All about Farooq Sheikh!

One of my own favourite actors Farooq Sheikh died of heart attack in Dubai on Saturday 28-12-2013. He was born on 25 March 1948 in Amrohi, Gujarat, India. He was one of the finest actors of Indian film and Television industry.

His famous movies include Chashme Buddoor (1981), Saath Saath (1982), Noorie (1979), Umrao Jaan (1981) and Yeh Jawaani Hai Deewani (2013).

He also worked on Television and got fame through his famous show 'Jeena Isi Ka Naam Hai'.

Interesting Uses of a Microwave!

Here are some different and unusual uses of a microwave oven other than simple cooking.

1. Making Ghee. Keep 1 and a half to 2 cups malai( milk topping ) in a big glass bowl and microwave on high for 15-20 minutes to get desi ghee without burning your kadhai(wok). Stir once or twice in between.
2. Blanching almonds to remove skin.Put almonds in a small bowl of water and microwave for 3 minutes or till water just starts to boil. After the water cools, the almonds can be peeled very easily.
3. Freshening Stale Chips, biscuits or cornflakes. Place the chips or biscuits in a napkin, uncovered, for about 1 minute per bowl or until they feel warm. Wait for a few minutes to allow cooling and serve.
4. Boiling(actually microwaving) potatoes. Wash potatoes & put them in a polythene bag. Microwave high for 4 minutes for 4 medium potatoes.
5. Making khatti mithi chutney. Mix 1 tbsp amchur, 3 tbsp sugar, some water along with spices in a glass bowl. Microwave, stirring in between.
6. Warming baby's milk bottle. Do check the temperature of the milk on your inner wrist. The bottle will not become hot, while the milk will.
7. Softening too-hard ice cream, cream, cheese and butter.
8. Making dry bread crumbs from fresh bread. Crumble the slice of bread and microwave the bits of slices for 2-3 minutes. Mix once and microwave further for another minute or two. Give some standing time to the moist bread to dry out and then grind in a mixer to get crumbs.
9. Drying Herbs. Fresh Parsley, dill(soye), mint(poodina), coriander(dhaniya), fenugreek greens(methi) - all greens can be dried in a microwave, preserving the green colour. Give them some standing time to turn dry. Use them in raitas and curries.
10. Melting chocolate, butter, jam, honey, etc. Dissolving gelatine.
11. Sterilizing jars for storing home made jams and pickles.
12. Freshening stale bread by placing 2 slices between the folds of a paper and microwaving for 20 seconds. It turns absolutely soft and the stale bread becomes perfect for sandwiches.
13. To roast 1 tbsp of cashews spread on a microwave plate and microwave for 1 minute to get golden roasted cashews.
14. To roast papad place 2 papads on a paper napkin and microwave for 1 and a half minutes. Turn side once in between.
15. To blanch 4 tomatoes, put a cross at the stem end of each tomato. Place tomatoes on a microproof plate and microwave for 2 minutes. Peel after they cool down.
16. To cook corn, wash a corn on the cob and place in a plastic bag microwaver for 2-3 minutes to get soft corn.
17. To boil half kg arbi wash and put in a plastic bag. Microwave for 11 minutes, turning once in between.

English to Hindi Translation of Names of Various Herbs and Spices!

English Name	Hindi Name
Sesame Seeds	Til
Mustard Seeds	Rai, Sarson
Melon Seeds	Magaz
Coriander Seeds	Saboot Dhania
Coriander Seeds, Ground	Dhania Powder
Mango Powder	Amchoor
Red Chilli Powder	Lal Mirch
Cumin Seeds, White	Jeera
Carom Seeds	Ajwain
Fennel	Saunf
Cumin Seeds, Black	Shah Jeera
Garam Masala – A Spice Blend	Garam Masala
Asafoetida	Hing
Saffron	Kesar
Fenugreek Seeds, Dried	Kasoori Methi
Fenugreek Seeds	Methi Dana
Pomegranate Seeds, Dried	Anar Dana
Nigella Seeds	Kalaunji
Turmeric	Haldi
Cloves	Laung
Nutmeg	Jaiphal
Peppercorns	Saboot Kali Mirch
Cardamom Pods	Elaichi
Mace	Javitri
Cinnamon	Dalchini
Fresh Green Chillies	Hari Mirch
Red Peppercorns, Dried	Sukho Lal Mirch
Ginger	Adrak
Garlic	Lahsun
Coriander, Fresh	Hara Dhania
Bay Leaves	Tej Patta
Curry Leaves	Kari Patta
Mint	Poodina

Amazing Scientific Facts.

1)There is a blue pigment in octopus blood that allows it to live in freezing waters.

2)There are approximately 7,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 atoms in the human body.

3)New evidence suggests that Mars had an oxygen-rich atmosphere 4 billion years ago.

4)A new background in sensors could lead to an artificial skin that can sense touch, heat and humidity in the same way real skin does. If attached to prosthetics, this would allow amputees to detect changes in their environments.

5)Researchers are currently developing a technique to strip away cells of a heart down to its support structure, to be used as a scaffold for stem cells. This will be used to create donor hearts that eliminate the chance of rejection.

6)A Galapagos tortoise that died in 2006 at Steve Irwin's zoo was originally owned as a pet by Charles Darwin in 1835.

7)Air pollution is responsible for an estimated 2 million deaths worldwide each year.

8)In case of emergency, a crayon will burn for 30 minutes.

9)About 50% of human DNA is identical to a banana's sequence.

10)Researchers have developed the first telescopic contact lens - a lens that's capable of zooming your vision almost 3x.

Basics of Microwave Cooking!

Before cooking food in microwave one must take care of the following things to make the cooking better and healthy.

Timing: Set the timings carefully, foods can become hard and leathery, if overcooked. It is always better to under-cook then to overcook in a microwave. The larger the volume of food there is, the more timing is needed to cook it. 4 potatoes cook in 6 minutes, whereas 8 potatoes cook in about 9 minutes. Therefore, if the quantity in a recipe is changed, an adjustment in time is necessary. When doubling a recipe, increase the cooking time 50% approximately and when cutting a recipe in half, reduce time by 40%.

Standing Time: Food continues to cook for sometime, even after its removed from the microwave. For example, the cake cooked in a microwave looks very moist and undone when removed from the oven after microwaving it for  specified time, but after it is left aside for 8-10 minutes, it turns perfect.

Covering: Coves are used to trap steam, prevent dehydration, speed cooking time and help food retain it's natural moisture. When covering with paper napkins, a good microwave cooking practice, be sure to use a double width, that will enable you to tuck the paper under the bottom of the cooking dish. Otherwise, it will tend to rise off the dish due to the air movement. A handy idea to keep in mind; a heat proof china plate is a good substitute for a lid. For shorter cooking time(within 6 minutes) cling films can also be used.

Stirring: If necessary, stir from the outside to centre because the outside area heats faster than the centre when microwaves are in use. Stirring blends the flavours and promotes even heating. Stir only as directed in the recipes, constant stirring is never required, frequent stirring is rare.

Arrangement: The microwaves always penetrate the outer portion of food first, so food should be arranged with the thicker areas near the edge of the dish and the thinner near the centre. Chicken/Mutton should be so placed that the meaty part is towards the outside. Food such as tomatoes, potatoes and corn should be arranged in a circle, rather than in rows.

What is Silly Money!

Every days new words taking birth in social media. Some of them gets so popular that they get international approval. One such term is 'Silly Money' which is being used heavily now-a-days. It means a large volume of money which is spend on unnecessary things. This term fits right on the huge amount of money spend in weddings.