Archive for October, 2008

Forum Rules?!

{ October 30, 2008 @ 3:12 pm } · { Business, Misc }
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Life is tough for small business owners. Running your own online shop means a lot of legwork trying to promote your site in order to get traffic. And yes, I will bluntly admit that I engage in some seemingly social online behaviour with the underlying purpose of promoting my website, who doesn’t?

So I joined this Forum, relating to the topic of my own website; namely sex. And I engaged in conversation, gave advice, etc. Just like would be expected of anyone active on such a forum. I read the forum rules which seemed pretty much normal, but forgot to look at what I assumed were “comments” posted in the same sticky thread. My interpretation was, that as long as you don’t spam, you’re free to post whatever links you wish in your signature. As is the case with any other forum I am active on. Well apparently they changed their mind and decided that normal members of the community posting links in their signature would be unfair to their sponsors?! So it should no longer be allowed.

What bull! How can a small link compete with full colour banners plastered all over the rest of a website. As I’m seeing it, although it’s about intimate topics, and I’m not an expert by any means, me giving my opinion or sharing tips and suggestions, should at least be rewarded by some exposure of my own additions to the world wide web. Fine, so if you feel it’s unfair to the sponsors, disallow banners in signatures, don’t allow commercial links, but the fact that should I so choose, I cannot even post a link to my own non profit blog in my signature is preposterous!

All the forums I am a member of have sponsors, with nice big ads. And all of them allow self promotion in members’ signatures. It is a common web practice. And if it bothers you that people are just link building by posting comments, you could always make them “nofollow” for the search engines.

I believe they’re just shitting on the little guy. Even on this very blog, I moderate comments, but if someone has something valuable to say or add to the discussion, I will allow it, including promotional link. So post away my friends, so we may do what the web in its name already suggests: link stuff together to make one larger structure…

Family Matters.. or “Why I am the way I am”

{ October 29, 2008 @ 3:30 pm } · { Misc }
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Many people have said “You are shaped by your surroundings. The people around you make you who you are”. In fact, there’s a whole TV Ad campaign conveying exactly the same message; I believe it’s for Orange (Cellphone Network).

Either way, obviously this is true. Not only do you get your values and opinions, inspired by the way you were raised and those of the ones around you. Also, depending on your character, you specifically stay away from certain convictions simply because you loathe those that represent them. (Can you tell I’m a bit emotional today?)

So this weekend my mother celebrated her 60th Birthday, at some strange holiday resort in the middle of nowhere in northern Germany. Also, my family, who didn’t bother to come to India for my wedding, got to meet my husband for the first time. It also happened to be our first wedding anniversary so the party aimed to cater to all these occasions.

It has always been my mother’s opinion that family is VERY IMPORTANT. She cannot stress this enough if you give her a chance. “You know, you need to keep in touch wiz ze family! Family is very important!”. Frankly, especially after this weekend, I fail to see why. Once every couple of years we all get together. It seems everybody has a great time, except for me, and in this occasion my husband. People thoroughly enjoy themselves, going through litres of wine and food, engaging in mind numbing conversation.

As a kid I used to avoid such situations, if I was at home, I would steal away and end up alone in my room, reading a book, with my thoughts miles from the torture going on in the living room. I always assumed that when I grew up, the seemingly tedious topics that were being discussed would magically hold meaning for me, that I would find it interesting, if not PLEASANT to talk to my aunts. How very wrong I was!

Not only is now that I have travelled a bit, grew up a little, got married and am starting my own separate life in the UK, is the conversation still tedious to me, it seems it got even more trivial than ever before! (Perhaps that can be attributed to the fact that earlier as a kid, nobody used to find it strange when I wanted to go to bed around 10. Now I’m forced to sit and behave like an adult, with people teasing and prying why we want to go sleep already, at around 12:30. Well to be honest it’s because the conversation is very tiring. I cannot sit, smile and nod endlessly; pretending the various types of birds that live in this part of Germany is a fascinating topic for discussion. I have never particularly liked birds. Deal with it!

Maybe the catastrophe that was last weekend can be attributed to the family being incomplete? This year, one of my aunts was left by her husband. He used to be a lot of fun. And as my mother’s sisters would sit together and gossip about people they knew 40 years ago, the three present husbands would sit together, smoke, drink and talk about much more interesting stuff. Now it was just two of them, looking lost and frustrated amongst so many loud, whiny women.

But getting back to the main point: Family is important. Family makes us who we are. Well; my family made me understand that there are certain types of neurotic people all over the world. They made me realize that when my friends in India would complain about how much their family meddled with their affairs, I could sympathise with them because I understood. If I do something out of the ordinary, I know it will take around a day or two to reach nearly everyone else in the family. And I also know they will nag the hell out of my mother, telling her she has failed at raising me. Only ever ONCE someone other than my mother directly contacted me to tell me “to my face” what they thought of anything I did. In the most polite manner ever, my eldest aunt wrote me an email before I got married, suggesting I was making a mistake, wasting my life, wasted my mother’s money during the time I spent in India, and moreover, was too immature to get married. Also she suggested that as I was marrying an Indian, from now on I should get used to the fact that I’ll be chained to the stove, not allowed to have any fun in life anymore. It was fascinating. I didn’t think anyone would have the guts to directly tell me anything at all; usually they would just gossip and backstab.

I am truly sorry this is turning into the most disjointed rant I have posted til date. But it needs to just get off my chest.

Family, I feel, would be important, if they behaved like family, rather than just be all talk. If family genuinely took interest, helped out and supported each other, this world might be different. But mine is certainly not that type; instead they talk. They love to talk; their idea of a nice fulfilling conversation is to 1. stomp another person into the ground behind their back or 2. get drunk on wine and spew complete nonsense. And the best bit is; if I told any of them I thought they acted obnoxious and drunk that night, they would be outraged. “We were not drunk! Getting drunk is so vulgar! We just had a few glasses of wine and had a good time.”

Yes you did. Now let me go to bed goddamnit!

Germany’s best export – Potato Salad

{ October 23, 2008 @ 3:31 pm } · { Food }
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I have heard that this recipe (which I cannot even begin to claim as my own) makes people happy. Well maybe not the recipe, but if I give myself a kick in the butt and cook a load of it to share with friends.

Wonderful how versatile potatoes are. And with some nice dressing, they can be satisfying just on their own.

Traditional German Potato Salad (mayo free version)

1 kg Potatoes – however you prefer them, with or without skin

1 Onion / equal quantity spring onion – finely chopped

Dressing:

1 cube chicken stock - prepared according to instructions in 1/2L Water

Splash of vinegar – Any type you prefer, white, malt, wine, applecider, etc

1/2 tsp Wholegrain mustard

1-2 tsp Cream

Salt, black pepper

Chives or Parsley to garnish

First you have to boil the potatoes; not too soft or your salad will turn into mash. If you can, make sure you get a type of potato that remains firm after cooking. Cut potatoes into slices around 1 cm thick, right after boiling (This is very important: you should not let them cool down, if you want your dressing to turn out right!)

As soon as the potatoes are cut, put them into a bowl and pour some freshly prepared (Hot!) Chicken stock over them. First pour around half of what you have, carefully stir it and then wait for the stock to get absorbed by the potatoes. You do not want the salad to be too wet and sloppy. Only add more stock if after 15 minutes your potatoes are quite dry.  Make sure to separate the potato slices properly, or they will just stick together in the salad. Now add the onion.

In a separate bowl or glass, pour in some vinegar; a few tablespoons of it. Mix it with the mustard and cream to make a dressing. Season with Salt & Black Pepper. Pour this dressing over the salad and mix it carefully.

Garnish with Parsley or Chives, whatever you’ve got. Serve lukewarm (as is) or cold straight from the fridge.

This salad can be “dressed up” by adding some fried bacon cubes over the top. It is served with barbecued meat, sausages, roast chicken or generally as a party side dish.

Quirky Quirkier Quirkiest

{ October 20, 2008 @ 9:14 am } · { Misc }
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At Odzer’s request, I am posting my addition to the series “Six Quirky Things”… Since I am quite a quirky person (or at least I think so myself) it was a bit hard for me to select just six things for this post ;-)

Some things people might already know, some might be new… but here goes nothing:

Quirk 1.

When my husband and I started dating we mostly communicated through SMS message; at the time I had a deal from my cellphone provider giving me 2000 free messages per month. WHICH I USED TO EXCEED EVERY MONTH!

I got so good at typing the messages, I could do it without looking at the phone – with either hand. So, not wanting to miss out on even a moment of messaging, I would be driving around Chandigarh, operating my gearless scooter with the right hand, zig zagging through traffic, while SMS’ing with the left….

Quirk 2.

I love the smell of dampness; Rainsoaked leaves, foggy mornings etc. You must be thinking “that’s not so quirky!”; but it goes further; I absolutely love the smell of old A/Cs just being switched on when the damp smelling air comes out, even better; the first gusts of air coming from a newly switched on Desert cooler…. Delicious!

Quirk 3.

While on a motorcycle ride through Ladakh, my beloved green iPod mini was in my jacket pocket, only to fall out on top of Changla Pass (approx. 5400m altitude) on the way back from Pangong Tso lake. As the ride was so gruelling and the weather was turning bad; plus it was already evening by the time I noticed, there was no opportunity to turn back and try to retrieve it. It remains lost, in one of the most exotic places I’ve ever been.

Quirk 4.

While staying in Chandigarh, I practically used to live with Odzer. Spending most my afternoons and evenings at his place, working on web design projects. Eventually we would get bored, share a bottle of cheap wine while watching and commenting on TV programmes, decide we were too drunk to cook, and head off to KFC… After ordering our food, we would pick a seat conveniently near either a family or young couple and engage in highly obscene conversation, only to be encouraged by distraught or shocked looks we received from those around us. (That was pretty much our aim anyway)

Quirk 5.

Babies scare the hell out of me. My worst nightmare is being at a party and having somebody’s small infant being dumped into my arms. Those around me find it hugely entertaining; if you watch mine and the baby’s face closely, you will see both expressions changing almost in sync until the baby is screaming and I’m nearly in tears myself. (By that time people around me will be in tears as well; laughing!)

Oh and yes. That actually happened.

Quirk 6.

Although I am white myself, pale skin is a huge turn off to me. Therefore I am proud to say, I have never done a white guy! (Now, after sharing this, will people please stop asking me why I went to India for almost 5 years? Isn’t it obvious!!!)

My favourite Roast Chicken Marinade

{ October 16, 2008 @ 2:52 pm } · { Food }
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It has been a long time since we’ve eaten anything non-Indian at home. One thing that always works is Roast Chicken. However, because we’re only two people, having a full chicken is too much of a hassle and it never seems to finish… So roast chicken legs then.

Eating a lot of spicy food has made us picky; chicken marinade has to have a very good flavour or it just tastes boring to us. So here’s my favourite – it goes very well with some fresh mashed potatoes.

Red Pesto Chicken

Chicken legs& thighs with skin

1 heaped tea spoon Red Pesto per leg&thigh piece

Salt

Black Pepper

Dried Basil

Dried Oregano

2 cloves of garlic - crushed

Splash of olive oil

Trim excess fat off the chicken pieces. Poke the skin with a knife in several places. Coat with pesto (easiest way to do it is rub it in by hand). Place the pieces on a baking tray. Add the crushed garlic cloves (no need to have them mashed up; just take a whole garlic clove, take a knife or some other metal utensil and crush it, take the skin off and put it on the tray with the chicken. Season everything with Salt, Pepper, Basil & Oregano. Splash some olive oil over the chicken. Pop it in the oven at 180 degrees Celsius. Baste the chicken in its own juice a few times, and let it bake for around 30-40 minutes; until when you poke it with a knife, the juices run clear, not pink.

Red Pesto Gravy

Once your chicken is done, take it out of the tray. Put the tray on the stove, and add around a cup of water to the juices and fat in the tray. Cook it on the stove until everything dissolves and mixes with the water. Season with salt, pepper, basil and oregano. Add 2 tsp of red pesto and about the same of concentrated tomato puree. For extra flavour add a few jalapeno peppers. Let the gravy reduce until it has a creamy consistency.

Serve with the chicken and a potato side; choose from Mashed Potato, boiled or roasted potatoes.

Spinach mania – why does it have to come in such big packets?

{ October 8, 2008 @ 9:47 am } · { Food, India }
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There’s a lot of spinach in my fridge, and I’m going to have to be very innovative to get rid of it before it goes bad, without getting sick of the taste.

So after having had my fill of Spinach fritters, I needed something slightly healthier.. Before I write down the recipe I would like to explain a little bit about Indian cooking utensils.

For the dish I’m writing about, you need a flat griddle; “Tava”. They’re usually made of iron or steel, but come in non stick variants as well. You can probably find one at an Indian food store near you, or Buy one on Amazon.co.uk. If you want to try this recipe but do not have a tava, you can use a frying pan, but results may vary.

Hara Parantha (Green flat bread)

3 cups Chapati Flour (finely ground whole wheat flour

2 generous handfulls fresh spinach leaves – finely chopped, shredded; or blended

water

oil for coating & frying - it’s easiest to put some into a small bowl.

Sift the flour into a bowl, add the spinach, mix it together. Add water little by little and combine everything to make it into a pliable dough. Because of the spinach, it will be a little sticky, but it should be of a similar consistency as bread dough. Keep kneading it on the kitchen worktop for at least 10 minutes.

Form the dough into balls, approx. the size of an apricot. Put some flour on the worktop to prevent sticking, and coat the ball in flour. Roll it out into a 2-3mm thick circle – make sure it doesn’t stick to the work surface, so keep sprinkling flour whenever necessary. Take a little bit of oil in a teaspoon, and spread it over the circle, in a straight line across the middle. Fold over one side of the circle, spread oil over the folded part, fold the other side of the circle. Then put a little bit of oil on the center, fold the top part over, then repeat and fold the bottom flap. Your parantha will be square now. Coat it in flour and roll it out again evenly until it is 3mm thick. See images below; how to make a square parantha:

Meanwhile heat the griddle on the stove, on medium heat. Put your parantha on the griddle and turn the heat down. Cook it until it turns darker – approx. 1-2 minutes. Turn it around and cook a for max. 1 minute until the other side is cooked and it starts to puff up a little bit. spread a little oil over the top and along the sides, turn the parantha around and spread a little oil over it again. Gently let it cook, until it’s done, but don’t make it crispy (unless you like it like that of course… )

Serve immediately with some pickle or as a side dish with some meat or vegetable curry.

Sinful Indian Food – Spinach & Onion Fritters

{ October 7, 2008 @ 3:06 pm } · { Food, India }
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Now that it’s starting to get gloomy, wet and generally nasty outside, I cannot control my cravings for sinful deep fried food any longer! So, braving the drizzly, cold weather, I went to the supermarket on Saturday to buy some Spinach. Now I know it’s not the first thing people would think of when craving deep fried food, but I’m afraid I’m completely hooked! Spinach fritters are the best!

Palak Pakora (Spinach Fritters)

1.5cup Chickpea flour (Besan)

Salt & Red Chilli to taste

Water

Spinach Leaves - whole, trimmed stems. washed and patted dry

Vegetable oil for deep frying

Sift the chickpea flour into a mixing bowl, adding salt and red chilli powder. Slowly start adding water and beat the mixture with a whisk until it is smooth and has the consistency of thick pancake batter.

Heat the oil in a small pan; whichever one is your favourite for deep frying… If you want to limited the amount of oil wasted, it should be very small and rounded like a wok; at least 2-3 inches deep. Test a little bit of the batter first; if it turns golden brown within 30 seconds, your oil is ready.

Take a single spinach leaf and dip it into the batter. It should cover the leaf all over (consistency is important! If the batter is too runny, it will not cover the leaf properly!). Carefully put it into the hot oil. Use a slotted spoon to turn it over and fry it for around a minute, until it is brown and crispy. Watch out: If the leaves are wet, the oil will splutter, so take care not to get burned!

Let the fritter drip off on some paper towels.

Serve while hot, with chilli ketchup. If you like it tangy; sprinkle with Chaat Masala

To make onion fritters (Pyaz Pakora), simply make the same batter, add sliced onions into the batter and put little clusters of this mixture into the hot oil. Care should be taken to use relatively less batter than onion, or it will be too heavy to enjoy! ;-)

As this was a joint effort between my husband and I (he is a self proclaimed palak pakora expert), he did most of the frying and I embezzled most of the finished product… This snack is best enjoyed at daytime, so there is plenty of time for your stomach to get settled before you go to bed!

iPod Nano 4th Gen Video Freeze Problem

{ October 1, 2008 @ 3:25 pm } · { Misc }
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So I have been extensively testing my newest gadget – a purple iPod Nano 16GB.

And I was so tempted to have something pretty to look at on it that I just had to get some videos to load onto it. That is when I noticed what seems to be a fairly common problem with these iPods; some of them hang when you try to play a video. Now I am not entirely sure yet what is causing this problem; because other people seem to be watching videos just fine on their iPods. But what it seems to be is: some people with my exact same problem have used the same freeware software to convert their videos into .mp4 files – Jodix. And although the software worked fine for 3rd Generation iPods, the latest generation has a problem with the video files nonetheless.

So here’s a quick fix for when your iPod refuses to respond to anything:

  1. Switch it on Hold
  2. Switch it off Hold
  3. Press the “Menu” and center button together at the same time for around 10 seconds until the Apple logo appears on your iPod’s screen.

This fix resets your settings to the factory default, and doesn’t delete any files or songs on your iPod. Then you can use it as normal.

Because I am inexperienced with the video capabilities of iPods, I was not aware of the fact that apparently iTunes can convert videos into .mp4 as well. So I will try that instead of the Jodix software and post updates as I go along. I am certainly hoping by tomorrow I will be happily viewing videos on my iPod…

Google Base – The mystery is solved…

{ October 1, 2008 @ 11:14 am } · { Business, UK }
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I have been complaining a lot about Google Base lately. Having twice submitted my entire product list from www.alteregouk.com (2500+ products!) and not being able to see any of them even while searching for only my own products, I finally decided to contact the Help Desk. Now there’s good news and there’s bad news.

I finally know why I couldn’t see any of my products! When you go to the google homepage, and you select Shopping/Products; in Preferences there is a setting that filters out Adult content. When I turn it off, all my products show up.

So that’s it. The only reason my products seemed to disappear. And I’m not happy finding this out. Because: while my products were nowhere to be found, all my competitor’s products seemed to show up just fine. And we’re selling the same (adult!) products! So in effect, somehow Google thinks my site isn’t decent enough, and my competitors are. Just the fact that there was such a setting was news to me, and I’m sure many people who search on google for Adult products are not aware of it either. So basically I’m never going to get the same exposure as my competitors. Very irritating indeed!

Google’s advice is “remove inappropriate language from your items and try again”. I’ll try to censor my listings and see what happens, but I think I’m just doomed to fail at effectively making use of Google Base.