Woolfu's back!

All right peeps! Woolfu's back after a long time! And this time Woolfu has some more success with weight loss to report. 10 pounds in 8 weeks. Success? Hell yeah! At least I think so, and the waistbands of my clothes are getting looser. If nothing else, that makes me happy. In these troubled times, being happy is a nice feeling indeed (as it is in other times too). At a time when coporates are looking at bottom lines and cutting costs, and you know you are not as productive as you would like to be, how could one not stress about losing your job and not seeing that nice paycheck coming in every two weeks? I went that route too. And I realized that it is not you personally. Of course it is a little difficult not to take it personally, but you do realize that you were hired in the first place for a reason. And that reason is that you have the skills and experience that the organization needed/needs. And when you are being "let go" the organization still needs those skills, but not as much as before. And it is just not sound financial sense to keep you on. Most organizations take these decisions pretty seriously and don't like to make decisions where they have to lay off people. There is nothing personal in those decisions. The organizations after all are in the business of making money and not trying to keep you happy! What you need to do is take those skills that got you hired in the first place, add the few that you have gained working in the past xx amount of time and market yourself. If you have the skills, you will find a job. It just takes time. On that hopeful note, it is back to work!

The next chapter in my weight loss saga

I know my next post was to be describe how my GM diet went. I am sorry to report that I have nothing to report. I have nothing to report because I have been spectacularly unsuccessful at it. I tried, I really did. Took watermelon with me to eat, had some cantaloupe in the morning, made sure that I was drinking plenty of water. By the time 3.00 PM rolled around, I had severe stomach cramps. I could hardly sit at my desk and work, let alone stand. I somehow made it down stairs to the cafe and got me some hot soup. The moment some food went down my throat, I felt miles better. It was then I did some more research about this diet. This diet is very low in protein and can leave people immensely fatigued. Not to mention other side effects like stomach cramps the first day, and headaches. Of course, it is still good in the sense that it cleanses your system, and you might end up losing weight, but medical experts tell you that the weight you lose with a diet like this is just water weight and cannot be considered real weight loss. So then I decided to stop this foolishness and started on a more healthy plan. I am pleased to say that I am sticking with it and it is easy to follow. My success: I have lost 6 pounds four weeks. Which is great news since it is healthy, sustainable weight loss.

Dairy of a dieter...prep day for the GM diet

I weighed myself after a nice holiday at home and discovered that I weighed a whopping er.... ahem, well let me just say that I am pretty large. So I decided that it is high time I do something about it, again. People who know me will roll their eyes cos they know that I have these ridiculous ideas from time to time. The last time I had a similar bout of enthusiasm about losing weight, I stuck it out for a decent amount of time. A month and a half of swimming 18 laps at least four days a week. The change was just beginning to be discernible when I broke it off as I had a vacation coming up.

Anyways, I am now determined to lose a few (quite a few) pounds. So I am starting this new diet in the hopes of kick starting my system into metabolising more. I heard a lot of good stuff about the GM diet or the Cabbage soup diet. I mean, you can gorge on fruits and veggies to your hearts content and no starving. And it lasts only for a week. As my friends will happily and very truthfully tell you, I probably would not even last for a day - I am a notorious foodie. Anyways, I am hoping that I will be halfway successful this time around - and by halfway successful, I mean at least last three out of seven days of the diet.

This is "diary" is in the hopes that since I am on a diet, I might be able to stick it out if I turn it into a sort of an experiment and blog through my experience. Tomorrow is the first day. Wish me luck.

4 generations of women in one photograph - priceless!

From left to right: My great Grandmom, Grandmom, Mom and me

Robin - a true friend and companion

This is Robin when he was a pup - boundless energy and the most mischivious brain!

Fellow blogger threatened - I support Inji Pennu

I logged in to my blog and wanted to add Inji's blog as one of my favourite blogs. I went to her blog today and was shocked to read through her latest post. She has been abused, cyber stalked and threatened with bodily harm for telling a website that they have violated copyright laws by publishing content from other blogs without prior consent. If interested, you can read the whole story here. And the site kerals.com seems to be completely unscrupulous.

It is scary how the concept of "freedom of speech" can be abused to such extremes. And how content from your blog can be used by others without your consent.
I support Inji in her fight against this blatant crime commited by the site by joining the protest.

Hunting is not a sport. It is murder!

I can understand why the cave man went out hunting. He had to find food. And I am sure that along with hunting, the cave man also gathered - berries and fruits and all that veggie stuff. What I can't understand is how man has made a sport of hunting poor defenceless animals. And how man can take pleasure in killing another magnificent creation of nature? This rant is because of a programme I saw on TV last week. The channel in question is VS and they have featured programmes on hunting and fishing. The episode I happened to be watching was one in which some misbegotten idiot wanted to achieve his lifelong ambition of killing a bear. Why was I watching? It was some kind of horrified fascination and a fervent hope that the bear would somehow escape. I was destined for disappointment as far as my hope was concerned. The bear was killed, and he died an agonisingly slow death due to a punctured lung. Why is this sport? Men go in armed with rifles and bullets, and the bear only has his claws and teeth for his defence. How is this fair? How can this be thrilling? Of course, I admit that walking into the jungle, tracking a beautiful animal like a bear is thrilling. My question is, wouldn't it be better if we shot a bear with a camera and not a rifle? What right do these men think they have, to kill another animal for sport? The episode I watched was heartbreaking and enraging at the same time. These idiots hide in camouflage till they spot a bear who unfortunately walks into shooting range. The bear who was killed (murdered) was a beautiful black bear in his prime. He probably had many more years of living, mating and creating little adorable bear cubs which of course would turn into big bears like their papa bear. Alas, this was not to be. The idiot shot the bear while the bear was doing his bear thing of searching for food. He shot the bear somewhere near the shoulder. The wounded bear ran off into the jungle to hide and lick his painful wound. What enraged me was, if they were "brave" enough to shoot an poor, defenceless unsuspecting bear, they should have been brave enough to follow it and end it's suffering. But no, satisfied that the bear was mortally wounded, they went back to their warm camp bed, sure that the poor fellow would die during the night and they could "recover" the dead animal in the morning. They did recover it in the morning; death resulted from internal bleeding and a punctured lung. The poor thing literally "drowned" in its own blood. What a painful death. These "brave" hunters did not have the guts to kill an animal outright. These "brave sportsmen" do not have the courage to face a bear, look it in the eye and kill it. No, these freaks who burden this earth hide behind camouflage and shoot animals and let them die an agonisingly slow death are cowards of the first order. They are a blight on the face of this earth. They are not sportsmen. They are soulless creatures who murder in cold blood. They deserve an end like they mete out and hopefully they will get it!

My experiments with alcohol

Alcohol is one of the best things known to man. In fact, people like me consider it to be the greatest thing since sliced bread, shopping malls and retail therapy. So it is no wonder that the next step in my food and beverage career would be experimenting with alcohol. Make no mistake, by this I mean my making drinks and other assorted goodies with alcohol, not just consuming them. I have been a consumer of all alcohol related things long enough to start experimenting with making and serving them on my own. I have achieved moderate success in this endeavor, thus this blog post.

After quite a few booze parties and falling in love with tequila, I have come up with my signature Margatini. This drink has been called many things like straight up margarita and/or margarita on the rocks. For the curious and others as well, this is a yummy blend of two classics, the margarita and the martini, (as the name suggests). The drink is simple! I have heard tell that in simplicity lies great beauty, and this is true of the Margatini as well. The recipe you ask! I use Jose Cuervo’s tequila and margarita mix. I know I am supposed to use triple sec and simple syrup and all that, but Jose Cuervo puts them all together in their margarita mix. No point in re inventing the wheel there!
The ratios are simple, 1:2. One shot of tequila, two shots of the mix. Pour into shaker with ice. And shake well (around ten times like you make iced tea). Rim the glass with salt and pour. Voila! The Margatini is ready. And if you want to make it look pretty by adding garnish, go right ahead. I personally feel that garnish just gets in the way!

I must thank Z'Tejas in Bellevue Square for introducing me to this drink. The first time I had this drink, I loved it, and had to have the recipe for it. Our server told me that it is made the way a typical Margarita or your favoourite margarita is, except it is shaken and not blended! And that's the way I make it.

And now onto my other recipe: Jello shots. I made these for our New Year’s Party and these are a great way to get people drunk. My disclaimer, these contain a lot of alcohol, so be careful of how many you have. Also, they don’t hit you immediately, but when they do, it is Whammo! So don’t eat these and drive. The recipe is again very simple,

6 ounces Jello (large box)
2 cups water (boiling)
1 cup water (cold)
1 cup alcohol (8 ounces) (cold)

Dissolve the jello in the boiling water, add cold water and the chilled alcohol; pour into jello moulds/shot glasses and let set. They take at least 4 to 6 hours to set. Chilling them overnight works best. Enjoy them (responsibly!).

Suggested pairings:
strawberry jello - rum, vodka or vanilla twist
orange jello - peach schnapps or rum
lime jello - tequila
watermelon jello - vodka
grape jello - 1/2 vodka and 1/2 blackberry schnapps
lemon jello - vodka
raspberry jello - vodka
apple jello - butter shots

Of course you can play around with different flavors and liquor and come up with your own unique recipe, but be sure to enjoy them responsibly.