How To Make Chocolate Brownies

Chocolate Brownies Recipe. The Art of Hospitality School specializes in making food with kids - that's healthy and fun to cook. This is Chef Sally Kuhrt's delicious chocolate Brownies Recipe.

Step 1: You will need…
250 g caster sugar
180 g plain chocolate drops
180 g soft butter
110 g plain flour
1 vanilla extract
3 eggs
some butter for greasing
150 g walnuts
baking parchment
baking tin
oven gloves
heatproof bowl
small saucepan
wooden spoon
large mixing bowl
teaspoon
tablespoon
spatula
whisk
sharp knife
pallet knife
Serves:
10
Oven Temperature:
160° c - 320° f


Step 2: Prepare
Grease the side of the tin by rubbing with a kitchen towel dipped in a little soft butter. Line with a square of baking parchment.

Turn on the oven, and set it to 160 degrees Celsius, or 320 degrees Fahrenheit.

Step 3: Chocolate & Butter
Fill the saucepan with a little water, and sit a heat proof bowl on top. The bottom of the bowl should not touch the water, and definitely not the bottom of the saucepan. Remove some of the water if this is the case.

Cut the butter up into small pieces. Place them in the bowl and add the chocolate.

Step 4: Heat
Put the saucepan over a low heat. Make sure the saucepan handle is facing away from you, so you don't knock it. The chocolate and butter will gently melt over about 10 minutes. Don't be tempted to stir! This will solidify the chocolate, and you won't be able to melt it again after that.

Step 5: Cool
When completely melted, stir gently with a wooden spoon. Turn off the heat, remove the bowl from the pan and leave it to cool.

Step 6: Eggs, Sugar, Vanilla
Put the 3 eggs, 250 grams of sugar, and 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract into a large bowl. Whisk together

Step 7: Add chocolate
Fold in the cooled chocolate mixture

Step 8: Add remaining ingredients
Now add 110 grams of plain flour. Use a method called cutting and folding to mix it, moving the spoon in a figure of 8. This helps to keep the mixture light and airy. If you would like, add 150g chopped walnuts, again using the cutting and folding action.

Step 9: Bake
Put the mixture in a tin and smooth the top over evenly. Bake at 160 degrees Celsius for 20 to 30 minutes. If you can, set a timer to make sure they don't over cook. Check after 20 minutes. The chocolate brownies should still be soft but not springy.

Step 10: Cool
Remove the chocolate brownies from the oven and leave to cool in the tin for at least 30 minutes.

Step 11: Serve the chocolate brownies
Cut into squares with a sharp knife. Lift the baking parchment from the tin, and use a pallet knife to transfer the chocolate brownies to a serving plate.

3 Ways To Improve Your Emotional Intelligence

Emotional Intelligence describes the ability, capacity, skill or self-perceived ability, to identify, assess and manage the emotions of one's self, of others and groups.[1] Emotional Intelligence skills have found its importance in the present state of globalized economies, hierarchical organizations and demanding relationships. This article describes 3 methods that you can adopt to improve your emotional intelligence, namely:

Stress busting
Becoming aware of your own emotions
Lending an effective ear

1. Stress busting:

The most important factor that differentiates a person with high Emotional Intelligence is the time taken by him/her to calm down in a stressful situation. The degree of personal resilience differs in individuals. In other words, emotional intelligence is what will help you to stay balanced, focused and in control of whatever situation you are faced with.

For adequate stress busting, it is important that you realize:

a) When you are stressed – What is it that stresses you out? The answer to this question will help you to achieving the first step in busting stress

b) How you react to stress – the best way to reduce stress is to understand how you react to a stressful situation

c) Which technique works best for you – Being more self aware will enable you to understand which technique gives you the desired positive results.

2. Becoming aware of your own emotions:

Emotional awareness is the key to understanding oneself and others. Many times, people fail to acknowledge their own emotions. They either suppress them, or vent them out in a manner that is negative and useless (drinking, drugs, etc). It is important to realize that although feelings can be suppressed, they can never be eliminated. Constant suppressing of emotions is dangerous, and will lead to what is known as emotional outbursts.

Make it a practice to start and end your day with a personal moment-to-moment awareness of your emotions and how they influence your actions and thoughts. This will help you to reconnect to your core emotions, understand and accept them, and become comfortable while dealing with them. When done regularly, it will help you get into the mode of automatically being tuned to your emotions when you are faced with overwhelming situations.

3. Lending an effective ear:

One of the most important indicators of a person with high EQ (Emotional Quotient) is their ability to lend a ear – to listen when it is required. This includes being empathetic, being silent when the other person talks, and consciously indicating to the other person that they are being respected. Showing compassion and refraining from interruptions add to active listening. Your emotional intelligence improves as a result, since you learn more than what the other person verbally says. By lending a silent ear, you sense the trapped or suppressed emotions of the other person.

Being emotionally intelligent may not seem to affect our daily lives as much, but the fact is that it does. It forms the basis of your interactions with other people, helps you to take control of the situation and makes success more predictable in what you undertake. By working to improve our emotional intelligence in a constant and conscious manner, we can strengthen relationships and lead better lives.

Do You Eat When You Eat...? The Art Of Eating

Are you in the habit of "grabbing a bite"...?

Do you ever eat in the office while continuing to work or just skip meals altogether...?

Do you multitask while eating...?

Do you have power breakfasts, working lunches and business dinners...?

Do you eat fast and hurriedly, finish meals well ahead of everyone else and eat in bigger bites without savoring the taste of food...?

Can you vividly recall the taste of all the dishes you ate for dinner yesterday night...?

Do you eat when you eat...?

Do you want to master the Art of Eating and learn how to enjoy your food...?

Remember, there is no love greater than the love of eating – so read on, learn and try to master the Art of Eating...

Good food must be savored delicately; slowly, attentively and respectfully; in a befitting manner, with finesse and technique, with relish and appreciation and you will experience true gustatory delight.

That's essence of the Art of Eating.

It is sacrilege to eat in a ravenous and rapacious manner.

Never eat when tired, angry, worried, tense, hurried, and at mealtimes refuse to think or talk about unpleasant subjects.

It is best to eat alone, mindfully, with yourself, in glorious solitude, in a calm, serene, conducive and unhurried environment.

If you must have company, you must always eat with friendly, relaxed and tranquil people who love food and whose company you enjoy; never eat with "toxic", "harried" or "stressed-out" people or in a tense or hurried atmosphere.

If you want to do full justice to good food, you must build up an appetite for it – merely being hungry is not enough.

And the first step towards building up an appetite for good food is to think about it – simulated imaginative gustatory visualization to stimulate and prepare yourself for the sumptuous indulgence.

An important thing we were taught at boarding school was to read the menu and prepare for the meal by beginning to imagine relishing each and every dish, from soup to pudding, in our mind's eye.

Remember: First plan your "eat" and then eat your "plan".

It's true.

I eat my food twice.

First I "eat" in my mind's eye – imagining, visualizing, "vicariously tasting", fantasizing, strategizing on how I am going to savor and relish the dish to my utmost pleasure and satisfaction till my mouth waters and I desperately yearn to eat it.

And then I do the honours – actually go ahead and physically eat it and enjoy the delightful experience.

Eating is not a gustatory experience alone; it is visual and olfactory as well.

Food must look good, smell good, taste good and, most importantly, make you feel good.

The Art of Eating – a Holistic, Multidimensional experience, encompassing all domains of your inner being.

Eat in silence. Mindfully. With full awareness.

Savour the aroma, delicately place the food on your tongue, chew slowly and experience the variety of flavours as the permeate your taste buds, fully aware and sense the nourishment as the food dissolves and sinks deep within you.

Chew your food to a pulp or milky liquid until it practically swallows itself.

Never mix food and drink – alcohol dulls the taste buds, and olfactory sensation, and encumbers the unmitigated enjoyment of good food.

You must always close your eyes during the process of eating.

When you eat, you must eat; nothing else, no seeing, no hearing, no talking. No multitasking. That's right – never multi-task while eating.

Just eat...Yes, when you eat just eat...

Focus all your senses on your food, eat mindfully, meditatively, and you will attain a state of delightful bliss and happiness.

It's simple.

Create a positive eating atmosphere, an environment of happy conducive vibes, honour your taste buds, respect your food and eat it in a proper state of mind, with love, zest, awareness and genuine appreciation and it will transport you to a state of bliss and happiness.

Remember: There is no love greater than the love of eating...

In a nutshell, this is the "Art of Eating".

Dear Reader, long back I read a Teaching Story ( Inspirational Tale ), maybe it was a Zen or Tao Story, quoted by Thich Nhat Hanh, from where I derived my inspiration for The Art of Eating. I improvised and exemplified this concept in this Mulla Nasrudin Story, I posted a few months ago in my blog, and I am reposting it below for you to read and reflect on, as I feel it is most apt here, in your quest to master the ART OF EATING:

Spirituality, Meditation and Art of Living had become the "in thing".

Courses on the Art of Living were proliferating all over and every one was rushing to attain instant happiness, inner peace, nirvana and bliss.

A wise old man, a teacher, living in the neighbourhood announced that he would teach instant Art of Living free of cost.

On the first day he drew a huge crowd.

"What do you all want to achieve?" the teacher asked the audience.

"Inner peace, tranquillity and true happiness," everyone shouted in unison.

"For that you have to attain enlightenment." the teacher said.

"How?" the audience asked.

"By practicing the Art of Living," the teacher said.

"How do you practice the Art of Living? Please teach us," the audience asked the teacher eagerly.

"It is simple – just eat and sleep," the teacher said, "you can practise the art of living by eating and by sleeping."

"What nonsense!" the astounded audience exclaimed.

"Yes," said the teacher nonchalantly, "When Hungry, Eat; and When Tired, Sleep – that is the Art of Living".

"Everybody does that!" shouted the audience.

"No. Everybody does not Eat when they Eat and everybody does not Sleep when they Sleep", the teacher said calmly, "but when I eat, I only eat and when I sleep I only sleep. That is the Art of Living I practice – I live in the present moment fully focussed on whatever I am doing with full awareness."



So now, Dear Reader, you are ready to master the Art of Eating...

All the Best...!
Happy Eating...!

5 Time Management Strategies For Busy Bloggers

Business blogs require the establishment of certain time management strategies in order to be effectively managed on a day to day basis. Most bloggers are passionate about what they do but the tasks involved still put to test their time management skills. Being that most blogs are managed by just one person it is critical to learn to make use of time in the most efficient way possible. Being there is certain common 'time killers' in our daily routines it is best to identify and remove them from our schedules.

Here are 5 time management tips that any busy site owner can use to make better use of their efforts invested in managing their business blogs.

Avoid Checking Email

This is the easiest 'trap' for anyone working online to fall into. Email tends to be a bottomless hole of useless information that is VERY effective at burning time and LOTS of it. If you must check your email assign a particular and limited amount of time in which to do so.

The best time to do this would be when you are not at your productive best since viewing email requires little focus or energy.

Limit Time

Call upon the use of your time management skills when performing various tasks and do not allow yourself to casually complete them. Treat each and every task with a certain sense of urgency since business blogs are for earning an income. Your blog is not for your own casual entertainment so treat it and your time in a serious manner and your bank account will thank you for it.

Work in Time Sets

To help you maintain your focus and energy level break up your day by working on only a small number of related tasks at a time. Upon their completion take yourself a quick break to stay 'fresh' and be at your best for your next series of work assignments. This also helps make the work day seem shorter.

Forget Email Auto-Notifications

There is no need for you to be 'automatically' notified every time your get a new friend or follower on facebook or twitter. This is nothing more than additional e-junk-mail you have to contend with and another distraction is NOT what you need.

Time Your Work

Give yourself a preset amount of time to work on something than move on to another assignment. This will force you to focus more and learn to be more efficient with your use of time. You can also 'compete' against yourself by trying to get more done in the time allowed.

Successful business blogs require the completion of a myriad of tasks that can only be done through the use of certain time management strategies. Blog owners need to learn how to make use of time more efficiently in order to perform all the necessary duties their site requires. The 5 time management tips suggested above help to rid any blogger of those meaningless activities that infiltrate their work schedule. By re-introducing these time management skills back into you day it can now be spent on more productive activities.

How To Gain Confidence – How To Think Positively

There are a lot of people who spend their days focussed on what's bad about their life. They can talk at length about what is lacking:

"I don't have a big enough house"

"I don't earn enough"

"I don't have a relationship"

This kind of focus on the negatives is common but also very destructive. If you are only focussed on the things that are bad in your life, the fact is you will never be happy. The fact is that there will always be something "lacking" in life. Once you have a big house, there will always be a bigger house to strive for. You can always earn more money. There will always be someone better looking than you. You will be forever chasing happiness in the future. This is a recipe for misery.

Although we fool ourselves into thinking everything will be better once we get the great job, the big house and the beautiful partner, the fact is if we retain a negative focus, this doesn't go away. No amount of external goal achievement will help us.

It's time to face facts. It's not the lack of a big house or big salary that is preventing you from being happy. Once you achieve those things, there will always be something else that is lacking to keep you from being happy. The truth is if you focus on what is lacking, that is what is preventing you from being happy.

This can be quite hard to acknowledge or accept. That our happiness doesn't exist out there. You may have heard the expression before "Happiness is an inside job"

If you focus on what is good in your life, this is a powerful way of shifting the balance of power towards yourself. If you can find happiness in where you are now, that is the key to happiness.

Remember this doesn't mean you give up all ambition. It doesn't mean you stop striving to be better. A lot of people fear taking away the dissatisfaction with their current state because they think it will take away their drive. But what it actually does is that it gives you permission to be happy now. And happiness makes achievement of goals more likely not less likely.

Take a few minutes to write down three things you are grateful for. It could be to do with your family, friends or health. It could be because you are one of the privileged few on this planet who have access to an internet connection to read this article.

Think of pleasant experiences you have had in life. Think of all the positive things in your life. Try and feel the full pleasure of all the good things in your life. When you appreciate the positive in your life, you feel more positive. When you feel positive, you will see positive in all the situations in your life.

This happiness and positivity are the cornerstone of true confidence. The more positive you are about yourself, your life and your abilities the more confident you will feel.

Optimize Your Sleep For Better Health and More Free Time

Getting too much sleep is hazardous to your health — it may lead to higher risk for obesity, diabetes, and premature death. We’ve been brainwashed to think we need 8 hours of sleep a night, but sleep requirements vary greatly by age, stress level, and health. In fact, research suggests 7 hours might be the ideal amount of sleep the average adult needs per night, and getting 8 or more hours can lead to increased mortality — even more so than too little sleep!

All this talk about how we are sleep deprived and how we need more sleep is enough to, well, put me to sleep. Even the good folks here at MoneyWatch (including my boss!) have pounded the table that “improving job performance may be as easy as getting a good night’s sleep” and that “getting a good night’s sleep is the single best way you never thought of to improve your abilities and human capital literally overnight.”

Hogwash! Not only can too much sleep be bad for your health, it can rob you of your other 8 hours. If you work 8 and sleep 9, that only leave 7 hours for you to pursue your goals and live your life. Every hour, minute, and second you sleep more than you need to is a complete waste of time and your life.

Too little or too much sleep can lead to low energy and mental sluggishness. Your goal is to get an optimum amount of sleep, which I define as the least amount of sleep possible while still feeling physically energized and mentally alert. So how do you know how much sleep you need? Test, test, test. Here’s what to do:

Step 1

Start with 8 ½ hours of sleep. Make sure you get the full 8 ½ hours. No more and no less.

Step 2

The next day, complete the Sleep Optimization Form. This is a simple form to gauge how you feel (physically and mentally) at different times during the day. Because stress, eating habits, and a host of other factors can influence our energy levels and outlook, try to keep all other variables constant (i.e., unchanged as possible).

Step 3

Repeat Steps 1 and 2 for four nights in a row.

Step 4

Reduce your sleep by 30 minutes and start the sleep/test process again for four nights in a row. Keep cutting your sleep in Step 1 by 30 minutes until you reach 7 hours.

Step 5

Analyze the data. Review your Sleep Optimization Form and identify which days you felt the best (based on higher scores). If you find that you feel good on 8 ½ hours of sleep, but you also feel good on 7 ½ hours of sleep, you’ve just saved yourself an hour a night and given yourself an extra 30 hours a month to create something.

If you really want to get fancy, you can test 15 minute increments (e.g., 7 hours and 45 minutes versus 8 hours). Remember, we’re trying to identify the absolute minimum amount of sleep you need because every minute you aren’t sleeping is another minute for you.

My favorite~~Banana cake ~~

Here is the recipe of my favorite banana cake~
INGREDIENTS
The basic ingredients for the banana cake are shown below.



For illustration only, use the ingredients list below.

Metric Imperial
Banana Cake Banana Cake
3 medium bananas, ripe if possible (approx. 400 g) 3 medium bananas, ripe if possible (approx. 14 oz)
300 g self-raising flour 10 oz self-raising flour
150 g soft butter 5 oz soft butter
150 g soft brown sugar (Demerara) 5 oz soft brown sugar (Demerara)
2 medium eggs (at room temperature)
80 g walnuts or sultanas 3 oz walnuts or sultanas
2 teaspoons lemon juice
2 tablespoons olive or vegetable oil
Cake Topping Cake Topping
125 g full fat soft cheese 4½ oz full fat soft cheese
75 g butter 2½ oz butter
200 g icing (confectioners) sugar 7 oz icing (confectioners) sugar
½ teaspoon vanilla essence

WHAT SPECIAL KITCHEN EQUIPMENT?

You will need the following for the banana cake:
1 large bowl to mix the ingredients
900g loaf tin (see picture below)
Small amount of greaseproof baking powdwer.

The butter must be soft. The best way to achieve this is to measure out the butter an hour or so before it is needed and leave it at room temperature. If this is not possible, break up the butter with a fork and beat it for a minute or so. If all else fails, put it in a bowl and float the bowl in warm water.

Turn the oven on, setting it to 180°C / 350°F / Gas Mark 4.

Next, grease the loaf tin with margarine or butter, and line the tin with greaseproof baking paper. It's not essential to cover 100% of the tin but make sure that it lays as flat as possible on the inside of the tin.

Grease the inside of the loaf tin with margarine or butter, and line the tin with greaseproof baking paper.
It's not essential to cover 100% of the tin but make sure that the greaseproof paper lays as flat as possible on the inside of the tin. This will help to make a good-looking flat sided cake.



Peel the bananas and mash them with a fork until they are really mushy. It's easier if the bananas are ripe but not essential.
Chop up the walnuts reasonably finely (click picture on beneath to enlarge). Sultanas can be used as an alternative if you have a nut allergy.



Place the butter and brown sugar into a mixing bowl and blend together with a fork. The idea here is to mix the two ingredients thoroughly and at the same time incorporate as much air into the mixture as possible.
Mixing with a fork in a figure of eight shape will help to incorporate air into the cake mix.



Stir in the bananas and chopped walnuts or sultanas and mix thoroughly. Add one egg and sift in half of the flour. Mix thoroughly in a figure of eight. Add the remaining flour, egg and lemon juice then mix again in a figure of eight.
Now the magic touch! Add the two tablespoons of olive or vegetable oil and mix thoroughly again in a figure of eight with a fork. The oil will keep the cake moist.



Pour the mixture into the loaf tin, smooth it level and place in the oven for 50 minutes. Go to the next step to make the topping.
After that time take it out and test that it is cooked by piercing the cake with a fork and if it comes out clean it's cooked. If not cook for another 5 minutes and retest (see below).



Some people have commented that this banana cake takes 1 hour 15 minutes to bake so don't be concerned if it's the same for you. Different ovens and slightly different ingredients are probably the cause of this. Just keep checking every five or ten minutes.
When you take the cake out of the oven, take it out of the tin and place it on a wire rack or something similar. This will stop the cake sweating and getting damp - it really does make a difference.



Allow the cake an hour or so to cool down before icing it.


Make the icing by pouring the icing sugar, soft cheese, butter and vanilla into a bowl and mixing it all together with a fork.
Spoon the icing onto the cake and spread it evenly with a knife. Pop a couple of cherries or walnuts on the top if you want to decorate it.

How to make people happy~

It's about time we learn how to make people happy. Who says the world has to live under gray skies all the time? Besides, we need a bit of cheering up. And the world will definitely become a better place if we all did our part in keeping our neighbors cheerful.

If you want to learn how to make people happy, read this article.

Happiness Tip # 1: Be Happy Yourself.

You can't make others happy if you're wallowing in depression yourself! And even if you do succeed in making someone happy, that joy won't last long when they see how miserable you are.

The guilt will set in and before you know it, that person is just as unhappy as you are. Besides, knowing what makes you smile and laugh will help a lot when it comes to determining what makes other people tick.

Happiness Tip # 2: Give A Surprise Gift.

A proven way on how to make people happy is by sending them a totally unexpected present. You don't have to buy them a car to make them glad. Little things like a cup of coffee or a slice of cake does wonders for a weary soul. The fact that it's unexpected only adds to the experience.

Happiness Tip # 3: Smile.

Smiling is very important when it comes to learning how to make people happy. This works well not only for people you know, but also for strangers on the street.

Happiness is infectious and when you're smiling, most people can't help but smile back at you. You may not think it's a lot, but one smile is like a shot of sunshine to a person.

Just make sure you're putting on a genuine smile because people will know if you're faking it. If you find it difficult to put on a "real" smile, just think of your favorite things or experiences when you're smiling to someone.

Happiness Tip # 4: Accept Them For Who They Are.

Sometimes, learning how to make people happy is as easy as accepting them. There are a lot of insecure people in the world. You yourself might also harbor a few uncertainties of your own. Imagine what it would feel like if somebody went up to you and told you that they like you just the way you are.

Happiness Tip # 5: Listen To What They Say.

Listening is also part of cultivating happiness. It acts as therapy for those who just need someone to be there. Listening to others also makes them feel like they're worth something.

Learning how to make people happy doesn't have a set formula. Everybody is different and responds to different things. However, these tips mentioned above cut across most barriers. Check each one out and see what works best for you.

Fitness exercise Program~~~

Believe it or not, there are millions of people all over the world that are trying all sorts of things in order to get healthy and lose weight but without following a fitness exercise program. Trying to lose weight and get healthy without a fitness exercise program is almost like trying to gain weight without food. It does not make sense. The only way for a person to be able to shed off all those unwanted extra pounds is by burning up the calories in their body. Burning up the calories in your body cannot be easily done by simply eating less food or by just changing your diet. You will have to go on a proper diet and this diet must be accompanied by a proper fitness exercise program if you want to reach your goal.


So, why should you follow a fitness exercise program?



•First and foremost, anything that has to be done well in this world needs a proper plan of action to be followed through to the end. Without a plan you will not be able to keep track of your progress. Having a fitness exercise program will make sure that you work every part of your body with the correct intensity and order.


•With the help of a fitness exercise program, you will know exactly how to work out your body. Some people want to lose weight but just do not have a clue as to when they should do what exercise and exactly how to do each exercise. It is hopeless to do the exercises you need without knowing how to do them properly. You will need a proper fitness exercise program that will guide you through each and every step of the way and teach you how to do the exercises that are necessary to burn those calories.


•With the correct kind of fitness exercise program, you will be able to use up the calories that need to be burnt to lose weight. For you to be able to shed off those unwanted pounds of fat, you need to make sure that your body is burning more calories than you are eating.


•Without a proper exercise program you may just be going for jogs in the evening and reaching home all sweaty and tired but in the end discovering that you have not achieved your goal. A proper program will let you know how many calories a certain workout regimen will get rid of and in what approximated amount of time. You will know that in two weeks this is the progress you should see and in a month another step and so on and so forth.


If you are really serious about getting in shape and being healthy again then it is time for you to stop considering whether or not you need a fitness exercise program. It is necessary and you should get one today.

Neck Creammm~

Neck creams that are specifically designed to reduce things like turkey neck and deeply enriched wrinkles are relatively new on the anti aging and skin care scene and are quickly becoming a regular part of many people's anti aging routine. One of the best methods of gaining the information necessary to find the best neck cream is to search for a consumer driven website dedicated to neck cream reviews. A well put together and informative neck cream review is one of the most invaluable methods of finding the best neck treatment for you but even still there are things to watch out for when gathering the information needed.
A trustworthy neck cream review should first off; be written and maintained by actual consumers and people who bought, used and liked or disliked a specific neck cream. A review should contain a completely unbiased perspective on a product including its effectiveness, any positive and negative reactions that may have occurred, the length of time in which results can be expected and whether or not they'd recommend the product to anyone else.
Another big factor in determining which neck cream review to trust is upon finding a website dedicated to reviews, there should be an exposé on a multitude of products not just two or three. You are going to want to be able to compare and contrast as many neck creams as possible as to accurately make an educated decision. Avoid websites that have minimal reviews as they are often websites put up by the parent company of a reviewed product meaning that the reviews are most likely tainted by biased comments.
A neck cream review should also be written from the point of someone who has actually used the product, not someone re writing published information or results from clinical trials. Reviews that have a heavy sales pitch should also be avoided. You don't want to be sold on something that you're not sure about, you want information so you can make the right choice and pick the best neck cream for you.
Neck cream reviews definitely play an important part in f inding the best neck cream as well as identifying which products to avoid. Make sure you read as many neck cream reviews as the internet has to offer and compare and contrast. Weed out the products that have poor reviews, leaving you with only the absolute best to choose from.

Easy tips to improve our memory~

We all face changes as we age even slightly. I fall into the middle-age category and I can already see a difference in my own abilities to remember things. It is frustrating and annoying to forget and we are all faced with hectic schedules and too many things to do on top of it. I have always said that I would not be able to keep a job without taking notes and I find that it is becoming truer everyday. This is part of what I have learned in my quest to maintain and improve memory skills.
You may recall this technique from school, called Mnemonics. These improvement techniques are simple and can prove to be quite enjoyable once you see how much you are improving.
One part of mnemonics is called the Loci System and it is easy enough to put into practice on a daily basis.
If you need to remember five things on your daily round of errands, for example you can use the following. What needs to be remembered is the place and the order of locations within them. Your location could be the bedroom, kitchen or Local Park; it does not matter as long as you can easily recall the location.
Let us use this as an example: your locations are the coffeemaker, the sink, the recipe book and the chair. The items you need to remember are: umbrella, fish food, dry-cleaning and gym shoes. To associate your items you need to imagine them in familiar places but weird ways. The more offbeat and amusing your connections are, the easier they will be to retain.
To continue with our example, as you pass the coffeemaker it spits out a torrent of umbrellas at you. When you near the sink you see fish swimming around inside looking hungry. The recipe book on the counter is open to a page showing shiny clean clothing. The chair has legwarmers on and is obviously heading off to the gym.
Yes, it is very silly but it has been proven effective time and time again. Give the Loci System a try and you will see how easy and simple it is.

Is there any benefits of junk food???

Can JUNK FOOD provide nutrition?

Junk food is perceived to have poor nutritional value; and fails to add any health benefits to an individual's diet. The term was coined in 1972, by Michael Jacobson, director of the Center for Science in the Public Interest. Street food and fast food fall under the category of junk food. Apart from adding empty calories, it spoils the digestive system, hence jeopardizes the absolute health of the body. But, what if an individual's body is deficient in fats and carbohydrates, can junk food provide nutrition?
Healthy junk food is not an oxymoron; take the example of chocolate that is high in fat content, cocoa the main ingredient in chocolate provides flavenoids (antioxidants), which provides defense against heart disease and cancer. It contains endorphins, which provides physiological benefits of euphoria and prevents depression.
Salsa is yet another junk food, but can add terrific nutritional content, particularly if it is organic. Two tablespoons contain 0gms of fat and 10 calories. It contains Lycopene, which prevents cancer. When used with grilled chicken, eggs, potatoes and salads, not only enhance our taste buds, but also add to the nutritional value to the food preparation.
Tortilla chips contain 0 cholesterol, 7g of fat and 140 cal. Natural sunflower, corn and soybean oils are used in its preparation, these oils contain healthy polyunsaturated and monounsaturated fats that lowers the LDL (bad) cholesterol and maintains optimal levels of HDL (good) cholesterol.
According to the Third National Health And Nutritional Examination Survey, two-thirds of teenage girls who are trying to eat "healthy" by avoiding junk foods are deficient in iron, calcium and other essential nutrients Eating disorders have increased five-fold amongst children aged between 8-13, and children as young as5 are developing anorexia.
"Many teenage girls, already the most poorly nourished of any group in America, have stopped drinking milk or eating meat in their extreme fear of fat." Frances Berg, MS (Author of Women Afraid to Eat)
Fig cookies contain 0gms fat, 60 calories and plenty of calcium important for healthy bones and teeth.
Biscotti are low-calorie, low-fat cookies, containing 3g Protein, 2% Vitamin A, 2% Calcium and 4% Iron, essential nutrients for an absolute health.
Market surveys indicate Australians prefer healthier takeaways. Fast foods that are relatively low -fat and low-sodium include; pizzas with less cheese and meat, skinless chicken, grilled chicken, grilled fish burgers, grilled lean meat hamburgers and Souvlaki.
Pork rinds are puffy snacks that contain 0 carbohydrates, 17 g protein, 9 g fat, 43% oleic acid (unsaturated fat present in olive oil) and13% stearic acid (harmless saturated fat).
To satisfy your sweet tooth indulge in evaporated cane juice, brown rice syrup, barley malt syrup, beet sugar, date sugar, agaves nectar, stevia, and maple syrup.
Harvard scientists discovered that those who consumed alcohol twice a day each week, had the lowest risk of heart attack
Always avoid foods cooked in hydrogenated oil; it corrupts the nervous system. Instead, focus on foods cooked in olive oil, mustard oil, sunflower oil and grapeseed oil.
Don't refute junk food, but eat them occasionally. Some junk foods are plain unhealthy, and there are healthier choices to them in fresh and natural food forms like carrots, apples, almonds and orange. You're children can lavishly enjoy these junk food, if you make them healthy by adding more vegetables and fruits.

7 TIPS for effective listening: productive listening does not occur naturally. It requires hard work and practice .

1. CONCENTRATE ON WHAT OTHERS ARE SAYING. When listening to someone, do you often find yourself thinking about a job or task that is nearing deadline or an important family matter? In the middle of a conversation, do you sometimes realize that you haven't heard a word the other person has said? Most individuals speak at the rate of 175 to 200 words per minute. However, research suggests that we are very capable of listening and processing words at the rate of 600 to 1,000 words per minute. An internal auditor's job today is very fast and complex, and because the brain does not use all of its capacity when listening, an auditor's mind may drift to thinking of further questions or explanations rather than listening to the message at hand. This unused brainpower can be a barrier to effective listening, causing the auditor to miss or misinterpret what others are saying. It is important for internal auditors to actively concentrate on what others are saying so that effective communication can occur.

2. SEND THE NONVERBAL MESSAGE THAT YOU ARE LISTENING. When someone is talking to you, do you maintain eye contact with that person? Do you show the speaker you are listening by nodding your head? Does your body language transmit the message that you are listening? Are you leaning forward and not using your hands to play with things? Most communication experts agree that nonverbal messages can be three times as powerful as verbal messages. Effective communication becomes difficult anytime you send a nonverbal message that you're not really listening.
3. AVOID EARLY EVALUATIONS. When listening, do you often make immediate judgments about what the speaker is saying? Do you assume or guess what the speaker is going to say next? Do you sometimes discover later that you failed to interpret correctly what the speaker was telling you? Because a listener can listen at a faster rate than most speakers talk, there is a tendency to evaluate too quickly. That tendency is perhaps the greatest barrier to effective listening. It is especially important to avoid early evaluations when listening to a person with whom you disagree. When listeners begin to disagree with a sender's message, they tend to misinterpret the remaining information and distort its intended meaning so that it is consistent with their own beliefs.

4. AVOID GETTING DEFENSIVE. Do you ever take what another person says personally when what her or she is saying is not meant to be personal? Do you ever become angry at what another person says? Careful listening does not mean that you will always agree with the other party's point of view, but it does mean that you will try to listen to what the other person is saying without becoming overly defensive. Too much time spent explaining, elaborating, and defending your decision or position is a sure sign that you are not listening. This is because your role has changed from one of listening to a role of convincing others they are wrong. After listening to a position or suggestion with which you disagree, simply respond with something like, "I understand your point. We just disagree on this one." Effective listeners can listen calmly to another person even when that person is offering unjust criticism.

5. PRACTICE PARAPHRASING. Paraphrasing is the art of putting into your own words what you thought you heard and saying it back to the sender. For example, a subordinate might say: "You have been unfair to rate me so low on my performance appraisal. You have rated me lower than Jim. I can do the job better than him, and I've been here longer." A paraphrased response might be: "I can see that you are upset about your rating. You think it was unfair for me to rate you as I did." Paraphrasing is a great technique for improving your listening and problem-solving skills. First, you have to listen very carefully if you are going to accurately paraphrase what you heard. Second, the paraphrasing response will clarify for the sender that his or her message was correctly received and encourage the sender to expand on what he or she is trying to communicate.

6. LISTEN (AND OBSERVE) FOR FEELINGS. When listening, do you concentrate just on the words that are being said, or do you also concentrate on the way they are being said? The way a speaker is standing, the tone of voice and inflection he or she is using, and what the speaker is doing with his or her hands are all part of the message that is being sent. A person who raises his or her voice is probably either angry or frustrated. A person looking down while speaking is probably either embarrassed or shy. Interruptions may suggest fear or lack of confidence. Persons who make eye contact and lean forward are likely exhibiting confidence. Arguments may reflect worry. Inappropriate silence may be a sign of aggression and be intended as punishment.

7. ASK QUESTIONS. Do you usually ask questions when listening to a message? Do you try to clarify what a person has said to you? Effective listeners make certain they have correctly heard the message that is being sent. Ask questions to clarify points or to obtain additional information. Open-ended questions are the best. They require the speaker to convey more information. Form your questions in a way that makes it clear you have not yet drawn any conclusions. This will assure the message sender that you are only interested in obtaining more and better information. And the more information that you as a listener have, the better you can respond to the sender's communication.

Read this if u are a INSOMNIAC~

Since Im so interested in the knowledge of nutrition and health care things,so Im going to post a article that is all about the benefit of ''cherry''!!

Cherries have anti-inflammatory compounds that can soothe arthritis and gout,and new research now suggests they may also be the answer to a good night's sleep.Sour cherries are one of the few foods known to have naturally occurring melatonin,the chemical that regulates the body's circadian rhythm and sleep patterns.
''Very few foods have been tested for melatonin content,''says Dr Russell Reiter,a melatonin expert and professor of neuroendocrinology at the University of Texas Health Science Center. ''But as we know sour cherries have substantial amounts.They are on the high end of the scale.''
For a late-night snack, try cherry jam on toast.Research suggests melatonin works best when consumed in the hour before bedtime.

Since amount of the words are not enough for the demand,here are some additional joke~lets relax~~

Three tradesmen are arguing about the world's oldest trade."We built the pyramids,which are very ancient, so ours is the oldest trade,"says the stonemason.
"Nonsense,"retorts the carpenter."Noah's ark,the most notable creation of our trade,was built long before the pyramids."
Without doubt ours is the most ancient trade,"declares the electrician."When God said Let there be light!',we had already laid a cable."


I don't know why Cupid was chosen to represent Valentine's Day.When I think about romance, the last thing on my mind is a short,chubby toddler coming at me with a weapon.


A young boy walks into the room carrying an armchair under one arm and a sofa under the other."Where did you get that?"asks his father."From a man in the park,"says the little boy."What have I been telling you about taking suites from strangers?"

First day

Today was the first day of the class of communication skill 1.Miss freda gave us some assignments,and this is one of the assignment we got to do~so Im going to post up 15 ''post'' to accomplish this assignment~

Actually I had been blogging for few months before,but after a while i started feel bored and lazy to update the blog,at last I closed it,haha..And I feel quite stressful about it,because my english is not that good and I have no Idea what to post~

I guess the purpose of doing this blog is want us to learn how to show ourselves and of course the priority is the communication skill.Although this is not my profession too~ But I will try harder to do this,because I know it's just a small beginning of my education either my future career.When I was in secondary school,about form 1 to 3,I was a naught girl,din't like to study and always sleep at the class while teacher was teaching,hahaa..Today,different.I have to strive for my future and not to dissapoint the people around me.

Alright,today's post is like a kind of introduction~so looking forward the update of next time~