cooking utensils

Cooking is an artistic way of combining nutrition with flavor, taste and appeal. Such a master piece can be created every day almost every meal when the gadgets are right. Some recipes tastes their best when cooked in a special utensil. Lot of you would heard about the taste of every individual human who cook the same recipe in 100 different ways. Utensils plays an important role not only in cooking enhancement but also food safety, as well as safeguard against diseases.

There are variety of vessels available in the market which creates confusion to the buyer, when most of short list the variety by price very few go by the aesthetics. at least some of us once in a while will think    which is safe to use and which carries most nutrition in food.

Iron /cast iron vessels:

Earthen ware / clay pots:

china ware

silverware

hardanodised vessels

non-stick

copper vessels

glassware

aluminium tins

stainless steel

plastic containers

Race car (macqueen) cake

It's been a long time in the cake journey for its more than one year now I baked & decorated a cake. This was Sriram's fifth birthday and all that he wanted was a lightning McQueen which is a one year old request. With two kids its pretty tough to do all that i wish to complete in a day. It took a lot of determination for me to venture in to this cake, but was a big hit in the school and among all the kids. when i placed the cake on the small center table all i could hear was a big "oh" a cake ... first, then a car cake....  celebrating birthday at school is the first time and different experience for him. He was very upset the previous day that we did not call our friends for a party, but I promised him to make his day more fun and special at school which he didn't realise until experienced.

As usual a chocolate cake with white frosting for the stage to place the lightning McQueen.
the white frosting is a pure butter cream frosting. the recipes for chocolate cake and butter cream frosting has been published earlier.

Shell pasta with mixed veg sauce

1 pack shell pasta

baby corn - 4 pieces chopped.

mushroom- finely chopped 1/2 cup

paneer / cottage cheese / tofu - cubed 1/2 cup

peas - 1/4 cup

onion - sliced 1/2 cup

tomatoes -1- finely diced 

carrot - 1- diced

beans - 1/2 cup chopped

cabbage - 1/4 cup shredded

capsicum/ bell pepper any color - 1/2 sliced

jalapeno 1 - sliced

olives - 3 tbsp chopped

white radish - 1 chopped

potato -1 chopped

green chilly 2 slivered

oil - 2 tbsp

salt to taste

pepper to taste

cream 2 tbsp

tomato puree/ soup powder 1 cup

cheese- cheddar / Romano any variety - 1cup - shredded

mint - few leaves.

You can use all the vegetables or few of choice.

Prepare pasta according to package direction , drain and reserve the water. Rinse pasta immediately in cold water keep aside.

For the sauce fry onion, mushroom , vegetables one by one add tomato last. Then add the tomato puree along with pasta water, pepper powder and salt. Now do a taste test & let it boil until the vegetables are cooked & crispy. Add cream & serve hot over pasta topped with cheese, fried/fresh cabbage, mint leaves. Enjoy this pasta which is rich in nutrition at least once a week.

Mango syrup

Syrup is simply sugar in water. Easy to make mango syrup is also easy to use in various recipes like eggless mango cake, mango milk soda, mango multi-layer sweet, mango juice etc. All you need is the 3 key ingredients sugar,water & fruit pulp to make any fruit syrup.

ingredients

1 cup mango pulp - dice and grind the mango in a mixer and filter through a strainer to seperate the fiber.
13/4th cup sugar
1 1/4 cup water

First boil water add sugar & let it melt. After simmer for 10 mins to make a syrup. Now add mango pulp to the sugar syrup give it a boil. Cool down the syrup save it a container for immediate use or later.
This syrup is w/o preservatives so can be stored for a month or so. If you have lots of pulp then make syrup in batches of 2 ltrs each with 1 pinch sodium bicarbonate & 1/2 tsp citric acid / 2 ltrs. This can be stored for up to 6 months. If the syrup is not in consistency give a whip in the mixer.

mango juice -  add 1/4 cup syrup to 3/4 cup cool water to get 1 cup mango juice serve immediately. This mixed juice will not stay for more than a day or two.

Alternatively you can also freeze the pulp directly and store it in a glass box in freezer.

Attn: Avoid using plastic bottles & containers for storage in freezer , fridge, microwave or oven.
Extreme hot or cold with plastic will react to give out dioxin in food which creates cancer mainly breast cancer in women.

Pearl

Pearl is a gemstone popularly called as muthu in tamil & moti in hindi, despite how its called pearl takes a special place in a women's heart through out the world. Pearl also finds an exquiste place in both traditional Indian jewellery & most modern western jewellery design. Such a pearl comes in variety of shapes, sizes and colors to appeal. Not only for appeal it has such mystical powers that enhances the energy level for the wearer. But that has to be experienced by self to understand. Also like every gemstone even pearl has to be cleansed from time to time to get its full energy. Pearl can be basically divided in to natural or wild pearl and cultured pearl. Unlike other gemstones occurrence of pearl is a fascinating story, since it is made by an animal.

Natural or wild pearl: Wild pearl means occurring naturally in the stomach of an oyster.

Cultured pearl: the pearls composition is kept in the oysters stomach for maturation by man is a cultured one.

on such a case both natural as well as cultured are true pearls to the meaning pure ones what are available in the market as jewellery.

Yet another variety available is called paasi which are the fake pearls used as artificial jewellery, dress making etc. They are made out of plastic and coated with a shiny paint. Most of the fake ones over a period will start losing its paint. Secondly they are weightless, unless otherwise made with weight to fake the original pearls.

Vitamin D

Vitamin D

What Does It Do?

• Helps the body absorb calcium and phosphorus
• Aids in bone strengthening by helping deposit these minerals into the bones
• Helps maintain blood levels of calcium and phosphorus
• Helps support a healthy immune system

How Much Do They Need?

0-6 months	5 mcg per day (200 IU*)
7-12 months	5 mcg per day (200 IU*)
1-3 yrs	5 mcg per day (200 IU*)

Where Can They Get It?

Vitamin D is known as “the sunshine vitamin,” since our bodies make it after being exposed to sunshine. But since we try to keep our little ones out of the sun, it's nice to know your child can also get vitamin D from fortified food sources:

Infants:

• Breast milk or fortified formula

Toddlers:

• Fortified dairy products
• Fortified cereals
• formula

Adults:

Ideally every human being is bestowed with this vitamin from the sun without any price but now in the age of cosmetics most women as well as men are deficient of vitamin D. Early morning sunshine for the body is very important and good. 

If not possible there are medically prescribed oral suspension available on doctors consult for pregnant women, menopause period and other category of illnesses.

all about gemstones

Gem stones are of two types precious and semi-precious. But what are gemstones? they are minerals which is naturally formed in the earth carefully cleansed of impurities, cut and polished to give shape, size and shine used for jewellery or as antique showpiece collection. but not only minerals some organic and rocks are also ussed as fine gems in jewellery and cosmic healing.

http://www.rocksandco.com
this is a link to online library about gemstones. valuable to read and know.

navarathnam in tamil

yellow sapphire - pushparagam
diamond - vairam
ruby - manickam
blue sapphire - neelam
emerald - maragatha pacchai
red coral - pavallam
pearl - muthu

nalmuthu: in south India nalmuthu is a name assigned for the purest of sea pearls which is naturally produced and extracted from an oyster. no form of human hindrance or help is given while the same is extremely rare and costly.

In Indian market language one can identitfy pure pearl to be of two kinds based on where you buy and the cost. In a reputed jewel shop pure pearls will be of 40 thousand rupees which means sea pearls. Same pure pearls from a gemstone jeweller will be fresh water pearls which is called cultured pearls.
But cultured pearls in Indian market means synthetic pearls or paasi, again based on the seller. As far as pearls are concerned it's always buyers beware know your seller since pure or fake cannot be identified by eyes, it should be lab tested or do some practical home tests which are practically impossible before buying.

naripavallam:

this is a link to know about navaratna gemstone collection.

http://jewelry-blog.internetstones.com/gemstone-and-jewellery-industry-news/navaratna-rings-gemstones-jewelry-news

http://www.astrologycom.com/navratna1.html

http://www.jyotishgem.com/

http://visual.merriam-webster.com/clothing-articles/personal-accessories/jewelry/cut-for-gemstones_2.php

this link is to know the various cutting methods of gemstones.

There are over 130 species of minerals that have been used as gemstones. These include:

• Agate
• Alexandrite and other varieties of chrysoberyl
• Andalusite
• Axinite
• Benitoite
• Aquamarine and other varieties of beryl
• Bixbite (Red beryl)
• Cassiterite
• Chrysocolla
• Chrysoprase
• Clinohumite
• Iolite
• Danburite
• Diamond
• Diopside
• Dioptase
• Dumortierite
• Emerald
• Feldspar (moonstone)
• Garnet
• Hambergite
• Hematite
• Jade – jadeite and nephrite
• Jasper
• Kornerupine
• Kunzite
• Lapis lazuli
• Malachite
• Natural moissanite
• Obsidian
• Olivine (Peridot)
• Opal (Girasol)
• Pyrite
• Quartz and its varieties
  • Agate
  • Amethyst (cardinal gem)
  • Citrine
  • Chalcedony (bloodstone)
  • Onyx
  • Tiger's-eye
• Ruby
• Sapphire dark blue
• Spinel
• Sugilite
• Tanzanite and other varieties of zoisite
• Topaz
• Turquoise
• Tourmaline
• Variscite
• Zeolite (Thomsonite)
• Zircon

[edit]Artificial and synthetic

Artificial or synthetic materials used as gems include:

• High-lead glass
• Synthetic corundum
• Synthetic cubic zirconia
• Synthetic spinel
• Synthetic moissanite
• Synthetic alexandrite
• Synthetic opal
• Synthetic turquoise
• Synthetic diamond
• Synthetic quartz
• Synthetic beryl
• cristinite
• YAG yttrium aluminum garnet

[edit]Organic

There are a number of organic materials used as gems, including:

• Amber
• Ammolite – from fossils formed from the shells of extinct ammonites.
• Bone
• Coral
• Ivory
• Jet (lignite)
• Nacre (Mother of pearl)
• Pearl

courtesey wikipedia. only for easy reference.

buyers beware

First of all a warm welcome to the buyer community. Whomever you might be an investment property buyer, first time buyer, key home buyer,  second time buyer, or cash buyer some basic rules you should follow in property buying as well as know some tricks to tackle the market, vendors & the like.

The government of each place specifies in its website , offices, & through news portals do's & don'ts for the buyers information. It is the buyers responsibility to be aware & informative. Ignorance is no excuse where you spend in lakhs & crores. Whether you earn in lakhs per month or year decision making regarding the area, size of the property might differ otherwise almost all the properties needs the same attention.

According to Bangalore whether within city limits or future expanding city (outskirts) there are authorities to help you out. Its solely the buyers responsibility to gather information. Just googling cannot help much with local information, a friendly chat with office colleagues, neighbors, shop keepers on the first run will fetch you valuable information. Before going to a builder collect all information & ensure his credibility, property management style, number of properties he's holding etc.


BMRDA
http://bmrda.kar.nic.in/

The BMRDA website gives out a valuable information with respect to regions that come under rural development.

The Bangalore Metropolitan Region Development Authority(BMRDA) Act is anAct to provide for the established of an authority for the purpose of planning, co-ordinating and supervising the proper and orderly development of the areas with the Bangalore Metropolitan Region and to provide for matters connected therewith. Whereas it is expedient to provide for the establishment of an authority for the purposes of planning, co-ordinating and supervising the proper and orderly development of the area within the Bangalore Metropolitan Region and to provide for matters connected therein.  

CONDITIONS FOR APPROVAL OF LAYOUT: 1. The approval of layout is valid for 2 years duration. If the layout development is not complete in 2 years time, the approval needs to be renewed before the validity is expired. 2. Under site release regulation, on completion of civil works like asphalting of road, under ground drainage, storm water drainage, drinking water, electrification, Authority will inspect the layout and if found satisfactory the sites vested with Authority(40%) will be released for registration. 3. The park, road, civic amenities sites, under ground drainage, water and electricity needs to be developed on priority basis within 18 months or else the layout approval may be revoked without prior notice. 4. Sewage treatment plant will have to be established at appropriate location conforming to Karnataka State Pollution Control Board guidelines. 5. A license issued under Karnataka Gram Panchayat Act / Karnataka Municipality Act is essential before execution of development work. 6. Changes in the approved layout are not permissible without prior approval from Authority. 7. Any existing tree or vegetation to be conserved to the extent possible and new plants to be grown in the either sides of streets and park. 8. Building in the approved layout shall compulsorily adapt Rain Water Harvesting and steps should be taken for augmentation of ground water at layout level. 9. The roads, parks are to be developed and maintained, while civic amenity sites are to be protected against encroachment till such time Authority may deem necessary. 10. Approach to adjoining land or pieces of land within layout but not part of it should be guaranteed. 11. The layout approval is technical in nature; it shall not be used to prove ownership and any other right on the land. 12. The Authority is not responsible for any civil dispute relating to the land. 13. If any information or records provided to Authority for approval turns out to be fake, the approval is immediately revoked. 14. Advertisement for marketing of the plots in the layout should compulsorily mention approval no. and date. 15. Footpath has to be built on both sides of road to facilitate pedestrian movement. 16. If any of the above conditions are violated, the approval is revoked with immediate effect without prior notice.

Once again a SILVER car

Congratulations coming up every way for once again a new silver car. Car was a luxury in India once but now a mandatory vehicle unlike two wheeler for a family of four like any other country. This is our second car a much needed one even though i didn't have little interest, it is for my son. Sriram cried when we sold the HYUNDAI ELANTRA in Denver, had to be consoled by husband's dearest friends for 2 days then a pick-up & drop-off in his favorite "big car". But he kept up in mind & heart about losing that car until the new car just arrived on our door front. He did not see first, it was Athirsta who did a opening ceremony with a cry (girls don't speak when they are excited) got scared didn't know how to react. Then came our super hero running to the front porch to see the car with twinkling eyes & a wide opened jaw. oh my god this is awesome dad but why a silver car once again was his question going around. He cried to his friend Biddu come see my new big car. The next one month he told stories about the acquisition of his new big car Suzuki Swift VXI the "S" car that's how he fondly says.

At vellore when grandma asked would you give me your car so that i can come to your house, he said i will buy you a new electric car grandma that doesn't need petrol, will drive fast, poor grandma was puzzled for a minute thought he was fooling her with the toy car. Sriram was very clear in his thoughts is learning everything about cars said electric cars are big cars like the swift you & grandpa can sit inside comfortably & ride to Bangalore. Sometimes his uncles used to make deal for the car key if he finished his meal.

Now sriram had grown up to change gear in his silver car, knows to operate the music system, wipers off & on etc at times even the hand break. Luckily he doesn't know yet to start the engine. but there is a list of cars he would like to buy in near future blue car his favorite color like his dad's, then a red car and a very big car , oh ya a race car too. Is that why he asked for a lightning McQueen race car cake for his birthday? may be ya it pondered his mind over for 6 months.

welcome 2012

hello friends & unknown readers

may this new year shower you all with good health,
wealth & prosperity.

All of us has welcomed the new year with usual cheer
unusual resolutions, lots of faith & courage to achieve the
goals.

please nature may there exist peace on earth
so the world will be a beautiful place to live in
as it has always.....