J's thoughts

I have very dry skin and relocation to a country which has extreme weather conditions has made it from bad to worse. I was on the lookout for a solution to this. The brands of creams/lotions available in supermarkets gave only momentary relief; even those ones that are labelled as ' for ultra dry skin'. Vaseline is a good option but it leaves you feeling sticky and no way am i going to apply it on my whole body. This is when i came across the 'moringa body butter' from The Body Shop (TBS). It has a thick creamy consistency and it hydrates dry skin for 24 hours, according to the package; and it is oh so true. A small amount goes a long way. The cream is pale white in color and has a floral scent; not overpowering at all. My skin just soaks up all the goodness of the cream and looks supple throughout the day. I have never felt the need to re-apply.  I am not listing out the ingredients of the body butter since it is available on the net and almost all r

I found out this blog accidentally while searching for recipes on the net and I can assure you , each and every post in this yields mouth-watering food. yum o. I tried the erachi thoran this time and it tasted good and disappeared in no time :) :) Follow this link for the recipe and instructions. (http://atastychallenge.blogspot.com/2011/02/irachi-thoran-meat-stir-fried-with.html) I used frozen minced beef for the recipe; but i feel using fresh beef (cooked and minced) will give even better taste to the dish.

Who can resist appams; paired with stew or egg curry, it's the perfect breakfast. It's after a lot of trial and error that i got it right. I feel using an iron appachatti yields better results than non-stick ones. Considering the health issues of non-stick pans, these days i stick to the iron appachatti alone. This is the recipe i use every time to get soft and yummy appams. RECIPE      1   Basmati rice - 2 cups [soak in lukewarm water for half an hour minimum]       2.    Grated coconut - 1 cup [or use 4tbsp of maggi coconut milk powder]       3.    Cooked rice - 1/2 cup       4.    Sugar - 2 tbsp       5.    Yeast - a pinch       6.   Salt - as required      1.     Grind the basmati rice in the mixer until it is coarsely ground.      2.     In a shallow pan pour about half a cup of water, add 2 tbsp of the coarsely ground                basmati rice and cook it on medium flame till it turns soft and has the consistency of      

Ain't those pretty.  I never thought I would buy 'glitter shoes' anytime. I had popped into Payless over the weekend and these were on sale. Now  the term 'sale' is music to my ears (toothy grin). A bit of encouragement from the SA was all that was required for me to say 'yes, I am buying these'. I paired it with my golden high neck sweater and it was perfect. The look was appreciated by many. Yaaaay...happpyyyyyy.....

There was so much of hype before the movie came out; especially because it was the story of two women  in their path of self discovery and also because of Manju Warrier i guess [who is back into acting after a decade].The name and the concept is why i wanted to watch it. yeah...you can call me a feminist :P. I really liked the movie.Not so much credit to the direction but certain parts in the movie had me thinking. Why is it that girls are raised as ' to marry off'? . Why is it that obedient and quite girls are what everyone looks for? Like Manju says " its a trap;its like clipping your wings so that you don't fly high." Many girls' can identify themselves to Manju's and Rima's character. Manju the village girl and Rima the boyish one who desperately tries to prove that she is as good as any man. Another amazing part in the movie was the trek they took. Himachal is amaziinngggg. I so want to visit Himachal after seeing this movie. The mountains, t