Wednesday, 13 January 2010

Not Only Kebab! - Turkish Kitchen

By Veronica Carrillo

Is your crock-pot sitting hidden inside one of your cabinets? It's time to take it out! A crock-pot, or slow cooker, is an efficient, energy-saving, and time-saving little (or big!) item. It can really reduce stress in the kitchen. It also allows you to easily serve home-cooked, healthy meals to your family. I'm a mother just like you, and honestly, it's hard to get home cooked food on the table every day. Life is just hectic and there are so many responsibilities for us as moms. Sometimes I'm just tired - and by the time 5:30pm rolls around I certainly don't want to cook. This can result in our families eating fast food, or processed convenience foods much more often than we'd like to. This costs a lot of money - and it costs the health of the family.

You should never hang kitchen utensils behind the stove, hot plate or grill. This is because when you reach over to get a utensil you might have to reach over a hot saucepan or other hot surface and put yourself in danger of getting burnt.

Slow cookers continue to be popular because they serve the needs of busy moms and home cooks to make easy, delicious meals for their families. You can create a meal, set it cooking, and have dinner underway while doing other tasks. Or, cook the meal overnight, refrigerate it while you are away from home, and reheat it at dinner time in your microwave.

The innovations found in today's cookers are born directly from customer experience over the years. Stoneware inserts are removable for cleaning. Temperature controls allow for a broad range of cooking methods, and programmable features let you control the settings as your dish cooks. Some even include a probe which is inserted into the meal, to monitor the progress of recipes that require the food to reach a certain temperature.

You can get a new crock-pot at almost any store. The variety of colors and sizes is wonderful, so you can find the perfect fit for your kitchen. The simplest models offer a dial to choose from "low" or "high." I highly recommend you get a slightly nicer model that offers a "warm" option as well - it comes in handy. You can also get digital, programmable crock-pots, which can be especially good if you're a busy working mother and need to get out the door early.

You won't want to save your slow cooker for annual potluck dinners once you discover all the luscious recipes that you can make with your cooker. Everything from a hot breakfast to a hot toddy can be made in a slow cooker.

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Renovation Is A Great Investment - Spend Today - Gain Tomorrow

By Sam Eddison

After long-term use, when the walls of your house show cracks, roofs begin leaking or the paint starts coming off, it's time to understand the immediate need for renovation. And while you are preparing the refurbishment of your home, you should take a few vital points into account to obtain best results.

Where precisely does your home need the renovation and what all components need to be substituted should be first decided upon. For instance, a growing family needs additional floor space, so the house may have to be expanded for the reason, or a vacant space may have to be used for building a car garage. And, in case you find your kitchen too soiled or stuffy, you may desire to groom it with new cabinets or chimneys to make it more spacious and better ventilated.

Along with the refurbishing of the house, you can also undertake repair and replacement of some old, outdated electrical items, and kitchenware to give your house a comprehensively fresh look. A house that has been thoroughly renovated after detailed planning gives a delightful living experience to the occupants.

Some individuals also renovate their home to make it more appealing to potential buyers and therefore increasing its worth in the market. When the intention of uncommon. But if the increase in the eventual price that the property draws in the market is lower than the money spent on renovating it, then the owner might have to repent for his lavishness later on. Hence, it is always advisable to take expert advice before putting money in renovation and latest interior design.

Last but not the least, appropriate budgeting is a critical factor you should consider before commencing renovation. In most cases, expenditure escalation is unavoidable; thus, it is prudent to add some extra amount in addition to the contractor's cost calculation and then stick to the budget.

You can also choose to avail home renovation loans that come to the rescue for people who might be unable to meet the entire expenses. Many renovation loan plans provide money to people in easy payback installments, which make the dream of home renovation a reality for all.

Whether you want to enjoy comfortable living or to harvest the advantages of a profitable property sale, home renovation and interior design always helps. But don't rush into it, think about it patiently and if it.

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Steps On How To Successfully Give

By Masami Sato

A new experiment is completely changing lives in the rural areas of India by bringing luminosity where there used to be darkness.

The New York Times published an article titled, "Husk Power for India". Electricity, which is prevalent in the lives of many in developed nations, is a pure luxury in remote areas of developing ones. What was once fed to animals now is used to generate electricity - rice husks.

Growing up in rural Bihar State, Manoj Sinha knew what it was like to sit in the dark. Being an engineer with Intel Corporation he had all the skills to make a lifelong idea come alive. He led the development of his electricity equipment that generates power from rice husks and other farming waste and now he sells it to villages across India.

Sinha is what could be called a social entrepreneur because he feels business is a solution to key social issues. "Business leaders must realise that the world's poor need investments more than handouts," he says, adding, "these are customers, not victims."

The article inspired me to think about giving in a different way leading me to ask myself, "what is the most effective form of giving?" Is it education, commercial activity or disaster relief? There are so many ways to make a difference. One way of giving can seem more effective or sustainable than other ways depending on the way it is expressed, looked at or implemented.

I then came to delineate there were eight segments to giving as a way to see this. So, let me chart out the eight differences; which in effect are often 'stages' of giving as well.

Phase one: Exigency - salvaging and helping others who are suffering due to natural calamities, epidemic diseases or other insurmountable problems.

Stage two: Reprieve - providing reprieve from long-standing malnutrition, penury, illnesses, handicaps or inequity which otherwise would prolong or get worsened because of the lack of perception, edification or resources.

Phase three: Curing and defending - morally, bodily and spiritually. Many people carry scars that may be invisible but strongly constricting their lives. Giving the cure to release the long-standing suffering creates more chances for them while giving necessary defense gives them a feeling of security.

Phase four: Edification - giving better edification, awareness and skill imparting to create empowered and innovative solutions to generating resources while helping people to discover their exclusive talent to succeed.

Phase five: Innovative investment - giving a helping hand, cash or material to those who have the ability to make a change. This gets weighed many times as the materials increase and is passed on to several others who again create more out of the chances given.

Stage six: Tenability - working together with the people in the local surroundings, creating tenable groups - ambiance-wise and reciprocally.

Phase seven: Empowerment - enabling and motivating the people to release their true ability and power to make a change. In this group of sharing, the aim of giving changes from 'giving to the people who want' to 'giving people a chance to give to others' and to the society.

Stage eight: Cherishing - just doing whatever we like to do to tend and care for others. No approach or expected upshot exists in this stage of offering. 'Giving' does not even exist here in the physical sense of the word, as there is no sense of owning or decision or craving to modify things. This is where we do not even have to consider anything, we give out of a sense of our own fulfilling sensations.

What we also see is that at each of these eight phases of sharing there are many things that the giver gets in return.

One: Sense of connection

Two: Sense of comfort

Three: Relief from pain (our own)

Four: Gratification for our own understanding, talents and situations

Five: Long-term sense of involvement and fulfillment for our own life

Six: Improved atmosphere for our own life and for the lives of all those we value and cherish

Seven: Soul gratifying encouragement and devotion to our own purpose

Eight: Love

Sharing has many stages and sensations based upon the donor and getter. And the 'phases' do not detail which one is of more importance than the other. All are mandatory.

I was lucky to have an experience early in 2008 while journeying with a group of devoted entrepreneurs across India to see how we could be more productive in our helping. I was particularly happy to have one outstanding encounter that led me to think about what 'actual giving' really meant.

We were travelling in a small town one day. Four of us had just called a taxi to take us to another nearby town. We dealt with the driver cautiously as our hotel staff had forewarned us about the possible swindle when they see that we were not local.

We stopped in front of the local train station for a short break on the way. While the others disappeared off to use the bathroom, I started a conversation with our taxi driver standing next to the taxi. With very limited English and a full smile exposing his blackened front teeth, he told me that he had a house on the outskirts of the town and he had a young wife and two children who went to the local school - I started to feel connected to him.

I appreciated the fact of his having such a wonderful family and told him that I too had two little ones of almost the same ages as his. When the others were back the driver suddenly invited us to come to his house and have lunch. I took it only as a formality that was customary courtesy. But after taking us to the town center and leaving us there, he told us that he would wait for us until all our wandering in the town was over. And he really did. I was actually quite astonished to see him still remaining glued to the side of the road next to his taxi more than one hour later. We got into the taxi and he drove fast up the road to where he had his family.

When we arrived we were actually quite shocked to see how he was living. It was almost like the same condition (if not worse) to the lifestyle of people living in slums we had visited previously. From the nice new taxi he was driving, who could have imagined

As the car turned into the narrow unsealed road between the hut-like houses that were constructed with crudely made concrete blocks and painted mud walls, we felt contrite about having agreed to his invitation. For a brief moment I felt mortified. "How could I have exploited the generosity of a man who didn't seem to have anything and I didn't even get any edible stuff or presents for his family", I thought.

As we walked into his house, we saw a pan and small stove on the mud floor. His very shy wife nodded blushing in surprise and disappeared into the small storeroom (a cupboard size) next to it. As I looked in, I saw the next-door neighbours handing over some teacups to his wife over the crumbled concrete fence. They didn't even have extra teacups in their house. There was only one small room fitted out with one single bed and an old galvanised chest next to it.

The taxi driver quickly pulled out three hand-woven rugs from the chest and rolled them out on the small patch of mud floor putting one on the bed.

Soon the cups of tea and some snacks arrived. All his children and children from the neighborhood came to see us and stood in the doorway. All six of us were totally squashed in the tiny room. I curiously asked him where all his children were sleeping. I thought they probably had another space somewhere. To my surprise, he cheerfully pointed the chest and said it was their bed with his beaming smile.

He gleefully told us that he was a dancing champion in town and pointed to some trophies on the shelf above the bed. Keen to show us his dancing skills he suddenly dashed outside. From nowhere music filled the tiny room. He didn't have any music system in the house, it was coming from outside. I was curious so I stood up to see him reversing his taxi right against the back wall of his house with the doors wide open with car radio on full volume!

The time quickly passed (dancing together and having more cups of tea) and it was finally time to say thank you for their great hospitality and head on our way. As we stood up to leave and thank him and his wife, he reached to the best looking rug on the bed, rolled it up and handed it to us. It was one of the only few things he had. I could not believe he offered it to us.

We all politely declined his gift and walked out saying goodbye to all the people waving at us. We got confused about this whole thing. Should we have given some money to the family as their life obviously looked very limited? Should we have accepted his prized gift?

As I was thinking about this life-changing experience a few days later, I thought about the refusal of his gift. He looked disappointed that we didn't take the gift. It wasn't just about saying no to the gift that stuck in my mind.

I understood that the sense of unease I felt was really ensuing from viewing him as unfortunate. I was perhaps thinking that I couldn't possibly accept something from a person who had very little.

But did he really have so little? Maybe he had more - a lot more.

Maybe the real present we could have given him then was to receive his present in utmost deference and thankfulness.

All acts of giving and receiving are necessary for us to fill our world with abundance and fulfillment equally for both giver and receiver. We can start doing this instead of judging and justifying one over another. The pure act of giving and receiving requires no further explanation.

Manoj Sinha's words continue to reverberate in my mind, "these are customers, not victims." I can picture the happy faces of the rural folk who are now pleased to have power in their hamlets and the kids who now can read books and happily do their homework at night.

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21 Fun Questions To Ask Someone On A Date

By David Web

Questions, questions and more questions! They are the most amazingly simple things that we can ask when we want to learn about someone else.

Dale Carnegie in his amazing must-read book, "How to win friends and influence people" talks about the amazing power of asking interesting questions to show that we are interested in connecting with someone else.

Have you ever been to a party and you have been the one asking the questions and doing most of the listening? If you have you will probably agree that the other person thought that the conversation was quite interesting - funny that! You probably did less that twenty percent of the speaking but you got 100% of the credit!

If you're a guy and ask a lady some great questions, you will often find yourself jumping to last-base, saving a lot of time and energy trying to build rapport with her. Asking questions and really listening to what a person says is one of the most naturally flattering things you can do with anyone.

If you're a lady and want to brush a guy's ego and make him feel good, then just ask lots of questions and then listen to the answers. You will have the guy on a string from there on!

Despite the ego-stroking that can happen, if you ask and listen there is also a genuine side to the picture as well. Because the people who are genuinely interested in someone else and ask great questions are the people who are always popular and well liked. Faking interest is the worst thing you can do. And at the end of the day, if you are not a natural listener then put yourself to the test and practice. You will start to learn SO much about so many things and you will discover parts of people that are just SO interesting to learn about.

Here are 21 questions to ask to get the conversation rolling. They have been written from a female perspective, just switch them around if you are a guy and want to use them. If nothing else it will get you thinking about your own questions - which are always better.

Here's 21 questions to ask a guy or a girl

1. If you are working as a waiter and one of your customers was really rude, would you spit in their soup or even think to do this?

2. What was your favourite cartoon character as a kid and why did you enjoy them?

3. If you could choose to have dinner with five people - real of fictional - who would you invite and why?

4. If you could become the invisible man, where would you go and what would you do when you got there?

5. If someone were to make a comedy show about part of your life, which part would they script and what would be found in the script?

6. What was your favourite television character when you were a child? What did you like about them?

8. What do you regret not doing the most in your life?

8. What's the funniest experience in your whole entire life?

9. Have you ever had a date with a person that is much fatter or slimmer than you and when you saw them for the first time what did you think?

10. How old were you when you had your first proper date and did you kiss them?

11. What was the worst lie you have ever told in your life? Did you get caught out?

12. If you instantly turned into a woman for a day, how would you spend that day?

13. If you do not like someone do you show it or pretend that you like them?

14. What is more important to you in a woman - good looks or intelligence?

Time to get a little more personal! Maybe you should wait till you have had a few more drinks before asking some of these!

15. Have you ever been caught with no clothes on in a public place - if so what were you doing?

16. What's the difference between making love and having sex for you and which do you prefer?

17. If you could suddenly change the age you lost your virginity, would you?

18. What's your biggest sexual 'turn-ons' and 'turn-offs'?

19. Have you ever been unfaithful to your partner and did they find out? If so, what happened?

20. Has anyone ever caught you touching yourself sexually? If they did what did you do?

21. Have you ever had sex with more than one woman at a time?

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How Knowing How To Astral Travel Will Enhance Your Life

By Rick J Griffiths

If you've ever drifted off into a pleasant daydream and imagined yourself floating somewhere high over the roof tops, then you may have been exercising astral travel! Have you ever dreamt about going to different places and seeing different people? That too could be a sign of astral travel. Astral travel is a state of mind that allows you to journey outside of your physical body, going to places you've literally only dreamed of.

Astral travel is not to be confused with dreaming. Dreaming is your way of allowing yourself to work through problems and frustrations you may have encountered throughout the day. This is a very positive defense mechanism courtesy of your subconscious mind. These types of dreams are mostly dreams you cannot remember, or possibly remember only in bits and pieces.

Those times where your dreams are vividly remembered are the times when you are experiencing astral travel. It is good practice to write down these dreams on paper or in a computer journal of some sort. You may not understand the dreams now, but later you can browse over the lot of them and likely make some sort of sense for you.

Just as those first dreams you have at night help your mind relieve stress and work through the issues of the day in order to keep you sane, astral travel has benefits as well. Which is why it is important that you keep track of those dreams that you remember very well. It is these experiences that can help you, the benefits will vary by the individual and that is because each astral travel experience is unique to the individual.

The primary benefits of writing down your astral projection experiences stem from an expansion of your spirituality. Through astral projection, you will become more aware of your surroundings and the inner workings of your soul. Once you truly know yourself, you will have an overall sense of well-being and peace. And because astral projection causes us to use parts of our brains that are seldom used, it will make you a sharper person enhancing memory and mental awareness.

Once practicing astral travel, you should see a significant boost in your telepathic and psychic strength. Anyone who works at astral projection will tell you that their psychic abilities increase the more they practice. They can more easily sense spirits and use their telepathic skills.

Astral travel is a path to your inner strength. It enhances just about every other mental skill and ability you already have.

Those who are skeptical of astral travel soon come to their senses after working on their astral travel skills. Even they have been able to read the auras of other people quite easily.

Besides all of the above, there is also the simple fun and adventure of traveling outside your own body. It is like being on a rollercoaster whenever you want while at the same time providing you a sense of well-being and peace.

It is hard to believe that astral travel isn't consciously experienced by more people. Most people are simply afraid to try because they believe one must have the skills present. However, everyone is born with this ability as long as they are willing to practice it.

It is likely that you've experienced some astral travel in your lifetime, as stated above, either through your remembered dreams or daydreams. You have flown out of your body before, whether you like it or not!

The best way to gain the benefits of astral projection is to simply allow these experiences to happen freely, and try to blend with these experiences and to gain some sort of control over them. Through this mental exercise, you will get stronger in mind and body.

There are techniques that you can learn on your own through books offline or eBooks and other resources online. These were created by people who practice astral travel. Learning to astral travel is not as difficult as people want to believe that it is. This is a natural ability that you were born with, you just forgot how to use it and need to fine tune your ability.

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