I am nO mOre a couch pOtatO!

Today my morning started with music and melody. I spent almost two hours surfing music channels. I felt really lucky as I got to watch two of my favorite numbers from ‘Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi’. I must say that Shahrukh, The king Khan once again proved his charm through this movie. I just loved the geek look of him. One more song I found soothing to ears today is ‘Gajab Bhayo Rama…’ from the movie of Neil Nitin Mukesh and Bipasha Basu. It feels so relaxing to sip a cup of hot tea (chose green cardamom tea over ginger tea today) while watching TV in the morning. It is one of my favorite morning activities; of course I indulge in the activity only if I rise early on that particular day.

So, coming back to the point, I was watching TV and suddenly words like couch potato, Lazy bones, obesity, etc. started echoing in my mind. I don’t know what happened to me and I just switched off the TV, and switched on the PC. No, I didn’t switch it on for logging in on Orkut, but for checking out some exercises to lose weight. I googled for ‘various forms of exercises to tone-up various body parts’. I wanted a workout regime that won’t require a use of workout equipments. I wanted stretching and toning exercises that I can practice at home. I am keeping my fingers crossed in a hope that at least this time I will achieve my goal.

I was surfing and by chance bumped into a website myfit.ca, and found a lot of useful stuff that I was looking for. I found information on how to do stretching exercises, how to do stomach crunches, and read about eye exercises. I just spent a few moments on exploring different types of exercises available on this site, and also tried to be acquainted with them.

The next step was tough. It was time to actually perform all of them. I unfold my pink yoga mat. (It was lying underneath my writing table for quite a long period of time; finally it was the time to inaugurate the yoga mat.) I spread it on the floor and started off with my first exercise session of the season. I hope I will be successful to get rid of some of the extra mass. I hope finally I will be able to get flat abs (not six pack like SRK… ha ha!).

Here are the exercises I have picked up for daily practice. If some words with high calories are echoing in your ears too, then these exercises will be useful:

• Stretches and flexibility exercises with pictures
• Crunches- abdominal exercise
• Twisting crunches
• Bridge- abdominal exercise
• Eye exercises
  

What's CoOking?

Last week my mom's backache got pathetic and we were planning to order dinner from outside. But don't know what struck me and I pulled out a recipe book by Tarala Dalal from bookshelf. (I can’t cook without a recipe book, I should learn to cook.) I explored entire book. I stopped over a recipe called 'Soya Mutter Ki Subzi'. I thought, 'let me try out this one.' My mom was quite relieved to know that I am taking the charge of the kitchen.

Soon I got done with the preparation part with a bowl of fresh green peas, paste of green chillies, ginger and garlic, mixture of curd, milk, gram flour, and water, and of course cubes of cottage cheese. (The original recipe needs soya nuggets, but I replaced them with cottage cheese). I rolled up sleeves of my shirt and started stirring, tossing, mixing and simmering. I bent forward and filled my nostrils with the spicy aroma. ‘Hmmm, it seems that I can make a good cook,’ thought I.

Soon we all were enjoying the tangy and spicy vegetable with hot rotis and steamed rice. I received compliments from my mom, dad and sister. Here is the recipe of 'Soya Mutter Ki Subzi' by Tarla Dalal. Try it out!!!

SOYA MUTTER KI SUBZI

Soyabean nuggets and peas simmered in a tangy gravy.


Cooking Time : 40 mins.
Preparation Time : 10 mins.

Serves 2.

Ingredients

1/2 cup soya nuggets 1/2 cup green peas 1/2 teaspoon cumin seeds (jeera) a pinch asafoetida (hing) 1 teaspoon ginger-green chilli paste 1/2 teaspoon garlic paste 2 medium onions, chopped 2 tomatoes, finely chopped 1/4 teaspoon turmeric powder (haldi) 1/2 teaspoon chilli powder 1/2 teaspoon coriander powder 1/4 cup fresh curds 2 teaspoons Bengal gram flour (besan) 2 tablespoons milk 1/2 teaspoon sugar 2 tablespoons oil salt to taste

Method

1. Cook the soya nuggets in hot salted water for about 20 minutes. Keep aside. 2. Heat the oil and add the cumin seeds. When they crackle, add the asafoetida, ginger-green chilli paste, garlic paste and onions and saute till the onions are translucent. 3. Add the tomatoes, turmeric powder, chilli powder and coriander powder and cook on a slow flame for about 5 to 10 minutes. 4. Mix the curds, gram flour, milk and 3/4 cup of water and add to the onion-tomato gravy. 5. Add the soya nuggets, green peas, sugar and salt and simmer for 2 more minutes. 6. Serve hot.

Tips

You can use mushrooms or paneer instead of the soya nuggets as a variation.

It sounds delicious, isn’t it? Well, I know it is mouthwatering. Try it out, and don’t forget to leave me a comment if you liked it. All credit goes to Tarla Dalal, a famous Indian chef.

Wow! what a view!

Images captured from my Kodak Easy Share digital camera (camera code: C513)
My dear sis's photography. I think she can be a good photographer. These images are clicked at Marine Drive, Mumbai, India.

Smile please… Say cheese!

I preferred to buy Kodak digital camera over any other cameras. You hardly take a few minutes to transfer your pictures from camera to your PC. Some time back I purchased Kodak EasyShare zoom digital camera, and I think it was a clever decision to buy Kodak camera. Kodak EasyShare C513 is a smart purchase if you want to capture memories and seize them forever.

When I bought it, some offer was going on and I got good discount. I purchased the camera in 5,999 only. Its 5.0 megapixels give you good quality pictures. Its 3X optical zoom Lens allows you to go closer to your object without losing the picture quality. I totally fell in love with my digital camera after seeing the result. No matter what the occasion is, my Kodak digital camera is always there to accompany me.

I never made prints of the snaps that I clicked, but it is easy to print pictures with this camera. I got one software CD, which I installed in my Pc, and started transferring my pictures.

With Its ‘Digital image stabilization’ feature, you don’t have to compromise with quality. It won’t blur pictures due to shaky hands. I was amazed when I shot a video on my camera, transferred it on my computer. You won’t hear sound while watching the recorded video on the camera, but you will hear good quality sound once your video is transferred on PC.

I clicked some fantastic family snaps. I am too glad that I purchased my Kodak camera. One click and it is easy to capture good quality images. After all memories are worth capturing, right?

Read the feature and benefits of Kodak digital camera here.