?


My main problem isn't what I eat, it's that I eat too much of all the great vegetarian foods. My friends used to call me 'hollow leg' to explain where I put all the food I was eating.

What do you do when you're not advocating vegetarianism?


Everyone at Vegetarian Society (Singapore) is a volunteer; so, I go out to earn my daily salad. My doctorate is in education, and I teach at various institutions around the island, including the National Institute of Education.

Why is vegetarianism such a passionate cause for you?


I know that I'm wildly biased and that there are lots of other vital causes, but to me what's so great about promoting veg is that eating less or no meat creates a virtuous circle: good for our own health, good for the environment, good for the 800 million humans without enough to eat and good for the animals which, like us, are thinking, feeling beings. With every vegetarian meal, I'm making a small contribution to righting these imbalances. One of my favourite vegetarian stickers shows two people, one a caveman, the other a modern-looking guy, and the words say, 'It's the 21st century, why are you still eating meat?'

Saturday, November 25, 2006

Pearl Barley

Pearl Barley Recipes



Pearl Barley Dessert


Simple ingredients,

Pearl Barley



Sweet Corn



Rock Sugar



Pandan Leaf



Method of cooking


Put a sweet corn to boil.

After the sweet corn is boiled. Take it out, and scrap out the corn by using the spoon.


Next, put in Pearl Barley into the Queen Wok to boil. Once the water with the barley is boiled, add in the corn. Boil till it is cooked. Add-in the pandan leaf and rock sugar.



Ready to Serve!

Friday, November 24, 2006

Cauliflower Soup Recipe

Vegetarian


Eat healthy vegetarian Cauliflower Soup. Cauliflower is indeed, a flower. Below is the recipe :

1 Medium-sized Cauliflower





1-1/2 pints of milk, 1 oz. of butter



2 oz. of fine wheatmeal, pepper and salt

to taste, a little

nutmeg

, and the

juice of a lemon

. Prepare the cauliflower by washing and breaking it into pieces, keeping the flowers whole, and boil in 1-1/2 pints of water, adding the

butter, nutmeg, and seasoning

. When the cauliflower is quite tender add the

milk

, boil it up, and thicken the soup with the wheatmeal, which should first be smoothed with a little cold water. Lastly, add the lemon juice, and serve the soup with sippets of toast.



Tuesday, November 21, 2006

Chinese Recipe - Vegetarian Shark Fin Soup

Benefits of Vegetarian Shark Fin Soup


Save the world, eating real shark fin resulted in many sharks being killed.

Vegetarian shark fin are healthy and a better diet because its ingredients are all vegetables.

It is easy and fast to cook, not like the real shark fin, which have to take take plenty of time to cook.

Ingredients



The main ingredient is the Shark Fin Melon, which is available in the supermaket.The rest of the items are:

1. vegetarian ham - from vegetarian retailer

2. red carrot and water chestnut - wash and shredder

3. needle mushrooms and normal mushrooms (boiled and cut)

4. chopped parsley

5. Spices - pepper, black vineger, vegetable msg a little, black soy saurce, salt a little.

Cooking


First, make the soup, put in appropriate amount of water into the Queen Wok. Add in the cut shark fin melon (one whole cut into 4 pieces), with mushrooms, put to boil with high fire and very low fire when it is boiled.

Next, take our the mushrooms and cut into pieces. The melon have to seperate the "shark fin"; the meat inside the melon. See picture:



The soup after boiling with the melon and mushrooms :



One everything is ready, the last step is to put in all the ingredients into the wok and put to boiled.

Add spices and spread the chopped parsley on top, and there you goes the coolspouse chinese recipe vegetarian shark fin soup.



The amount of ingredients is all depends on much you want and adjust accordinly.

Try it out and tell me how it is like.

Saturday, November 18, 2006

Barley Soup

How to Make Barley Soup, the Vegetarian Way


Take two tablespoonfuls of pearl barley and wash it in several waters till the water ceases to be discoloured. Put this in a saucepan with about two quarts of water, two onions sliced up, a few potatoes sliced very thin, and about a saltspoonful of thyme. Let the whole boil gently for four or five hours, till the barley is quite soft and eatable. Thicken the soup very slightly with a little white roux, season it with pepper and salt. Before serving the soup, add a tablespoonful of chopped blanched parsley.


N.B.--When chopped parsley is added to any soup or sauce, such as parsley and butter, it is very important that the parsley be blanched. To blanch parsley means to throw it for a few seconds into boiling water. By this means a dull green becomes a bright green. The best method to blanch parsley is to place it in a strainer and dip the strainer for a few seconds in a saucepan of boiling water. By comparing the colour of the parsley that has been so treated with some that has not been blanched, cooks will at once see the importance of the operation so far as appearances are concerned.


Saturday, November 11, 2006

12 Ways to Build Trust in Your Relationship

Trust is one of the building blocks of a healthy and stable relationship. Without it, a relationship crumbles under the weight of suspicion and disrespect. When you’ve had something happen in your relationship or the one prior to your current one, you already know how important it is that you built trust for your security. Here are some ways to add trust to your relationship.

Wednesday, November 08, 2006

Delicious Dessert With Aloe Vera

Aloe Vera Dessert





In World War II Aloe Vera is commonly used to protect the skin, where navy personnel have to be under the sun for long period of time. Aloe vera also used as an ingredient in various cosmetic products. It is known for it medication value to different part of the world.

My wife like to make delicious dessert using Aloe Vera. My whole family like it very much.




I’ll share this recipe with you all. I’m a not a good cook, but my wife is a chefs. I copy how she cooked and would like to share it here.

Aloe vera is the main ingredient,which be found in wet market or supermarkt. Choose one that is fat and clean look. First get its fresh-cuts. Next, peel off its skins with a knife.Then, you may further cut them into small cubes.





Get ready with clean water, and boil it up with pandan leaf. The more pandan leaf you have,the nicer taste you’ll get. When the strong aroma of pandan leafs fill your kitchen, that’s about time you can take away the leafs.



Then, add the rock sugars into the boiling water. The quantity is varying, depending on how sweet you want your dessert to be. Every people have different demand.

Now, put the Aloe Vera gels that you’ve prepared earlier into the boil water.


Voola ! you have just prepared a Aloe Vera dessert, ready for serving.

Thursday, November 02, 2006

Six Strategies for Bringing Courtship Back

1. Make a date. Many people complain that what passes for or "dating" these days consists of little more than meeting up at a bar or a coffeeshop, or simply hanging out at one of the other's respective home. And while there's nothing implicitly wrong with doing either one of these things, it's important to find time and places in which you can at once be alone and have the chance to get to know each other in relaxed, entertaining and maybe even romantic environment. It's hard to have a good conversation in a bar, harder still when that bar is full of mutual friends. Likewise, just going to someone's house early can have the unusual effect of both introducing misleading expectations with regards to physical intimacy and/or compromising the romance. I know full well that in 2006, ordering a pizza and renting a dvd is infinitely cheaper than the old standby of dinner but a really magical date can be as simple and cheap as a walk in the park, literally. Think outside the box. Ingenuity ups the surprise factor. Consider doing something neither one of you has ever done before. It doesn't have to be fancy or expensive. It doesn't a waltz and an orchestra to sweep a woman off her feet.

2. Sell yourself. There's a fine line between being yourself and
appearing like you just don't care. Let's just put it this way: if
you're wearing sweatpants to your first date, and that first date
doesn't involve the two of you training for the marathon together, you may have a problem. And I'm very serious when I say this goes for both women and men equally. If she's constantly showing up in a dress and heels and you haven't shaved in three days, consider what that's telling her.


3. Don't give it all away immediately. It is both unadvisable and unnecessary to spill your life story on your first date. Leave your baggage at home and retain some of the mystery. Save some of your best stories for later, dropping details like petals, constantly leaving something new to pique his or her interest.


4. Share the space. Ask questions, be interested, listen. You may be agreat amateur stand-up comedian or expert at the dramatic monologue but your date is not your audience. Communication is all about give and take. This also seems like a good time to remind you to be careful of bragging. We all want to share the parts of our lives that are interesting or exceptional or cool, but be careful of what you're trying to sell. The converse of this is also true. Self-deprecation may seem charming, but it rarely ages well.


5. Change your focus. Little things like making eye-contact can mean a lot. When you make a date, have the date be about you and the person you're with. If that date does include hanging out with other friends, make sure you introduce your date, make sure your date is included in conversations.


6. Never underestimate the power of a romantic gesture. Though it may seem silly, things like flowers and love letters still mean something. This is not about spending money on gifts or showering people with expensive trinkets. Again, this is about being person, being intimate,and it doesn't have to cost a thing.


With Compliments

Cheryl

(For more information or to purchase a copy of "The Commitment
Chronicles," please visit www.commitmentchronicles.com)

Sunday, October 29, 2006

Time To Be Alone

Time To Be Alone



Sometime we ourself to be alone... to be alone to think, relax, to do our own personal matter etc..

It is important that we respect our spouse and provide them with time to be alone.

Wednesday, October 25, 2006

Cool Spouse Birthday Card

Showing Off Cool Spouse Birthday Card


Here is the photo of birthday card cool spousereceived from the family

Tuesday, October 24, 2006

How A Day is Passed

How Cool Spouse Spend Her Birthday



Before anything, I would like to show you her birthday Cake....










Have Breakfast with her at Serangoon Road, we ate vegetarian plata for breakfast.
After breakfast we went to Amway warehouse to purchase some goods for own consumption.
Spent about an hour plus at the warehouse, and then proceed to 'This Fashion', at Bright Chamber, Middle Road. As membership holder, she is entitled for 20% discount during her birthday month.
We then went to her mother's house at Bendemeer Road to visit her because she just return from China. We had lunch at the hawker center there.
Reached home about 4 pm. We took a rest.
At about 5.45pm we were out again for dinner at Lotus Vegetarian Restaurant, Balestier Road, Quality Hotel. The restaurant serve buffet steamboat from Mon-Thur, normal buffet during Fri-Sun.
Cake cutting was done at home after dinner.