Our Brothers were Great!!

The cry of happiness ringing in the air around, crowd going crazy as each wicket falls down,India makes it to the World Cup Finals 2011. India has always been a pack of cards and you never know when the joker shows up. The semi-final made its mark in the history experiencing political pressure as we met our brothers at Mohali stadium. Right from the Prime ministers wishing the players good luck, India choosing to bat first, add its own spice and salt to begin the churn in my stomach. India has been one of the best in batting order, and proved to be good chasers. But this match proved India's wit and strength in fielding and bowling. The fielding by our team today was extra-ordinary, being watchful of every single ball.


Of course luck was also on our side giving the master blaster three lives, yet he was not able to make his century a record of the day. Eyes eagerly expecting his support at the crucial situation today too;but it was not Yuvi's day. Ashish Nehra proved to be a worthy pick of today; people were mad at him after the match against South Africa, thrashing him through face book status and comments. Every player had their own part to contribute for the victory. This was the best display of or fielding and bowling skills!!


It was great to see the Prime Ministers sitting beside each other and enjoying the mach as a game. Misbah-ul-Haq was the one holding the last chance of Pakistan's victory. He was the final tough target for India to declare its victory. He was one man against 11 players, made the wise decision of not running between wickets and extended the game with all his strength. Shahid Afridi was an excellent support for his team and a real sportsman. At last Pakistan couldn’t rewrite the history of winning over us in World Cup.


Go India Go!! Indiaaa...... India!!!


Sri Lanka is as strong as our team and they are going to give us the real fight and the real World Cup Finals!!
Saturday should be one of our lucky day to bring home the Cup!!


Awaiting on you Saturday!!

Carrot Cupcake with Vanilla frosting:

                                             
Finally hitting it right after persistant trials. Cupcakes has been my favorite for its beauty and of course taste. They are tiny and perfectly delicious snack. This is my first successful attempt in making a cup cake after many attempts of egg-less trials. This recipe is adapted from Martha Stewart.



Ingredients:
1 cup granulated sugar
1/3 cup butter
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup all-purpose flour
1 cup shredded carrots
1/4 cup shredded coconut, plus more for garnish

Procedure:
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Oil a muffin tin or line with paper liners.
- In a bowl, combine sugar, butter, vanilla extract and eggs. Whisk it well until fluffy.
- Stir in baking powder, baking soda and salt. Add flour, carrots and coconut and whisk it for about 2 minutes.
- Divide batter evenly among muffin cups.Bake until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean, 20-25 minutes.
- Let it cool completely. Frost cupcakes, and garnish with carrots /coconuts.
 
Tips from my learnings...
- Butter will give softness than oil.
- If the whisking is insufficient the cake will besticky.
- Use fresh Baking powder and check on its expiry.

Amazing Facts - Muscles!!

Here are some interesting facts about our muscles.

• You have all the muscle fiber you will ever have at birth.  Once damaged they can’t be replaced.  
• Muscles account for approximately 40% of your body weight.
• Your hand contains 20 different muscles.
• If all your muscles could pull in one direction you could create a force of 25 tons!
• You take approximately 5 million steps per year using your leg muscles!
• No matter how much you exercise you can not increase the number of muscle cells you have. By getting bigger, via strength training, you are simply increasing the size of each muscle cell. 
• The largest muscle is the Gluteus Maximus, the muscles of the buttocks.
• The tongue is the only muscle attached at only one end and very strong for its size.
• The smallest muscle is the Stapedius.  Located in your ear, it is thinner than a cotton thread.
• We need 72 muscles to speak.
• A pound of muscle burns 75-100 calories each day simply by "being".
• The most frequently used facial expression is a smile and it takes about 5 to 53 muscles.
•  The muscle that lets your eye blink is the fastest muscle in your body. It allows you to blink 5 times a second.

Rise all, Phoenix:

Thank you Blog Adda for featuring my blog in "Spicy Saturday Picks".

  

Seismic jolt shakes us all, By raising the elixir as a wall; Invading the precious life And flooding the shelters of all. World lending its hand To lift the fallen from holocaust; Providing them basics, To revive their life in debris. Social networks throw light To find the loved ones in plight, From the voracious Monster, That swept away the hopes of future. Resurrecting from the past, Radiations posing newer risks To the clinging lives' grief, Impeding their recovery. Nature turns its back Freezing the homeless; Joining hands with radiation beast, To satiate their crave for life. This is not your destiny Your potent is no match; You shall rise as a phoenix, And shine as "The Land of Rising Sun" .

Amazing Facts - Heart!!!

Heart!! Everyone of us have heart to pump blood and also to love. Here are some interesting facts about heart that will make us fall in love with our heart all over again....

 -An adult woman's heart weighs about 8 ounces, a man's about 10 ounces.
-The heart begins beating at four weeks after conception and does not stop until death.
-A child's heart is about the size of a clenched fist; an adult's heart is about the size of two fists.
-A kitchen faucet would need to be turned on all the way for at least 45 years to equal the amount of blood pumped by the heart in an average lifetime.
-Every day, the heart creates enough energy to drive a truck 20 miles. In a lifetime, that is equivalent to driving to the moon and back.
-Because the heart has its own electrical impulse, it can continue to beat even when separated from the body, as long as it has an adequate supply of oxygen.
-The heart does the most physical work of any muscle during a lifetime. The power output of the heart ranges from 1-5 watts.
-Grab a tennis ball and squeeze it tightly: that’s how hard the beating heart works to pump blood
-Your heartbeats with enough strength to shoot blood a distance of 30 feet.

A hearty laugh - the kind that sends a stream of tears from your eyes - does more than warm the soul. Research has shown the guffaw can cause the lining of blood vessel walls called endothelium to relax, increasing blood flow for up to 45 minutes after the laugh attack. Damage to the endothelium can lead to the narrowing of blood vessels and eventually cardiovascular diseases.

Amazing Facts - Blood!!!

Blood is the fluid that sustains life. It is the medium that carries water, energy and nutrients to all parts of the body. Most of us know we have RBC,WBC, Platelets in our blood. Do we know the following about our blood??? Check out...

-Eight percent of a humans body weight is made up of blood.
-There are approximately 100,000 miles of blood vessels in the human body.
-Donated red blood cells can be stored for 42 days.
-Donated platelets can be stored for five days.
-Two million red blood cells die every second.
-If all the blood vessels in your body were laid end to end, they would reach about 60,000 miles.
-A drop of blood to travel away from the heart and back again in roughly 20 to 60 seconds.
-Five percent of blood supplies the heart, 15-20% goes to the brain and central nervous system, and 22% goes to the kidneys.
-Blood is such a good stain that Native Americans used it for paint.

Amazing!!! An interesting system.

Bottoms up beer dispensing system :

A new beer dispensing system has been developed by Grinon industries based in Washington, US. This dispensing system is a huge hit as it uses the help of a magnet to fill up the glass with beer from bottom up. The company mission is stated as to help customers eliminate beer lines from their venues. 

Interesting !!! Isn't it?

Amazing Facts - Eye

Eyes are the most complex organs you possess except for your brain. Eye is our light to this universe. Here are some interesting facts about eyes.

-Of all the muscles in our body, the eye muscles are the most active .

-Each of our eyelashes has a life span of approximately five months.

-The eyeball of a human weighs approximately 28 grams.

-The eye of a human can distinguish 500 shades of the gray.

-People generally read 25% slower from a computer screen compared to paper.

-It is impossible to sneeze with your eyes open. 

-Eyelids get tired and so do the muscles around it, but eyes don't get tired and never need rest.

-Eyes dominates 75% of our brains activity.

-Our eye can spot a candle light 15ft away in complete darkness.

-The human eyes sees three colors:red,green,blue. These are basic colors. White is a combination of three, black is their lack. Yellow,purple are from two basic colors;these are secondary colors.

-Men can read fine print better then women.

-Your eyes are always the same size from birth, but your nose and ears never stop growing.

-The only part of the body that doesn’t contain blood vessels is the cornea.