Recipe: Enter Paradise with my Good old Chai!

Nothing beats the feeling of enjoying a hot cup of Chai after a busy and tiring day! There are several different ways of making tea. Different people use different techniques and ingredients. It's more of a cultural thing.

I am here to share my recipe today. I have had people request me in the middle of the night to make tea for them in the past, so there must be something good about it :)

Ingredients: (serves 2)
2.5 cups of water
1/2 cup of skimmed milk
1.5 tsp Tea leaves
1 small piece of cinnamon stick - broken into tiny pieces
1 or 2 cardamom pods - slightly opened from one side
2 tsp sugar

*If you want to use evaporated creamer, use 3 cups of water and 1/4 cup of creamer instead*

Method:
- Add the water into a small pan and place it on low heat.
- Add water, sugar, tea leaves and the spices
- When it starts to boil, add the milk in it. You can increase or decrease the quantity of the milk according to your preference.
- Leave it to boil for some time.
- Sieve it into 2 cups and you hot refreshing aromatic tea is ready to relax you!

(Image from http://www.careeningsegue.com/cool-pictures-tea-infusion-cups-mugs/spiced-chai-tea/)

For better satisfaction, sip it with some nice relaxing music in the background and feel the stress leave your body and utmost peace enter your soul.

Feels like heaven, doesn't it? ;)

5 tips to get rid of The Belly Fat

 Ladies, if you are blessed with a naturally flat tummy, you are damn lucky! You should worship it! *humbly bowing down to your tummy*

If you are like me and the other less fortunate women in the belly department, I am here to help with what little I know.

Let us first understand that in order to have a flat tummy, we need to watch our overall health. Trying to get rid of the tummy alone will only be a temporary solution. We need to improve our lifestyle in general.

1. Fibers are a woman's best friend.
- Fibers are basically carbs that can not be digested. Fiber is present in plant-based food. Since it can not be digested, it aids in cleaning the toxins from the body, hence leaving us healthy and healing problems such as constipation.
Fiber also gives us the feeling of being 'full' within minutes and does not make us feel hungry often. 
Because of the above reasons, it is advisable to include more fibers in our diet if we want to lose weight. , Let us not forget that is is also a VERY healthy option and does not necessarily have to be boring or tastless, you can always add some of your creativity in it so as to enjoy what you eat.
Some foods you can eat with high fiber content: Apples with the skin, beans, lentils, prunes, broccoli, baked potato, carrots and so on.

2. Say no to Sucrose!
- Okay so the simple sugars we consume, that give us what we call a "sweet tooth" is the most addictive and pleasurable form of sugar in my opinion. Fructose (from fruits) and Lactose (from milk) is the healthier form. Sugar, when taken in a limit, is good to provide us with energy. If in excess, it's converted to Fat.
So now we know what form of sugar is a wiser option for consumption to control our weight. However, consuming it once in a while should not be a problem, after all, what's life, if we don't live it, right?!

3. Crunches
- Start by doing crunches the proper way, about 20 times till you get used to it and then challenge yourself further by increasing the number of reps.

Below is one of the traditional types of crunches, as you gain practice, you can experiment with other types.
- Lie on your back with your knees bent, and place your hands on each side of your head. (refer to picture (a))
- Make sure your lower back is flat against the floor.
- Contract your abs and slowly life your shoulder blades about 30 degrees off the floor
- Make sure your neck is straight and your chin is facing up.
- Exhale while lifting, and hold this position for a few seconds (you don't have to hold your breath).
- Lower your shoulders slowly while keeping your abs contracted.
- Repeat.
- You can also do the same with your legs lifted up (refer to picture (b)), by moving your knees closer towards your chest while you lift your shoulder blades, and moving your knees away while lowering yourself. I personally find this more effective.

Picture (a) - taken from http://www.daily-fit.com/abdominals.html

Picture (b) - taken from http://www.examiner.com/home-fitness-in-allentown/fit-tip-of-the-week-crunches

4. Side Dumbbell bends
- If you are one of those least fortunate people like me with body prone to side flabs (or love handles as some might call it), then this is the ideal workout for you.
All you have to do is hold a dumbbell in each hand, stand shoulder width apart. and bend on each side, as far as you can, till you feel the stretch, and then do the same on the other side. Repeat.
Make sure you only bend your waist and not your knees. Also make sure your dumbbells are not too heavy. This exercise can cause injury or back pain if it's not done properly. Don't overdo it.

5. Last but not the least, it is important to know that one can not spot reduce a part of your body. Accompanying the above with cardio, stretching and so on can make it easier to attain an overall good physique; making you feel fit and healthy! Accompany all the above with a lot of water and vitamins and you will be one healthy, happy person :)


Hope you found this post useful, special thanks to my personal trainer and nutritionist Mostafa for his special training and advice. Good Luck and have a good weekend!

Rambles: Why I Turned Vegetarian: My Story.

It's been 2 weeks since I turned vegetarian. So far, there has been no regrets involved in my decision :)

Why did I make this decision? you may wonder.
Well, ever since I was a little girl, I was a true bird lover. I would feed pigeons, chickens and any kind of feathered species that would visit me at/outside home.

It was so touching to see the birds eat the food I fed them. I would even place a huge tray of water and watch the pigeons splash the water everywhere :)
There was a farm near my house, so whenever I opened my house gate, all the chickens would speed  towards the gate and inside my house. That was the most adorable thing to watch. I learned new tricks everyday. I learned that when you want to call a chicken, all you have to do is make smacking sounds with  your lips and they will come towards you.

Then I had to move house and leave all my feathered friends behind me. That was a very heartbreaking moment.

Now how is that related to vegetarianism? It's Simple. How could I eat my little friends?
That time, when I suggested this idea to my mom, she said that I was still growing and I needed sufficient amount of protein.
Now that I am all grown up (and overgrown :P) I feel its the perfect time for me to do that. I can now cook several healthy dishes on my own with different sources of protein. I can finally feel like am doing something worthwhile.

I also had a terrible visual in my head while having chicken salad two weeks ago that led me to me to be more sure of this decision and stop spontaneously.

I am finally at peace with myself :)

Hope you enjoyed my little story. Have a great day everyone! :)

*Please note that I am just sharing my  story and am in no way trying to turn people off from eating whatever they want to eat, everyone has their own beliefs, and I respect that*

Rambles: Bad habits

Okay, so I discussed my good and healthy habits in my previous post. Now it's time for the bad ones!!!

1. Coffee, of course.
- People close to me know that I am a big time coffee-addict! I not only drink coffee, I also think coffee and sleep coffee. Okay, that's a bit of an exageration, but I do drink up to 3 cups a day and wish I could have more.

The bad thing about it is that I don't want to quit. I do want to reduce to 2 cups, but I really enjoy my coffee time!
Strange thing about that is that I used to hate coffee before, I used to have it as medicine during my school days, and now I yearn for its smell, its taste, its effect on me *sigh*

My third cup usually makes me feel dizzy, so I try not to have it in short intervals.
This is one bad habit that I am quite okay with.


2. Out of Focus.
This is a very shameful confession. I sometimes tend to lose my concentration while talking to a person because I end up looking at 'how' they talk to me, their body language, their confidence etc and I tend to lose focus on "what" they are telling me! So if you suddenly heard a "mmmm" as a response from me, it probably means I have drifted off to a psychological-analyzing-zombie state. lol! Don't freak out though, there is nothing bad that I think about the person. I just like to observe.


3. Thinking too much?
- I guess this is the worst habit I have. I tend to over-analyze EVERYTHING about myself. I can spend hours with myself, just thinking about things. My mind works 24/7. I also tend to read between non-existent lines when people say something.


4.  Forgiveness.
I know forgiving is a big thing, but for me, I am either your best friend or your worst enemy. It is very hard for me to forget something. Even though I try to forgive, I will still hold a slight grudge against you. I tend to give my 100% to someone or something until I get let down. It's not like I would take revenge or anything, I just stop giving a damn.

5. Room Cluttered with clothes
- I have this very weird habit from childhood. My dad would always say he felt dizzy entering my room because I tend to pile up my clothes in a huge mountain on a selected location, e.g. a chair. till they reach a point of toppling over, then I finally put them back to their designated places :D

So, these are FEW of my bad habits/behavioral problems he he.

Enjoy reading! Have a great day everyone!

Recipe: Veggie Burgers

Burgers are one of the most addictive foods loved by the majority of the world. Made in different styles and ingredients, there is a burger to satisfy every taste bud in the world. I am one of those people who loves burgers.

Going vegetarian recently didn't stop me from having burgers. I decided to make my own style of veggie burger! The key in making veggie burgers is to make it as yummy as possible in order to match the standards of the um...non-veg burgers.

Below is my recipe. I am sure as I get more practice in cooking vegetarian meals, the quality and creativity in my burgers will also improve, but for now, this worked great for me! I LOVED them!!

Delicious Veggie burgers  (http://www.vegansoapbox.com/veggie-burgers-vs-beef-burgers/)

*Please note that the image above is just for illustration purpose, and will be replaced once I have my own*

Ingredients:
Canned Chick Peas
Canned Green peas
Boiled Potatoes
1 small onion, chopped
1 clove of garlic, crushed/chopped
salt
pepper
chilli powder/green chilli, chopped
1 tbsp tomato paste
Breadcrumbs
1 egg
oil
Tomato, sliced
burger buns


Method
- Put the Chick peas, green peas and boiled potatoes in the blender or mash it all with a fork and set aside.
- Put 1 tbsp of oil in a pan and saute the onions until golden brown.
- Add garlic, chilli, salt pepper to the onions
- Add the tomato paste.
- Turn off the stove, mix the mashed mixture of potatoes and peas into the onion mixture, add a few table spoons of breadcrumbs inside it.
- Make patties from the mixture.
- Now take a bowl and beat an egg in it.
- Put some breadcrumbs in a separate plate
- Dip the patties into the egg, and then roll it over the breadcrumbs
- take a few tablespoons of oil in a frying pan and fry your patties on both sides on medium heat till it becomes nice and crispy from the outside
- Place the patties in the burger buns, followed by a tomato slice on top.
- Your delicious, crispy burger is ready to be devoured!

Recipes: Healthy Habits

We always discuss bad habits and addictions, but we rarely share our good stuff!

I think it would motivate the people next to us and spread the goodness!
Below are some of my (very few) good habits that I have forced myself to develop over time.

1. Drinking lots of water.

- That's what we are always asked to do, but for me personally, I tend to look really pale and dehydrated when I don't take enough. My skin looks darker and I look terribly sick. So i make sure I drink water continuously wherever I am. I don't mind the frequent trips to the restroom as a result.Water can even eliminate the unnecessary hunger pangs we get at odd times. Always have a bottle of water with you If it's in front of you, you will remember to have it often.

2. Yoghurt
-I eat flavored yoghurt every morning. Of course, eating natural yoghurt is much better, but I really hate that. So I substitute with the flavoured one. Sometimes, I take 2 servings. One for breafkast with bread/cereal fruit, and the other at around 3 or 4 pm. It keeps me from getting sick often, leaves me feeling refreshed and healthy.

3. Lunch and Dinner
- During lunch, I try to avoid carbs. If I ordered Fish for lunch, I will ask for extra veggies and instead of the fries. My carbs intake is mainly from bread. Once or twice a week, I will have fries or rice. I usually order salad for lunch. If i get tired of fresh veggie salad, I would go for Caesar salad or just poached veggies. For dinner, I usually eat Feta cheese and Tomato sandwich or tuna sandwich. If am in the mood to cook, I might cook a nice and simple vegetarian meal.

4. Working out
- I try to work out everyday. Sitting all day in front of a computer ends up making me feel all hunched and tired at the end of the day. Sometimes I get a backache as well. So what I do is, once I get home, I do some stretching exercises, a few leg lifts and of course some 300 crunches a day (working towards my six pack dream! haha). I notice that my back pain stops immediately after that.

5. Hunger pangs
- When I get hungry between meals, I munch on fresh fruits or veggies. My new favorite is sliced cucumbers. A good snack for school or work would be slicing up carrots and cucumbers with a few drops of lemon on it. Apples is another favourite.

I admit I am turning into a veggie freak these days. Considering the fact that I used to hate veggies just 2 years back is very surprising to me, but hey! It's a good habit so am enjoying and loving every moment of it!

Having mentioned the top 5 good and healthy habits, I would like to add that I do also have a few bad habits, but I will leave that for another blog post!!! :)

I hope whoever came across this post would try to embrace the above for themselves. I would also love to read about your healthy habits, so lets share the positivity! :)

Rambles: Changes!

I can't believe it's been over a month since I last blogged. I am ashamed that I let myself get so busy to stop something I love so much!

So, what's new in my life?
Well, with May, came changes. I made some spontaneous decisions on my lifestyle and I am proud to say, I am loving them all! Mind you, by spontaneous, I mean, within 5-10 minutes. That's because I don't really believe in planning. Never works for me.

Firstly, I got a haircut. I left the style to the stylist. I didn't care what he did as long as it looked different, and I love the outcome!

Next, I got my nose pierced - again. The first time, my nose had rejected it. This time, I got it done on the left side and it's doing pretty well so far :)

I also decided to work my a** off to get my six-pack that I have been dreaming about for years. Well, for starters, get rid of the fat to make space for the packs...haha. I can feel the difference already. I feel more active and motivated!

I also turned Vegetarian! Well, not completely, but I omitted Beef, Chicken and Mutton from my diet. I replaced that with more veggies, fruits, beans, yoghurt and fish. I have also reduced rice from my diet. It not only feels right, it is much healthier this way! I will write more detailed blog posts about some of these changes separately.

I don't know what led me to do all the above, but I believe that change is important, especially if it's a positive change. If you have been thinking of doing something and can't seem to decide when to start, I say, just go for it. Don't think too much. I feel gradual change is much more difficult than spontaneous change. At least, that's how it works for me.

My advice, don't do too much of one thing for so long that you get bored with yourself. Try new things. Make positive changes in your life. Dream big, and work towards your dreams!