Tea Stories with Tea Treasure - Healthy Treasure in a Cup!

Off late, my health is deteriorating, all thanks to the tight schedule that I have! I often sleep late and wake up early and spend more than half of my day in front of the laptop screen. Naturally, this has finally taken a toll on my immunity and I keep falling sick almost every day. Because I don’t get plenty of rest even after falling sick, so I never get fully recovered. All this obviously impacts the work performance and then everything keeps moving in the downward direction. Thus, our health is something that we should never neglect.

(Are you a foodie like me? Check out this: https://www.village-bakery.com/)

I was tired of being sick every day so I tried a lot of green teas (of so many brands) and things like that which are said to have a lot of benefits. However, nothing gave a long-term relief. I then shifted to chamomile teas, which are really good for cold, cough and allergies from pollen grains. It’s still my most preferred tea.

A Mixed Experience at Playboy Cafe, CP!

Hello lovelies,

It was a dull afternoon of 27th Feb 2017, when I stepped in the Playboy Café. As I climbed upstairs to reach the entrance, I could see the amazing vibes that it had. The ambiance seemed welcoming. Soon, I found myself gelling up with a few other bloggers there.

Octavius Green Tea—The Magical Cup of Health!

I was always found gymming or pampering myself in a spa before being stuck in a 9 to 5 job. It has been over a year now since that has stopped. But the fitness freak in me could not be at rest for long. So I switched to green tea as a regime a few months back. I have tried a lot of brands and flavours. Some were a bad experience, some were good, but few were to be continued…

Octavius Green Tea came as a delight at my doorsteps. When I removed the packaging and saw the yellow can, my heart skipped a beat. It was love at first sight. I was so amazed by just the packaging that my expectations with the flavour and aroma increased manifold.

myDaily Meal - Eating healthy!

Recently, I received a sample satchet by Four Foundations. The packing was so tastefully done that it caught my attention in a jiffy. So what was it? It was myDaily meal (Vanilla flavour).

myDaily Meal has been founded by Four Fountains De-stress Spa team. The co-founders are Anurag Kedia, Saurabh Garg and Sunil Rao.

The idea behind launching this amazing product was to stop you from skipping meals and eating junk food in your busy schedules. myDaily Meal is a Perfectly Engineered Meal Replacement Shake that provides exact nutrients including Proteins, Carbohydrates, Fats, Minerals, Vitamins and Fiber as required by your body in 1 meal. This gives perfect nutrition to your body within 1 min.

“We believe that this is the real food-tech. While most of the players have been working around logistics and delivery, myDaily Meal is working on the real scientific aspect of food to make sure that you get perfect nutrition anytime, anywhere in few seconds. In our busy lives we end up either skipping a meal or eating junk food due to lack of time at least 10-15 times in a month. This positions myDaily Meal as a perfect solution to this urban problem,” said Co-founder and Business Head Saurabh Garg, who is an IIT Bombay and IIM Ahmedabad Graduate with almost a decade of experience in healthcare with Four Fountains De-stress Spa.

Go Organic, Stay Fit: Rahul Dev

The beautiful hotel, Park Plaza Faridabad is a unit of Sarovar Hotels Pvt. Ltd. It has a well-equipped spa, a swimming pool, and a gym to ensure a luxury stay. It recently celebrated the first anniversary of Breathe on 3rd September 2016, the gym chain introduced and led by Rahul Dev, which was graced by the actor himself.

The Junkyard Cafe - A Lip-smacking Afternoon!

Hello lovelies!

So about a week before, I got an invitation for an A-M-A-Z-I-N-G blogger's meet in my inbox. I checked the mail with a great deal of excitement and instantly gave my RSVP. After all, it was food! Yes, the blogger's meet was organised at The Junkyard Cafe, Saket on 2nd July 2016 as they had recently launched this outlet.

As I stepped in, the ambiance took me to the world of junk. It was decorated literally as a junkyard. I clicked few pictures before choosing a perfect place to sit -- near the much-talked-about Michael Jackson's art piece. First impression of the place -- a definite 'yes'.

There were other bloggers too. The atmosphere thereafter turned chirpy in no time. Food connects everyone, no matter what! Here are some of the clicks:

There was a special food menu for bloggers. But before we could look at it, we were served with some snacks. I will review each of them for you one after the other as I plunged into them. Here you go:

1) Junkyard Style Paneer Tikka: Paneer!! Enough to pep up my mood any day. It was right in front of my eyes, presented so beautifully that I could not stop myself from taking the first bite. The foodie in me simply loved it. The spices were mixed well. It was served on a leaf. It is often said that if the food looks good, half of the battle is already won! So yeah, for presentation, I would give a 5/5 to The Junkyard Cafe.

2) Hara Bhara Kabab: Indeed a good item to be served on the table. As I dug into the kabab, I could not stop at one and ended up eating 2-3 in just few seconds. The taste was too good and stayed for long on my tongue. It's worth trying!

3) Vanilla Cold Coffee: I see coffee on the menu and I don't order it! How can it ever be possible! It came in a elegant looking bottle and I took my first sip, not knowing if I would love it or not! But voila! I loved it. In fact, I found it one of the best cold coffees I have had in Delhi so far. I finished the large bottle quickly. Placed it on the table only once before finishing it off, that too just to click a picture for you all.

4) Veg Spring Rolls: So it was beginning to be a snacky afternoon, with so many varieties of snacks coming on the table. Ah! the presentation! Especially the flower caught my attention. The artist in me fell in love there and then! I took a piece of the roll and put it in my mouth. And OMG! it was prepared so well. It was simply the best snack I had that day. I was drooling on it till the end.

5) Palak Patta Chaat: The blogger sitting next to my table struck a conversation with me and recommended this dish. As soon as he did that, the waiter came to my table carrying it for me. I was all set to unravel the chaat. Paan in this form! What an innovative idea! And it was interesting. Presentation was spot on and it tasted good.

6) Ice Tea: Summers and ice tea go hand in hand! So I opted for Basil flavour while Kanika, who was with me at the event, went for Peach flavour. We both tasted both the flavours and they were good. I can safely say that the restaurant's USP lies in their drinks.

7) Honey Chilli Potato: Everyone loves them despite the weight-gain factor associated with them -- potatoes -- yes! I ordered them quite eagerly in spite of being full. We had been eating non-stop for about an hour by the time we decided to have these. But we were tempted to try these anyway! However, this was not that good. It was cold and taste wasn't that exceptional. As good as it looked, it did play a spoilsport!

8) Milkshake: We thought of ending on a sweet note and ordered milkshakes -- I chose Hazelnut and Butter Scotch as that's my all-time favourite flavour, Kanika decided on trying Banana and Cake flavour. Both the shakes were amazing! Thank goodness we chose to have them and not end on a cold  and not-so-good dish. I must say their shakes were one of the best I have had.

Quirky Note: I explored the place some more and went to check the washroom too. What I found there amazed me. Have a look at the basin and know for yourself!

P.S. I loved the place so much that I went ahead to check their outlet in Connaught Place too. Similar ambiance followed and I made a mental note to keep this place as one of the hangout options from now on.

Ambiance: 4.5/5

Presentation of food: 5/5

Preparation/Hygiene: 4/5

Overall Ratings: 4/5

THE JUNKYARD CAFÉ

Address: Plot D-1, Unit 16,17, 30, 31, 

Ground Floor, Salcon Ras Vilas Mall, 

District Centre, Saket, New Delhi

Phone number: 011 30806393

Also read the review of the same event by Kanika Sharma on TGC.

Leading A Hassle-Free and Healthy Life

Health – a word of five letters, and yet it is often seen struggling with a four-letter word, that is, ‘life’.
Life often gets in the way of good health; in the moments when we want to gobble the junk food available in tempting packages, when we neglect our sleep to earn few extra bucks, when we callously plug in earphones and hear loud music at parties, and even when we neglect hygiene and brushing teeth properly.

In our day to day life, we thus tend to mess up our health. Some of our habits and prolonged ignorance towards health care, can also lead to such diseases which are incurable or may cause lasting damage to our body system.

Then should we stop living life? No! We can live a healthy life even while living each moment and enjoying the sinful indulgence. How?

To start with, visiting hospitals for regular heath check-ups is highly advisable.

Supplementing bad with good is equally crucial; if you have hogged on to street food for evening snacks, make sure you keep the dinner light and choose a healthy menu. A well-cooked bowl of oats can be a good option here.

Diet is an important factor that controls our health. Mindful eating is the key to a good health. Try to avoid unhealthy food options as much as possible. Once in a while, if you do indulge in such food items, make sure that you always compensate for the junk that you put in your body. Incorporate regular exercise in your routine. Take stairs instead of elevators whenever possible. Drink a lot of water to avoid dehydration. Include a serving of fresh fruits in your breakfast to stay active through the day and enhance your body immunity. Morning or evening walks and keeping stress away can bring about a lot of difference in our life. These small little steps can take you a long way!

With technology blooming at a fast pace, advancement in health care is visible too. Leading a healthy life is now just a phone call away. Yes, now people can easily call and have doctors and nurses coming to their homes to treat them and take care of them. Home care is a convenient option for those who can’t go for regular check-ups because of some serious ailments.

Now, with a little care and awareness, we can be healthy and don’t have to compromise on living our life the way we want.

Sunday Surprise!

It was an unusual, rather lazy Sunday,
Everyone labelled it as the Mother’s Day.
I pondered on what to gift her,
Cards and flowers, I didn’t prefer.

I wanted to do something exceptional,
For my mother is so incredible.
In good spirits, I entered the kitchen,
And put on an apron; ready for the mission.

I took half a cup of cocoa and two cups of flour,
Then, kept looking for baking soda for another hour.
At last, I found it and took a teaspoon with great vigour.
Next, I added a pinch of salt and lots and lots of sugar.

I pulled out the recipe and read it on repeat,
Carefully, I switched on the oven to let it preheat.
After greasing the pan, I sprinkled some flour,
Cooking seems to be one of my mother’s superpower!

I sighed and poured a cup of milk, some melted butter,
And a tablespoon each of vanilla extract and vinegar.
Could you guess what I was busy making?
Yes, it was a chocolate cake in baking.

With a twinkle in my eye, I gave the batter a gentle mix,
And precisely added a little more milk as a quick fix.
Content with the results, I transferred the batter
to the greased pan; careful not to spatter.

Soon, the aroma enveloped the air and I heard a beep.
Quickly and excitedly, I reached my gloves in a leap.
The oven was hot so I called my elder brother,
Putting on the gloves, we placed the pan inside together.

That was followed by a long dreadful wait,
From a distance, I peeped to check the state.
With one final beep, the cake was done.
I took a whiff. Oh, I had so much fun!

At last, I spread some melted chocolate on the cake,
And put some red round raspberries for decoration sake.
I placed the cake before my mother’s eyes,

And then ecstatically yelled, ‘Surprise!’

© Ila Garg

Infographic – Foodwise: Obesity v/s Malnutrition

By Ila Garg

Food is one of the primary needs of sustaining life on the Earth. However, while taking in account the recent dietary patterns, this can be easily noticed that a huge percentage of food produced is actually getting wasted. Now, this wastage can occur at multiple levels. First, at the time of production, the food get wasted and then while shipping too, a great amount of food is lost. Of course, a lot of food is carelessly thrown away. This is perhaps a major reason behind the Global Food Crisis.

According to a study, the food wasted by the United States and Europe alone could feed the world 3 times over. Food wastage has significantly increased in USA since 1974.

In the world where millions die of hunger each day, and many more are struggling hard to make the ends meet, festivals like La Tomatino are celebrated with great enthusiasm. Trucks and trucks of tomatoes are wasted as people throw them at each other and even swim in the tomato pulps. Today, as the 70th Anniversary of La Tomatino festival has recently been celebrated, it is important to evaluate its repercussions.

This festival, originated in Spain, is the largest world's food fight festival and the food wastage that it results in is alarming. Every year, on this day, Spain is painted red as the tsunami of tomatoes take over. Over 40 metric tonnes of tomatoes are used in the fight. Last year, almost 1,50,000 tomatoes were thrown at one another. Ever wondered what happens to those pulped up tomatoes? They get down the drain, what else!

This is a really sad sight!

Team NewsGram recently visited Whole Foods store located in West Loop of downtown Chicago to gain insight into more food facts. The store’s Assistant Manager, Mike and Kitchen Manager, Carlos interacted with the team and revealed some major details.

The cooked food in the buffet area is kept only for four hours (till the time it stays hot), after that the leftover food is disposed off and sent for composting. As per their policy, they do not re-heat the food. In addition, the cooked food being served is monitored for temperature check. The menu includes both vegetarian and non-vegetarian cuisine. The Indian cuisine is included in their menu too.

One doesn’t need a professional degree to be a cook at this store. They train each other to be a part of the store. Whole Foods store has certification process in place and have to comply with the guidelines and recommendations of the city Health Department. A log book is maintained for the food being served and all items are entered in it to keep a track and have an eye on logistics.

A food bank van arrives at the store on a daily basis to collect the leftovers. It is Whole Foods’s policy to donate the food to the food banks or nonprofits for poor people. It is indeed a welcome move and others must take the inspiration.

The article first appeared on NewsGram.

Lybrate: Interactive healthcare on your smartphone

By Ila Garg

So you always thought ‘Jaduu Ki Jhappi’ (warm cuddle) works? Do you like taking your friend’s advice or do you prefer trying out your granny’s age-old anecdotes to avoid seeing a doctor for your day to day health issues?

Your healthcare worries now have a new answer.

With advancement in technology, healthcare is also getting swifter. Gone are the days of long hours in the waiting-room or traveling miles to reach the best hospitals to get the required treatment!

Now, your health is in your hands (literally). Your smartphone is not just a phone but is a bridge between you and your doctor. Lybrate has recently launched a mobile app with which the user can easily book appointments without having to wait. It is designed to reduce the hassle involved in finding the right doctor and lets the patient receive the best healthcare with just few taps.

www.medicaldialogues.in

What does Lybrate do?

Lybrate is a revolutionary healthcare platform where patients can easily find the right doctors without the worry of being misled. They have recently launched an app along with the website to address healthcare worries. It has a WhatsApp-like interface that ensures a user-friendly approach.

It assures an interactive doctor-patient engagement so that the patient can get quick treatment and in the best possible manner.

Now you can get proper health care and stay healthy on the go! The most attractive feature of this app by Lybrate is perhaps the healthcare tips it offers, right on your mobile phones. It advises you to ways to eat healthy, check salt and sugar intake, take proper sleep, drink plenty of water, take stairs, etc.

Image Source: Twitter

Lybrate has over 80,000 doctors registered from across the country catering to all kinds of ailments. A patient can simply use the app to chat with top doctors of India and get useful tips to stay healthy and happy. The app can also help to reach out to doctors from different cities and consult them.

Talking about Lybrate’s immense potential in helping patients, Dr Anil Mehta, a reputed general physician in Delhi, said, “This new feature works just like WhatsApp – I can now respond to patient queries in real time via mobile and in doing so I can quickly treat every day ailments as well as see early detection of major issues. I strongly recommend Lybrate to all my patients.”

Lybrate has a video calling facility too through which users can consult the doctor face to face in order to get a better treatment.

Other lucrative features included in the app are:

Ask Health-related Questions: You have a question related to health and don’t know who to ask? Now Lybrate allows you to ask questions anonymously in an open forum or privately to the trusted doctor of your choice.

Get Opinions: When you post your health-related questions in an open forum, you can easily get multiple opinions by trusted doctors who are specialised in the concerned area.

Daily Health Bytes: The user can also get precious health tips and suggestions on a wide range of health issues from trusted doctors. Prevention is after all better than cure.

Image Source: Twitter

Personalized Health Planners: Get disease-specific healing tips from expert doctors to heal better at home. This feature is extremely useful for pregnant women, people undergoing some kind of surgery, physiotherapy patients, and the like, in which every day care is critical and travelling much isn’t advisable.

Manage Medical Records: The app ensures that your medical records are well-maintained. One can simply click pictures and upload the documents on the cloud to access them anytime, anywhere, and never fear losing them.

The best thing is Lybrate is offering all these features for FREE.

Dr Nikita Kothari, a reputed homeopath from Mumbai, shares her experience of using the app: “Lybrate’s new Q&A feature allows me to answer questions from the general public located all over India. By creating an online reputation through high quality answers to these queries, I am able to build and grow my practice like no other way possible. Lybrate is a win-win situation for both doctors and patients.”

Lybrate is founded by Saurabh Arora, a former Facebook mobile data scientist, who shared his vision saying, “By introducing Q&A, we will facilitate a culture where people query doctors directly and get an immediate response – no waiting rooms, no appointments needed. Lybrate’s vision is to bring the wealth of country’s finest doctors and their expertise to every Indian irrespective of their geography or social standing. We have tasked ourselves to create India’s first ‘Health-for-all’ platform that’s easy to use and economically viable, like healthcare should be.”

Funded by Nexus Venture Partners, India’s leading venture capital fund, Lybrate’s vision is clear. They aim to reach out to even the remotest areas where even the basic healthcare facilities still lack.

Image Source: Twitter

CrediHealth is yet another healthcare startup that runs on similar lines. It has a dedicated website and an app too.

With apps like Lybrate and CrediHealth at our fingertips, India can now stay healthy without a single crease on the forehead!

Pahala- a village flourishing with Rasgulla Business

By Ila Garg and Arnab Mitra

 

An inescapable fragrance of sweets imbues the streets of Pahala, a place between Cuttack and Bhubaneswar. Innumerable sweet shops, on either side of the road, are definitely an amazing sight to savour on.

Kelu Charan Mohanty, the man behind the fame of Pahala told NewsGram, “It was way back in 1965 when I came here and opened my first sweet shop. Initially, we sold sweets at a price of Re 1 per piece.”

When asked from where had he learnt the art of making Rasgulla, he said, “I joined the famous KC Das sweet shop in the year 1945, and worked there for 20 years. But soon the monotonous routine started to bore me; it was then that I decided to make Rasgullas on my own at my native place.”

In 60’s Pahala had no facilities, nothing at all. Illiteracy and malnutrition were widespread. The lack of electricity added to the plight. The only source of income for the people was mushroom farming.




Mohanty’s initiative inspired the natives and from the initial one shop, Pahala gradually made way for almost hundred and fifty shops. Once a village stricken in poverty, Pahala is now filled with well to do families. The natives now own good homes and their children are well educated too. But the most interesting fact is that the family members are still devoted to the Rasgulla business and even the raw materials that they use are all home-made.



About a hundred and fifty shops are spread in a stretch of 2 kms on the national highway, where the artisans work hard every day to make delicious Rasgullas. The Rasgullas are priced at a very reasonable rate that ranges between Rs. 3 to Rs. 6 per piece.

The economy of Pahala villages is thus, based on the Rasgulla business, and according to Harihar Behra, “The profit per day varies between Rs. 1000 to Rs. 2000, and during the festive seasons it reaches to Rs. 3000.” Regardless of all the expense made on the shop maintenance and other amenities, the owner is able to save around Rs. 1000 per day easily.




The sweets are made using some extraordinary techniques. At first, cheena is processed for around five hours in a wooden stove to make it thin. Then tiny cheena balls are made, which are then processed for two hours in slightly saccharine water. They ensure that the end product is ready by 4 PM to be sold in the shops. The shops remain open till 9 PM. Besides Rasgulla, they also make different kinds of sweets like cheena bada, ledikeni, swarvaja and other delicious sweets.

They also supply Rasgullas to the other shops of Orissa. In addition, they get orders for different occasions, like marriage ceremony and birthday party. The quality and taste of their Rasgullas get appreciated across the nation. They are now trying to conquer the markets of Kolkata too. Their sweets are also sent to Sussex, England and other parts of the world.



Pahala narrates the story of about hundred and fifty odd artists who work hard every day and yet these people are neglected by the government. Even the condition of roads is pathetic here and it often hampers their daily business. But, the artists never compromise with their creation. It can be seen as the infamous village came to limelight due to the struggle and dedication of the people of Pahala.