Singapore - Butterfly park for free

The butterfly park next to Alexandra hort park has free entrance for public on. last Saturday, every month.
Guess it will crowded .. but do plan to visit if u r free.
The whole park and the trails are quite beautiful.

See the hard work !

He was "shooting" them, until I accidentally scared them away!

For better pictures, visit this photo stream later ..
PS : He did get breathtaking pictures !
Njoy !

Burnt Pots & Pans

Having a burnt pot or pan is so very common. The food tasting bad coz of it, is also common.
But, how about breaking into huge fights coz of it ?
Thats what happened in my house yesterday morning!

I did a "root cause analysis" and settled for 3 reasons
1. The urge for tea, as soon as you wake-up
2. The habit of brewing tea while half-asleep
3. The responsibility division in the house - Cooking department is me (Yeah!) & cleaning department is the guy.
Definitely the problem is NOT ME!

I was enjoying the rest of my sleep while boiling the tea. I did not even notice the burning smell or the thick brown layer forming on the sides of the milk pan. I seldom do & according to the guy, I don't care for it coz I am not the one painfully cleaning it !

He got quite put off by my carelessness & started advising me to improve. My reply was simple, Make your own tea! As long as you don't do it, don't comment on mine! It was the starter .. which led to mishaps, going separate ways to work, an expensive patch-up lunch (ofcourse not initiated by me) ...
A weak moment in between the apologies led me to agree that I will clean up the mess left in the pan.

Until yesterday, for all the dirt , grease, sticky food, burns, my solution was the CIF cleaning agent with the soft steel wool which you get in the dollar store. Itz Magic on stove tops, table tops and even the Petrol tanks ! I beleived it could clean anything in the world, if you could scrub hard. Just to find easier ways, I started my research; ofcourse in the internet & talk with gal pals. Experimented a couple of them and am satisfied with my gleaming pan :-)
Posting here, hoping someone will benefit from it.

1. Scrub max amount of food particles with a non-metal spoon. I used wood.
2. Rinse in cold water and fill it to the brink with water.
3. Add salt and a few drops of dish washing liquid.
4. Let the water boil and start dancing out of the pan.
5. Turn off the heat.
6. Close the pan with a lid & go for a walk if you have nothing important to do. (30-45 minutes is what we need)
7. Pour away the water.
8. Remember to run cold water to take the heat of the steel !
9. Using the dishwash liquid and scrub pad, clean it.
10. Run it under the tap with your eyes closed.
11. Open your eyes and smile :-) Its Done !! Back to silvers ... :-)
Mine was a stainless steel pot .
I read about using some acidic or alkaline stuff, if the stain persists.
Baking soda helps. Vinegar on the other end helps. (Don't use these on copper bottom pans)
I wanted to try it. So, I poured some vinegar and spread it over the pan. Didn't see much of a difference. So, rinsed it away, and dried the pan.

PS : Don't forget to show it to the guy, if he had a shout at you for this!

The Indian airports

Just during the recent travel, I went through the airports in the two major Indian cities… Chatrapati Shivaji International Airport, Mumbai & Delhi International Airport Limited.

Mumbai airport and the facilities there can be described in a single word as Terrible!

Almost all the people who were having transit from International to Domestic terminal were stranded. There is no proper information or infrastructure for the transit to occur. Many of them were shocked to hear that they have to collect their baggage, board a bus and reach the domestic terminal to catch their connection flight, which will depart like in an hour!
The worst part was the announcement system. There weren't any!!
The airplane staff had to go around the whole terminal shouting, repeating the names for passengers who are yet to board.
One positive thing I noticed was the personnel were trying their best to help. They were trying to guide the passengers in transit & to gather passengers from all the corners to board the plane.
I guess they are used to the angry banter of the distraught passengers. They kind of switch to autopilot as part of reaction and keep repeating the same useless consoling words and express their helplessness.


In sheer contrast to it is the New Delhi airport. A top class international airport with all facilities like travelator, snooze chairs, excellent gates, duty free shops, there was even a Delhi Daredevils pub.
The pics speak for themselves.

But the people, the indifferent and arrogant attitude is unbearable.
The typical "Dilliwallah" attitude, I have power, so I must use it put others in distress!
How else can you explain the behavior of the security staff, giving instruction to the Japanese transit passenger in pure Hindi, without even any hand signs?
The poor single traveler was lost when the uniformed staffs were asking her to get the tag for her hand carries, and for her to go the female section (when there was no queue of Ladies sign). They ask her in Hindi to open her bag for verification. She was so perplexed and the staffs were enjoying it. They were not even trying to hide their satisfaction & happiness by torturing others.
When asked, the security officer replied to me that this is how things are done here!

So sad that a set of our own people are spoiling the reputation & the standard we are trying to achieve.
If you do not know the language, I would suggest to take the transit at Mumbai airport ..

Restart

New year is a good time and well accepted excuse to kickstart a lot of things which have been neglected for a long time. Especially activities concerned to the self which are not mandatory in real life. I am not naming them as resolutions Coz it quite compels me to break resolutions.
Couple of activities pending for a long time are blogging and healthy life !
Restarting blogging might be an easier one, mainly Coz I am having a very active life these years meeting a lot of people and learning loads of new things & my blog is not specific to an area/ just myself. So I will be pretty much writing here things which interests me and my readers :)
Healthy lifestyle is something which I have been aiming to start to practice and achieve for a long while. The sentence shows my inertia towards it ;) with the current lifestyle with loads of wining and dining this has become kind of unavoidable if I wish to continue the fabulous lifestyle :) over the past year I have learned the theory of it.
Workout atleast thrice a week.
Reduce processed food.
Complex Carb in the morning, proteins for the daytime.
choose brown rice, brown sugar .
Cardios are our good friends...

I have decided to embrace the words of wisdom and be healthier and to lose the excess weight I have accumulated over the past year.

So these two are the two small tests for me this year :)

Happy new year all ...

A snap which takes me all the way to Japan

Just a snapshot of spring days in Japan ..
Oh! how much I miss the blue blue skies, the cherry blossoms, my good friends out there and ...