I am one of those criminal people who live to eat. And so, I
have made it a point to learn to cook all the things that I like. Whenever I am
home, there are lists on the agenda as to how the food cravings are going to
unfold on a daily basis. Mostly around dinnertime, after a raunchy and munchy
spiceful dinner, there comes always the need of a good desert. Be it to change
the taste from spicy to sweet so as to welcome sweet dreams towards the end of
the day or to help soothe the tongue to milder tones. And for that purpose,
there are two go-to dishes that we resort to- Gajar ka halwa and Lauki ka
halwa. Now, I am going to share the recipe of Lauki Halwa here because Gajar
Halwa is too mainstream because it’s cheaper this time of the year. Also, I am
going to make the Halwa not using sugar but Sugar Free Natura. So this one is
going to be a good one for anyone who avoids sugar due to their reasons.
Here is the recipe. Feel free to cook your own and share the
feedback in the comments section-
Ingredients-
We are going to need-
One gourd ( lauki) : 0.75 kg [Preferably the one that is not
round but long for the purpose of better grating]
Pure Ghee
Khoya/Cream : 100 grams
Almonds and Resins
Sugar Free Natura
Here are the simple steps you would need to follow- Cut the gourd into two halves if it is the long gourd and
into four for the round one. Next, grate the gourd on a grater and collect the grated
gourd into a plate. Take care that the grated gourd isn’t allowed to stand for
too long or else it turns yellowish and doesn’t remain fresh enough.
Take some ghee in a wok and allow it to heat. Transfer the
grated contents of the plate into the wok. Let the contents heat for some time
and keep mixing for a minute to soak the ghee into the gourd. After mixing, put
a lid on the contents and allow them get cooked at medium heat. Wait for about 15 minutes for the gourd to cook enough and concentrate.
Unlid the contents and then cook them at full heat. Make sure
that no water of the gourd is left and the contents get well concentrated.
Add four small spoons of Sugar Free Natura to the contents. Although
the sweetness required may vary as per taste but for the quantity as mentioned
here, four small spoons are optimum.
Again mix the contents with the Sugar Free Powder. Again
cook for a few minutes to dry off any moisture that would have come up.
Next, add the khoya/cream into the contents and mix them. Cook
for a few minutes again.
After this, add a little ghee into the center of the wok
after emptying the contents there. Then fry the dry fruits in the ghee.
Just after frying, mix the dry fruits with the rest of the
contents.
Serve into a glass dish and nosh upon it after the dinner
and Yes, Have a cheerful meal.
"The smile that flickers on baby’s lips when he sleeps
does anyone know where it was born?
Yes, there is a rumor that a young pale beam
Of a crescent moon touched the edge of a vanishing autumn cloud,
and there the smile was first born in the dream of a dew-washed morning."
The best of my life's memories are from the months of June and the dreamiest ones too. It was a year that doesn't look so far gone and it was the 13th day of the month as the clock hit 07:20 in the morning. The whole family rejoiced and I knew very well why. It was my little sister who had just arrived into our lives, into our world.
I distinctly remember, after all these years the whole map of the room my mother and my newborn sister were shifted to just after that. It was quite a large one with a large bed at the right corner of the room and a cradle sort of bed just aside it. As I entered there with my father, I saw my mother resting on her bed and my aunt sitting beside her. And she, sitting on that chair near my mother, was holding the most beautiful thing I had ever seen in my life. As I went near my mother, my aunt called me to see how lovely the baby was and asked me if I wanted to hold her. Just as I was about to, I stopped to remember something. A few months earlier, I had gone to a relative's home to see a newborn cousin of mine. There, I had learnt that I should not touch or hold a baby with dirty hands. As my mind shifted back to that room with my little sister after me, I excused myself for a minute from my aunt. I went into the washroom and looked at my hands. They didn't look any bad but dirty or not, I knew what I needed to do. A certain amount of responsibility seemed to have dawned upon me with my sister. I opened the tap, took some soap and washed my hands for about a minute. And then, I hastily returned to my sister and cautiously took her into my arms. It was a feeling like nothing can bring you and all I could say at that moment was- " She is so soft. And she is so tiny."
I learnt quite some things after that as the whole family seemed to provide their expertise in taking care of the baby. GrandMaa pitched in her supercool ideas that looked pretty inventive to me while aunt bought new and new baby-care items for my sister. They told me how a baby is a tender little creature and taught me how her skin is to be especially taken care of. Some of those that I remember are here-
1- Bathing the baby-
Source: Giphy
The family knew that babies aren't specially keen on bathing everyday and even with the hot months going on, they despise it. So the baby needs to be bathed only few times a week and the rest of the days, they just need to cleaned with a sponge and a cleanser. Many times, they just need to be washed with a soft cloth with water without anything soapy on it. At other times, to clean the rashy areas of the body, a mild cleanser may accompany the water. This, however should be regular.
2- Her clothes-
The baby's clothing, including her bedding and the clothes of the mother need to be of such a soft fabric that there MUST NOT be chances of causing rashes on her body. Also, the clothes should be washed in a mild detergent that does not harden up the clothes nor soften them. It's best to use a mild detergent for all those clothes, one that just does some light cleansing.
3- Moisturizing her skin-
Source: Giphy
A baby's skin may turn bad pretty soon after her birth and you would keep wondering why, especially if it's a chilly winter. Like our skins, a baby's skin tends to become dry even when she has reached a daily bathing age. To avoid that, she needs to be gently moisturized multiple times a day with baby specific moisturizing creams. And if you have a grandmaa around who knows her way with oils and ointments, it's even better.
4- Keeping the sun away-
Source: Giphy
If it's winter, then a little time in the sun while the baby is oiled up is fine but in any other season, it is best to protect the baby's soft soft skin from the harsh sun. To do so, the baby's room should be a cool place and when she is taken out, she should be properly clothed. Using baby specific sunscreen lotions to protect body parts more exposed to the sun, like face and hands would serve the purpose.
What most irritates a baby's skin is a sensitive tush. For all such purposes, diaper pants of a premium quality, like Pampers should be used along with disposable wipes. These days, such carefully designed and soft pants are available in the market that the baby wouldn't even notice wearing them.
Also, care must be taken for friction and rubbing when changing the diapers. That said, the diapers should be changed at quick regular intervals.
Pampers brings you the softest ever Pampers Premium Care Pants. Its cotton-like softness is #SoftestForBabySkin and allows it to breathe, thus keeping baby’s skin soft and healthy, and your baby happy.
"The smile that flickers on baby’s lips when he sleeps
does anyone know where it was born?
Yes, there is a rumor that a young pale beam
Of a crescent moon touched the edge of a vanishing autumn cloud,
and there the smile was first born in the dream of a dew-washed morning."
Those were the days when we lived in our hometown and those were the days when summer vacations actually meant vacating our house for long days at our relative’s homes. Towards the end of the vacation, we were all returning, taking a five hour road trip back home. Halfway, near the under construction highway lane, we saw a rustic but beautiful foodplace that had recently come up. Although we weren’t so hungry but the temptation was too much to resist. They had those mud and thaw styled huts with cane furniture set in. Each hut was meant for one family only and this was something Maa liked too much. The ambience was absorbing to say the least and the food proved to be even more. After feasting upon the raunchy food, the smiles on our faces were worth tens of selfies. That day we learnt a wonderful lesson; that day we learnt that you can plan a spread but you can’t plan a smile.
The most beautiful of life's moments are those that you don't plan for. Looking back, you realize that those sweetest memories, that last night train home, that wedding of a distant relative where the whole extended family unexpectedly regroups, that scrumptious food on a roadside dhabha on your way back from vacation- nothing beats the smiles that such surprises can bring to your faces.
So wasn’t it fitting for me to have planned a surprise smile for my sister? After all, she is in desperate need of one ever since she has left home this summer for further studies. Unlike me, she hasn’t really gotten into the drift of things after shifting to a new place. Most of all, she has qualms with the food she gets there and there just seems to be no solution on that front. All respite that she can get at this point is to come home during vacations and nosh upon some hearty food in those days. Luckily, both of us are home in these Dusshehra holidays and from day one, we have been acting upon our own lists/menus that we have prepared to fulfill in these days.
Uptil day five, most of the items on her list which, by some unexplained superiority, had got precedence over mine had gotten ticked and again she was shifting into the crisis of
“kyaa khaayein kyaa naa khaayein ye kaisi mushkil haaye”
McCain brings smiles on your family's face
And thus, on the evening of the fifth day, I decided to give her a little surprise by preparing something she utterly loves to eat. Now this one should be something she wouldn’t expect right? And so, I decided to feast her by myself preparing some scrumptious Mccain Smiles for her and bring that smile on her face that I so love. Also, all of this had to be done secretly to keep that element of surprise intact. To do so, I waited for the lovable siesta of hers. It’s usually a window of three hours, 3 to 6, and I had to see my plan through towards the dying end of this window.
The McCain Smiley pack bought from the nearest store. Smiles can't be planned but conspiracies can.
The McCain pack was brought from the nearest store and straightaway put into the freezer. Now we people are spice loving and so the seasoning matters as much as the main food. And so, I prepared one suitable to her tastes as well as to the rest of the family. Maa surely helped in capturing this planning so that we could show each step of this one later to my sister. Here’s how all of this turned up-
Here's me with the McCain Smiley Pack.
These days, when you're gonna start something good, it's almost customary to start by taking a picture with the thing. And so, I saw it fit too to take a picture with the McCain pack.
The wok is prepared for the McCain Smiles
I like to cook and when it comes to preparing some instant food, my generation takes it with both hands open. Something similar dawned upon me too as I, quite enthusiastically, began the process by putting the oil to heat on the oil.
The seasoning prepared for the smileys
A Bollywood actor once nonchalantly mentioned that the real pleasure of life is in the spices. As I already said, we are spice loving people and so I prepared a seasoning comprising of Coriander leaves, Tomato, Chilly and Salt powder, Jaljeera powder (Yum yum yum :) ) and some chilly hot snacks to go alongwith. I even prepared some fried noodles hiding them from Maa herself.
Fried Noodles prepared as seasoning for the Smiles.
Emptying the packet of McCain Smiles
The McCain Smiles pack needs to be taken out from the freezer just when the oil has gotten hot enough. The moment I emptied the pack and the smileys splattered on the tray, I knew my sister is gonna be happy enough. She is into how things look as much as how things taste and these smiles surely looked to do the job.
Frying the smiles :) That didn't sound right, did it?
Making the smiles for the first time all by myself, I was wondering if the just frozen McCain would be crisp after deep frying but just when I put the first of the smiles into the oil, I knew that the crispiness would be unbeaten.
Posing and Preparing- The McCain Game
Now I know why people take pictures of everything they do. It's not necessarily so that they can remember things. It's so they can put them on their blog ( read social media). By the way, do I look diligent in the picture?
The fried smiles with a seasoning of noodles
Next, the first lot that I took out , I put on a beautiful white China and started the seasoning with the noodles. Deep down, I thought the noodles would compromise the crisp a little bit and so I put it on three smiles only.
The smiles with all the seasoning- in all their glory
Finally, I put in all the seasoning of spices that I had prepared and now it was time to do the dangerous thing.
The sleep that shouldn't be disturbed but would be.
It is always dangerous to disturb my sister's sleep. It's the only thing that she loves more than food. But since it was about a quarter past 6 and she would have woken up by herself in a few minutes, I took the risk of poking up her up.
"Jaag utha insaan"
I told her I had prepared McCain Smiles for her. She took a moment to gauge what I was saying and after a minute or two it dawned upon her.
"Hain!! Ye kyaa" and "Wow"
She looked delighted enough and did not even get up to get fresh before she put in a smiley in her mouth to munch upon it. Surprisingly, it was as crisp as anything even with the noodles and other seasoning on.
Bringing the smile on her face
In a moment, we could see that rare smile on her face. It usually takes some doing but it's worth it.
In a wonderland she woke up,
The aura was worth her dream's grace
With dreamy eyes she saw the plate
the smiles brought a smile to her face.
The McCain smiles I had prepared for her,
The beautiful smiles made for a cute picture;
An evening snack is a sure shot lift,
And McCain Smiles is a wonderful gift.
Here is a video of me preparing the smiles. Do check this out
This post is a part of the contest by McCain India hosted on Indiblogger. (The pictures are all taken by me unless stated otherwise). Here is another video featuring Karisma Kapoor presenting the Smiles Canapes recipe.
“I feel about my phone the way horror-movie ventriloquists feel about their dummies: It's smarter than me, better than me, and I will kill anyone who comes between us.”
Yes, we have come far from where we started and No, it hasn't been that long. Yes, our phones have become part of our lives and No, it isn't because we are materialistic fools. There is perhaps no other way in which technology has touched our lives as directly as the revolutionary change in mobile phones has. Today, a smartphone encompasses all our needs of worldly entertainment from listening to the radio to watching movies, keeping in touch with the match score to clicking candid photographs with our loved ones- Smartphones know it all.
The evolution of the phone: getting smart (Source)
Yes, we have come far from where we started and No, it hasn't been that long. Yes, our phones have become part of our lives and No, it isn't because we are materialistic fools. There is perhaps no other way in which technology has touched our lives as directly as the revolutionary change in mobile phones has. Today, a smartphone encompasses all our needs of worldly entertainment from listening to the radio to watching movies, keeping in touch with the match score to clicking candid photographs with our loved ones- Smartphones know it all.
And what’s more? This is one dimension of technology that is repeatedly teaching us one of the basic fundamentals of life- evolution. It all started when Google gave the world the Android and look at where we are now. Smartphone brands over the world are throwing in tremendous innovations every other day, leaving us, the consumers spoilt for choice. Last month only, I was faced with choosing a smartphone for my Dad and the dilemma while doing so was more complex than ‘Inception’ J. What really poses problems is the clash of similar specs between models of different brands when choosing a phone. There aren’t really any deal-closing features on them and so one is just left for the want of something more.
It is times like these that the true champs finally come up with the big guns. As we like to call it playfully-
“baap baap hota hai aur beta beta”
Google, the founding father, the ‘baap’ of Android phones, has come up with a talismani new model – THE LG NEXUS 5x, to crush the competition in the higher end segment of the market. And this time, we are in for a real show with the Oh so awesome features and distinguished specs on this device.
The device has a 5.2-inch display and runs on a hexa-core Snapdragon 808 processor with 2 GB RAM. The key features include a USB Type-C to charge, On Tap features, Doze Mode and a bunch of other supercool ones, thrown in to enhance your user experience.
With Google having given a No-No to partnering with various OEMs in launching Google Edition devices, the NEXUS devices may very well be your final resort for getting a stock android experience. And with the Android 6 Marshmallow, things do get pretty awesome on this front. Also on this device, the user would get the fastest software and security updates making sure that he/she always has the freshest environment on the device.
Another ace in the hole is the Nexus Imprint which learns more about your fingerprint over time, so your phone safety gets faster and more secure the more it’s used. Courtesy of this, the OS can be used across the system, securing the device, and authorizing payments. This Nexus Imprint feature is lightning fast, and has a response time of less than 600ms.
The nexus Imprint feature on the back of the LG Nexus 5X (Source)
But having just the Nexus Imprint isn’t something that would keep the LG NEXUS 5x ahead of the competition. With its massive applicability and liking, it is poised to become a standard feature on many future Android phones too. But just like Frodo and Sam make and impeccable duo, this feature coupled with a stock android experience is what brings the rings home.
2- A powerful camera to lighten up your low-lit memories:
This month, we, the big beautiful family of ours, have decided to visit our town in Dushehra to see the Dushehra fair after 5 years. No doubt, there would be moments all of us would likely cherish and there would be moments that we would want to keep with us forever.
Few shots in low light and daylight taken on the LG NEXUS 5X (Source)
But no matter what you have heard, the pictures that you may take at a night-fair are only as good as the feeble prints you remember by memory. At times like those, you just wish you had a camera on your phone that could lighten up those low-lit moments of your life. Now as you make that wish, the LG NEXUS genie hears you and so it incorporates a 12.3 megapixel primary sensor with a pixel size of 1.55 microns. Courtesy of this, the camera can capture more light to facilitate taking pictures in poor light conditions and can give you surprisingly vivid and vibrant shots.
Also, when you reach to the top of the giant swing and want to capture the scenes and the screams from there, you can make use of the 4K video recording capability of the phone that can take 120 fps slow motion footage. So when you return home and look at the video, you will get to know who among all the cousins was the most scared stiff when the wheel suddenly stopped while you were at the top J.
The 1.55 μm pixel sized primary camera with 4k video record capability (Source)
Now, if you really look good enough multiple times a day so as to take selfies using your phone or if you are a forever alone sort of personality and your phone is your only refuge, the 5 megapixel front camera is a haven for you, capturing detailed pictures along with the freedom of taking group selfies.
Taking cool selfies on the LG NEXUS 5X
3-Doing away with the bloatware:
Putting in alluring features one after the other in a phone might look like a nice idea at first but sometimes, it’s not what you put in but what you throw out that counts in making the environment truly classy. With the LG NEXUS 5X, Google has put in a calm mind to the user experience and what actually a customer wants in a phone. And so, it has done away with a lot of bloatware that usually accompanies Android phones and some of which also resided in the earlier Nexus phones.
The LG NEXUS 5x comes with fewer Google apps installed out of the box and includes pretty much the optimum combination only. Also, over a quarter apps on the device are post set-up and so they can be easily uninstalled.
Among all the features that this talismani smartphone has to boast of, I personally find this one the most alluring and deal-closing in the context of user experience available to a high-level user.
Apart from these top three features, Google is throwing in some bundled offers with the device that includes a 90-day free subscription to Google Play Music All Access and a $50 Google Play Credit (in US only). There is another extended warranty scheme for 2 years which can be availed by spending an extra 69$ with the device. The warranty covers mechanical breakdown apart from accidental damage.
All this and more makes up in making the LG NEXUS 5X a dream smartphone for any kind of user requirement and the device seems to be a major improvement over the Motorola-made Google Nexus 6. It looks like this device will recapture the markets soon enough and would be able to crush the competition in its high end device segment.
The only thing left to do is to experience the NEXUS 5x in all its glory, sitting on the palm of my hand. And to realize this dream,I am participating in the#ChampIsBack activity at BlogAdda. Hope that this time, I win and grab this talismani smartphone soon enough.
