Day: August 11, 2017

Fantastic Friday Recipes by Chef Guillaume Lejeune!

Here we bring to you not one but two amazing recipes by Chef Guillaume Lejeune, Director of Pastry Studies, Academy of Pastry Arts, to make your weekend an amazing one. So now you know what you have to cook for the weekend.. here is goes

Financier (Almond based travel cake)

Ingredients Quantity (Gr)
Butter 150
Egg whites 150
Icing sugar 165
Almond powder 85
Flour 50
Chocolate chip 50

Procedure:

  1. Cook the butter until golden color and nutty in flavour
  2. On the side, combine flour, almond powder and icing sugar
  3. Mix egg whites into the dry mixture
  4. Gently add in melted butter. Make sure the butter temperature does not cook the egg whites
  5. Add chocolate chips last and refrigerate
  6. Bake at 170°C in a silicon rectangular mat for 10mins.

Aloo Foccaccia (Indian Twist for my Indian Readers)

Flour 500
Salt 10
Yeast 12
Mashed potatoes 275
Water 280
Olive Oil               50

For the topping:

  1. Coriander leaves- 30gm
  2. Sliced onions- 50gm
  3. Green chilli chopped- 3-4 no.s
  4. Garlic chopped- 20gm

Procedure:

  1. Mix all ingredients together and make smooth dough
  2. Grease tray and hands with olive oil before handling dough.
  3. Proof for an hour, punch and shape dough in baking tray
  4. Garnish with the topping.
  5. Proof again and bake at 230°C deck oven

Not a Day Older: Taking Care of Your Body and Mind in Old Age

Growing old takes a toll on your body. Although most of us will change as we age, and looking in the mirror is more of a surprise than anything else, you need to take care of yourself more than ever when you’re getting older. If you think the amount you exercised back in the days is what you’re living off now, you’re quite right – but that doesn’t mean you should stop caring about your body and mental health quite yet.

Image via: Pexels

The truth is, your mind as well as your physical health will be declining when you’ve reached a ripe age and to keep yourself healthy, it’s important to look at health holistically. Here is a handful of the best preventative measures you can take for your health in old age so that you can enjoy a functioning body and a healthy mind for as long as possible.

The best exercise to stay young

The mitochondria in our bodies are considered the cell’s power generator; it produces energy and converts it into forms that are usable by our cells. As we age, our cells stop to regenerate as easily as it did before, and are simultaneously affected by the mitochondria diminishing in both number and vigor.

We’d like to keep it as a generator for as long as we can, and certain types of exercise have actually proven to undo some of what aging has done to our cell’s power producer. The type of exercise that produced the biggest change in people’s genes in a study from this year was intense exercise – or interval training. There are a lot of different ways to incorporate this into your regular routine, although it’s usually associated with running or jogging. How well your aging family member is able to cope with running, you know better than any, but consider similar options such as cycling if this is difficult due to painful knees or other immobilities.

While there’s no decent alternative to growing old, by taking care of yourself and your older family members, you’ll be able to enjoy active years as a senior citizen and leap from one Pilates class to the next one. It will keep you independent and happy for as long as possible so that you can get much more out of your Medicare Supplement plans – and enjoy your golden years for a long time still.

Aging and stress

Stress is bad company when you’re trying to look after your health, and little is able to have such an impact on your health as this one. While we may experience hard times at any age, you’re more likely to have gone through a traumatic emotional loss when you’re older and it becomes even more important to know how to deal with this.

To get in touch with your spirituality can take you a step away from stress and depression; while there are a lot of ways to do this, the most popular way is to try meditation or holistic exercises such as yoga.

The combination of a loss of a loved one, loneliness, and even financial concern can make the stress factor a lot worse when you age – and seniors are at an increased risk for depression. Take care of your mental health as soon as possible and reach out to a professional or your family members for a chat, and practice expressing your emotions.

Remember to laugh and surround yourself with positive people who enjoy life and have managed to stay active. They’ll keep us young for longer and make it easier to enjoy everything life has to offer.

 

Independence Day Offers from Auto Portal!

We all know that today buying cars is no rocket science. Its easy and its convenient, but do you know about this interesting site called Autoportal, where not only buying or booking a car is done simply with a few clicks, but also great offers and schemes await you and make your whole process more worth while. #Autoportal

I mean who would not like to get a Dubai Trip or a Goa Holiday or an iPhone for that matter, yes you read it write, all these amazing offers are available to you as part of Independence Special Promotion, if you book your car through autoportal.com. They always amaze their users with best of the offers and make your experience more fulfilling. And for this particular offer you still have a few days to go so make the most of it. Don’t let the offer slip from your hands. Check all these Independence Day  Offers here #FreedomToExplore

Also not just the offers, but the portal itself is so user friendly and informative that you will get hooked. It makes the process of searching for a suitable car, or comparing car models and even getting best on road prices and offers so easy. Just with simple clicks you can actually compare upto 4 cars and see what suits you best.

The site also lets you buy or sell used cars and yes not just cars but you can actually look for bikes as well. There are options to find spare parts, car loans and even helps you calculate your EMIs. I mean you get to do so much with so much ease. If you go to separate dealers, you still won’t get so much information and plus it will be a hassle to visit different brand showrooms and get relevant information, whereas here at the portal, information about multiple brands exists under one roof and for me this was one of the highlight features of the portal.

Dont forget to log in to this extremely useful portal for all your car and bike needs.

Spirit Flows Power Glows- Book Review

Keerthisinghe is a Sri Lankan by origin and is an Entrepreneur, Speaker, Politician, and T.V. Presenter based in India.
He is a firm believer in God and holds great knowledge of Buddhist philosophy.
Having lost his father at the tender age of eight he faced numerous challenges in life and despite his adverse circumstances managed to enter the University of Colombo and graduated as a Bachelor of Law and became a professional lawyer in 2000.
He became an early rupee millionaire and then lost it all.
Being the fighter that he is, his quest has not ended despite going through many failures.
He had firm belief in God and his own never say die attitude to rise again n again. He went through personal and professional set backs always to bounce back even defying death.


The Book as the name suggests is a work of art, a seriously motivational book with a nice and refreshing outlook to really inspire you to achieve your dreams.
A simple narrative interspersed with some truly inspiring stories and personal experiences gives you an ample window to look through the Author’s up and down journey and his strong will and belief in the Almighty to cross all hurdles and move towards the Goal. The book really takes you on a roller coaster ride and leaves you infused with positive energy and high spirit. One gets a sense of belief and feel all charged up to take on the world.

An absolute cracker of a book for all. Very Inspiring. Very Motivational. An absolute must read.

Grab your copy now, you will not regret your buy.

Its available on Amazon for Rs 270/- for paperback.

My rating 4/5 stars

The Change is Here- Dominos Pizza Badal Gaya!

It is rightly said that change is the only constant and when the change is for better, its always welcomed with open arms. Just recently our favourite Dominos has changed for better.

Domino’s Pizza, the market leader in the organized pizza segment, unveiled its most significant product refresh with an across the board enhancement of its pizzas.

The improvement to its pizzas include a new soft and tasty crust, more and bigger toppings, more cheese and a new herbier tomato sauce made from imported Californian tomatoes.

The launch of the All New Domino’s Pizzas will be supported by an aggressive advertising campaign across Television, Digital, Press and Radio. It will also be accompanied by a focused outreach effort targeted at its existing customers.

Domino’s Pizzas will now sport a new look and come in an attractive blue and white packaging that highlights the changes. Even after these improvements, the price of Domino’s pizzas will remain unchanged and this will help deliver better value-for-money to customers.

Talking about the new launch, Mr. Pratik Pota, CEO, Jubilant FoodWorks Limited said, “Earlier in the year, we had unveiled our new strategy for driving sustainable, profitable growth. The key pillars of these were Product Improvement, Value For Money, Seamless Customer Experience and Superior Technology all enabled by a focus on cutting costs and driving efficiencies. As part of this strategy, we are pleased to unveil today the largest ever upgrade of our pizzas. The new improved Domino’s Pizzas will have a softer and tastier crust, more and bigger toppings, more cheese and a new herbier tomato sauce.”

Mr. Pota further added, “We will be investing nearly Rs.100 crores behind the upgrade. We believe that the vastly improved product will help both drive frequency amongst existing customers as well as attract new ones, and thereby expand the Domino’s franchise and help growth in the market”.

Domino’s pizzas will now come with a new soft and tasty crust that consumers will enjoy until the last bite. The sauce will now be made of Californian tomatoes and will be tastier, giving Domino’s Pizza a distinct herbier flavour. The quantity and size of the toppings across pizzas have also been increased along with the amount of cheese to provide the consumers with a more satiating and mouthful bite.

Speaking on the new brand transformation Mr. S. Murugan Narayanaswamy, Senior Vice President, Marketing, Domino’s Pizza India, “In the last 20 years we have continuously adapted ourselves and brought the brand closer to our consumers. Our signature 30 minutes delivery promise and the launch of the Pizza Mania range are examples of this. The All New Domino’s is an outcome of insights gained from customer feedback, market research and store observations. Responding to specific feedback on the product gleaned from these, we have completely upgraded our product. We have planned a 360-degree marketing campaign ‘Aapne kaha, humne Kiya’ around the same. We are confident that our customers will love the new, enhanced product.”

And after hearing so much about the new changes, it was absolutely mandatory for me to try these new improved pizzas because just hearing about more toppings, softer crust and cheese along with the tomato sauce, my mouth watered and I had to try them on my own for sure. So I ordered myself a Barbecue Chicken Pizza and Paneer Makhani Pizza and truly the crust was much more softer and almost melted in the mouth. by just looking at the pizza one could make out that it has more cheese. loved the big chunks of chicken and paneer in the respective pizzas. The paneer especially was really soft and I loved it. The taste of the new tomato sauce was more evident in the barbecue chicken pizza and I really liked its freshness. Overall this has been a great change and I look forward to try the other variants of pizza as well. Dominos has been a market leader and I am sure with all these new improvements they are bound to go places.

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4 Reasons You’re Always Hungry

No matter what you try and do in regards to managing your weight, there’s always an enemy that keeps confronting you: your appetite.

You can start the day with an absolute devotion to the idea of sticking to calorie control and resisting the urge for sweets and snacks. Then midday rolls around, your energy is crashing, and your stomach is roaring. Despite the fact you should be full from that nutritious breakfast you took the time to craft, you can’t help it – you’re hungry. In fact, you pretty much feel hungry all the time.

If this is the case, then getting to the bottom of your seemingly ceaseless pit of hunger is going to be key to maintaining your weight. So why are you always so hungry – and what can you do about it?

1) You’re Not Eating Enough Calories

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We know that science tells us we need to restrict calories in order to lose weight; that’s pretty much a given. However, it is possible to go a step too far in this regard. If you’re not eating enough calories to sustain your energy levels – and particularly if you’re exercising heavily – then hunger is going to be the result.

While you may like the idea of restricting your calories so you lose weight quicker, it’s actually more beneficial to gradually reduce the amount and always ensure you’re eating at least 1,600 calories per day.

2) You’re Thinking About Food Too Much

Research has found that people who are overweight tend to think about food more than their slender counterparts, which in turn makes them feel hungry. If there is something in your brain that is constantly reminding you of food, then you might want to try Lovidia to see if you can regulate your resultant desire for food. You might not be able to stop thinking about food, but methods such as this will at least help you stop feeling the need to act on those thoughts.

3) You Have A Health Condition 

Some health issues can cause excessive hunger. Most noticeably, if you have an overactive thyroid, this can result in not only unexplained weight loss, but a relentless appetite. An overactive thyroid is easily diagnosed and relatively easy to treat, so if this is a relatively new issue for you, it might be worth getting checked over by a doctor.

4) You’re Not Eating Enough Protein

https://pixabay.com/en/bacon-bread-breakfast-broiled-1238243/

Ideally, your first meal of the day should be full of protein. The slow-release energy in protein is far more likely to sustain you than carbohydrates; in some ways, it’s far better to have bacon and eggs for breakfast than that healthy, carbohydrate-laden cereal. Nuts have been shown to help suppress appetite throughout the day, so incorporate these into your diet from breakfast and you should be able to manage your hunger better.

Battling with your weight is tough enough in and of itself, but struggling with hunger at the same time makes life even more difficult. Fingers crossed one of the solutions to your issue can be found in the above.

Is The Virtual Office The Future Of The Workplace?

New communication technology is constantly making the world feel smaller. At the time, the invention of the telephone revolutionized the way that people worked. Contact was no longer limited to people in the surrounding area and communicating with people that weren’t nearby meant days of traveling. These days, we have the capability to collaborate with people all over the globe at the touch of a button and it has drastically changed the way that businesses operate. The ease of sharing information and the availability of technology means that the traditional office set up is quickly becoming obsolete. You might not realize it yet because most businesses still have a physical premises, but more and more people are starting to turn to virtual offices instead. You no longer need to fill your office with employees from the local area. Now you can employ people from all over the globe and have them work remotely.

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Is A Virtual Office Better?

People have a lot of reservations about the idea of people working remotely but most of them are unfounded. The myth is that people will be less productive if they’re working from home because there are too many distractions and no authority figures to motivate you. For some people, this is probably the case, but most people tend to be more productive if anything.

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Recent studies by the Harvard business review show that people that work from home are, on average, far more productive. There are a few reasons for this, and they aren’t what you would expect. Most people expect there to be more effective communication between employees that are in an office together, but the truth is, people become more complacent. When employees are working remotely, they tend to put more effort into effective communication and work together a lot more effectively. Teams that don’t interact face to face that often also tend to make better use of their time when they do, so even though they work closely a lot less often, they are infinitely more productive when they do. Better use of technology is another benefit of working remotely. When you’re part of a virtual team, you rely far more heavily on technology than people that meet together on a daily basis. As technology becomes increasingly important, the employees that are better equipped to use are the ones that will thrive.

When it comes to distractions, people’s preconceptions are way off. When you’re working remotely from home, you aren’t distracted by any of the other people around you. In a rigid office environment, people are often looking for distractions but in a more relaxed home environment, people can concentrate a lot easier. Remote workers also, on average, work more hours than office workers because they aren’t limited to an eight hour work day.

One of the main benefits of a virtual team is that it massively reduces your overheads. Instead of needing a large office that can house all of your employees every day, you just need a much smaller space for the occasional team meeting.

It also means that you have a much wider choice when it comes to hiring employees. Instead of being limited to the best people in the local area, with a virtual office, you can choose from the best people in the entire world. You no longer have to compromise when it comes to hiring so you can create the very best team possible. By having employees around the globe, you can expand into new markets far more easily because you don’t need to set up expensive new offices every time.

What Are The Negatives?

By this point, you might think that starting a virtual office is a no brainer, but it does have its downsides. One of the biggest problems that people encounter is a lack of expertise. In a traditional office environment, if you have an IT problem, for example, you can head down the hall and find somebody to help you out. You won’t have that when you’re at home working as part of a virtual team. However, remote working is starting to correct those problems as fast as they arise. The experts that offer home IT services can repair most common issues remotely so you still get the benefit of a great IT team without having to wait for them to come out to you.

A good working relationship is important in any workplace because a team that don’t gel well together won’t work efficiently. In an office environment when you’re working together every single day, those relationships are far easier to build. When you’re part of a virtual team and you tend to communicate mainly by email or phone, you feel quite detached from each other and it can be harder to build a good working relationship. That doesn’t mean that you can never create a coherent team, you’ll just have to work at it a little more. When the team does meet in person, you need to put a bit more effort into getting to know one another.

Not being able to monitor your employees as much is another concern that people have about virtual offices. Monitoring their workload isn’t too much of an issue because they will have tangible results to show you but when it comes to their well being, it’s harder to know what’s going on. If your employees aren’t happy, then productivity will drop drastically so it’s important that they’re happy. It’s best to check in from time to time to ensure that they don’t have any major problems that are affecting their work.

So, those are the pros and cons of a virtual office. If it seems like something that might work for your business and you’re going to set one up for yourself, make sure that you remember these things.

Use Video Calling

 

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Face to face contact is important when you’re trying to build a relationship with somebody. So many virtual teams make the mistake of communicating solely by email but this is not effective. Not only can it be inefficient because you have to wait a while for a response, it also takes the human element out of those interactions. Video calling isn’t an ideal solution, but it’s much better than emailing. You can put a face to a name and get to know each other a little better. While it isn’t as good as meeting in person, it’s as close as you can get.

Establish Clear Responsibilities

In a traditional office, everybody’s roles are fairly clear cut. If you want to know who is handling a certain part of a project, you can just ask. However, when you’re part of a virtual team, you won’t have everybody on hand. You also don’t know how other employees are dividing up their own workloads. That means that sometimes people are unclear about who is doing what and that can seriously affect efficiency. That is why it’s so important to set out clear cut responsibilities at the beginning of a new project. Otherwise, you’ll find yourself dealing with disputes between employees about who was responsible for what.

Choose Employees Carefully

Although a lot of the concerns that people have about remote worker’s motivation are unfounded, that doesn’t mean that everybody thrives as part of a virtual team. Some people will have trouble motivating themselves outside of a rigid office environment. When you’re interviewing employees, you should obviously consider their qualifications first, but their personality is incredibly important. You need to be looking at the tell-tale signs that indicate whether they’re motivated or not. If you employ somebody that can’t keep themselves motivated properly, then they’ll be a weak link in the team and efficiency will be affected. This is an even bigger problem in a virtual team because you might not realize that there is a problem until further down the line.

Keep People In The Loop

One of the biggest downsides of a virtual team is that people don’t always feel like they’re really part of the company. In a normal office, everybody is aware of new hires and other company developments, but virtual employees won’t always know about these things. Putting together a monthly newsletter that keeps people up to date with all of these developments makes them feel more a part of the team which creates more loyalty to the company and in turn encourages them to be more motivated.

Make Time To Meet

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This is the most important thing for any virtual team. Although new technology means that communicating remotely is easier than ever, there are still some things that need to be discussed in person. Important decisions about the direction of the company should always be decided at meetings. Another thing to consider is the safety of information. When you’re communicating online, there is always the chance of a security breach. With this in mind, you should always keep discussions about sensitive information in person where possible so you reduce the risk of any security issues.

The virtual office is set to be the future of the workplace so start setting up yours now and stay ahead of the curve.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Cycle Your Way To Better Health: Here’s Why You Need To Hop on Your Bike!

Whether you’re looking to get back into fitness or you’re already a gym buff, cycling is the perfect exercise to add to your routine. It’s an incredible workout which is safe for most people and has some amazing health benefits too. Here are some of the reasons!

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Readily Available and Suitable For Most People

It might be a touch more difficult than say, walking- but most people know how to ride a bike. It’s something you learn during childhood, and as they say, it’s a skill you never forget. The majority of people are able to hop on a bike and start riding to get fit. Plus, it’s fun too- mountain biking for example allows you to get across all kinds of terrain so you can head out for the day and see some sights while getting fit. Just make sure to find the right bike for you, it needs to be the right size and have an amount of gears you’re happy with. This roadmaster granite peak review states that this particular model has full gear range, along with twist shifters making changing gear easy while you’re out. When the weather is bad, every gym has a selection of bikes too, making cycling really simple to slot into your routine. Better still, you can choose from spin biking, upright biking or the recumbent bike (which has a much more comfortable seat!) Even if you’re incredibly unfit and not able to walk for more than a few minutes, cycling is a great place to start. As you’re seated, you can go a little longer than with other exercises, start with a low resistance and build your way up. Even if you’re already a gym bunny, you can crank up the resistance and pedal harder and still get a great workout in.

Builds Strong Muscles, Joints, and Bones

Building strong muscles, joints and bones in your body helps to keep you supple and sturdy. Since cycling uses the large muscles in the legs, these are especially benefitted, but biking can also help your core, shoulders, and arms too. Cycling strengthens the joints of the knees which is particularly beneficial as you get older since so many people suffer from knee issues. It also builds lean muscle in the legs, which not only allows your body to burn more calories at rest. Plus, strong legs will improve your performance in other areas too, whether it’s walking, running or cross training. Any exercise helps to contribute to strong bones, which is not only useful now but even more so as we age. Later in life, bone loss can lead to conditions like osteoporosis so working on building strong bones when we’re young can help tremendously.

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Great For Cardiovascular Health

As with any aerobic activity, biking is ideal for cardiovascular health. Keep upping the resistance and speed until you’re breathless enough to only be able to speak in short sentences. And from there, keep increasing it to boost your fitness. Better heart and lungs mean your body is more efficient, and you’ll find yourself feeling less tired and fatigued going about your daily tasks.

 

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