Shannon Gartin is the Code Pink Boot Camp trainer in Arizona that is "amazing" as her campers quote her, she is also the leader of our team for the American Lung Association for AIr Climb in Arizona!
Check it out and be a part of it! The website is www.climbphoenix.com Team name is: Code Pink Boot Camp Rocks!
The Arcadia Code Pink Boot Camp has been featured for raising over $1300 so far for the American Lung Association’s Fight For Air Climb. The climb is Sunday, November 7th and a donation would be appreciated any donation of any amount: $5,$10 - $50.
If you want to still be a part of it all you can be! 53 flights of stairs are ready for you to climb!
If you are in the Phoenix area of Arcadia, Shannon would love to have you join her in boot camp!
Megan Howell – Megan joined Code Pink Boot Camp in Dec 2009 with the goal of getting back into shape post breast cancer treatment for her wedding in July. With working many, many hours and planning the perfect wedding, she still made her fitness goals a priority and was at camp at 5:30 am pushing herself to her full potential. She has made amazing strength gains since she started almost a year ago! She went from not being able to do a lot of the basic exercises due to surgeries, to using 8 lb dumbbells because the 5 lb’s got to easy for her. I am so proud of her accomplishments and she is such a joy to have in camp everyday! She is very determined and motivated and I am looking forward to watching her achieve many more goals in the near future!
I have some crazy friends who think time doesn’t matter at all and they drop in any time, the other day two of them came 11 at night when I was having a diet salad with some bread and boiled egg just to skip cooking my dinner but God have some different plan and yes I have to cook for them something that is delicious yet quick because I want my dishes to be served as dinner and not breakfast….hahahah! The good thing is I have very few things in my freezer , just have some leftover rice and 4 to 6 tiger shrimp and little veggies and with this little ingredients I have to please my two dear hungry friends! I must say I am successful in my mission. Mint rice and Creamy Prawn curry served the whole purpose. You can take a look of this delicious platter. I am sure you will like this.
Ingredients:
For Mint rice Basmati rice cooked 3 cups Fresh mint leaves paste 3 table spoon Lemon juice 1/2 tea spoon Yoghurt 1 table spoon Spring onion chopped ½ cup Clarified butter/ butter 1 table spoon Coriander powder (dry roasted) 1/3 tea spoon Green chilly 1 chopped (optional) Sugar 1/2 tea spoon Salt and pepper to taste
For Creamy Prawn Curry Tiger shrimp 4 to 6 Garlic 1 tea spoon chopped Yoghurt 3 table spoon Clarified butter/ butter 1 tea spoon Corn flour 1/2 tea spoon Cayenne powder/white pepper 1/2 tea spoon Sugar 1/2 tea spoon Saffron a pinch Salt to taste Water a little more than 1/2 cup Fresh coriander 1/2 tea spoon finely chopped Fresh cream 1 heaping spoon (optional)
*The taste of the whole recipe will differ if you use butter instead of clarified butter but no doubt delicious in both way. And for those who want it to be healthier you can use diet butter.
The spreading light of happiness....... The eternal victory of light over darkness as good over evil
With gleam of Diyas And the Echo of the Chants May Happiness and Contentment Fill Your life Wishing you a very happy and prosperous Diwali!!
Be Happy And Stay Healthy. http://www.tulsiindianrestaurant.com/ -image source
One of my most favorite things to do is sit on the couch and watch football all sunday afternoon. I am also really big into Fantasy Football. I am constantly flipping from game to game checking out how my team (and my opponent's team) is doing. From Noon to Midnight, I am watching football. Even when I am away the TV (either studying or working), I get text and video updates sent to my phone. I am clearly obsessed.
Each week as I sit glued to the TV with some chips and the occassional brew, I can't help but notice how many players are leaving the game with concussions each week. Now I know football is a "gladiator sport", but it just seems that this year more than any other, there are more concussions. I have noticed it, my friends have noticed it, and even the NFL noticed. Concussions used to be considered "minor" injuries in the NFL because a player may only miss 1-2 weeks tops. NOw, with all the research being done on the short and long term effects of blows to the head, it is no longer looked upon in that way. The NFL has gone as far as changing the rules on how and when a defensive player can hit an offensive player. The evidence is overwhelming on the effects of concussions. If you click on this website, you will see a few of the effects that these players have endured in the past : Sport's Concussions . I have used this website in the past because it does a really nice job of presenting ideas (in this case the effects of concussions) in list form.
As a side note, through 6 weeks in the NFL, there is estimated to have already been 46 concussions. That is a scary and oftly high number. If you haven't gotten a chance to watch much football this year, here is a video of some of the more violent concussions thus far this year.
I am currently taking a course at USci called Health and Wellness. Now the only reason that I picked this class is to fullfill my requirements for my Minor in Exercise Science and Wellness Management. With that said, I am quite glad that I did pick this class. It is a nice change of pace. Instead of focusing on traditional medicine, it takes an alternate or holistic approach. Instead of taking pills for a cold, we learned to use a device called a Neti Pot (basically, you use a mini teapot to pour saltwater up your nose). The Neti pot, to my suprise, actually did work. The warm saltwater enters your nasal sinus and clears out the unwanted "gook" in there.
Each and every week we are trying different approaches in Contemporary and Alternative Medicine (CAM). Last week, we tried a stress relieving technique called Progressive Muscle Relaxion. If this sounds familiar, it is. We talked about it in the section dedicated to "Stress" in class. Progressive Muscle Relaxtion is kind of like giving yourself a massage, kind of. The premise behind PMR is that you tense up a specific muscle group and hold it for several seconds. As you release the tension, you're ultimately relaxing your muscles at a deeper level. I have been trying this technique for a week or so now, and it really does work. I am not saying that it compares to a nice deep massage, but when you dont have time for that or someone willing to give you one it is a nice alternative. Here is a quick guidline to PMR as described on about.com:
Difficulty: Easy
Time Required: 5 Minutes
Here's How:
After finding a quiet place and several free minutes to practice progressive muscle relaxation, sit or lie down and make yourself comfortable.
Begin by tensing all the muscles in your face. Make a tight grimace, close your eyes as tightly as possible, clench your teeth, even move your ears up if you can. Hold this for the count of eight as you inhale.
Now exhale and relax completely. Let your face go completely lax, as though you were sleeping. Feel the tension seep from your facial muscles, and enjoy the feeling.
Next, completely tense your neck and shoulders, again inhaling and counting to eight. Then exhale and relax.
Continue down your body, repeating the procedure with the following muscle groups:
chest
abdomen
entire right arm
right forearm and hand (making a fist)
right hand
entire left arm
left forearm and hand (again, making a fist)
left hand
buttocks
entire right leg
lower right leg and foot
right foot
entire left leg
lower left leg and foot
left foot
for the shortened version, which includes just four main muscle groups:
face
neck, shoulders and arms
abdomen and chest
buttocks, legs and feet
Quickly focusing on each group one after the other, with practice you can relax your body like ‘liquid relaxation’ poured on your head and it flowed down and completely covered you. You can use progressive muscle relaxation to quickly de-stress any time.
I am back and thanks to all of you for all your love and best wishes. Durga Puja is a traditional festival and a part of our culture , though it is a religious festival but the good part of this festival is that it has broken all the religious boundaries and enjoyed by everybody irrespective of their caste, creed, religion and economic status. This festival is the perfect example of unity in diversity. Now days it has taken a from of carnival and the creative effort that is added to this festival is making it world famous and a major tourist attraction. So any of you want to visit India this part of the year don’t miss Kolkata and it’s Durga puja, I am sure you will take back home bundle of colorful memories. The colage above will give you a short synopsis of the festival and rest is written in words below. The festival which is to declare the win of Goodness and Godness over the power of evil, last for five days starting in the sixth day( sashti) of the lunar calendar and end on the tenth day(Dasahami).In this five days Mother God is worshipped with perfect traditional rituals. Some of the important feature of this festival are the beats of dhak , Durga Puja is incomplete without the maddening beats of dhak , a large drum that is played by two thin stick which the dhaki (drumer) hang around their neck and play those enchanting beats that are enough to conjure up the sights and smells of Durga Puja. Sandhi Puja is an important ritual performed during evening at the juncture of Ashtami (eighth day) and Navami(ninthday). The goddess is worshipped with 108 lotus flowers, red hibiscus flowers, wood apple leaves and vermilion. A 108 earthen lamps are lighted to mark the end of the puja.After that Dhunuchi nritya' or ‘the dance with effervescent smoke' which is a traditional dance form Bengal, is performed in front of the idol of the Goddess Durga to the sound of dhak both young men and women participate in this and some places participant are awarded with lots of prizes according to the excellence of their performance. On the ninethday (Navami) various delicious vegeterian dishes is prepared for the Ma Durga called bhoga and then this is distributed among the people as Prasad. This include shahi Khichuri ( a delicious rice preparation) with fried eggplant and potato with spicy mixed vegetable(labra tardkari) and mango chatni and payas (sweet dessert made with rice and milk). On the tenthday (Dashami) Bengali married women go to worship the Goddess and pray for happiness all the year through and share vermilion (sindoor),among themselves as well as with Ma Durga this ritual is called Sindoor Khela. And on the evening of the tenth day is Visarjan (immersion ceremony), Goddess Durga’s idol is mmersed in the holy river Ganges , Durga Visarjan is the most eye-catching event where the celebrations conclude with a bang.After that happy free hug ( Kolakuli) is exchanged between each other and everyone have rosogolla( melt in mouth tofu balls dipped in simple syrup) to wait for another year with this sweet memory and blessing of Goddess Ma Durga. It’s hard to describe such festival in such few words but I try my best to give you a brief essence of the whole festival I hope you will enjoy reading.
Today I want to share with you a very delicious, easy and healthy dish that is served during this festival . This is shahi khichuri a fragrant subtle preparation pepped up by a number of side dishes. The finished khichuri smells awesome and taste incredible. Ingredients:
Basmati Rice 150 gram Whole mung bean dal (without skin) 100 gram Bengal gram dal 50 gram Whole red chilly 2 Cardamom 2 whole Cinnamon 1 inch stick Clove 2 Tomato 1 big chunks Carrot 1 big chunks Potato 1 big chunks Peas 1/2 cup Cauliflower 6 big florets Cumin seed 1/4 tea spoon Turmeric powder 1/4 teaspoon Chilly powder 1/4 teaspoon Cumin powder 1/4 tea spoon Coriander powder 1/4 tea spoon Salt to taste Sugar 1 tea spoon Fresh coriander leaves 1/2 cup coarsely chopped Mix raisin , cashew , almond, coconut finely sliced 1/2 cup lightly fried Graram masala 1/2 tea spoon ( whole -black pepper 2, clove 1, cardamom 1,cinnamon 1/4 inch dry roast them together then gind into fine powder) Clarified butter 1 table spoon Soya or vegetable oil 3 table spoon Water 2 glass
Procedure: Cut and wash all the vegetable. Mix all the dal and rice and wash it. Heat oil in a pan and then break the whole red chilly little bit add it with whole cardamom, cinnamon and cumin seeds. When they start to crack add all the spices and tomatoes , vegetables , rice, daal , salt mix well and then pour two glass of water. Mix well. Put the lid and let it cook for 10 to 12 minutes or till the rice and dal are well cooked. Then add sugar ,chopped coriander, gram masala powder , fried coconut, cashew and raisin and at last a sprinkle a spoon full of clarified butter. (Instead of red chilly powder you can use black pepper and for clarified butter you can use butter but that will not give you the exact flavor and taste that I want to share with you.) Mix well. Your delicious pure vegetarian delicious khichuri is ready. This is a whole meal you can have it for lunch and dinner with fried eggplant or potato or simply relish this Indian delicacy. Though the list of ingredient is bit long but once your prepared it is just few minutes job. I hope you will love it.
Cherish the music of Dhak , if you like just leave a comment may be your best wish vibes reach and inspire a a drummer far away whom you will never meet-
Be Happy And Stay Healthy. indiafoodandtravelguide.com –image source kchidri
