Saturday 4 February 2012

TOP FIVE PERFUMES

Here are the current top 5 perfumes; actually I don't know on what basis they have been  rated (customer demand or market survey, sales and so on).  I took these pictures at a perfume outlet in 360 Mall on Level One.  Let's see what they are are:

1. Elie Saab
2. Miss Dior from Christian Dior
3. Wood Mystique from Estee Lauder
4. Valentina by Valentino
5. Coco Madamoiselle by Chanel


HUMOUR WHEN SNORING CAN BE DISTURBING


MULBERRY WINDOW DECOR

Have you seen a window decor using bells? Well, Mulberry at Avenues Mall has a unique window decor using bells. Big bells, small bells,  arranged quite artistically - a delight to the eye and the senses....its beautiful! They were having a sale last week. I don't know if it's still on. 







ARE YOU OVERWHELMED BY THE NEGATIVE PEOPLE AND EVENTS IN YOUR LIFE?




Well balanced diet, smart food habits, exercising and maintaining a healthy  weight suited to your height is considered being healthy. But that's just 60 percent of what contributes to good health. Over all wellness is about having a balanced system  operating in our bodies that includes physical, mental, emotional and spiritual well being. When one of them goes out of balance, you become deeply affected. If you are undergoing stress due to negative people in your life, a demanding job, financial difficulties, marital crisis or child issues; if you are suffering from unhappiness, sorrow, anger issues, depression, well, all this can cause a dysfunction in your body. Negative emotions cause toxins to be released into your system, disrupting the mind-body-spirit relationships, causing illnesses. It's already been established that all sorts of allergies, diabetes, cancer, cardiovascular diseases, depression are all lifestyle diseases threatening more people today than ever. It's even worse when all this happens along with eating high calorie, fat laden junk foods.

 It surprises me how some people (a few I personally know) do everything they can to eat healthy and exercise, absolutely figure conscious, but they have neglected their emotional and mental aspects of their health. They look good from the outside, and miserable from the inside - highly strung, bitter, aggressive,  rude, obnoxious, suffering from hypertension and depression and they have nothing good to say about life. Then there are others who are so overwhelmed with anxiety, they seek comfort in food,  overeating, or eating junk food and putting on weight and feel helpless overtime. Another dangerous factor is falling prey to anti depressants and substance abuse to drown one's sorrow and pain like alcohol or drugs. 

We are living  in a beautiful technologically advanced world,  but our deep emotions and needs are not met. We usually expect others to meet these demands. We depend on our spouses, children, colleagues, bosses, friends, relatives to interact, treat and deal with us fairly and in the manner we deem right. But the world doesn't function that way. It's never sunny all the time. Like the ever changing weather, we will always have challenges to meet, difficult people and relationship to handle, stressful days at work, losses and  a period of time when things don't go the way we want. At the same time, when you examine your life, you would agree that there was always good and wonderful  things happening as well, and good things will continue to happen for you and good people will keep coming into your life.  It's the natural law of the universe, that there is a calm after the storm. 

Feelings and emotions are never permanent. They keep changing according to your experiences. Never give up on trying and aiming for your dreams. Don't give up on people who are important to you. Disengage yourself from mean and toxic people you can do without. Don't be afraid to change that job if you are truly unhappy. Sometimes you have to hang in there with great faith...when things go rough.  When you don't give up, life surprises you with great miracles and rewards for your efforts. When we learnt to accept life's imperfections and make a choice to not let people and events affect your mind, body and spirit in negative manner, appreciate your self and celebrate your existence, we come to peace within ourselves.   Take up a new hobby or pursue a hobby that you used to once enjoy. Spend 5 to 10 minutes in meditation. It has a great calming effect. Make time to exercise three to five days a week. Exercise releases good hormones that contributes to your wellbeing. Share your joys and sorrows with trusted family or friends. The aim is to be 100 percent healthy to live a fulfilling life, in the midst of the good and in the midst of chaos. A lotus or lily never gets affected by the muddy water  it grows in. 

When I had this discussion with someone, she told me, 'you don't understand, we are humans, ofcourse we are affected by the negative events in our life'. But then again, because we are humans,  we have a choice, whether we chose to be affected; choose to be a victim or a victor. Our attitudes and responses to the world around us can greatly affect our lives positively or negatively, make us sick or healthy. 

EXPECT MIRACLES


Not only do we need to expect miracles, but keep faith, pray for miracles, recognize miracles and be grateful for the miracles you have experienced in the past. 



Friday 3 February 2012

MY PICTURES FOR THE DAY - MR. BEAR AT THE ZOO



Does he have a name? Maybe the zookeepers have a name for him. Well, I'll call him Mr. Bear. He is the most entertaining of all animals in the Kuwait Zoo. He stands upright, walks around, sits down, lies down, rolls on the ground...he loves attention. And visitors are fascinated by him. Children throw pita bread towards Mr. Bear, oblivious to the rules 'not to feed the animals'. All the animals at the zoo are fed well by the attendants and keepers. Mr. Bear  might be pretty fed up of pita bread but he still keeps having them. Not that he's hungry. It's  become a habit. Can you imagine eating 50 pita breads in a day...no....well, its an impossible task for Mr. Bear too. But he eats a few pita breads that miraculously falls in his lap. The rest litters his area, creating a horrendous task of cleaning for the poor cleaning attendants!

WEIGHT LOSS - ARE YOU FACING ENJOY TODAY, DIET TOMORROW SYNDROME?


Whats your attitude towards food this weekend? Ahem...if you are tyring to watch your weight, its best to watch your thoughts first...before your mind takes you on false joy ride to a tempting destination where there is lots of food and you want to eat, drink and be merry and postpone your dieting to tomorrow!


GHOST PEPPER THE HOTTEST CHILLI PEPPER IN THE WORLD



In 2007, Ghost Chili or Ghost peppers was confirmed by Guinness World Records to be the hottest chili in the world! . Its also grown in regions of Assam, Nagaland and Manipur in India. Besides they are also grown in Bangladesh, and Sri Lanka.

If you ever happen to be adventurous enough or curious enough to try out these peppers, here are some do's and don'ts to bear in mind for your own 'safety'. Well, actually if you like hot spicy stuff, you don't have to be afraid of trying them out....

 * Try tiny amounts at first

* Its best to  use gloves when handling them

* Keep ready beside you, something to eat or drink to cut the heat ( ice cream or milk)

* And one of the most important things after touching the peppers....Do nut rub your eyes or pick your nose. 

* Do not inhale the chili powder, it will get you into bouts of cough, difficulty breathing and cause a lot of irritation.

It contains 1,000,000 Scoville heat units the scientific measurement of a chili's spiciness based on the high levels of capsaicin that determines its heaty flavour.  Classic Tabasco sauce ranges from 2,500 to 5,000 Scoville units, while jalapeno peppers measure anywhere from 2,500 to 8,000. See the difference!

They come as whole peppers, candy form, sauce, powder and nuts coated with ghost pepper powder! What's your pick? 

Ghost pepper in salsa



Ghost pepper spiced watermelon candy

Ghost pepper nuts

Ghost pepper powder

Ghost pepper pizza

Ghost pepper pasta

Ghost pepper chicken wings

Ghost pepper peanuts


Ghost pepper sauce





SALE AT DKNY

There is an ongoing sale at DKNY, 360 Mall. They have a lot of beautiful new arrivals that includes their new range of orange-crimson bags which are fabulous. 







SPEAKING WITH KINDESS


Before the tongue can speak, it must have lost the power to wound - Peace Pilgrim

Thursday 2 February 2012

ZEN HUMOUR - MINDFULNESS




Seung Sahn would say, “When you eat, just eat. When you read the newspaper, just read the newspaper. Don’t do anything other than what you are doing.”

One day a student saw Seung Sahn reading the newspaper while he was eating. The student asked if this did not contradict his teaching. 

Seung Sahn said, “When you eat and read the newspaper, just eat and read the newspaper.”

MY PICTURE FOR THE DAY - FULL MOON ON A CLOUDY NIGHT




I was taken by surprise when I decided to gaze into the sky one night, during my recent vacation in Trivandrum. I opened the curtains, went into the balcony and  was I delighted at what I saw, the full moon surrounded by huge grey clouds, forming weird shapes and patterns in the sky, eh....at times rather eeiry.  I grabbed my camera and captured these pictures. There were more pictures I would have loved to share, but they are not clear enough to be posted. 

GROOM'S AMAZING SURPRISE DANCE FOR BRIDE

A must watch!. The groom is a great dancer and so is the rest of his team who gave an amazing surprise performance for the bride. Watch the video and it's sure to bring a smile on your face. 

GREAT TASTING STUFFED DATES AT DEAN & DELUCA


Dean & Deluca at Avenues Mall has a variety of great tasting dates stuffed with nuts, spices and candied orange peel. Dates are good for health and consuming 6 to 8 dates a day can provide your body with some wonderful nourishment, vitamins, minerals and energy. My personal favourites were dates stuffed with a date-cinnamon based stuffing, dates stuffed with rahash, sesame seeds, walnuts and almonds. They taste divine!

Dates stuffed with cashew nuts

Dates stuffed with almonds

Dates stuffed with sesame seeds


Date stuffed with candied orange peel

Date stuffed with almond

Dates with cinamon infused date stuffing

Dates with rahash

Dates with cardamom

Sukri dates (without any stuffing)

WHAT'S YOUR SOUL FOOD?


Your body houses your spirit and your soul. Your body is like a vehicle that has to be given the right fuel for its optimum performance, so you can experience good health emotionally, mentally, physically and spiritually. 

Healthy food choices  would enliven you, energize you, make you perform your best and uplift your spirits not momentarily, but you feel a sense of power, clarity of thought and you have ceaseless energy for the day. And deep inside you feel great as the food has also nourished your soul. What are those foods?...they are no secret. They are all around us in supermarkets and grocery shops, in our refrigerator, in the markets.

Let me for the first time write down  my choices of soul food

1. Oranges
2. Dates
3. Strawberries
4. Spanish black olives
5. Farmland Haloum cheese
6. Salads (using fresh vegetables and salad leaves)
7. Mint
8. Basil
9. Watermelon
10. Banana
11. Almonds, cashewnuts, peanuts
12. Fresh Milk
13. Steamed or grilled vegetables
14. Tea (one cup in the morning), Coffee (one cup in the evening)
15. Mango and Mango juice 

Soul foods will never let you down like junk food. They will not lead you to put on weight; in fact eating soul food makes you mindful of what you eat and help you overcome food addictions. They give you nourishment, vitamins and minerals. They give you good health.  When you think of  your list of soul food, what comes into your mind?

INSPIRATION - POWER OF THOUGHTS



“If you realized how powerful your thoughts are, you would never think a negative thought.” -Peace Pilgrim

Wednesday 1 February 2012

DENNIS THE MENACE


MICHAEL JACKSON'S DAUGHTER PARIS JACKSON SET TO BECOME A STAR

Poised and gorgeous looking daughter of Michael Jackson, Paris Jackson 13,  is all set to become a star. She will be acting in a movie called 'Lundon's Bridge and the Three Keys', based on a young adult fantasy book series by Dennis Christen for teenagers. Paris will play the role of Lundon, a young girl who manages to survive the brainwashing attempts of a Jellyfish Queen. Lundon's Bridge and the Three Keys will be a mixture of live action and animation that is scheduled to be released in 2013. The movie's producer Stephen Sobisky said, Paris wants to be an actress; she wants to take on her dad's legacy and do something good for the world. 




Paris Jackson with Justin Beiber

Paris (center) with Blanket (left) and Prince (right)

KURDO RESTAURANT FOR GREAT SANDWICHES

Kurdo Restaurants at 360 Mall, and their two branches at Marina Mall and Salmiah, is one the best places for great tasting sandwiches and kebabs. They have a nice menu with a variety of sandwiches to choose from. I really liked their chicken shawarma sandwich, succulent and made to perfection. Here are some pictures of Kurdo at 360 Mall.








INTERESTING PICTURE FOR THE DAY - INSIDE THE SEA LION'S MOUTH


A zookeeper looks into the mouth of a South American Sea Lion, Schoenbrunn Zoo in  Vienna, Austria.