J's thoughts

Johnsons company has come under a lot of fire in recent times with regards to the contents in their products and how safe are they on a baby's soft skin. It is really sad since I was born in the era where baby care items were synonymous with Johnsons.  There was no other product or brand available in the market. The products were used on babies and even adults used them.  Fast forward, when my little one was born, I was instructed to use products from another brand in the market on the baby. It is a little sad you know - a brand you had known and trusted for years is not trustworthy anymore. Anyways, there is no harm in shampoos right? It is not like a body lotion or creme. You just apply onto hair and wash it off, so it cannot be that harmful na! Have you tried shampooing a toddlers hair. Sigh...they scream and fight . There is  a don't touch my head policy in my house. My little one has thick hair and it ends up dry and lifeless after a shampoo. And also once pa

This a a very simple, pocket friendly yet effective home remedy for cracked heels. And the protagonists are: Mix a teaspoon of glycerin with two teaspoons of rose water and apply to the heels of our foot and the entire foot ,immediately after a bath.  The result is visible in three or four days. Soft and beautiful feet is yours :) :) My mom's friend uses this concoction all over her body and she swears that she has less wrinkles because of this. Glycerin and rose water is available in the bakalas or supermarkets. Glycerin is available in pharmacies as well. So go ahead, give this a try before you purchase that expensive foot creme.

I haven't heard about the Australian body care brand until recently my little one was down with chicken pox and the doctor prescribed this body lotion to apply on her body. Now this prescription against norms - it is usually calamine lotion everybody uses to soothe those boils. Long story short, I bought this body lotion from the pharmacy [when the doctor prescribes something for your little one, no questions are asked; you just buy it]. It will lighten your pocket by 11 KD. I haven't seen this body care range on the super market shelves in Kuwait. A bit of googling made me realise that the company uses tea tree oil in all of its products and that tea tree oil doesn't come from the tea leaves used to make tea. Tea tree is an entirely different variety of plant. Enlightenment!!!!!!!!!!! The body lotion comes packaged in a plastic tube with a flip open cap. This is a 200 ml tube. The Australian product range claims to use natural active ingredients. In this case

If you have left over and over ripe bananas, a banana bread bread is a perfect way to salvage those bananas. Well, atleast one way to use them. I had tried several recipes from the net and was disappointed every time. Till I stumbled upon this recipe. The recipe is adapted from www.recipegirl.com . Ingredients: 2 medium ripe bananas, mashed (chiquita) 2 large eggs 1 teaspoon vanilla extract 3/4 cup brown sugar + 1/4 cup castor sugar 1/4 cup buttermilk 1/2 cup vegetable oil 1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour 1 teaspoon baking soda 1 cup chopped walnuts (optional) Method 1.     Preheat the  oven to 180 degree celsius. Grease and flour one 9x5-inch loaf pan. 2.     Combine first 6 ingredients in a large bowl and whisk together well. In a separate bowl, combine flour, baking soda and nuts. Stir into wet mixture and pour into prepared pan. 3.     Bake 1 hour and 15 minutes, or until golden brown and toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.

Don't you just want to climb and conquer that golden mountain accompanied by the gooey yellowy companion..lol..a simple breakfast/dinner dish. I feel pooris have lost their glory what with all the health fads against fried items. A simple easy to make dish at home such as this one ,should be revered. There is history, culture, family and memories associated with such foods [the history part was a bit of an exaggeration though ;)]. Same story for the potato - starch,carbohydrate, fat----phew; it is just food people. Enjoy and eat it. Pooris and aloo bhajis are a zillion times healthier compared to corn flakes, oats and muffins and all those boxed and packaged stuff available in the supermarkets today. Poori Ingredients: 1. Whole wheat flour (atta) - 2 cups 2. Semolina (rava) - 1 tsp 3. Salt 4. Water to Knead 5. Oil to fry Knead the dough with the above ingredients. One point to be taken care of is that the dough should be firmer than chapathi dough

This is just another curry which goes well with chapathis/porotta. If you use ready made meat balls, then less time is required in the preparation. Ingredients --------------- 1. Meat Balls - 1 packet (Al-Kabeer meat balls) 2. Onion - 2 3. Ginger - 1 inch 4. Garlic - 5 pods 5. Tomato - 2 medium /1 big(pureed) 6. Garam masala - 1/2 tsp 7. Pepper powder - 1/2 tsp 8. Turmeric powder - 1/2 tsp 9. Kashmiri chilli powder - 1 tsp 10. Coriander powder - 2 tsp 11. whole masala:          cardamom - 4          cloves- 4          cinnamon - 1 inch         Bay leaf - 1 small (1/2 of one big leaf)         peppercorns - 4 12. Coconut milk - 1 cup 13. Coconut oil - 3 tbsp 14. Salt - as required Method: ---------- Shallow fry the meat balls in a little oil in a non-stick kadai. Remove onto a plate. Into the same kadai, add the coconut oil. When the oil becomes warm, add the whole masala (cardamom,cloves,cinnamon, peppercorns and bay le

I love pizzas and was a hard core fan of one of the leading Pizza chains in the world (don't want to take any names here). No other brand could replace it. Their pizzas were tasty and the salads were yum. Until I came across Pappa Johns pizza. It was an eye opener. The crust and the flavors were much much better compared to my all time favourite pizza chain. Sigh! I ordered 'All the meats' this time. Its my all time favourite. The pizza comes with a garlic sauce dip and a pickled chilli. Not a very fancy presentation but they do make the best pizzas in Kuwait. One can easily gobble up up to 4 pieces ;). yep, no joking here.  They do have a wide range of selection.  You can order through their hotline number(1827272) or order through Talabat.com( http://www.talabat.com/kw/en/menu/9/1389/papa-johns-salmiya )

I had read about Biotique and the various products the company manufactures and was wanting to try them ever since. The fact that it is an Indian company and that the products are all organic just added to the whole curiosity factor. I bought this face wash and a face scrub. It comes in a plastic tube with a flip open cap. The cap is quite tight, so you are assured of no spillage. I paid 90 rupees for a 100 ml tube. The packaging relates to the whole idea of 'organic'. The company claims that the product has therapeutic properties and that there are no preservatives in the product. maybe that is why the expiry date of the product is 12 months from the date of opening. It is not tested on animals. Biotique products are available in stores in India or you can buy online too on [ www.biotique.com] The face wash is pale green in color and very runny. It has a neem/aswagandha smell but it is not at all strong or irritating.  To use, just