Tuesday, May 26, 2015

Cheesecake Recipe without Cream Cheese

Ingredients
200g of walnuts
100g of cashews
200g of dates
600ml coconut cream
200g unrefined sugar
2g of agar-a 5cm X 7cm piece
400g of tofu
250ml of soy milk
500g of bananas
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tbsp vanilla essence
date syrup


Method

For the base
Grind the nuts into a fine powder. Chop the dates finely and kneed them with the nuts. Press this into the base of a spring-form cake tin approx. 30cm in diameter.

For the filling
Heat the coconut milk and sugar in a heavy based saucepan. When it nearly reaches boiling point add the agar broken into bits or powder if available and simmer for 10 minutes. Turn off the heat once all the agar dissolves and allow it to cool slightly while preparing the rest of the ingredients.

Blend the tofu into a paste by putting it into the blender and adding the soy milk in small amounts at a time until the tofu forms a smooth cream. Similarly blend the bananas with the cinnamon and vanilla and a bit of soy milk into a cream and then combine this with the tofu. Whisk the coconut milk into the mixture well. In order to check if the amount of agar is ok, place a spoonful of the mixture into the freezer for a few minutes and see if it sets. If it does not, add some more agar in a bit of soy milk or coconut milk by heating the mixture and then this can be added to the original mixture, until the right consistency is obtained. Pour this into the cake tin. Refrigerate for at least 12 hours.

Monday, May 25, 2015

With Sugar on Top @ Orderyourchoice.com


“I’m not from Italy or Spain, where you can talk about the food for hours,” Jasmina Bojic said, her cooks darting into the refrigerator beside her. She’s the executive pastry chef at the Four Seasons Hotel in New York, where she makes extravagant cakes fit for oligarchs, but, she said, “my country is small. It’s homey, nothing fancy about it, so I’m nervous to tell you about our food.” She was referring to Montenegro, a rough diamond set on the Adriatic, surrounded by Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia, Kosovo and Albania — more borders than I thought a country the size of Connecticut could have.

Jasmina came to New York when she was 17, on vacation, and fell in love with an American boy. Her parents brought her back the following year for the wedding, return tickets to Yugoslavia nestled in their luggage with their finery. But this was the summer of 1991, when civil war erupted. The family decided to wait here, to see what happened. They heard about the violence. They heard about the new borders. They never went home.

Over a lunch of juicy kebablike cevapi in Astoria, where Croatians, Bosnians, Serbians and Montenegrins have settled for generations, Jasmina told me all those new borders have never meant much for her community here. For proof, she asked me to talk to her friend Anita Boneta, who was a resident of Astoria for four decades.

“A lot of people in Belgrade and Dubrov-nik, husband and wife, would break up,” Anita, a Croatian, said. “I thought, This is crazy! Everybody here, they were O.K. with each other. When I was working at a restaurant, there was a captain from the area where Jasmina is from. He said, ‘You know, we shouldn’t even be friends!’ But he was one of my best friends.”

So many immigrant stories are marked by loss, by what people miss. Yet, talking to people from a country that no longer exists, I also realized that sometimes they have a chance to reconnect what’s severed when they get to their new home. Without the baggage of borders, the estranged can become bedfellows — Indians and Pakistanis buying the same spices in Jackson Heights, or Ukrainians and Russians eating the same fish in Brighton Beach.

It’s a lesson Jasmina showed me in the hotel’s kitchen. Sampita, a treat she has been making since she was a girl, is a plank of yolk-rich cake piled with glossy meringue, a kind of open-faced marshmallow sandwich. At first glance, it could be any white-topped European layer cake, until you cut into it and see that it’s mostly a riot of rich sugar. It’s a simple pleasure, sweet and gooey and compelling with strong coffee and rigorous dental hygiene. When I asked why we were making this dessert in particular, Jasmina said: “Well, our country is big on things like baklava, but when I was talking with my mom, she said that’s not really us. But this, I know, is our creation. I haven’t seen it anyplace else.”

Jasmina poured hot syrup into the egg whites, whipping them to a spectacular height. I had noticed that she used much more sugar than called for in a typical meringue. When we ate it, she noted how moist the cake gets after you let it rest; the extra syrup in the meringue slowly seeps into the base. This is crucial, she said.

It’s an unusual technique, and something about it kept nagging at me, until I went back to the map. Yugoslavia — with Montenegro near its center — sat directly between Central Europe and the Mediterranean. Or, in dessert terms, precisely between the lofty cakes of Austria and the syrup-soaked baklavas of Greece and Turkey. Jasmina’s sampita might be “nothing fancy,” as she put it, but it speaks to her people, undivided by borders.

Friday, May 22, 2015

Significance of Silver: Hindu Traditions & Scientific Reasons

Wearing traditional Indian ornaments is not just fashion, but also carries therapeutic value & has a vigorous role in stimulating physical and mental health. Our fore bearers were cognizant of the power of various metals on the human body. Metals such as calx of gold, silver, tin, iron, etc., also have been used and are even now utilised as medicines.

Ancient India’s ascetics, rishis & munis went into deep meditation, investigating numerous ways for humanity to lead happy and healthy lives. Hindus and followers of the Hindu religion practiced these ancient traditions over millennia.

Scientific Basis of Silver Anklets


Wearing thick sterling silver anklets around the ankles stops the inflammation of foot soles. Buy sterling silver anklets online protect against swelling of the heels. They regulate peripheral blood circulation & helps ease the symptoms of sciatica. Silver anklets activate lymph glands and boosts immunity.

Tuesday, May 19, 2015

Safe & Reliable: How To shop At Online Jewelry Stores

Online Jewelry stores are the latest of the “retail dominoes” to fall, and a god-send for the time-and cash strapped modern citizen. There’s no need to hassle with the driver, the parking or the snooty jewelry store salesman anymore, when you can now check out your favorite gemstone or diamond right there at a click of the mouse.  Of course, if you are a harassed fiancĂ© with absolutely no clue of how to buy a diamond or even what the real McCoy looks like, you need a lot of education. But for the rest of us, who want to benefit from the vast price differences between brick-and-mortar stores and e-commerce shopping, these are only a few tips.
First off, browse and browse like there’s no tomorrow (there is, but it’s hard to believe). Most online jewelry stores offer discounts and giveaways, all year round, so the more you browse, the better the deals you’ll dig up. The choices are unlimited, so if you’re really unsure, walk into a brick-and-mortar near your area and look around. If a style or design attracts you make a note of it, i.e., the cut, stone setting etc., and look for something similar online. You may not get the exact same thing but it will be close.
Diamond RIngsNext up, how genuine is the piece of jewelry you want to buy? There are several institutes and organizations that value your diamonds and gemstones. Nowadays, most online jewelry stores whether they’re the big conglomerates or the mom-and-pop variety offer certificates along with genuine gemstones.  The most well-known are the GIA (Gemological Institute Of America), AGS (The American Gem Society), EGL (EGL (European Gemological Laboratory) International), IGI (International Gemological Institute), etc. Thelist goes on but the ones named in this article are popular in the United States.
Most online jewelry stores include a diamond certification with the product. You can view the certificate online and also except to get one when you buy the diamond. You can also get an independent appraisal from a (GG) graduate gemologist. This will give you the monetary value of the gemstone. If you’re looking at buying a diamond ring or a necklace as an heirloom or keepsake to pass onto your children and grandchildren, then ensure the diamond has substantial monetary value. A certification tells you the genuineness of the gemstone, usually a diamond. An appraisal gives you an idea of the monetary value of the gemstone at that time. In general, a gemstone’s value doesn’t dip drastically, so they’re a safe bet to invest in.
And lastly, do you want a large gemstone that’s not very expensive, which means the gem’s not so valuable after all. Or would you rather have a smaller but better quality gemstone? Remember an online jewelry store isn’t very different to a brick-and-mortar one. They’re looking at their profits as well as the word-of-mouth advertisement a happy customer is likely to generate. So do look around for customer reviews about online jewelry stores, and you’ll get a good idea of which ones to choose.

Saturday, May 16, 2015

What’s Special about Birthdays?


Everyone has birthdays. What’s so special about the day your mom gave birth to you? After all she did all the hard work and the rest of the family did all the worrying. Why is all the attention of the anniversary of the day you were born focused only on you? To put it simply, every year you celebrate the anniversary of your birth or your ‘Birthday’ is a milestone. A marker to let the world know you’re alive for one more year and your parents want to share the sheer joy of having you in their lives. Birthdays are anticipated for the gifts it brings and the great fun to be had by the Birthday Baby as well as her friends and family.

As you grow, it’s not only a special day filled with cake, chocolates and new clothes, but the gateway to a new year filled with opportunities. Birthdays are a unique celebration as they are meant only for an individual but everyone known to the Birthday Baby wants to be in on the celebration. Giving gifts is one way of assuring the person celebrating her birthday that she is loved and cherished. Most times, giving gifts is fraught with danger, as the person giving the gift is unsure about how well a gift is received.

The best gift to give, especially to a woman, is jewellery. Except rings, for which you need to know the ring size, you can give any type of jewellery and it will be received with great delight. Even men love getting gifts like sterling silver bracelets, rings and watches set with cubic zircons. For very close friends, Orderyourchoice.com in India has a trendy range of anklets designs to make even the most conservative girls squeal in delight.

The range of jewellery gifts for men to are growing on virtual shelves. The Anvita range of sterling silver rings for men features rings with chain -link ring shanks that are very comfortable to wear even at the office. The Diagonal Stripe Silver Band is a great example of a men’s ring that can be worn with formal and casual clothes- especially suitable for Dads and Uncles who may be shy about wearing prominent jewellery.


Husbands wonder every year what to gift their wives. Many of them end up giving practical things that aren’t romantic at all. Romance means Jewellery and it’s not all that expensive to gift sterling silver jewellery studded with cubic zircons or imported Austrian crystal jewellery. The most shimmering and sentimental gifts include the latest mangalsutra designs that a wife would love to flaunt when her husband takes her out to dinner. 

Friday, May 15, 2015

THE LONG & SHORT NECKLACES


Necklaces are the first jewellery that is gifted to Indian children. Chains are gifted to newborn children by their doting grandparents & relatives. This custom continues for boy children while girls start receiving earrings after their ears are pierced. Necklace lengths range from close to the neck or ‘choker’ style to ‘lariat’ length chains that reach to the waist. Indian brides usually wear several lengths of necklaces during their weddings to show that their parents have showered them with enough.

What are the different lengths of chains that can be worn as daily style? It’s very helpful to know the lengths of necklaces, while wearing different neckline styles with them. A stylist may advise you to wear a choker necklace with a turtleneck blouse or a lariat length necklace with a halter necked blouse. It helps to know what fashion models & designers are referring to, when you shop your ensembles.

Choker Necklaces
Worn close to the neck or around the neck, these necklaces are usually 14 inches in length. Collar length necklaces are even shorter at 12”- 13”. These are great for wearing with boat necklines or off- the- shoulder & strapless outfits.

Princess Necklaces
The most common type of necklaces – they come as sets when you buy earrings online. They’re commonly 17”- 19” in length & feature delicate pendants. The necklace length rests on the collar bone & is visible through formals shirt collars & outfits. Women prefer them as they’re less ostentatious & can be worn with decent 1cm or 2cm pendants.

Matinee Necklaces
These necklace chains are 20” – 24” in length & lie just below the collar- bone, depending upon a woman’s neck size, they could even reach up to slightly above the bust. Very young girls wear matinee length chains as statement necklaces with huge pendants. Some like the White Zircon Studded Necklace look like diamonds on white are perfect accessories & don’t need earrings to complement them.

Opera Necklaces
At 28”- 34” long, they’re dramatic & can be worn as a single strand or looped twice around the neck, forming a 2- row necklace for dramatic effect. Long Italian Necklace with Mermaid Purple Pendants the perfect example of opera necklaces that look great when worn with chic eveningwear.

Rope & Lariat Necklaces
Mostly seen in natural pearl ropes, these can be looped to form 3 or 4 rows necklace chains, giving the illusion stacked necklaces. A Tri Color Necklace can also give the illusion of 3 to 4 rows of chains & is great when you want to give the impression of wearing several chains but don’t have varying lengths.


A Long Italian Necklace with Mermaid White Pendant is a great accent for embroidered salwar suits & dressy knee- length outfits. Choose your necklaces according to the occasion. The general rule of thumb is that longer & heavier necklaces are worn for festive & party occasions. More practical necklace length like the princess is every day wear.

Thursday, May 14, 2015

Here’s How to Take Out Knots from A Silver Chain

We all love chains- who doesn’t? The simplest accessory that’s so mutable with a simple change of pendants. The best way of storing plain chains is to hang each chain on separate hooks or store in separate pouches. It’s when we forget & dump them in a heap at the bottom of our jewellery boxes that the chains get tangled up. Anyone who’s tried to separate a ball of chains knows how difficult it is.

In this blog, we’ll be showing you the easiest way of untangling silver chains. It’s still hard work, but this technique is guaranteed to cut the detangling time in half.

Undo the Clasp or Fastening
Long lengths of chains tend to get much more tangled & are less easy to untangle. If your sterling silver chain happens to have a hook or clasp of some kind, undo it. If you have several chains tangled together- patiently untangle each one.

Undoing the clasp separates the chains enabling the two ends to slide through the knot.
Lay out your necklace(s) on a flat and hard surface. Separate as much of the necklace(s) as possible on the flat surface.

Place Chains on Flat Surface
The knot of chains is more visible when you place them on a flat surface & prevents confusion about which end belongs to which chain.

Prevent further tangles while working through the knotted chains when you place the necklaces on a flat surface.

Apply Oil
This one’s easy- apply oil onto the knot & gently massage the oil into the knot. The oil will slip into all the cracks & corners of the knot, making it easier for the chain to slip out from the knot.

Baby oil is light & doesn’t cling unlike coconut or mustard oil. If you want to wear the chain immediately after untangling use baby oil- it wipes off easily.

Use Needles to Untangle
Knitting needles or sewing pins to get the tangles out are less painful instead of your nails or fingers.

Using only 1 pin, slip in the pointy end into the knot, working it back & forth, loosening the knot enough to slip the ends through.

TWO pins are even better than one!

Stick both needles through the middle of the knotted chain. Pull the needles away from each other again & again until the knot comes loose. Once the knot has worked loose, you can use your finger to separate the knots.


Using only 1 pin, slip in the pointy end into the knot, working it back & forth, loosening the knot enough to slip the ends through.

TWO pins are even better than one!

Stick both needles through the middle of the knotted chain. Pull the needles away from each other again & again until the knot comes loose. Once the knot has worked loose, you can use your finger to separate the knots.


Orderyourchoice.com is celebrating the vacations with a Cool Summer SALE @ FLAT OFFERS!