Month: May 2021
Blogging Plans
Whatâs your process for planning blog posts?
To be honest in most of the cases, I do not plan anything. I either look for a prompt, like this one, or if something comes up from what I read, heard or thought up. Sponsored posts are something else altogether. Some of my posts, the minority, do take some planning and I will tell you about them.
So let’s say that I am asked to blog about a certain topic and I need to do some research. I type out what I think will be the heading or blog post title. Then I check out various sources online and find the details that I need. I will also google for an image that represents the topic that I am writing about. For me I like a nice image with some colours that pop or the pic looks really good.
At the end of it if I need to place a few links to sources or website that offer more details then I will do that as well. At the end of it I will do a bit of editing to make sure that the spacing of all paragraphs are done to my liking. And that’s about. I click on Pubish and we are off.
Prompt from 31 MAY BLOG POST IDEAS AT BLOGGING HER WAY
Crystal Palace 1 Arsenal 3
Roy Hodgson’s farewell match at Selhurst Park ended in a last-gasp defeat as Gabriel Martinelli latched onto fellow substitute Martin Odegaard’s cross to convert from close range on 91 minutes before Nicolas Pepe coolly rolled in Arsenal’s third four minutes later. Christian Benteke’s diving header from Andros Townsend’s free-kick had levelled for the home side after Pepe had volleyed in to finish off a neat Arsenal move. Up until the 90th minute, Arteta’s side had been largely poor and it looked as if a fairly miserable season was petering out without much incident.
The Gunners have lost a club record-equalling 13 games in a 38-game season but Martinelli and Pepe’s goals gave their side a lifeline in the quest for European football next season. But they will need results to go their way if they are to finish seventh and claim a place in next season’s inaugural Europa League Conference competition. Despite failing to offer significant attacking threat for much of the contest, they ended up scoring with all three of their shots on target. On-loan Odegaard started the game on the bench and his future in doubt but the Real Madrid man proved his effectiveness with a delightful cross which Martinelli converted.
Arsenal’s excellent late-season form has seen them collect their fourth straight league win for the first time since 2018 and they will go into Sunday’s match against Brighton full of optimism. Arsenal picked up their first Premier League victory against Crystal Palace since January 2018, having been winless in five against the Eagles prior to today. Arsenal have won four consecutive Premier League games under Mikel Arteta for the very first time.
The Guru
The Guru is a 2002 sex comedy film written by Tracey Jackson and directed by Daisy von Scherler Mayer. The film centers on a dance teacher who comes to the United States from India to pursue a normal career but incidentally stumbles into a brief but high-profile career as a sex guru, a career based on a philosophy he learns from a pornographic actress. The film stars Jimi Mistry as the eponymous character, Heather Graham as the actress he learns from, and Marisa Tomei, who helps him reach his guru status among her socialite New York City friends.
Favourite Childhood Memories
What is your favorite childhood memory?
I don’t think I have one favourite childhood memory. There are a few. One of the things I like most about my childhood in Kuwait is going on a long drive with my dad, mom, sister, uncle, aunt in my uncle’s car. Going shopping in a couple of large stores that we usually never got to shop at. Another one is the two separate visits to Entertainment city that my family went to. I think once with a family friend, his wife & two daughters – the younger one was still a baby at the time.
Entertainment City is a fun theme park with rides, roller coasters, bumper cars etc etc. I really loved going to that place and I associate good, innocent, fun times with my memories of those two visits. It really was fun. Other than that my biggest favourite memories are summer holidays & Onam holiday vacations in my maternal grandmother’s home with all of my cousins. We played cricket & football, board games, card games and quizzes.
Evenings after a shower we would listen to lots of lots of 70s, 80s & 90s music on tapes and watched a lot of good movies together. That was fun. We shared books that we recommended to each other. Those were some awesome times.
Prompt from 31 Blog Post Ideas for May at A Grande Life
Strawberries In A Jam
4 Tips For New Bloggers
Your tips for new bloggers
1. Always write about what you love. You have a hobby? A favourite sport or team? You passions in life? Are you really good at a trade or skill or something? Music or tv or movies? Or do you want to be a daily personal blogger? Find what you love to write about and start blogging about them.
2. Look at your analytics and see what draws your viewers in. Check and see what posts and topics are the ones that get most views and do follow ups on those.
3. Be consistent. Consistency is one of the most important things that bloggers tend to forget. Itâs much easier to lose your traffic than it is to build it up, so make sure you consistently blog.- Neil Patel, founder of KISSmetrics
4. Be true to yourself. One of the bloggers I follow said that she started blogging more when she started writing for herself. Her interests just happened to be what brought traffic to her blog. And that brought rewards for her.
Prompt from 31 MAY BLOG POST IDEAS AT BLOGGING HER WAY
Weird Laws In Cuba
Foreigners at home:Â Overcrowding is a major problem in many Latin American cities. To prevent it from happening in Havana, the government enacted a law in 1997 that forbids rural residents from moving to the capital. Anyone who does so becomes an illegal migrant in his or her own countryâand faces deportation. This prevents citizens living in impoverished areas from seeking opportunities in the city. Even more controversial is the fact that rural Cubans tend to be darker skinned, prompting accusations that the law is rooted in racism.
Thumbs out:Â Because very few Cubans own cars, hitchhiking is encouraged. In larger cities and towns, there are even designated stops where people gather to wait for rides. Government cars, distinguishable by white, blue, and brown license plates, are legally required to pick up hitchhikers if they have room for passengers. During daylight hours, these stops are manned by officials who will report any car that fails to do so.
Visitors unwelcome: As a foreigner, donât expect the same treatment. While private cars will happily offer rides to their fellow Cuban hitchhikers, theyâre actually forbidden to pick up foreign tourists unless they have a taxi license. Similarly, donât plan on staying overnight at the home of a new Cuban friendâbecause thatâs forbidden, too. Only legally recognized casas particularesâprivate accommodationsâare allowed to host foreigners ⌠after paying the government for a permit.
Whereâs the beef? Cubans may have an edge when it comes to couch surfing or a free ride, but in every other case, tourists get the best of the bestâparticularly when it comes to food. Only state-owned hotels and restaurants are allowed to serve lobster or beefâplaces where Cubans generally canât afford to eat. Purchasing either on the black market can result in jail time.
Mocktail: When you order a Cuba Libre (âfree Cubaâ) cocktailâa mixture of cola, light rum, and limeâin its namesake country, donât expect it to be made with Coca Cola, which is banned for the same reason as Monopoly. Nor will it be made with Bacardi, which is no longer sold in Cuba despite the distilleryâs origins in Santiago de Cuba in 1862. Oh, and donât call it a Cuba Libre. Cubans prefer to call it mentiritaââlittle lie.â
A Faux French Pastry
It might be really common in some areas of the world but one of the bakery goodies I always earn for but rarely get are croissants. I just bought some croissants from Lulu Hypermart that have a little bit of cheese in them. It’s just a little; when you eat it you get a hint of cheese. And I was today years old when I learned that croissants are not originally French but Austrian! From Vienna! Sheesh! First the French Fry now the croissant.
A croissant is a buttery, flaky, viennoiserie pastry of Austrian origin, but mostly associated with France. Croissants are named for its historical crescent shape and, like other viennoiserie, are made of a layered yeast-leavened dough. The dough is layered with butter, rolled and folded several times in succession, then rolled into a thin sheet, in a technique called laminating. The process results in a layered, flaky texture, similar to a puff pastry. Crescent-shaped breads have been made since the Renaissance, and crescent-shaped cakes possibly since antiquity.
I’ve had croissant sandwich – filling was like a chicken salad mix with lots of mayo – and I have had the chocolate croissant variation. But I think I like this kinda almost plain with a hint of cheese croissant to enjoy with my evening or morning coffee. It just is so good.
DVD Collection Update : BSG 2003 – Season 3 & 4
ROSHAN’S ELEVEN: Bruce Willis Films
So Bruce Willis used to be someone I really liked a lot as a leading man in the 80s. Firstly because my sister and I used to love Moonlighting a lot (a detective show he starred with Cybil Sheppard) and later on when my cousins and I watched Die Hard & Die Hard 2 (c’mon, which teenager didn’t love the first two Die Hard films). Until 2000 he was a big name that I tried to follow but other than his apprentices in Friends I haven’t really loved his acting since that year.
Since then a few movies which I have watched were really good, especially the latest film that I have seen of his, which is 2018’s Death Wish (I just watched it 2 weeks ago). But here is my list of favourite 11 films of his.
- Die Hard
- The Fifth Element
- Death Becomes Her
- 12 Monkeys
- Death Wish
- The Sixth Sense
- Die Hard 2
- The Jackal
- The Whole Nine Yards
- The While Ten Yards
- Unbreakable
Pen To Paper No More
Is letter-writing dead? Tell us why you think it is or isnât (or should or shouldnât beâŚ).
I think letter writing is dead for me and for a lot of people. Emails and messages via SMS/Text, Whatsapp, Facebook, Signal etc has taken it’s place and is way, way more easier to do. Infact even emails unless it for’s official purposes is kinda dead.
But….there is a huge section of the population, whether it is here in India or in some other countries, who have very little access to computers, laptops, mobiles or tabs. Or none at all! How are they going to correspond? They will rely on the traditional snail mail approach and use stamps and envelops and go to a post office or a post box and mail their letters out to who ever it is that they are writing to. But I don’t think I can do it anymore. I used to love to get snail mail sent to me and I used to have a small but good set of pen pals.
I loved the concepts of getting to know people from magazines’ pen pal sections and sending them mails with your photo tucked in and receiving letters back from them. But that is a dead art. I can’t see myself doing that anymore nor do I see the need for resorting back to that. I have the internet. But it was fun while it lasted.
Prompt from MAY BLOG PROMPTS {12 MONTHS OF WRITING IDEAS} #BLOGPROMPTS at Fun Food Family
Hanging In The Rains
Well the lockdown in the state has been extended. The lockdown which was supposed to be from May 8th till May 16th, which is tomorrow, is now extended til the 23rd. And I am sure if the number of infected don’t go down drastically within the next few days, they might extend it even further. Tightening the borders of each district and making people stay at home and only being allowed to venture out for the essentials (which getting most things delivered) has has a positive effect but it isn’t enough.
So I keep plugging along, working on my shifts and then watching tv or sleeping. I keep having to order food from outside since I am still alone. I have managed to make a couple of meals at home, especially breakfast which I don’t always eat and a couple of dinner or lunches. I plan to buy a big meal in the afternoon so that I can eat half of it for lunch and the rest for dinner after heating it up just before hand.
Now that it has been raining almost non-stop (it had stopped this morning and only picked up again in the evening) it’s also very cold and I feel like curling up in the sheets and watching tv without having to get outta bed. I will probably watch a couple of movies tomorrow and enjoy the comfort of my bed and bed sheets. Maybe I should order in some hot coffees from Starbucks or Cafe Coffee Day.
PEAVEY EVH WOLFGANG SPECIAL QUILT MAPLE RED
Heavy Rainfall In Kerala Due To Cyclone Tauktae
We been having continuous rain, heavy rain for the most part, non-stop since yesterday evening. It’s been 24 hours now since the rain started. We are experiencing this following cyclonic storm prediction by the India Meteorological Department (IMD). The storm is expected to hit Kerala in the next 18-22 hours. For Kerala, the department has predicted heavy to very heavy rainfall at a few places with extremely heavy falls at isolated places on May 14-15 and heavy to very heavy falls at isolated places on May 16 and 17.
Sea conditions will be rough to very rough over Comorin area and along and off Kerala coast on 14th and 15th, very rough to High over east central Arabian Sea along and off Karnataka coast on 15th May and Maharashtra â Goa coasts on 15th & 16th May. It is very likely to be very rough to High over northeast Arabian Sea along & off south Gujarat coast from 17th May morning. The IMD has also issued a red alert in five other districts for Saturday– Malappuram, Kozhikode, Wayanad, Kannur and Kasaragod. Located near Lakshadweep, the low pressure will move in a north-westerly direction gaining enough speed by Sunday.
Many areas in south Kerala have been witnessing heavy rainfall and strong winds since morning and high tide has been reported in several coastal areas. The Kerala Disaster Management Authority has also advised people to remain indoors and take enough safeguard against lightning, thunder, strong winds and heavy downpour. Many low-lying areas in Thiruvananthapuram have been submerged due to incessant rain, revenue authorities said.
Braised Pork In Sweet Soy Sauce
Ingredients
Pork loin â You can use pork shoulder (butt) or ribs as well.
Vegetable oil â Any mild flavored oil like olive, safflower, or sunflower will work.
Sesame oil â If you can find toasted sesame oil, buy it! The flavor is amazing.
Soy sauce â I like to use reduced sodium soy sauce. You can use regular if thatâs what you have on hand.
Sugar â Brown sugar works as well, or you can use sugar alternatives or more viscous sugars like honey or agave instead.
Water
Chili garlic sauce â Also known as sambal oelek. You can use any type of hot sauce you like best; sriracha or gochujang would be great as well.
Green onion â I like to have these as a nice and fresh garnish for the finished pork. The onion is optional, but I highly recommend using it!
Method
Sear the pork: Cut the pork into 1? cubes. SautĂŠ over medium-high heat in a pan with the vegetable oil, working in batches if you need, until the pork is cooked through.
Braise the pork: Mix the sauce ingredients in a bowl, then pour the prepared sauce over the pork and bring it to a boil. Reduce the heat to a simmer and braise for 30 minutes uncovered, or until most of the sauce has reduced. Stir to coat each piece of pork in sauce and serve garnished with green onions.
Serve this pork over some noodles or steamed rice. It would be delicious with coconut rice as well! You can also make some mashed potatoes, or use Asian style noodles such as udon, soba, ramen, or vermicelli.
Starship Troopers 3 : Marauder (Review)
Chelsea 0 Arsenal 1
Chelsea boss Thomas Tuchel says he takes full responsibility for his side’s home defeat by Arsenal after making seven changes for the game. The Blues had claimed an impressive win at Manchester City on Saturday to delay the Premier League champions’ title celebrations and boost their hopes of a top-four finish. However, with an FA Cup final against Leicester coming up on Saturday, only four players retained their places in Tuchel’s side for Wednesday’s visit of Arsenal. It was still a strong line-up but a mistake by Jorginho in the first half allowed Emile Smith Rowe to score what proved to be the winning goal for Arsenal and, although Chelsea dominated possession and hit the woodwork twice late on, they couldn’t find an equaliser.
Chelsea remain fourth on 64 points but the defeat will give their rivals hope of sneaking into the top four. They are six points ahead of West Ham, who have a game in hand, and seven ahead of Liverpool, who have two games in hand on the Blues. Jorginho’s error will have been disappointing for Tuchel. The midfielder misjudged a pass back that was in danger of trickling over the line before Kepa Arrizabalaga managed to claw the ball away but only to Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, who teed up Smith Rowe to slot in.
Christian Pulisic thought he had equalised on the hour but his strike was ruled out by the video assistant referee for offside, while Bernd Leno pushed Kurt Zouma’s header onto the bar in injury time before Olivier Giroud’s volley also bounced back off the woodwork. The victory also meant the Gunners completed the double over the Blues for the first time in 17 years to boost their own hopes of ensuring they are playing European football next season. Arsenal are eighth and just one point behind Tottenham in seventh, although have played a game more. A win at a strong Chelsea side is certainly a very good result and one that keeps alive Arsenal’s hopes of avoiding missing out on European football for the first time in 27 seasons.