Shocks and Shoes

Weekly Goals Update - 17 June 2012

10:18:00 pm

Lately, I log on to my computer in the mornings, hot cup of tea in hand, and then I turn into Alice. You know, the Wonderland one. No really, it’s like I’ve just walked through the looking glass into a whole new glorious world out there, and I get lost in it with no sense of time. And then something just happens that brings me to my senses – the phone rings/need to pee/doorbell rings/burning smells…

Image Courtesy: childillustration.blogspot

Then I glance at the clock and go OMG!! Did I actually spend all that time online?? Yikes!!

Then I decided to make lemonade out of lemons and thus this post was born. Technology wastes a lot of our time, and then it offers us solutions to manage our time better!! Crazy world, right?

So here are my lists for the biggest time wasters and savers – at least for me!!

Wasters Hall of Shame:

1. Pinterest – Yup. Right at the top. ‘Nuff said.

2. Facebook – Friends. Friends of friends. Friends of friends of friends. Ooh, there’s that girl who sat behind me in class 5!! Let’s go see what she’s up to now!

3. Online shopping sites – They’ve suddenly burst all across the scene. Lots of options, free shipping, Cash on Delivery. Oh yes, and free returns. Need I say more?

4. Youtube – You know how this goes. Someone shares a link of some weird but cute cat on Facebook/blogger/whatever. And then you get options to see some weird but cute dogs. And then dogs with cats. Congratulations!! You’ve been sucked into the whirlpool!!

5. lolsotrue (and similar addictive funny sites) – First it makes you smile and you wanna check out some more. Because you wanna smile some more. And more and more. Till all you want to do is puke. LOL, so true.

Not sure if Twitter was supposed to be on that list. Since I have stayed off the Twitter bandwagon, I can’t really vouch for the usefulness/uselessness of it.

But all is not lost, friends. Below is a list of apps that I’m currently loving. I’ve been using them for a while and they’re quite useful. (Note: all Android stuff, sorry iGuys!!)

Savers Hall of Fame:

1. MyFitnessPal – Perfect to update your food intake, exercise and even water intake. You can also input your weight and measurements and see your progress as you go!! You can also enter everything online and sync up with your phone.

2. Pomodoro – Are you the type who gets easily distracted? Join the Club! Use the pomodoro timer to help you focus on a task for 25 minutes and then take a break. No more excuses to drift away now!

3. Remember The Milk – This is my favorite app of all!! Very simple, yet effective. You can make to do lists for the whole week and prioritise and categorise them. And it’s very easy to use, nothing fancy schmancy. Love it!!

4. Closet Virtual – Do you go nuts staring at your overflowing wardrobe and still wondering what to wear? Closet Virtual to the rescue!! You can store pictures of all your clothes, neatly sorted into categories, and then store separate outfits and also maintain a wishlist with pictures of stuff you’re lusting after. Great, huh??

5. Droid Wallet – A nifty little app to help you maintain your income, track your expenses, all while setting budgets for various expense categories. Neat.

6. Evernote – The ultimate organizational app. (BTW, this is also available for Iphone) You can store pretty much anything you like – notes, pictures, audio, video. With the evernote clipper, you can clip anything from the internet into your evernote account.

7. Food Planner – Pretty much a must for all home makers and Moms. You can plan your meals for the week, maintain an inventory of what’s already there in your kitchen and make grocery lists to jot down what’s missing.

8. Habit Streak – A really useful tool for everyone trying to break an old habit or create a new one. Just set yourself some questions and answer them at the end of your day. Did you take your vitamins today? Did you limit your browsing time today? Get the picture?

Do you guys have any cool apps for Android? Or is there something that really gets you addicted other than the ones I’ve mentioned?

Personal

Weekly Goals Update – 10 June 2012

8:22:00 pm

Food

Recipe for the Week - Bread

8:05:00 am

This has been a dream of mine for a while – to bake my own bread. I’ve read about so many bloggers successfully making their own bread, and that too not just bread; you have multigrain bread, banana bread, walnut loaf and all sorts of complicated stuff!! So, I decided to give it a go, and went about enthusiastically baking my very first loaf. And…it failed. It was this hateful, solid, extremely hard mass. I’m pretty sure I could have hurt someone with it, though I didn’t try ;-).

Don’t worry, this recipe isn’t that, it is my second attempt, and it is something like a combination of bread recipes from two superb food blogs - Aarthi’s Yummy Tummy, and Niya’s Niya’s World. So here we go!!

What you’ll need:

1. 2 cups multigrain flour

2. 1 cup plain flour

3. 1 tsp salt

4. 1 tbsp sugar

5. 1 tbsp dry active yeast (take a fresh packet)

6. 200 + 50 ml warm water

7. 1 tbsp olive oil

8. A little butter and milk for brushing

What you’re going to do:

1. In 50 ml warm water, dissolve 1 tbsp sugar. Add the yeast and leave to rise for 15 min.

2. In a large bowl, put in 200 ml warm water, and dissolve the salt in it. Add the fermented yeast mixture and mix well.

3. Add in the flour a little by little, mixing into the liquid with a metal spoon. You'll end up with a sticky dough.

4. When it can no longer be stirred with a spoon, put in 1 tbsp olive oil and start kneading with your hands. It'll still be sticky, so you won't be able to knead very well. If it seems tough, add some more warm water.

5. Once you get a soft, slightly sticky but pliable dough, transfer it into a large, oiled bowl. The oiling of the bowl is to prevent the dough from sticking to it.

6. Cover the bowl with a wet kitchen towel and allow to rise for 1 hour.

7. After an hour, the dough should have risen to double its volume.

8. Turn out the dough onto a well floured surface, punch it down and knead well, for about 10 minutes. Your arms will ache a bit, but it is all worth a wonderful, light loaf!

9. Put it back into the bowl and let it rest for 30 minutes, covered with the kitchen towel.

10. Take out the dough again, and punch it and knead it once more. Shape it into a loaf and place it into your greased loaf tin. Cover and let it rest for 1 hour.

11. Preheat the oven to 190 degrees Celsius. After the third rising, this is how the loaf should look like:

12. Brush the top of the loaf with some milk and place the loaf in the oven and bake at 190 degrees Celsius for about 20 minutes. The purpose of the milk is to give the loaf a beautiful golden color.

13. Once out of the oven, brush the top of the loaf with a little butter to keep the crust from turning too hard.

Cut into slices and enjoy!!

With Nutella - my favorite topping for practically everything :-)

Believe me, the feeling of baking your own bread is indescribable, even better than baking a cake!! The aroma wafting out of the oven, the feeling of fresh bread in your mouth, the crunchiness of the crust and the softness of the bread, heaven!!

You can also sprinkle sesame or other seeds on top of the loaf prior to baking. I tried flaxseed once:

Notes:

1. Use a fresh packet of yeast, makes a big difference.

2. The water for the yeast mixture shouldn’t be too hot, just warm.

3. If your yeast didn’t ferment, there’s pretty much no use going ahead. Start again.

4. If the dough seems too tough at the beginning, add warm water – else it won’t rise as well.

5. Wait a bit once the loaf is out of the oven to cut it.

6. Use standard measuring spoons and cups.

I did try this recipe with only multigrain flour, but it didn’t rise well. I’m not sure why that was. I’m still a novice at this, so looks like some experimenting is called for!!

Personal

Monthly Goals Review - May

9:33:00 pm

Links

Link List – May

1:00:00 pm

May is finally over. An eventful month for me, as I’ve mentioned here. Now on with some great links to check out!!

1 You’ve heard it a lot, but ever wondered what the word ‘chic’ actually signifies? Sal at Already Pretty explains.

2. Want to eat healthy, but simply can’t stay away from junk food? FitStudio tells you how to get that fix, and yet stay within limits.

3 It isn’t easy to explain success in a generic sense, but J’s Everyday Fashion makes a pretty good attempt.

4 Stephanie provides you a detailed step by step tutorial on how to groom your eyebrows, at ClothedMuch.

5 If you’re a loss when it comes to accessories, Imogen at Inside Out Style shares some tips on how to use them to highlight your best features.

6. Setting up a home office? You’ll be overflowing with ideas after checking out StyleFrost’s post on the same.

7. Adrienne at The Rich Life (on a budget) explains the joys and tribulations of being a stepmother. A wonderful, heartfelt read.

8. From the DIY basket: Aayushi at Styldrv has a great tutorial on making some plain shoes super glam without much effort.

9. You’ve probably heard all these before, but Laura has some really sensible tips to help you clean out your clothes clutter in a pdf form at I’m an Organizing Junkie. Print out and pin up on your wardrobe door. (Save it to your smartphone too, for good measure)

10. I love everything about Karishma’s outfit at Purple Peeptoes – when was the last time you saw a simple black top-blue jeans pairing look so stylish?

11. All of us make new resolutions at the start of the year and then let go blaming one thing or the other. Jerome at Daily Spark tells you how to take responsibility for your actions.

12. Do you wonder what happens to all those hours in your day? How did all that time just pass by? Stop wondering with this nifty time management tool at Real Simple.

13. Another one from Imogen at Inside Out Style – Pretty much everything you need to know about a pair of jeans.

Hope you guys enjoyed the links, see you all in June!!

Newer Posts

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Happy Birthday, Garfield!!

Weekly Goals Update - 17 June 2012

Wasters and Savers!!

Weekly Goals Update – 10 June 2012

Recipe for the Week - Bread

Monthly Goals Review - May

Link List – May

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