The original recipe, comes from a great little recipe book, called Best-ever Curry Cookbook, by Mridula Baljekar. It has over 150 different curries from Asian and South East Asian. I’ve made lots from this book and they have all came out very well. I am adding some chickpeas and other pulses to this recipe to make it healthier. It’s uses yoghurt rather than cream which will also keep the fat content down. I’ve also removed excess fat from the lamb, but keeping enough to add more flavour. If you want to keep it even healthier don’t use butter or ghee with the spices, use a light margarine.

• 1 tbsp tomato purée
• 175g plain yoghurt
• 1 tsp garam masala
• ¼ tsp cumin seeds
• ½ tsp salt
• 1 tsp garlic, crushed
• 1 tsp fresh ginger, grated
• 1 tsp chilli powder – you can use more or less depending on preference
• 450g diced lamb
• 2 tbsp vegetable oil
• 2 onions, finely sliced
• 250g chickpeas or any other pulse
• 25g butter/ghee/margarine
• 2.5cm cinnamon stick
• 2 green cardamom pods
• 5 dried apricots
• 1 tbsp fresh coriander chopped
• (serves 4)

Place the tomato purée, yoghurt, garam masala, cumin seeds, salt, garlic, ginger and chilli powder into a blender and mix together.

Place the lamb into a bowl add the blended spices and mix it into the lamb and leave to marinate for a minimum of an hour.

Add the oil into a heavy based pan, add the onions and cook until crisp and golden brown.

With a slotted spoon remove from the pan, allow the onions to cool and place them into a blender or pestle and mortar and grind them down.

Place the blended onions back into the pan and start to fry them again. Add the lamb and stir together and cook for two minutes

Place a lid on the pan and cook for about 15 minutes. You may need to add some water to ensure it doesn’t dry out.

Add the pulses to the lamb and mix together, cook for a further 20 minutes.

Add the butter or ghee into a heat pan, add the cinnamon and cardamom. Then add the dried apricots and cook for 2-5 minutes. Pour of the sauce of the lamb

Serve with rice, nan or another Indian bread.

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A little bit of trivia:

This beautiful length of pure silk lining arrived yesterday. Notice, and you can see that tiny white piece of string tied on the edge… lying over the yellow table.

That string was put there by the cloth merchant, to indicate a slight flaw in the silk weave. You can only just, just see the flaw in the photo- a tiny light thin line going across the fabric, perpendicular to the string.

It was a very minor flaw, but that’s how it works with the best merchants. Sometimes a piece of cloth will arrive at my door with a piece of string attached to it, and I won’t be able to see the flaw unless I look VERY hard, sometimes more than once.

But these cloth merchants are extremely strict with themselves, which is how it should be.

So when I need a perfect, flawless length of cloth for a job, I’ll say to the merchant, “Give me 3 metres, no strings attached.”

Yes, that is where the phrase “no strings attached” comes from. And yes, it’s still being used with its original meaning on Savile Row to this day.

Image reproduced from englishcut.com

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Coenraad Van Houten

Manufacturers also tried unsuccessfully for years to devise a way of separating out the greasy cacao butter. Breakthrough came in 1828 when, after years of trial and error, a Dutch chemist named Coenraad Van Houten patented a new and extremely efficient hydraulic press. His machine was able to extract about 50% of the butter present in the “liquor” (the paste produced after grinding the beans brackets), leaving behind a refined, brittle, cake–like residue that could then be pulverised to a fine powder.

Not satisfied, Van Houten went one step further. He treated the powder with alkaline salts in order to improve the ease with which it could be mixed with water. The process, which came to be known as  “Dutching”, also darkened the colour of the chocolate and lightened the flavour – a curious anomaly since plain chocolate is usually assumed to have a stronger flavour. Today many people believe they prefer Dutch chocolate because of its strong flavour, but it may simply be the colour that attracts them.

Van Houten’s inexhaustible patience revolutionised the chocolate industry, leading to the manufacture of what we know now as cocoa powder, which in Van Houten’s time was called “cocoa essence”. His work also led to a complete improvement within the industry. Van Houten sold his rights to his machine 10 years after he took out the patent, bringing it into general use.

Among the first customers were the Frys and the Cadburys, every eager to outdo each other. Both firms were quick to enter the cocoa essence market, actively promoting the product’s purity and ease of preparation. The oldest style starch–based products were classified as adulterated, resulting in several fears legal battles between rival firms. Van Houten’s press also initiated the industry’s next step in gearing up – the large-scale production of chocolate as confectionery.

Having separated out the butter from the bean, the industry was left with the question of what to do with it – it was certainly too good to waste. What happened was that somehow one of the cocoa manufacturers hit upon the idea of melting the cacao butter and combining it with a blend of ground cacao beans and sugar. The resulting mixture was a smooth and malleable paste that tolerated the added sugar without becoming gritty; the fat helped to dissolve it. The paste was also thin enough to be poured into a mould and cast, and it is from this concept that “eating chocolate” was developed.

The Fry family claimed to have been the first to market the new product. Reflecting the current popularity of French style products, they named the bars “Chocolat Délicieux à Manger” and exhibited them at a trade fair in Birmingham in 1849. The bars were an overnight success, and eating chocolate became very popular.

As a result of the new craze the price of cocoa butter rocketed and eating chocolate became an expensive luxury product popular with the elite of society. Meanwhile cocoa was relegated to the lower classes.

Images reproduced from exhibits.mannlib.cornell.edu, nl.wikipedia.org and cadbury.com

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I had heard a lot about this book, so I thought I would see what all the fuss was about. This book definitely didn’t disappoint. It was interesting, informative and thought provoking from the start.

The story is told through the eyes of an eleven year old girl called Julia, who lives in California with her parents. Even though Julia is a loner, she does have some friends and develops a crush for a boy she goes to school with. Julia talks about how at first nobody noticed that the Earth’s rotation was gradually slowing down, causing radical weather changes, earthquakes and tsunamis. How gravity dramatically changed. Objects and people became heavier, falling faster and how things required a little more force and effort. There was a problem with gravity sickness. People fainted, became dizzy and suffered from extreme tiredness. To the people, this change to the Earth was known as “The Slowing”, although they never knew what caused it.

This captured my imagination right from the start. It definitely makes you sit up and think, what if this really does happen! Could the Earth start to slow down, causing days to become longer. First by minutes then by hours, until day becomes night and night becomes day. How would I feel and could I continue with my own existence until it was no longer possible.

We live our lives by the clock and by time. It tells us when to get up, when to eat and when to sleep. We understand time. Sixty seconds in a minute, sixty minutes in an hour, twenty-four hours in a day and so on. We understand the calendar, twelve months in a year but what if there were thirty hours or more in a day, thirteen months in a year, what then?

As Julia explains in the book, there would be total chaos, total confusion, total disruption and total panic and despair.

The author refers to the title “The Age of Miracles”, as a time when young bodies start to change. When beauty and maturity develops and when dreams are dreamt and when anything and everything seems possible, achievable and within easy reach of their grasp. The young felt they had their whole lives ahead of them. Fantasies to be filled and life to be explored, totally unaware of the very different future the Earth would eventually deliver them.

I think one of the most disturbing thoughts of this book, is the disappearing of the magnetic field which protects us from the sun’s harmful radiation. The temperature and radiation could potentially become dangerously high, causing extreme repercussions, resulting in major health declines. Eventually making it impossible to venture outside during daylight hours, even for the smallest amount of time.  A very scary thought. Vitamin D would also be required to replace what was needed from the natural sunlight.

Think about food shortages. The limited availability of crops, meat, fruit and vegetables. The currents in our oceans changing beyond recognition. Sea creatures washed up and stranded on our beaches and the absence of musical birds from our sky. It would only be a matter of time before fuel that keeps us alive would run out. Eventually anything living would cease to exist.

Even though this book, for the majority of the time, is dark and melancholic, I have to admire how the author has managed to capture the attention and full imagination of the reader. It had me hooked from the start.

So, to sum this superb novel up, I would say, thought provoking, terrifying and dramatic. A definite recommendation and so it gets a 9/10 from me.

Image reproduced from www.kobobooks.com

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Baklava ~ Delicious layers of crispy flaky phyllo pasty filled with protein packed nuts and sweetened with a sweet syrup.
Ingredients:

60 g / 2 oz shelled pistachio nuts
60 g / 2 oz flaked almonds
60 g / 2 oz walnuts
2 tablespoons golden syrup
60 g  / 2 oz butter (melted)
4 sheets phyllo pastry

Sugar Syrup:
240 g / 8 oz sugar
125 ml water
1 tablespoon lemon juice

Special equipment:
1 cm diameter wooden dowel (stick)
Baking Tray

Method:

1. Coarsely chops the nuts and place them in a bowl, add the golden syrup and mix well.(Mixture should be fairly dry.)
2. Preheat oven to 180 degrees C / 350 degrees F
3. On a flat surface place 1 sheet of phyllo pastry and brush it with melted butter. Spread half the nut mixture onto it .

4. Place the wooden dowel at the longest end of the phyllo pastry and start rolling the pastry over the dowel encasing all the filling.Keep the dowel with the rolled pastry to one side covered with damp cloth.
5. Spread the second sheet of phyllo on the surface and brush with melted butter. Place the roll of pastry with the dowel in it at the long end and tightly roll the 2nd phyllo sheet over the already rolled 1st roll.
6. Place the roll of pastry in front of you on the flat surface. Holding the pastry with both hands scrunch it up on the dowel to form pleats.The pastry roll will be shorter now as its been scrunched together.

7. Hold the roll with one hand and gently remove the dowel rod.
8. Grease a baking tray and place the roll on it. With a sharp knife cut the roll into 2 inch pieces.
9. Repeat the procedure for the other two phyllo sheets using remaining filling.
10. Once both rolls are made, brush some more butter over them . Place the baking tray in the oven to bake for about 30 minutes or until pastry turns golden brown.
11. Place the sugar, lemon juice and water in a heavy bottomed pan  and bring to boil.

12. Boil the syrup for 8 -10 minutes and then remove from heat.
13. Remove Baklava from oven and gently spoon over the sugar syrup over the baked rolls .
14. Leave the syrup to soak into the pastry for 2-3 hours before eating.

You can check out a video of this method of Rolling the Baklava rolls .

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I have always had a compelling fascination with tornadoes. I think it’s the shear enormity and destructive energy they have which makes them so engrossing.

This excellent Channel 4 extreme weather series called “The World’s Weirdest Weather”, is informatively presented by Alex Beresford. I particularly enjoyed this episode “Super Tornado”, as it adhered to my avid interest of these powerful and destructive storms.

On the 20^th May, Oklahoma was tragically hit by a terrifying tornado which swept through neighbourhoods, killing more than 20 people, injuring hundreds more and destroying homes. It was a very moving and humbling documentary and it showed that in the incomprehensible destruction, communities are working together through the devastation and are slowly starting to rebuild their lives.

The word “Tornado” comes from the Spanish word “tronada”, which means “thunderstorm”. They are usually the result of a very large thunderstorm called a supercell. Warm and cold air collide until eventually the warm air twists and forms a funnel shaped cloud. They are also referred to as “twisters” and “cyclones” and they turn black after engulfing and being surrounded by debris and dust. The majority of tornadoes have wind speeds which are less than 110 miles per hour, are usually 250 feet in width and travel a few miles before they disperse. In extreme cases, some tornadoes can reach wind speeds in excess of 300 miles per hour, are more than two miles in width and can travel for dozens of miles before dissipating. Occasionally multiple tornadoes form and travel together in swarms.

Tornadoes have been observed on every continent except Antarctica. The majority occur in spring and early summer in the Tornado Alley region of the United States. Tornado Alley encompasses Nebraska, South Dakota, Oklahoma, Texas and Kansas.

With the help of a Pulse-Doppler radar and with the efforts of storm chasers, tornadoes can be detected before or as they occur. The Pulse-Doppler radar recognises patterns in velocity and reflectivity data to determine the strength of the tornado.

There are several scales for rating the strength and damage caused. The Fujita scale (F), the updated Enhanced Fujita scale (EF) and the TORRO scale (T). An F0 or EF0 tornado is the weakest. It can damage trees but not substantial structures. An F5 or EF5 tornado is the strongest and can tear buildings from their foundations. Similarly, T0 for extremely weak tornadoes rising to T11 for the most powerful and dangerous.

Storm chasing is the pursuit of any severe weather condition. It can be fuelled by curiosity, adventure, scientific exploration or for news coverage. A storm chaser’s biggest objective is to witness a tornado with the view to photographing the storm. They also enjoy the challenge of correctly forecasting and intercepting storms. Many chasers who are storm spotters will report their observations of dangerous weather to the authorities.

This episode has given an amazing and informative insight into the destructive and devastating world of tornadoes. Even though sometimes fascinating and appealing, they most definitely have an intimidating dark side.

Image reproduced from www.lbtsfire.com

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If you are a practitioner or a coach, you will certainly know that over 90%of people starting out will fail within the first 12-18 months. Our estimate is that 3 of the remaining 5% will be forced to shut down within the first 24 months and 1 within 36 meaning that only 1 out of 100 new professionals will succeed.

So what are the reasons behind this and, most importantly, how can you  change today and become one of the successful ones?

Here below you will learn the 3 most important steps to take in order to succeed and escape the “Closed” sign on your door and you will be surprised to find that it really is simple and easy. There is however one condition; one factor which will determine whether you succeed or not even with these new notions; that is Action. You must act on what you learn right away, not next week, not tomorrow and not in one hour but right away; you must take at least one action (the biggest you can given the circumstances) as soon as you have finished this article.

Never leave the scene on a decision without taking action!

Okay here we go… what makes people in your business fail?

1. Lack of business sense
That’s right, you might be a great therapist with skills, passion and love for helping people BUT (and this is a really big BUT), unless you learn to understand that you are in business and behave accordingly, you will not make it; there is no exception!

2. Marketing is not Market Inn
Many of you mistake Marketing with Market Inn, an imaginary hotel chain where people meet and do all sorts of wrong promotional activities.

Marketing is a science, marketing needs to be studied (and I don’t mean at school), understood, tested and, most importantly used.

Most of you do not do any marketing at all, waiting on the dream of referrals. Well, it is now time to wake up before the dream becomes your scariest nightmare. Referrals will come but (and again a big one), with time and even then you will need new clients. New clients are your future and here is why:

• Referrals will not be passed by all your clients as some of them will forget about you. After all you also would want to forget about a problem you had and with it you will also forget the person who helped you overcome it
• Your old clients may move town
• Your clients may not want to share their old issues
• After you have successfully worked with them, they took no action and regressed back to the old issue and of course, blame you!
• They cannot find your details anymore

Marketing must be done intelligently and continuously.

3. Professionalism
And please remember that I do not mean anything personal with this but (… a big one again), you mustbe professional not only in what you do and the results that you achieve but also in the way you do it, the way you look and the fees that you charge.

See below for more details and solutions.

So, these are the main three issues which keep many from succeeding in this business, now lets look at what you must do in order to save yourself from being part of that 99% who will never make it; but remember, you must start now!

1. Your therapy work might be your love, your passion but remember that you are in a relationship with your clients and your suppliers (whether that’ s your landlord or other). Whether you like it or not, you are carrying out a business transaction, your passion is also a business and thus you must treat it as such.  This point number 1 is all about teaching you to create and maintain a business attitude when you work. It is up to you to draft the policies as long as you have some.

2. Marketing is not a hotel chain but it is a chain that can either pull you up to success or drag you down to failure. Here is what you can do:

• Join a clinic which offers you serious marketing support. By this I mean a good Google ranking, good general advertising of the clinic, good presence on their web site and a good Google AdWords campaign management
• Hire a Marketing Expert
• Learn Marketing
• Reframe your expectations (not recommended)

3. Professionalism
You might think that dressing casual puts your clients at ease, you might think that “that’s what you are and either they like it or not, it’s their problem” or you might even not think about your dress code. Well all of the above is wrong.

With this I am not suggesting that you should change who you are or dress with suits or white gowns. All I am saying is that you need to look professional, clean  and tidy. Remember that people are putting their problems in your hands and to be frank, if you cannot keep yourself clean, tidy and presentableyou are not going to even hear about my issues!

The above goes for your clinic too.

Your fees reflect  how good you think you are. If you want to give discounts that’s fine but always send your invoice with your usual fees and then apply the discount so that they know what your fees are.

So what do you need to do now?

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Thomas Mahon

Thomas Mahon of English Cut demonstrates how to press a suit jacket the way a Savile Row tailor would. Check the article What You Need To Press a Suit for further information.

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Naturally, most of us hesitate making decisions, independent on what social status we have or what our personal circumstances are. Furthermore, most of us dream about having a different life and make changes which in turn we keep postponing to the next day, then to the next, and eventually we accept things that we could change but simply won’t tackle.

But why do we hesitate?

Many of us make new year resolutions, such as exercising from now on, quit smoking or spend more time with the family. We promise to ourselves to change our style of living by sleeping more or eating healthier food. But often these resolutions are forgotten before we even start employing them.

But why do we hesitate?

The human brain loves habits, and when we do things over and over again and they “work”, the body is naturally in a less stressed state and can reduce adrenalin production. In this homeostasis it is easier for the body to keep the endocrine system in balance and our hormones at a static level. We get “used to things”. Just as we learned how to speak and to walk at a very young age, our brain goes through the same plastic changes when we learn new things and habits and then stick to them.

But what we do is not always good for us. If one is overweight, keeping the same eating habits will not be good for health but the brain can find it hard to adjust to a different style of living.

So we often try to change things and …. why do we hesitate?

This question has been answered now. Our hormonal balance will fight against changing habits.

For example. Cutting sugar from your diet is hard, despite proven scientific evidence that a “sugar addiction” is not an addiction in a classical sense as sugar does not directly alter brain chemistry. But are such statements really true?

Sugar DOES alter brain chemistry. By directly having en effect on the endocrine system and the levels of the hormones adrenalin, noradrenalin and insulin in our blood, it very well alters body and also brain chemistry. True, it does that in an indirect fashion, but withdrawal symptoms such as mood swings due to sugar lows are serious physical consequences.

But there are also decisions that have less severe physical effects and still … we hesitate.

Once a very dear friend of mine told me a story. She was at a very young age and told her mother that taking a decision only takes a split second and that what takes so much time is our pondering about making a decision.

But be assured, things do not change unless facts change and us thinking about taking decisions over and over again is certainly a waste of time at the best of times. Make a decision and stick to it and it will only take you very little time.

And yes, it is as simple as that. YES YOU CAN. YES I CAN. YES WE CAN.

Another very simple piece of information may also help you with this process. There are no right or wrong decisions. Decisions have consequences, but there is no wrong or right. Decisions are by definition neither good or evil.

Consider the consequences, weigh the facts and make the decision in a split second. Do it now rather than later. Our minds are strong and we can overcome hurdles such as brain chemistry with the power of our mind and thought. Do it and don’t look for excuses why you cannot. At the end of the day you just cheat yourself.

Even Barack Obama used this as a simple message in his last electoral campaign. Of course you can and the only thing holding you back is yourself.

Live your life or others will live it for you.

Image reproduced from http://www.confidenceaffirmations.com and http://selfempowermentsecrets.com

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But the question is, should you ever take an ex back?  Remember they are an ex for a reason.  If they dumped you then it should really be a flat out no!  But life is never that simple.  There are lots of reasons that getting back with an ex seems like the right thing to do.

You do love him for sure, of course you do.  You want to stop the searing pain that you’re feeling right now, and lying in his arms is the only way to do this.  He knows all your weird and kooky ways.  He’s the only one who knows that you secretly like to watch scrapheap challenge in your onesie.  Its comfortable and its easy, you don’t have to try with an ex.  He knows what you like and you complement each other in the bedroom.  He’s sorry and he’s going to change and you are the only one for him.  Everyone can change right?  And everyone deserves a second chance right?  Wrong.

However as dreamy as this may sound (and it does sound dreamy), remember why you broke up in the first place.  If somebody needs to be reminded that they are in love you, or they need time away from you to realise that they love you.  Then they don’t love you.  They’ve just realised that the grass is not greener, juicer or more bootylicious on the other side.  Its dark and full of traffic light nights in the local.  Getting back with an ex can be fun in the short term.  You have forgiven him and the two of you are like newlyweds again.  Its like the first dates without the nerves and the ‘will we wont we’ anticipation.  However this can be detrimental in the long term.  Wondering if and when he is going to do this again is the biggest worry.  If he suddenly gets cold feet again and after 6 months you’re back in the same position pouring over the same cosmopolitan wondering where you went wrong.

If however you decide to give him a second chance then remember he should get one last chance and one last chance only.  Reasons depending but personally I believe that its only worth getting back with an ex if you’re going to marry them, ideally he should have a ring ready (but that’s another article).  Otherwise there’s always room for another sharp exit perhaps….

If you are unfortunate enough to break up more than once then remember it gives him the green light to do this again as he knows that after a bit of begging and a bit of grovelling he knows that you will always take him back!

Have some respect ladies in the words of Taylor Swift, ‘We are never, ever, getting back together!’

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