Kellogg's Recipes

Recently I found an advertisement by Kellogg's which tells you how much you can make out of corn flakes. The dishes and shakes you can make are very delicious. I never knew that a basic nutritious food like corn flakes can be transformed into a delicious yet nutritious one. A good recipe is the one that is yummy and can retain the taste of its main ingredient. Recipes showcased on the website of Kellogg's are mouthwatering and tempting.

Here are those which tempted me to the core - Almond coconut shake, Almond strawberry cornflakes, Apple cinnamon cornflakes, banana praline cornflakes, black forest shake, basil curd dip, chikoo banana cornflakes, cherry vanilla milkshake, choco cornflakes peanut chikki, choco mint cornflakes, corn peanut dip, chocopeach cornflakes, cornflake dahi upma, cornflakes ki churi, cornflakes mushroom soup, fig and apricot shake, cranberry and almond cornflakes, crunchy fruit salad, corn flakes thandai, honey nutmeg and banana cornflakes, jelly shake, grapes and anjeer corn flakes, grilled cornflakes plocenta sticks, kaju kismis corn flakes. Alright there are many more. I don't intend to list all of them here.

Kellogg's has come up with really innovative recipes which even some one like me who can't cook can easily prepare without any hassle. The best part is that the food is nutritious. It can be eaten for the morning breakfast and can also fill your stomach when you get hungry at 4pm. Not just during the day, the recipes are so easy and quick to make that you can have them at 3 am in the morning.

The recipes I liked the most among all the dishes listed on Kellogg's website, Facebook page and YouTube videos are the Shakes. The milkshakes look so delicious that nobody can resist them. Milkshakes have always been my favourite. Most favourite of them is the banana milkshake. And the sweetest surprise by Kellogg's is that even banana milkshake can be made out of corn flakes. Now, what can be more nutritious than a banana milkshake with corn flakes.

I, being a health conscious person never finish a day with at least one dish with full of nutrition. Till now, I used to opt for fruits, salads, milk etc. Whenever I do not wish to eat fruits, I simply pick a boring fruit and make juice or milkshake out of it. This way I do not skip a day without nutritious food entering into my and family's health. Now I have another ingredient to make my day more nutritious, and that is cornflakes.

You can find the Facebook page of Kellogg's "anaaj ka nashta" here: https://www.facebook.com/anaajkanashta It provides quite lot of information about Kellogg's and its recipes. Also, find the YouTube page of Kellogg's here: https://www.youtube.com/user/kelloggindia You'll find the delicious recipes in the form of YouTube videos. One of the videos is given below:

Happiness - From Life

We often plan big and in this race of being an ace in the future, we forget the present. Our dreams, life opportunities, international travel plans, wishing to have luxurious life makes us miss the small daily happiness. Although a bright future is not something to be ignored, the happiness should neither be put on the backseat of this ride called Life.

Here's a story that I had heard long time back. A guy walking on the road sees another guy riding a bike and thinks that if he had a bike he didn't need to walk on the road. The man on the bike while watching a person in the car hopes that if he had a car he wouldn't need to ride the bike. Meanwhile the person walking on the road looks at a man on a wheelchair. He has no legs. Looking at him, all 3 men walking on road, riding bike and driving car realize how lucky they are to possess the basic luxury of having a safe and healthy life. Similarly, although we have the basic reasons for happiness, we often ignore them and keep mourning for more. Recently I saw an advertisement which showed how a bottle of Coca Cola brings happiness to life. 

Here are few happy moments in my life..

After the daily hectic life during the week we often wait for the weekend to arrive. The same applies to me. I try to make it the happiest days of the week. Happiness for me is watching movies with my wife. We both being movie fans, regularly hit the theatres for the latest movies. The experience gets even more happier if we get a discount on the tickets :D
Being a foodie I always crave for food. So I keep a track of newly launched restaurants in my nearby areas. And as soon as I know that there is a new one, I grab a friend or my husband and hop into it. My wife is not a foodie like me but she comes along whenever I need her. That brings me a lot of happiness. Also whether the restaurant is good or bad, the joy of having a new dish at a new place gives me the ultimate satisfaction. It gets an icing on the top if there's buffet as well. For all of us, buffets are always inviting. Well for me, its just more than that. The variety of food makes me crazy.  Welcome drink, starters, main course and the desserts every time gives me the best experience I need.

Spending time with my mom also gives me the ultimate happiness. As I stay away from my mother, I hardly get the chance to meet her. When you suddenly depart from a person you are used to spend a lot of time with, getting back to him/her gives you a lot of satisfaction. For me, its my mother. Staying at a distance, its difficult for us to meet regularly. So I reach out to her occasionally and spend some quality time with her.


These were some of my happiness moments. What are yours?

I Accept Wash Bucket Challenge

After a long busy day at work I reached home. Hoping for some peace and mind diversion from the hectic day, I headed towards the bedroom. From the drawing room, passing through the kitchen where wifey was cooking my favorite food - Rajma Masala, I landed in our dark struck bedroom. Switched on the lights and got my mind blown with the view in front of me. Even the horror movies didn't scare me as much as that view did. Being a follower of cleanliness, the last thing I would expect at my home is a pile of clothes. But there they were lying lazily, some on the floor and some peeping out of the laundry bag. My patience meter was falling and anger meter was going high. I rushed to the kitchen with all the power I had. But as I was heading the Rajma Masala did it's trick. With a loving voice I asked my better half, "so many clothes for the weekend? Weren't they washed during the week?" For which she replied "I hardly had the time after office hours. And I always wash clothes during the weekends. Didn't you know?" My eyeballs moved silently from left to right and I replied in a low pitch "No".

No, I never knew when the clothes are washed, when the floor is cleaned, when the dust is blown because I was never into these household chores. But today I raised my hand, kept it in front of a glowing led bulb and took an oath - that henceforth I will help my wife with domestic work. Washing clothes - to start with. I didn't wish to jump onto difficult work like cooking, so that we don't stay hungry for days. I instantly looked at our washing machine and challenged it "now onwards I'm the master and you are the slave". It stood there silently. So I assume it agreed to me.

Next day, as usual I got up on a Saturday morning to grab the newspaper headlines aiming to change the condition of my nation. the washing machine was staring at me. So instead of grabbing the newspaper I grabbed the laundry bag and opened the lid of my top load washing machine. But what next!!

The only time I used it was 3 years back. I am always excited to use new gadgets, new clothes, new energy drink, new restaurant and everything that's brought home for the first time. The washing expert was also like my new born love. I had read the whole manual, asked a thousand doubts to the person who had come home to explain its working. But today I felt like I am using a new machine minus the manual as I was in no mood to search for it. So my wife was the only answer to all my queries. From her, I quickly understood the method to operate it and washed the bucket full of clothes.

Taking up this job was not difficult for me but I always ignored it out of laziness and dependency. Today I know how easy life gets if the jobs are shared. Washing clothes was earlier a tedious task because of lack of smart electronics. But today its become easier, takes less efforts and is less time consuming. So there is no reason to deny from taking up the #WashBucketChallenge Choose a washing machine with good features, a good detergent powder and you're done. Aerial Matic has been our savior since years. I am prone to clothes without stains and Aerial Matic just helps us with that,  Here's me, Aerial Matic and my washing machine :)

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Look up for a positive life

Resting on our beach chairs, we #together looked at the clear sky. No traces of the clouds, the sun was shining mildly. In our minds we wished that the clear sky, turquoise water, smooth waves and pleasant climate of Mauritius could accompany us for life. Well somewhere in our thoughts we knew we were asking for something not possible to achieve at this stage of life. But one thing I was sure that will stay in my life forever, is my wife. With her, thousand such getaways and vacations were on the cards. The peace and enthusiasm I felt could never be achieved by me on my own. My mind was fresh and ready for any upcoming challenges. But it was not always this way.

Before this trip to Mauritius, I was totally a different person. I had almost given up on my abilities to tackle difficult situations. The work pressure had totally changed the way I used to look at life. Most importantly all the work pressure was simply not worth even my attention. Working late nights, being seated on the chair in front of the computer screen for hours, no time for relaxation, being tensed most of the time kept me away from family, friends and from myself too.

Photography was something which helped me release myself from any kind of pressure. But in this situation, even my favorite hobby couldn't help. Earlier I would go on streets of Mumbai, gear up myself to click the best picture and take the impressions of the scene into my camera. Even when I am resting on my bed, I would simply pick up my camera and take best possible shots randomly. This gave me peace and let me stay contented with my favorite pass time. But this time the work pressure and extra responsibilities had taken away my sweet time of photography too. The time left for myself would be just enough to catch up on some sleep. My camera which always stayed on my table smiling at me was now kept in a closet inside a box not even in my sight.

After all the efforts and giving my 100% into my job, I found that the reward I deserved was not even close to what I actually got. The negative remarks made me lose all hopes. Even after the work pressure decreased, it was difficult for me to take it off my mind completely. I started expressing my frustration on my loved ones.

My wife noticed my frustration and the cause of it. She secretly planned a leisure trip. The trip had to be special and not the usual one where we explored new places. This one had to rejuvenate my enthusiasm towards life and bring some peace to my mind.

The trip lighted up the optimistic side of me and motivated me to not lose hope at any stage of my life. It gave me the strength to keep investing full efforts into whatever I do. This was possible #together with my wife. Few days back I came across Housing.com which encourages you to be optimistic and look up to life positively. Do have a look at their website http://housing.com

Take A Bold Step & Start A New Life

Its a fact that taking up challenges brings the best out of you. The challenge just has to be the right one. But I never believed this fact, till I actually decided to take up one.

I have always lived with my parents. I have never lived alone or away from home even after I started earning. Reason being I thought that its not required for me to stay alone when I have a family who needs me. Many opportunities came but I had put down all of them when I got to know that I have stay away. But finally one day a similar opportunity came and I decided to accept it. It was not out of pressure or any other issue. I simply thought that this will increase my confidence to live by myself if I ever needed to.

I was asked to stay in the outskirts of Bangalore city. But I was also warned that the place is isolated from rest of the city. It had the least transport facility and least connectivity to the main city. I accepted the offer and packed my bags with all necessary items. Within 2 days after the decision was taken I was on my flight to the destination where I will be staying for the next few months.

The place was just as per the warnings and suggestions given to me by my colleagues and acquaintances staying in Bangalore. Being in a crowded place in a city like Mumbai, I have been used to people around me, a general store and restaurant after every few steps, crowded malls with people wandering around, vehicles with loud horns, traffic signals and so much more. But all this new place had was empty roads with few people and even fewer vehicles, 1 roadside eating place and 1 smokers shop which sold cigarettes, toffees and biscuits. I bet his maximum income came from his smoker customers.

I used to stay in a house which was pretty decent one. Way back at home, even a hot glass of water was given to me by one of my family members, whereas here I was responsible for all my work. As days passed I got used to the lifestyle there and actually started enjoying it. The peace and calmness could never be found in a city like Mumbai. I got to meet a lot of new and different kind of people.

This stay taught me to cope with difficult and unknown situations and accept challenges as they come. It taught me to stay independent and not rely on anyone for my daily basic needs. It gave me the strength to interact with different people and gain knowledge from them.

Housing is a service which gives a chance to #StartANewLife. Do have a look at it: http://housing.com

Hey Happy Baby!

"Youth smiles without any reason. It is one of its chiefest charms"
- Thomas Gray

What makes us Happy? There are lots of things, situation, and people who make us happy. If we ignore the materialistic world, it’s when our baby smile that make us happier than any other. We play with our baby and we forget about the stress in office.  A small cute smile will alter the environment of the home.

And when a baby cries we do so much of funny things to calm down and get a smile on his/her face. We play around it, we start making funny noise. Enact animals, dance like never before, and sing to get a smile on his /her face. These small efforts to get the smile back make us happy again.

I play around with my brother in laws daughter who is just two months old. Adults speak and communicate to others while we are in pain. But babies cannot speak and they express their feelings either by smile or by crying loud. Mother is the best person who comes to know why her child is crying. But sometimes it’s very difficult to know whether it’s crying due to hunger or some other issue.

My niece is very small and cute. And suddenly one day while playing with her, she started crying. I started to calm her down. I tried making faces, created different noise, moved my hand around and showed her soft toys but she did not stop crying. Then I called her mother and told she might be hungry. But she was not hungry. Did I do something wrong? Did I hurt her by mistake? Finally got to know that she has urinated and that made her cry. Hence it’s a signal for us to change the diaper. Most of the time we do not come to know the reason and we unknowingly make baby cry.

New researched products have now come into the market that gives a helping hand to the working parents. Pampers has launched baby dry pants. They claim that it can keep baby dry for 12 hours and this would help baby to smile always. And when a baby smiles it automatically brings a smile on our face. This would be very useful during night time, wherein baby will have a sound sleep and parents could sleep tense free. People can try this as a sample product for free and is available at Reward Me http://www.rewardme.in/tag/Pampers.

The Baby Dry Pants promises dryness from inside since its magic gel locks in moisture keeping baby dry and healthy from inside. This is really a boon to the parents

So lets go smiling with the baby.

I Look Up to - An Enthusiastic Life

There are many people and many things that we look up to. It brings positivity and optimism within us. Even in the most difficult times of our life, a ray of hope and positivity gives us the courage to face the situation. The problem which used to be like a burden on our mind, after being optimistic, it becomes as small as a matter which doesn't even bother us. Life gets so simple and worth living that we feel gratitude towards our source of optimism and we tend to return to it whenever we get stuck in frustrations or problematic situations.

One such ray of hope is Housing.com. as the name implies, it is a website you can look up to when you are in need of a house. We all know that buying a house has nowadays become just next to impossible with the rising prices. A common man with average income cannot afford to buy a house. Housing.com is a platform for the most common to the richest man. Any size, any location, any price, you'll find it here. From the most crowded cities to the least populated ones, housing.com is someone you can look up to. For more information about it you can click on the following link: https://housing.com/lookup.

My ray of hope which I look up to on daily basis is music. The soothing rhythm helps me forget all my worries and problems instantly as soon as I hit the play button of the music player. My mobile phone is loaded with collection of my favourite music. Most of them are from Bollywood movies and by my favourite singers. I hardly listen to the lyrics, all my attention stays on the music, rhythm and voice of the singer. It gives me the ultimate peace that I and my mind needs. Some of my favourite songs are from the movie Yaariyan - Is dardè dil ki sifaarish.., Bachna e haseeno - Khuda jaane... Apart from Hindi movie songs, Marathi songs as well fill up the joy within me; like from the movie Balak Palak - Harawali paakhare, Timepass- Mala ved lagali and many more.

It has happened many times that i get frustrated or irritated because of work load or clashes at home or just feel lonely. Also sometimes the routine day to day life gets so boring that we need a break from everything - May be a weekend trip or a weeklong vacation. But because of our commitments we often do not get the chance to go for such outings. Still I try my best to plan out at least a short trip so that I can forget all the pressure and give myself a soothing break. It could be a leisure holiday or a medium level trek or just exploring some new place.

So when I feel low or lose my enthusiastic mood, I look up to music and vacations. What do you look up to? Let me know in the comments below.

Ramayana - The Game of Life - Shattered Dreams Book Review

I received the book Ramayana - The Game of Life - Shattered Dreams written by Shubha Vilas from BlogAdda. It is the 2nd part of the series written by the writer. The 1st among the series is Rise of the Sun Prince which is a national bestseller. When I first saw the book, I wondered what's so different about the book. It must be the same Ramayana written ages ago except for changes in few words. After all, the base story cannot be changed. But when I started reading the book, within the first few pages I understood that although the story is the same, but the presentation done by writer is completely new. Nobody must have ever written mythological stories in this way.

It keeps you glued page after page. With the amazing writing style, the writer allows the readers to literally visualise the whole scenario they are reading. It fits in well for reader of all ages. The simplicity in language keeps you within the flow of the story, the suspense created throughout the book in every scenario makes it interesting and facts present in the book enlightens you with the truths of Ramayana and Hindu culture. It gives you the truth about origins of modern day facts in an interesting manner – like why is Dasagriva named Ravana, why is Ravana’s son named Indrajit, why does the peacock have a multitude of colours, why the food offered to crows reach the donor's ancestors, why chameleon has the ability to change colours and so on. You'll find answers to many more such ‘WHYs’. Since I have caught my senses and understood the customs that Hindus have to follow, I have always questioned their originality.

I must admit that although I am interested in mythology, this is the first time I have read a whole book on the subject. Usually I just opt to read some parts which interest me or watch it only if enacted in plays or television shows. In such shows, I get entertained with the visualisation and dramatic appearance of the characters, whereas, in books, I always noticed that just series of words and sentences describing the situation didn't bring about much interest in me.

It is not just about the story; the footnotes give an insight about the story being told. It speaks about the implications of the current scenarios. So it is not just the story, there are morals and human behaviour facts too. Human relationships and their nature are given utmost importance and explained how to cope with them. One of the footnotes I liked goes here..

Different words spoken by different people in different situations have different impacts.
When a surgeon says, "Sorry," it evokes fear.
When a pilot says, "Mayday," it creates panic.
When a policeman says, "Stop," it causes anxiety.
When an astrologer says, "But," it elicits concern.

Well all-in-all, a great book and definitely a must read.

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Apne Dum Par...

Like bringing up a child is a big task for parents, it is also important to make children realize the importance of doing their work themselves.

When I was in school, my mother used to take me to school and take me back home like any other parent. Later on as I grew up, she allowed me to go on my own while I used to see friends' parent still coming to school. During my admission to first year of college, I used to see parents roaming around with their children to look at the notice board, get application forms, stand in queue and get details from other students. My parents gave me the freedom to take my own decision and select the college of my choice. Of course they used to check the reliability and grade of the college through other sources. But I was wondering why other parents were always with their children during admission to first year which was a simple process. Later on during my admission to Engineering college where there is a big queue to get to best of the college considering our percentage in the HSC examination, my parents came since they were very eager to get me admitted to the best of the college. After confirming on the college, my parents told me to take the necessary steps and complete the formalities while I could still see some parents coming to their college after taking a leave from their job.

While I was wondering on such a different behavior from my parents, I slowly realized that my friends are not independent. They fear traveling by train. Need rickshaws for traveling to long places. They cannot take decisions on their own. And finally develop fear at work place that requires leadership and teamwork.

This got me into thinking how my parents intentionally put me to work in developing myself without any aid or support. Unknowingly it helped me to make myself self dependent when I grew and take my own decisions.

And recently I saw an advertisement from HDFC Life #MyFamilyMyPride ad film which is quite a fact of life.

Apno Ko Apne Dum Pe Jeena Sikhao is a new initiative by HDFC Life which teaches us about how we should be using this principle of life to make our children independent. They are one of the leading life insurance company in India. It offers various range of insurance solutions that meets different customer needs. Several products and services are available and can be purchased based on  ones need. Their website gives more details on the same. 

This advertisement by HDFC Life is something that we need to teach and learn our self. It has different options and services which can help the customer to take protection for their family through investment plans based on ones need to lead life Apne Dum Par.