Book Characters- Specials.

The first thing a person wakes up in the morning does is to clean itself up and sit with a strong cup of tea with the newspaper. As a child, I am not interested in newspapers. It’s obvious. But i would like to tell you about a girl I met....in a book!

This girl is from Eva Ibbotson's Star of Kazan. Published by Macmillan, this book won the Nestle` Silver Award and was shortlisted for the Carnegie Medal. It was a character from this book I found interesting.

 

Pauline, a girl of 13, lived in her grandfather's house which was adjoined with a bookshop. This bookshop was their only source of income by which they could feed themselves. It was not a very popular one too, just a shop dealing with some dusty antique books on the streets of Vienna.

Pauline, you see, had a scrapbook. A great, big, fat one. She used to take the daily newspaper and search for articles. Articles on bravery.

How, a boy saves his father from drowning in the middle of the Pacific ocean, How, a girl saves a child from being hit by a bull. How, a young man risked his own life by fighting dacoits in order to save a girl of 16. Pauline had been born with a weak heart. She couldn't run long distances. She couldn’t eat everything. She couldn’t ride or take part in athletic things. She uses this scrapbook to inspire herself and give her the desire to live on, so that even she gets her name in the papers one day. She confides her fantasies in her best friends, Annika and Stephan.

And then, when her best friend Annika was in danger, Pauline runs to the ship where she was being taken away by her so called mother ( you will read and find out) and faints in the attempt, but succeeds in saving her friend's life from turning into a disaster. I have learnt so much from Pauline . I wanted to share this with you.

Please read the Star of Kazan and Journey to River Sea, another book by the same author which won the Nestle Gold Award, The Guardian Children's Fiction Prize and was the runner up for Whitbread Children's Book of the year.

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composition de florale: arranging flowers

Composition florale, or, the arrangement of lowers in a decorative manner.
People have been decorating flowers since generations. They say that flowers are the soul of every  home. They are the most decorative sweet and fragrant compared to every other decoration piece on your mantle.
Decorating flowers is an art. An art to master life long. Let me tell you today how to bring these flowery friends in your home today.
     

The container or the vase you use should be cleaned properly.  You can use any container for your arrangement  You can use a regular glass vase as well. You can add different sea sand and coloured stones at the bottom to support the stems. Water should be able to pass through it. This will also give your arrangement a very lovely and attractive finish.

Cut the stem of your flowers in a slanting manner so it can receive more nutrients. It should be at least two inches from the bottoms. to keep your flowers fresh, remove any leaves below water level.


     


The water should be of room temperature and slightly warm so that the buds open quickly and add to the attractiveness of the arrangement.


Small flowers look good in short and stout vases whereas the bigger ones look nicer  in tall and slender vases.

Place your flowers in different angles to make the most of their individual shapes and then add the foliage to fill any gaps and accentuate the mixes of the colors.

  

Remove any stamens with pollen as pollen discolors the flowers and also prevents pollination so that the flowers last longer and stay fresh.

          

 

Unusual Religious Customs.

                                                        

Uncommon Customs.

There are several customs in the world which are unheard of. They are practiced in different parts of the world. Here are some customs I saw on my trip.

GERMANY
POLTERABEND.
Polterabend is a German before wedding tradition carried on between the bride and groom. The friends and family of the couple come together for an informal party where they shockingly break everything in the house except glasses and mirrors.
To show that the couple will help each other in future difficulties, both of them are given the responsibility to clean everything up.
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THAILAND
MONKEY BUFFET FESTIVAL

In here, over 3,000 kilograms of fruits are presented  to the monkeys in order to please the monkey gods!!!
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ENGLAND
 GURNING

This tradition is not the least bit religious. The English have celebrated this tradition since the 1267. The participants try to make the most grotesque faces as possible. This is also a very serious game. It has been converted into championships like the World Gurning championship, England.

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SCOTLAND
  BLACKENED BRIDE
Scottish brides to be have to undergo a very gruesome and foul ritual before marriage. Friends of the bride can wet and dirty the bride with anything disgusting such as rotten eggs and vegetables, spoiled milk and feathers, etc.
The scottish believe that after going through this, the bride will be pretty much ready to face all martial problems.
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Pink and purple lemonades

You will need:

1 teaspoon sugar

1 teaspoon salt

Squeezed lemon juice

Pomengrenate juice or grenadine. ( for pink lemonade)

Grape juice ( for red purple lemonade)

And maybe honey.
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This is a very simple recipe. Prepare your own lemonade by mixing sugar, salt and lemon. Then, for pink lemonade, add pomengrenate or grenadine, and for purple red lemonade add the grape juice

Then add honey.

Garnish with ice cubes. Cherish with a slice of thinly sliced lime.

Best enjoyed with garlic bread and cheese dip.
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How to make excellent Cheese dip

The garlic bread is the main course and this dip shall be its appetizer. Catch up on the next one - lemonades!!

You need
2 cups milk
1 cup cheese (grated cheddar)
Salt to match your taste
4 tbsp butter
2 teaspoons flour
4tbsp cream cheese
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Melt the butter in a pan. Add the flour in it. Then put the milk until it thickens.
When your paste is ready, adds the cream cheese and grated cheddar.
When the paste is ready, add the salt.
This dip works very well with nachos and salty crackers. It hardly takes time to prepare.

You can eat the cheese dip in your style. Add nimbu achar to give it your Indian twist, or add unique herbs to it.

Best enjoyed with Crackers in Garlic bread.
 Serve hot in a bowl. Arrange crackers on it in a circular manner. Sprinkle some powdered cheese or herbs in the middle for presentation.
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How to make some awesome homemade Garlic bread.

You Will Need to prepare 8 slices:

1. 4 slices of bread cut into halves.
2.  3 cloves of peeled garlic, grated into a small bowl.
3. butter/margarine/ghee or pasteurised butter
4.Grated cheese cubes optional
5. Italian seasoning optional.
........lets get started................

Melt the butter in a pan and pour it into the bowl with garlic.

Spread the Garlic butter generously  on the slices of bread. If you like,

You can add the cheese and some olives with the italian seasoning to make
cheesy garlic bread.

Now, heat the tawa or fry pan for best results, in LOW FLAME. Carefully put the slices on the fry pan. Then, cover the pan with a lid.

Tips:

Putting the flame on low heat gives you  a very nice crispy crust. Also, the bread does'nt burn a lot.

Put very less italian seasoning. It steals the flavour of garlic away.

Last Step:

Keep checking on your dish. When the cheese melts, your bread is ready. Serve hot with cheese dip and some pink or purple lemonade. ( see other recipes)

IT GOES WELL WITH-------