Chocolate fantasy

Hi there, I am in my last trimester and ready to anytime rush to the hospital. All these while I wondered why I didn't experience strong cravings. but these last days of pregnancy I actually understand what actually are cravings.

On last Saturday midnight I got up to relish an entire potato wafer packet  and more to add on I was making   everything that had potato in it.This week I wanted to have chocolates and  chocolate coated doughnuts. But my over protective husband restricted me to indulge in refined flour food. I knew he was right but  cravings can make you crazy.Luckily I did have a compound chocolate slap with me.Thus an idea struck why not make some chocolates and doughnuts.thus this post got its existence.To make dry fruit rich chocolates you may need:chocolate slap,chocolate plastic mould,roasted cashew nut, almonds, walnuts and raisins.picture below displays the items required.

 To melt the chocolate we need to create a double boiler to prevent the chocolate from burning by direct contact with heat. 

To make a double boiler first take half water filled container and then place a shallow container over it. thus with the help of steam the chocolate starts melting.

 At a point you will find that the chocolate has developed a glaze and easily drips down the spoon.
Take a clean plastic mould and brush it with melted chocolate to prevent any air bubbles or pores to be seen on the top surface.

Place the brushed mould inside the refrigerator to solidify the chocolate molding. After 15-20 minutes take the mould out and fill it with your choice of dry fruits. Now fill the chocolate moulds with molten chocolate.

 Refrigerate the mould for 30- 40 minutes. Once they are solidified  you could easily demould it.

 These are some of the demoulded  chocolate shapes. You could wrap them with choice of wrapping paper and thus ur home made chocolates are ready.

Candle Art with Mehandi

Hi there, this week has been full of festivity. It is Ganesh Utsav celebration in every street of Mumbai.  Lord Ganesha is said to be worshipped before starting any new venture, work or entering a new property.

His idol is worshipped and placed for 5-7 -11 days in huge decorative pandals. I always look forward for this festival as you get to see lot of creativity in terms of design, colour in decorations and to take the blessings of bappa.

During festival time we apply Henna on hand to beautify them. I have been trying to master this art for a while now.

An idea clicked  me as I was doing some designs on my hand if I could use this art on some other surface. When I researched I was surprised to find this beautiful art made on wax candles. These candles were used as Center piece.

I selected some easy mehandi design and got started on a clean white Candle. Thus below you could find the details.

Requirement:

A big candle, Mehandi Cone, sketch pen to make an outline and  a satin ribbon.

Procedure:

First clean the candle if required. Make a desired outline with a sketch pen on the candle. By doing this designing with a mehandi cone would be easier on the candle.

I have decorated the bottom and head part of the candle with mehandi.

The snowflakes and tiny dots were made with mehandi to fill the empty space.

 Allow the mehandi to dry and then decorate it with a satin ribbon of your choice.

Thus your beautiful center piece is ready.

We in AIH believe in teamwork and thus even if I came with the concept it has been Reena Mams art work that has brought out such beautiful center piece. Thanks Mam.

See you soon in the next post.

 

Veggi Basket

Hi there,

We had an event at our college which required some good hand crafted baskets or containers to display raw food ingredients.

We got a beautiful lot of baskets for the event, this clicked me to hand craft a basket.

I  researched  different basket making techniques and easiest way to craft was with newspaper or magazine paper.

Thus below is the procedure for basket making

Materials:

 Newspaper/ magazine paper, fevicol, 2- waste c.ds, spray paint.

 Procedure:

 Take a sheet of newspaper and divide it into half vertically. With the help of pencil start rolling the paper into a cylindrical roll/ pipe. Close the open end of paper with fevicol.

Make 9 to 15  such rolls. To make a strong base I have used c.d as the base layer. You could also use circular card board sheet.

Place all the rolled pipes equidistant from each other and stick them on one side of the c.d with the help of fevicol. Now apply fevicol on the c.d with rolled pipes attached to it. Over this stick the second c.d .

This will give a sun like image. Picture above will help you understand better.

Keep these infused c.ds below a heavy object so that they can adhere to each other.

Now again make 20- 30 cylindrical rolls/ pipes from the newspaper and keep it aside.

On the base structure that we made attach a roll /pipe to the base. Now start moving this pipe alternately through this attached pipe. Picture below displays the interlocking of pipes.

Always adjust the interlocked pipes properly to avoid gaps. Make sure the interlocking of pipes moves in a straight line.

If you feel the basket has got desired height cut the open ends of the rolls and stick them on the rim of the basket.

Thus your basket is ready. To make it more appealing you could paint it with some color. I have spray painted it with bronze color.

I use it store vegetables, you could use it according to your requirements.

Wine Bottle Decor

Age is just a number. It’s totally irrelevant unless, of course, you happen to be a bottle of wine.”― Joan Collins

Hi There,

Welcome back. A good wine can be ones greatest pleasures.  Whether you are a novice or a connoisseur enjoying a glass of wine can be sublime experience.

  Tasting Satori Merlot was one such experience I can’t forget. A medium bodied wine which goes best with spicy food.It was a memorable dining experience and the empty wine bottle somehow fascinated me to get creative with it.

Thus the requirements for making a wine bottle vase are:

Wine bottle, spray Paint, choice of ribbon/lace,

Procedure:

1.    Dip the bottle in water for some time as it becomes easy to remove the label on the bottle.

2.    Take the dry wine bottle and stick a double tape in desired shapes to avoid application of paint on these areas.]

1.    Apply the spray paint from a distance for proper application.

2.    Let the paint dry for 30 minutes; apply a second coat of paint to cover any left out spaces.

1.    After the paint has dried slowly peel off the double tape. Thus a pattern will be created.

1.    To accessorize it I have used golden ribbon on both the ends of the bottle.

2.    Thus your wine bottle vase is ready.

This vase could be decorated with artificial fillers or flowers. Also most of us use these bottles for planting indoor plant- money plant.

This could be a good way to beautify these bottles.

Yeh hai meri Kahaani

Hi there myself the front row  Incisor and I am here to speak on behalf of my lost family comprising of molars and premolars. Few of my brothers(canines) are also here to address you all.

It has being a very long journey of cutting and mincing  wafers,burgers,chocolates,pizza and desserts.

We are  only 8 of us who have survived –malnourished,bleeding and counting our last days.

This is all because of our Owner- Raj Malhotra.

Age- 28

Profession- businessman

Job Profile- Monitor Operations,9-1 pm job,attend functions and parties.

Aim In Life- To eat,drink and party hard.

Achievements – 6 root canal treatments,recent development of fissure because of inadequate chewing of food as no teeth left.Likely to go for a denture by this year end.

We were 32 of us when Raj was 18,he explored his freedom he tried some best eateries and popular snack corners around the colleges.

We were tried on hard, chewy, sticky, sweet ,tangy food products, Initially we enjoyed the textures and flavors but  slowly we realized we were intoxicated with high proportion of sugar which caused cavities and black linings on teeth...  There were nights when  molar and canines couldn't see  each other.

There was lot of sufferings we came across during night.Our owner  scrubbed  us only in mornings for a couple of seconds. We never enjoyed  a relaxing massage of the  brush and minty paste.

He rarely washed us after having meals. We smelled, stink ed and covered with plague all over us. We all longed for some fresh  tangy fruits and vegetables for some nourishment.

 Soon the day arrived when our biggest molar had given up as he was screwed with cavities and was bleeding.

In a days time we visited our Spa care unit(Dental Clinic).What an experience guys,we were scrubbed,bleached and jet sprayed. As been Incisor we recover faster but 6 of our molars had no chance of improvement left. That’s when Root canal was done to all of them.

I think Root canal must be a painful procedure as we had no cutting and chewing job  for a change.It was only liquid that was gulped in for a day.

Medical visit had increased and there was a control on food types .We were losing our siblings one after other. the most devastating phase of life is when you helplessly see your dear one  dying before you.

Raj is 28 now and has lost his confidence to smile,his speech has changed and diet is limited to soft and watery supplements!

We are 8 of us-four above and 4 below.We have lot of emptiness besides us.

 The moral of my story is please care for your body and its part. Once gone you cannot recover them.

• Learning
•     Brush your teeth thoroughly at least twice a day, for two minutes each time.
•      Spend time moving the bristles at and below the gum line, where it is most important to clean.

•         Floss your teeth daily and after any food that will stick in your teeth.
•         Visit your dentist at least every six months and every time that you have a problem with your teeth.
•         Care for your body part before they  perishes away.

                           This blog post is written for the contest "the moral of the story is" by Colgate Total.

  Please follow the link for more information.

http://www.myhealthyspeak.co.in/

thank god!its 20th century

This year has been with many sweet surprises so far. I did an international trip to Thailand and the experience was unforgettable.

As I landed in India I had my brother’s engagement to attend and plan for his wedding. As being from hospitality sector I was given the responsibility to look into event management and menu planning. I willingly took the responsibility.

As days passed I experienced lot of fatigue and insomania. After a medical checkup I got the best surprise of my life that I was expecting! This is a best phase of life for any women.

I was excited yet confused with a long list of do and don’ts in my first trimester. I had every single lady-friend, colleague and neighbors sharing their experiences. And all had a different story to tell.

I remember my friend’s granny telling me “She got to know her pregnancy in her second month as she never experienced vomiting and nausea. Also there was nothing called sonography or Doppler test. The only thing they relied on was faith that the little one was safe, healthy and active.

 I was a bit worried that how healthy my body was and the development of the fetus. It was the 11^th week when I did my first NT-Scan and a Doppler test. During the NT-scan I was amazed to hear the heartbeats and see the body part which was only 3inches in size. This made me more responsible towards my daily diet and fitness. A Doppler test is done to see the hormone growth and if any symptoms of Down’s syndrome in the foetus.All the reports were normal.

This is when I felt how modern day health care has made our life easier. In this fast paced life we suffer with so many ailments that need to be diagnosed and treated on time. Modern day health care helps with accurate diagnosis that is less painful and time consuming. Over a period of years the life expectancy of a person has also increased due to number of remedial treatment available for different diseases. The equipments used for health treatment cause less pain.

Thus I thank god that I live in 20^th century where modern day healthcare has made life simpler and better.

http://www.apollohospitals.com/cutting-edge.php

Presenting a Gift

I feel gifting a special one is like showing his importance in our life; whenever we select a gift we look for something special and make it look as beautiful as possible.

A gift has to be attractive from outside as much as it is from inside. Thus I thought of posting something on packaging of a gift this month.

To make a gift even more appealing this is something that anyone can easily do.

Material Required: Wrapping paper, scale, marker, scissor and glue.

Procedure: wrapping paper could be of your choice and color. Better to use two contrast color papers.

Depending on the size of the gift decide the length of paper to be used. After wrapping a gift we can use the remaining paper to make a beautiful flower from cut strips.

 Draw vertical lines with 1 cm width between each of them

With the help of a scissor cut these strips. 

 Join the open ends of the strip with glue to form a ring. Press the ring in the center to form a petal like shape.

 One after the other sticks all the six rings to form a flower.

I have used two wrapping papers to make flowers of different sizes.

 These flowers can be assembled together to form an attractive center piece.

-

 We could place this flower on the gift as required. Special thanks to yogita!

Thus a beautiful present is ready!

Towel Origami

Towel Origami

Hi there,

This post is on similar lines of my first blog post. I have been doing towel art for a while now.

Every time I do this with my students they are amazed to find something so beautiful can be made out of towels. Our college Students won a silver medal at an intercollegiate competition on Towel Art recently.

This time I have demonstrated a cute dog with towel.

Material required: Bath towel, Bath Mat, big circular bindis.

Head Making: Take a bath mat and fold into half horizontally.

Now placing a finger on the center of the folded mat pick the open end of the bath mat and place it on the central line parallel to the finger.

Do this step on both sides to obtain a triangle formation as seen in the picture below.

Fold the triangle backwards,It should look something like this.

Start rolling the both the ends till the center .

Now hold the folds together and turn the other side around.

  Twist the open ends down to form the ears.

 Stick 3 bindis to show eyes and nose of the dog. Thus the head is ready.

Body Making:  Take a bath towel and start rolling it from both the ends till they reach the centre.

 Now fold these rolls and pull out the open ends from the center of the rolls

Hold the adjacent open ends in both the hands as shown in the picture.

Pull the adjacent end in opposite direction to form a body. The body should look something like this.

Now place the head on the body as shown in the picture.

Thus your cute loyal dog is ready.

 Do try making this one.