Alternative usage of Vodka

  Vodka.. We all know what is this, many of us tried it as well and some of us don't remember on the next morning how many toasts they actually said last night.
  I would like to present opposite side of this "hot" drink, "outside", sort of say, usage of it, which could be very helpful in many life situation. 
  Let's start :)

1. If you want to remove your band aid without pain it may cause, soak it with vodka. It will dissolve the glue.

2. To clean the caulking seams in the bathroom and shower - fill a spray bottle with vodka and sprinkle it over them. Wait 5-10 minutes and rinse with water. The alcohol in vodka kills mold and other microorganisms.

3. It will be helpful if you need to clean your lens glasses. Wipe them with a cloth slightly moistened with vodka. The alcohol cleans the glass and kill germs.

4. Spray vodka on vomit stains, scrub with brush and wipe till its dry.

5. Apply vodka on your face by using a cotton disk. It will clean your face and narrow pores.

6. Pour a glass of vodka and glass of water in a plastic bag and place it in the freezer. You could use this ice pack to anesthetize and reduce puffiness after injury. 

7. If the blister bursts - pour vodka on it. It will provide an analgesic effect and disinfect the area.

8. To get rid of bad foot smell - wash them with vodka.

9. Vodka will disinfect and remove jellyfish burn pain.

10. If you have a toothache - rinse your mouth with vodka. The gums will absorb some of it which will decrease the pain. (just rinse, don't swallow;) 

** Always ask your doctor first if you have any doubt, especially if you think to apply it on kids.

Salad with chicken, beans and cheese.

We need:

Boiled white chicken’s meat – 300 gr.

½ can of kidney bean.

½ can of sweet corn.

3-4 marinade cucumbers.

3 pieces of fried black bread.

1 clove of garlic.

Solid cheese – 150 gr.

Small bunch of dill.

Salt, pepper and mayonnaise.

Cut chicken, bread, cucumbers on small cubicles, grade cheese and mix everything together. 

Enjoy! 

Adama ;)

Adama is great guy.
He is smart and has his own strong philosophy of life.

“Pick your own” farm.

   First of all I should tell you a little about my country, just to show the difference between farm’s system in my country and in the USA.  In Belarus we have just few farms with one owner. Most of farms belong to government and nobody really care about them. People can work for a farm during a harvest time and earn some money or products, such us vegetables, apples and berries. Nobody comes to the farm to spend time on the nature and take some outgrowth for money; we just don’t have this kind of farm. Sometimes I feel sorry because of this, the farms deprive themselves an opportunity to get some income and people can’t just come and enjoy the farm’s environment. 

    So, I never attend this type of farm before. We went there with friends, who never did it in US too. We arrived early morning and everywhere was silence and emptiness. Only animals was making faint sounds while we were there. They live on the farm behind a fence and everybody can feed and stroke them. For children farmers created straw’s labyrinths, where little explorers can play and hide, but there were playing in silent just a few attenders.

   Right before enter we bought tickets, two boxes for four people (more than enough) and grabbed one cart. We decided to walk instead of taking a ride with tractor and were all the way by ourselves while making our observation. The good things was that we were on the nature, far away from the people and any kind of civilization, but the bad thing was that we didn’t know what we can pick up and where we should go. The farm is not so big, but we spent 3 ours for walking, taking pictures, talking and picking various vegetables. Right before exit our booty was apples, cabbages, zucchinis and some beans. We could take more if we know what exactly we can pick. In the end we discovered that we could take whatever we want, nobody really checked. The price was a little higher than in regular store, but we hoped that the products were more organic and healthy too.

   After all we were happy to come back to civilization because after that time on the fresh air we were starving and tired. We are typical representatives of urban population, who can be poisoned by fresh air and can’t walk more than 3 hours.    

P.S. We understood that the end of October was too late for many vegetables, next time we should make it earlier. 

Challah Bread

  Challah is a yeast-risen bread that is traditionally 

eaten by Jewish people on Shabbat, ceremonial occasions and during festivals. But besides that it

also a delicious hand made bread that you could eat

on breakfast or in any other time.

Ingredients: 

1. Margarin - 4 table spoon
2.Yeast - 1 small bag
3. Sugar - 0,5 cup
4. Warm water - 1 cup
5. Hot water - 1 cup
6. Salt - 1 tbl.spoon
7. Eggs - 2
8. Flor - 5 cup (+extra if you need)

Direction:

Put together:
margarin, sugar and salt and add 1 cup of HOT water. 
Melt everything.

Put yeast into cup with WARM water and mix till it's dissolve.
Then add into mixture and mix well.

Beat eggs and add into mixture, mix well.

Add flour one by one and mix well.

You need to have a stiff dough in the end. If it's not add more flour.











- After your dough is stiff enough take a big dish, cover it with olive oil, place the dough into it and put in warm place. When you will see that dough double its size place it into cooler over night.

- On the next day, take it out of the cooler and place on the cooking table.

Cut into pieces and make a strings out of it (not so long)
about 1 fit or longer.

Start to twist two of them into spiral.

Continue till the end.







Continue doing it till you finish your dough. Usually it's coming out about 6-7 small challah.

- place you Challah on the tray covered with baking paper. 

- Take one beaten egg and cover Challah with it. 

Take sesame seeds or puppy seeds and sprinkle them on top of the Challah 
(you could also keep your Challah without them) 

Place into cold oven and put on 350F for about 30 minutes + 10 min preheating time.
Usually you have to leave your bread in warm place till it's become double size and after this place into preheated oven for 30 min. 
  We will put it into cold oven and it's will rise over there while oven is warming up. So we will safe some time;)

  Your indicator of readiness in the end will be the color of the Challah. It should be close to medium brown.

      Bon Appétit 

Green color

   We are very rarely think whats going on in the moment when we distinguish the colors. What does the color mean and which effect it has on us. 

  Green! That's the theme of our topic for today.
  Quality of green color is balance. It's located right in the middle of the color specter. If red and yellow - warm colors but blue and purple are cold, green could be both, depends on its tone.  

 While getting away from the gray and hectic cities to the nature most of the people experience a relief when they see a green valley and calmness of it. Green spectrum is perceived by our eyes better than others color varieties. By looking on it our eyes relax and our nervous system calm down. 

  The meaning of green color, above all, lies on its serenity and neutrality. It symbolizes nature, spring, life and youth.  This color is associate with life's possibilities, birth and hope. Symbol of fertility. 

   In general, the green at the same time soothing and toning. It stimulates mental activity. In this connection, the green is widely used in the design of offices and classrooms.

  This color is not recommended in the bedroom. Excess of green will not give relax to the brain and will provoke its work. But great for the studying places. You can add it by placing a table cover in green or paint the wall in front of studying area.

 Green slightly helps to increase (10-20%) mental capacity and  ability to concentrate. 

  

Add green in your life if:

- you need to adapt to changes and you afraid of unknown.

- you need a fresh ideas.

- you need to reach the balance.

- you feel that your plans interfere by something. 

  

   It's could be anything but green color. A flower, new blanket, curtains, wall paint or even walk in the park will make you feel better and confident in your thoughts. 

   For me the best "green therapy" is to go to the forest or park. When you leave the city behind and it's only you, trees, birds and fresh air - you feel so good! After this I really feel powered from this getaway and  realize that my problems is so small and sometimes they just in my head... Nature in its green color really help to straighten things up.. Take advantage of it, it works ;)  

My first experience in CouchSurfing

Have you heard of CouchSurfing? 

I found out about this site a couple of months ago through my Belarusian friends, who stayed in NY for three months, invited people to live with them and asked people to host them too. It was really interesting for me.

After an observation and registration I took a moment to think what I can do for people and for myself through hosting them.

The first thing I wanted to work on was my selfishness. I like my place and my daily routine. I exercise in my living room, I read there, surf the Internet and much more. I spend most of my time in this room. An invitation to live in our living room was a real challenge for me because I had to change my everyday life. I felt that I needed this challenge if I wanted to become a better person ;).

The second reason was English. Every day I mostly use my native language, that's why I need more practice speaking English. Inviting somebody from a foreign country or even from the US is a good way to use English more, especially if the people are talkative enough ;-). 

The third reason was that I wanted to learn how to trust people and how to make others feel comfortable with me, too. 

I gave my forth vote to support my decision because of the opportunity to travel in the future. If people leave some good references about my hosting I can ask somebody to be my host too.

 Getting to know people from different countries is a perk itself. New information makes us richer and more open-minded, especially when we talk to interesting people about something meaningful. We can have some “food for thoughts” afterwards, and some people say we become younger when we think a lot ;).

So, if I invite people to my home, I might become a better and younger, trustworthy and knowledgeable person, I will have a great opportunity to practice English and to make some connections with people all around the globe .

Right after the registration some guy asked to come for a visit. I checked his profile and said "yes". So, one week ago I had my first experience and it was good. A couple that stayed with us for two nights was really great. We didn't talk much but I was satisfied nevertheless.  

So, if you have a spare room  to share with people who travel and would like to be your guests for a couple of nights, or if you are planning to travel a lot in the future, this site is for you. If you have some time to spend with your guests, you can share your inspiration of your lovely city and show them your favorite places there. 

It’s a good opportunity to enrich your life as well. 

All of these activities good for a fall Friday, right? ;)

Halloween preparation ;)

Halloween, one of the world’s oldest holidays, is still celebrated today in a number of countries around the globe.

 

The Celts, who lived 2000 years ago in the area that now Ireland, the United Kingdom and northern France, celebrated their new year on November 1. They believed that the ghosts of the dead returned to earth on the night of October 31.

People thought that they would encounter ghosts if they left their homes. To avoid being recognized by these ghosts, people would wear masks when they left their homes after dark so that the ghost would mistake them for fellow spirits. On Halloween, to keep ghosts away from their houses, people would place bowls of food outside their homes to appease the ghosts and prevent them from attempting to enter.

People have been making jack-o’-lanterns at Halloween for centuries. The practice originated from an Irish myth about a man nicknamed “Stingy Jack.” According to the story, Stingy Jack invited the Devil to have a drink with him. The story is long and unhappy, of course. After Jack’s dead he couldn’t find the place for themselves anywhere, so, he still walking and looking for silent and peace. In Ireland and Scotland, people began to make their own version of Jack’s lanterns by carving scary faces into turnips or potatoes and placing them into windows or near doors to frighten away Stingy Jack and others wandering evil spirits.

Nowadays everything is different. People don’t know why they celebrate Halloween; they are just doing this for fun. But this is still the way to get together, talk, eat and spend time with children.

Some time ago we tried to make ourselves prepared for make Stingy Jack run away. 

...and here something from internet to scare Stingy Jack: