Healthy Classic Arabic Eid al-Fitr Recipe | Fatet Hommus | Waldorf Astoria Dubai Palm Jumeirah

I am a Foodie. I love eating food. All my memories are associated with food at one level or another. Obviously, the best kind of foods are relished at our festivals. Oh, all the delicacies I have enjoyed over the years on Holi and Diwali and Eid and Christmas, at own as well as friends' houses! Mouth-watering memories :)

But I am no Masterchef. In fact, till very recently, I would not even enter the kitchen unless it was dire emergency. Cooking has not been much of a strong suit for me. Surprising, since food takes up more than half of my day (thinking, fantasizing, eating..you get the drift) :D So when I got to know of a delicious recipe especially for Ramadan and Eid al-Fitr all the way from Dubai, the first thing I did was scan it apprehensively. You see, I have been under the impression that cooking, especially for Eid, is a looooooong chore. All the times I have gobbled up delicious Biryanis and Sheer Kormas at my friends' houses have spoilt me. However, this time, I am going to be in the Chef's hat because this recipe is healthy, lip-smacking and oh-so-easy to make :)

Especially keeping the Holy month of Ramadan and the auspicious occasion of Eid al-Fitr in mind, Dubai Tourism along with Chef Jens Muenchenbach at Waldorf Astoria Dubai Palm Jumeirah has put together some quick healthy classic Arabic delicacies, one of which is Fatet Hommus. One look through the recipe and I am all set to make it tomorrow and surprise my family. It is vegetarian, fresh, full of nutrients and taste. There cannot be a better way to pay homage to the festive spirit than by indulging in some pure delicacy that comes straight from the heart of Dubai :) Try it out folks!

Recipe of Fatet Hommus 

Ingredients: 

500g boiled chickpeas 

500g yoghurt 

10g peeled garlic 

20g ghee 

10g pine nut 

10g red paprika 

5g chopped parsley 

5g cooking salt 

30g fried bread 

100ml water of chickpeas 

10g dry mint 

Method of preparation: 

1. Put the chickpeas into a hot pan with garlic, salt, chickpea water and bread. 

2. Mix in the yogurt, parsley, mint, paprika. 

3. Add the hot ghee and pine nuts. 

4. Blend to a smooth consistency.

5. Serve

Source of Images : 1 , 2 

Garnier Ultra Blends Launch | #BlendedWithLove | Beauty Review

Every beauty addict and fashionista in India has a special bond with Garnier,specifically with their Ultra Doux range we all were in love with till last decade. It was also my first brush with serious hair care products. I had just entered high school and my perfectly obedient mane suddenly transformed into the most unruly, obnoxious hay of stack perched upon my head (continues till date) and Garnier Ultra Doux was the first that managed to make it semi-manageable. 

So when Garnier launched their Ultra Blends range recently and very generously sent me a hefty hamper, I could only look up to the heavens and say ‘Thank You’ to the hair Gods :) 

Luck shines at us as we are living in very progressive and aware age. More and more people are turning towards natural and holistic lifestyle, having seen first-hand the dangers of consuming chemicals in myriad forms, yes, even through our beauty products. Hair-care industry too has been having this huge debate about presence of chemicals such as Parabens in the products with quite a few studies about the long term hazards of using them. However, mere mortals who are not much into scientific mumbo-jumbo either do not understand or do not have any option. Most of ‘natural/organic’ products (be it beauty or otherwise) are either too expensive or not easily available in stores around us. We all know the positive effects of using only the purest brands but what to do,where to find them? 

How about a brand that is easily available, promises luxury at affordable prices and is walking the natural bandwagon effortlessly? Enter Garnier Ultra Blends. #BlendedWithLove just for us! 

Haircare fortified with natural ingredients, extracts and potent formulations WITHOUT using parabens, aimed at targeting different hair problems. Olives to combat dryness, Rich Lavender & Royal Jelly to fight hairfall, Rich Almonds & Soymilk to provide protein nourishment, 5 Precious Herbs to revitalize and Blackberry & Henna to bring back shine. Sounds too good to be true? Take a look at the gorgeous hamper for yourself :)

Now I got this hamper 6 days ago and the different formulations have been tested by my mother (normal hair, plagued with lifelessness), my sister (oily hair, suffers hairfall) and yours truly (curly dry hair, very lifeless, frizzy, no shine). We have used them once or twice and made up our minds just about a bit, more thoroughly of course will happen over a month or so. 

Garnier Ultra Blends Intense Repair Shampoo with Soy Milk & Almonds for Damaged Hair – Mildly fragranced, a little goes a long way, makes hair soft and easy to brush through. My extremely dry hair needed conditioner after this but my mom and sister didn’t and absolutely loved the silky feeling. I also think it has made my scalp calmer and reduced itching that I am almost always besieged with! 

Garnier Ultra Blends Revitalizing Shampoo with 5 Precious Herbs for Healthy Hair Everyday – Lemon, Eucalyptus, Henna, Green Tea and Aloe come together to make this very mildly green haircare product, again mildly and pleasantly fragranced, makes hair soft and strong. Within 2 washes we can feel a bounce in our hair, it is definitely noticeable. My extremely dry hair needs conditioner but not needed for normal or oily hair/scalp. This one is really mild and needs a bit more to bring out all the gunk from hair. Absolutely wonderful for everyday wash,doesn't make hair feel like a haystack.

Garnier Ultra Blends Anti Hairfall Shampoo with Royal Jelly & Lavender for Breaking Hair, Prone To Fall – Clearly my personal favourite of the 4 variants in the hamper, Royal Jelly reconstructs and strengthens while Lavender soothes, beautifully fragranced, even my extremely dry hair gets really soft without using any conditioner! I let my hair air dry and then brush it and I swear I can feel my hair getting silky smooth with each wash. The fragrance also lingers for a long time and I have actually hijacked this bottle, my mom and sister have used it just once and loved it too. 

Garnier Ultra Blends Nourishing Shine Shampoo with Henna & Blackberry for Dull, Dry, Lifeless Hair – This is my mom’s favourite as her lifeless hair has gotten volume and shine with this variant. Has the most beautiful longest lasting fragrance and a beautiful mild pink color too. Again, a little goes a long way and the smoothness and shine imparted to hair is visible within 2 washes. This one is however not fit for my really dry hair as it dries it further. But works wonderfully on my mom's normal,lifeless hair. A winner for her, I am sure my mom would love to use it for a long time. 

With even this limited trial run, Garnier Ultra Blends Range has got 100% Thumbs Up from my family. The reasons we are all saying YES to this are- 

• Garnier going the No Parabens way, bringing something mild and pure our way, Yes Please! 
• Mildly formulated with natural ingredients that have ancient wisdom inherent in them
• Divine fragrances that last really long and give a salon/hairspa like feeling 
• Really reasonable price points – available at just Rs. 55 a bottle that will last more than a month on using every alternate day 
• Easily available everywhere, need not search for it in special salons or duty free shops at airports 
• Variants targeting different hair issues, making it easier for us to choose the best ones for our needs 

We are going to continue using the range over next month or so and I will be updating the final results afterwards. Meanwhile, the fact that Garnier Ultra Blends has brought about a mini revolution in the field of beauty & haircare is something to be admired. Do try out the range and let me know which one is your favourite :)

Why Play Catch Up With Lost Growth In Children | Opinion

Parenting is the toughest job on this planet. I am saying this not as a parent myself but after observing all my school and college friends go through this phase of their lives right now in front of my eyes (Yup,I am the last surviving singleton in my BFF group :D). The anxiety of 'What are we doing? Is this all right? What else am I supposed to do? Where do I stand in comparison with all other parents?' day in and day out is enough to drive anyone crazy. Now why am I talking about parenting all of a sudden? Because just last weekend I met one of my school best friends who has a cute 3 year old daughter and obviously our conversation turned towards her. She is a fussy eater, I mean, really fussy even for a kid. In that sense she is actually a lot like her own mother, my bestie of 15 years. But now my bestie is getting really worried since her daughter is turning out to be really skinny and seems to be lagging behind in attaining the right height & weight for her age. 

A little bit of probing around leads me to something called lost growth in children. The phenomena of them not developing well enough at the right time, and it is not an isolated incident, rather it is happening everywhere, right now! This made me think. We are thankfully living in an area with unprecedented technological advancements,including those in the field of health. Every single day our newspapers are filled with all sorts of health & medical related articles,advice columns, research results and so on. People are more health conscious than ever. Yet, we are also living in times where we seem to be most out of whack with natural system of living! More people are now burdened with lifestyle diseases than ever and guess what,most of it is starting right out in childhood! We have more children besieged with obesity as well as malnutrition right now than ever before in the history of mankind. All sorts of nutritional deficiencies are rearing up their heads, and all this because we are not focusing at the root cause of the problem.

Early childhood development is perhaps one of the most criminally neglected aspects of our social spectrum. Children need special nutritional focus to ensure physical as well as psychological well-being in years to come and there is so less chatter about it. They need more proteins, amino acids, proper proportion of vitamins, minerals to boost their immunity, just the right amount of calcium to strengthen the skeletal system and so on. But most of the parents I know (and this is a mistake I myself am prone to making) think that giving 2 glasses of milk a day to their child is enough for all their growth needs! Ah, how untrue. Of course, this is supplemented by our lifestyles where kids are hardly encouraged to go out and play like we did in our childhood and are rather spotted junking around in front of TV or playstations or glued to their ipads skyping their hearts out. But at the end of the day,it is us, the adults, the wise ones, who have to take up the cudgels to rectify this problem.

How can we forget that it is the nutrition that we receive in our childhood that preps our biological system in and out to withstand anything that life throws at us? How can we replace the importance of every extra nutrient that equips us to physically not burn out, keeps our cell regeneration speed at optimum levels and psychologically creates a safety net to withstand any emotional shock? More importantly,how can we neglect to pay heed to the fact that a child who does not develop right enough is always made the cornerstone of jokes & ridicule at the hand of constant social bullies found in our schools, our neighborhoods and our playgrounds? Remember all the laughter ringing out at 'dwarf boy' and 'stick girl' in those children's movies about mean school kids? It is a reality for so many children everywhere! 

These are just some of the reasons why catching up on lost growth becomes vital. After all, at the end of the day, we just want our kids to grow up to be strong inside & out, be the best versions of themselves, be healthy & smart all the way through, isn't it? And it all starts in childhood. Children ought to play, fall down and get up without getting scared of breaking all their bones, they ought to run for a mile without puncturing their lungs, they need to be able to get through a sports/gym class without being the center of attention among their peers for all the wrong reasons, they have to be able to sit through 6 hours of lectures without losing focus or feeling doozy (might be difficult for some lectures,I am looking at you Mrs. Chatterjee from my boring Geography lectures :P) etc. etc... you get the drift. This is the magical time to be enjoyed in all possible ways for both children as well as parents without either of them getting sleepless nights about the height & weight ratio at a particular age!

That is why I was happy when I called a call from my bestie yesterday that she has got a solution for her problem - Horlicks Growth+ which is a specialized nutrition product designed by international pediatric experts for children in age group of 3-9 years who are lagging behind in height and weight. It contains high quality whey protein with added nutrients that are known to enable children to catch up on lost growth. It has been clinically proven for visible growth in children in 6 months. Well, Horlicks is a brand we all have a personal connection with, I am glad that they have decided to venture forth in this area and take care of severe anxieties a lot of parents suffer when it comes to the strange case of 'lost growth'. I am looking forward to hearing about her personal experience in a couple of months and bookmarking it for when I become a parent myself. After all, it IS the toughest job in the world and I am going to need all the help I can get :)

Source for all images : Horlicks Growth Plus