A man is a king in his castle

Out of curiosity today I went on Google and punched in ' just another day in the life of a housewife' to see if my blog comes up, well it does not. However, some very hot housewives blogs certainly show up.

The real issue at hand today ladies and gentlemen is, if man is indeed a king in his own castle? did you folks see the advertisement for Dodge Charger Man's last stand. In this advertisement the narrator starts off saying; he will wake up at 6 30 am, he ll eat his fruit, he ll shave, he ll clean the sink after he shaves. He ll listen to his better half's opinions of his friends and her friend's opinions of his friends. He ll keep quiet when she does not want to hear no and he ll carry all her beauty things and on and on-----. However, he ll drive the car he likes cause that is man's last stand. It got me thinking these men who work all day, make money for us to spend however we please.Who do not get to question us on how we spend that money; don't have a lot of say when it comes to the house. How to decorate the house and where to keep their stuff. In my house my husband has two boxes and two drawers with his stuff in it. There was a time when I was a student and not living with him, in those days the house had his stuff all over the place now adays all his car tools are in one giant box in one closet and all his other manly gagets are in another box. I think man is no longer the king in his castle he has been demoted to a lowly knight.

The women however, are the Queens, cause we get to choose the color co-ordinates, have satin cushions and red bed spreads, orange sofas and crimson cushions. The man cave has been sent down into the basement if he is lucky or out into the garage or shed. The house that once had a manly smell now smells like lavender; the bathroom has potpourri, open any drawer and you ll be greeted by the cheery smell of roses. Flower motifs and candles abound and the shower no longer has soap it has grapefruit body washes with aloe Vera and Jo Joba oils. I know a friend who no longer carries a purse cause all her stuff is now carried in her husbands jean pockets, I remember watching an episode of scrubs once where the ladies were discussing how to dress their better halves and having them wear cargo jeans was good cause then they carried all the ladies stuff. In the advertisement however, they end by saying that men will drive the car they want to drive. I guess I can agree with that cause all the folks I happen to know, did win on their last stand and bought the car they wanted if the wives liked it ;)

more on dressing your guy and getting rid of his unwanted clothes next time....

B+ ---- cuddle up with life.

These days i am reading a book called learning to breathe by Alison wright, i highly recommend it. In it i read a quote I really liked so I ll put it up here.

"For a long time it had seemed to me that life was about to begin----- But there was always some obstacle in the way, something to be gotten through first, some unfinished business, time still to be served, a debt to be paid. Then life would begin. At last it dawned on me that these obstacles were my life. " Alfred D. Souza

Life;

Standing by the seashore breathing the salty spray

Let the wind catch in your hair; play with it.

Running wildly into the waves;

listening to the seagulls song.

Catch the snow flake on your tongue

laugh so hard that you feel your sides bursting.

Hear the bubbly laughter of children

smile at a stranger

tell a friend they are needed

Love, DREAM, hope and Wonder

See the ripples in the pond the breeze makes

Wish on a shooting star, watch a blooming rose.

This is what life is

Dont forever be looking in the shadows

looking out the window

keep wondering if the grass is greener on the other side

things have to be a certain way before life can begin

this is your life, right now, right here

cuddle up with it, live it to the fullest.

Happily ever after-----

Credits roll and the hero rides with his heroine into the sunset on his faithful steed. Really? Cinderella finally marries the Prince and they live happily ever after, or do they? Does she drives him crazy with her obsessive compulsive cleaning? Does sleeping beauty drive her guy mad, insisting on sleeping at a certain hour every night? Does Rapunzel want only salads; is Snow White afraid to go to the beach for fear of blemishing her skin?

I guess it's for the best that in our love stories the hero and heroine always die at the end. I mean if Heer and Ranjha had actually married, pretty soon Heer would be shouting at Ranjha for spending too much time in the fields and not giving her any attention; Ranjha would be retorting, "Well you are no belle from the fields yourself; look what all that butter has done to your thighs."

Love, weddings and marriage: what is it all really? Is is for real or just ideals we have been made to believe to keep the human race going. Many folks argue how can you live with the same person for their whole life? Seeing the same face gets boring, right? And in a few years you'll know each other like the back of your hand, and will be completing each others' sentences.

So much hype is created around weddings: the wedding day has to be perfect; the bride looking resplendent in the most expensive clothes one can buy. Bejeweled like a Princess, she will be the "it" factor at the occasion. I remember finding weddings to be magical when young, and brides to me were the most beautiful creatures. Lots of money spent on food and clothes; it is after all the start of a new beginning.

There is a difference, however, between the wedding and marriage: wedding is a fantastic fantasy; marriage is real. Marriage is the bond you will share with a special person for the rest of your life. Why do people marry? This is a question I've often asked myself. For starters, it's nice to know that someone knows you like the back of his hand, he knows what you like and what you don't; what color your tooth brush is; someone who loves you even when he comes home and sees the house in complete disarray, dirty dishes in the sink and you sitting writing your blog.

It's also nice to know their idiosyncrasies and rituals, the fact that no matter how much salt you put in a dish he will always add soy sauce to it :D It's nice to have someone to talk to in the middle of the night when you cannot fall asleep; to share ridiculous food facts with; to fight over why he cannot solve Turing's halting problem (because in life all problems can be solved, only if you try hard enough, right?). It certainly is a wonderful feeling to have that someone we can trust completely, in front of whom we do not need to be anyone other than ourselves.

Being married is like living with your best friend for ever and ever, like a perpetual high, and feels simply amazing when we love someone and are loved. And that in it self is GGGRRREAT!

The amazing cow, Rab ka Shukar adda kar bhai, jis nay humari gayee banayi

I will start to post an article weekly; on food and nutrition. In these articles I plan to talk about the biology and chemistry of a particular food, its history and how it is produced today. At the end of these articles I will be sharing a simple recipe with my fellow readers.

Lets start this scientific culinary journey by talking about the Cow. Around 30 millions years ago when the earth's moist warm climate became arid, this change led to increase in the grass lands which could grow quickly and produce a lot of seeds, during dry spells these plants were fibrous and dry. It was during this time that the horse like animals decreased and the deer like animals the ruminants survived and evolved. These animals are able to survive on less nutritious plants like dry grass and hay; there multi chambered stomach allowed for better digestion of cellulose and they are able to squeeze out the last drops of energy out of their food. The cow is part of the ruminant family, so it can utilize plant like hay and silage which are useless to humans. The cow's stomach is house to many microbes which help it to digest its cellulose rich diet. The nutrition absorbed by the digestive system of the cow are later used to manufacture milk.

Milk is amazing because its designed to be a complete food, its the sole sustaining food of the calf so its a rich source of many essential body building nutrients; specially proteins, sugar, fat and vitamin A,D,E,K and B and Calcium. All milk carries the same sort of nutrition the relative proportions vary from animal species to animal species. Milk is not rich in vitamin C or in Iron. Humans are perhaps the only creatures who drink milk after infancy but as the enzyme which is required to digest the milk sugar lactose decreases after infancy it is not surprising that most people are lactose intolerant and cannot stomach milk efficiently. Being Lactose intolerant is the norm rather than an anomaly. Most Northern Europeans underwent a genetic change thousands of years ago which allowed them to produce lactase(lactose digesting enzyme) through out life and therefore they are generally not lactose intolerant, however most people of Asian and African descent are. The best source of milks nutrition for lactose intolerant people is yogurt.

Lets talk briefly about milk chemistry. Milk is the food of the newborn so dairy animals must give birth before they can produce significant amounts of milk. The milk is produced by the mammary glands which are an astonishing biological factory with many different structures geared towards the production and storage of milk. Some components of milk come directly from the cows blood from the nutrients it digests and others like proteins, fats and sugars are assembled by the glands secretory cells. and than released into the udder. Do not be fooled by the milks bland appearance its a very complex liquid full of vitality; especially when it is fresh there is bacteria as well as white blood cells and other enzymes in it. Pasteurization decreases this vitality, more on pasteurization and homogenization next time.

Milk is slightly acidic having a pH of 6.5 to 6.7; it has the sugar lactose in it which is made up of the sugars glucose and galactose. It has two main types of proteins called caseins which make up the largest portion of the milk proteins. There are four types of casein proteins which are collectively knowns as the caseins. There are numerous other smaller water soluble proteins in milk which are left behind in the whey when the caseins coagulate in the curds and therefore are collectively known as the whey proteins; Lactoglobulin in the most common whey protein by a large margin; whey proteins make up about 20% of the total proteins by weigh.

Milk is an emulsion of butterfat globules within a water based fluid.Each fat globule is surrounded by a layer of phospholipids and proteins which help to keep the fat globules separate and not aggregate into larger molecules of butter fat grains, they also protect the fat globules from the activity of fat digesting enzymes found in the water portion of the milk. The fat soluble vitamins like A, D, K and E are found within the fat globule portion of the milk. Caseins proteins aggregate around an atom of calcium phosphate to form casein micelles; the opaque white color of milk comes from the light being deflected by the fat globules and the aggregated large casein protein particles.

In the next article I will talk more about the milks nutrition and its production. The history behind industrialization of milk and about the rise of pasteurization and homogenization. Now for the fun part

Todays recipe.

Breakfast is the most important meal of the day so before you rush out that door try this simple yet delicious and energizing smoothie.

Strawberry Banana smoothie. makes about 2 8 oz cups

1/2 cup low fat vanilla flavored yogurt

1 cup 1 or 2 % milk

2 tsp natural sugar free peanut butter

1 cup strawberries

1 banana

2 tsp whey powder (optional)

ice cubes

blend all these ingredients together and enjoy a delicious glass of wholesome goodness.

This is a complete breakfast as you are getting protein from the peanut butter, milk and whey powder and yogurt. Calcium from the milk, yogurt and whey powder. Vitamins and carbohydrates from the fruits. Antioxidants from the strawberries and instant energy from the bananas.

see you next week with more :D

References:

Biology concepts and connections by Campbell and Reece 5th edition

On food and cooking the science and lore of the kitchen by Harold McGee

Prevention- Healthy Woman

Milk- Wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Milk