The Story of a Famous Dish

I find this picture incredibly cute. Can you guess what it is? Well, it's... sushi :)))

These 3 little 'fellows' are pieces of rice hugging chunks of fish.

So they inspired me do do some little research about one of my favourite meals.

It can be tracked to centuries ago (some sources say the 2nd, some say the 4th, some say the 7th century. But they all agree on is that all started when people in China needed to preserve their fish for longer (as they didn't have fridges) and put it into rice. Because of the natural fermenting processes the fish was successfully being preserved. So the Chinese threw away the rice and ate the fish. This became popular and spread around the country. It even reached Japan, but the citizens there made some alterations and added rice and salt to the fish. It was a very easy to made dish because of those 3 simple ingredients.

Little by little, it was modified and in the 1980s in the US, they started producing it the way we know it today :) Being successful not only because of its tastiness, but also because of its nutritional content - rich in protein, low in fat and being able to satiate your appetite. 

I felt like listening to...

Marshall Bruce Mathers III

I hadn't listened to these songs for ages, so I decided to play them while having lunch in the library.

Yeah, EMINEM added a good value to my day!

 

 

I need law motivation!

I've been postponing studying for Legal Relationships for about 2 hours! I'd better stop surfing throughout some blogs and actually read the bloody book! It is 1017 pages by the way!

I always convinced myself that Law can be cool after finding a blog called Law Actually (instead of LOVE Actually, the popular movie). But then something happened - I came across this picture...

... from a Law blog called lawiscool.com. Quotes from the blog:

A 36-year-old man in Singapore has been jailed for 14 years for molesting residents of the country over the past 15 months.

His offence was forcefully sniffing the armpits of random women.

(...) 

As you can probably expect, mental illness is suspected. But the court also sentenced him to 18 strokes to his buttocks with a cane.

From a Canadian perspective this seems strange – beyond the odour fetish – as we require moral responsibility for criminal sanctions.

 Lol, that blew me away! I'll start reading now.

Amazon Rainforest

The Amazon River Basin is home to the largest rainforest on Earth. 

Here are some facts about this beautiful place.

Today, the Amazon River is the most voluminous river on Earth, 11 times the volume of the Mississippi, and drains an area equivalent in size to the United States.

 These are the 'Amazon countries':

Bolivia       

Brazil     

Colombia     

Ecuador    

French Guiana      

Guyana       

Peru       

Suriname       

Venezuela         

This video is simply breathtaking! Click on it and make it full-screen to enjoy to the full!

Wild Amazon from Fabián Aguirre on Vimeo.

 

Kaiapo shaman in the Amazon rainforest, Brazil 

Deforestation :(

Kaiapo mother and child, Brazil

 Kaiapo father with child in the Amazon, Brazil

  Scale-crested Pygmy-tyrant

   

Mostly from: http://rainforests.mongabay.com/amazon/

http://www.srl.caltech.edu/personnel/krubal/rainforest/Edit560s6/www/facts.html

Susan Ma

If you watch The Apprentice, you've probably heard of Susan Ma - the Chinese lady who had achieved a significant success at her age.

I decided to have a look at her biography and found out that she was a child moved into the UK with her mother. In her website, she says that she has always regarded education as pivotal. Therefore she has successfully achieved only A-s at A-Levels and was then accepted at University College London.

Meanwhile, when she was 16, she came up with the idea of the organic skin company Tropic Skin Care Ltd. Her business helped her pay for her mum's mortgage and to buy her first property at the age of 21.

What I liked about her when she appeared at the Apprentice was that she was very energetic and enthusiastic. However, from time to time she acted as a little bit naive saying to people 'That is so unfair', but nonetheless, she was quite close to winning the show, so congrats to her! I'm sure that she'll even further expand her company.

Here is a video which shows the enthusiasm that I'm talking about!

By the way, although many of the candidates claimed that they didn't go to the show to make friends, I noticed (on her Twitter) that she and Melody Hossaini are friends now.

Steve Jobs' speech in Stanford Uni

This speech inspired me. Steve Jobs is speaking in front of graduating students from the university where he studied. Studied, but not graduated because of lack of finance and of the freshly emerged idea of Apple.

It proves again what is common between entrepreneurs:

1. They set themselves a high goal.

2. Quit school or uni if needed :D

3. Put the max effort

4. Believe in the value in their idea

5. Continue despite some obstacles

6. Achieve!

German Movie: Jalla! Jalla!

As a practice for my German, I decided to find and watch a film. What I came across into was Jalla! Jalla! which turned out to be quite interesting. 

It's about a love story between a nice, pretty German girl and a Turkish immigrant. They are both young, crazy, in love, BUT he has to merry another girl to help her stay in Germany! The movie is funny, sweet and has an original plot.

One of the heroins, in fact the bride that had to stay in Germany, Yasmin, was played by an actress who is not that pretty, but has this charisma. She's called Laleh Poukarin and according to IMDB currently lives in Sweden with her family. And she's also a singer.

IMDB link The score is 6.9 - not bad!

Edit: Unfortunately, the full-length movie uploaded on YouTube is no longer available :(

Harry Potter Butterbeer

Just couldn't resist the temptation of posting another HP recipe!

Ingredients:

1 cup (8 ounces) club soda or cream soda

1/2 cup (4 ounces) butterscotch syrup (ice cream topping)

1/2 tablespoon butter

Directions:

Measure butterscotch and butter into a 2 cup (16 ounce) glass.

Microwave on high for 1- to 1-1/2 minutes, or until syrup is bubbly and the butter is completely incorporated.Stir and cool for 30 seconds, then slowly mix in club soda.

Mixture will fizz quite a bit.Serve in two coffee mugs or small glasses.

This makes a perfectly warm Hogwarts' treat for two.

I hope to try it pretty soon!

Harry Potter Pumkin Juice & Theme Park

Harry Potter has always been a huge mania of mine and therefore, as I've been widely experimenting with different recipes, I decided to finally try something that would remind me of the books/films. And of course, the most popular one - pompkin jouice!

Ingredients:

2 cups of pumpkin, chopped up into chunks

2 cups of apple juice

½ cup of pineapple juice

1 teaspoon of honey (more or less to your liking)

Method:

1.Juice the pumpkin pieces by squeezing through a cheesecloth or using a juicer if you have one.

2.Pour the pumpkin juice, apple juice and pineapple juice into a blender.

3.Add the honey (we recommend you start with 1 teaspoon, as you can add some later!) to the juices and blend thoroughly.

4.Chill your pumpkin juice or serve iced and enjoy!

from: http://www.mugglenet.com

I'd probably replace the apple and the pineapple juices with actual fruits, but I'm still waiting for my blender that I purchased from ebay to arrive. So I can't make the juice until then.

When I was searching for an image for this post, I noticed the label 'The Wizarding World of Harry Potter' and I thought: 'How cute is this? Someone produces this and has an own packaging?

The result that appeared when I searched for this wizarding world is this amazing website! http://www.universalorlando.com/harrypotter/ It is so interactive and amazing! And it turned out there is a Harry Potter theme park! Unfortunately, it is in Florida, far, far way from me, but I still think that the idea is phenomenal!

Just look at those pictures

 I'm speechless..

Frozen Blueberry Smothie

It looks delicious! I should try it :)

From: http://chelseaalysse.tumblr.com/

Recipe: Tropical breakfast smoothie

 Ingredients

• 3 passion fruits
• 1 banana , chopped
• 1 small mango , peeled, stoned and chopped
• 300ml orange juice
• ice cubes

 Scoop the pulp of the passion fruits into a blender and add the banana, mango and orange juice. Purée until smooth and drink immediately, topped with ice cubes.

I'd probably skip the ice and would not drink it ice-cold, but the combination sounds irresistible...

from http://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/2810/tropical-breakfast-smoothie

Honda Adverts

Car advertisements are usually the same - pieces of the nature, long roads and luxury vehicles. This time, Honda decided to be different and to release this journey of the engines throughout an idyllic world of green lands and hopping animals. What I didn't get is why they were singing 'Hate' all the time.

As someone commented bellow:

Named best ad of the decade by AdWeek?
Best Drug Trip of the Decade, more like.'

The second made me stare at the screen and laugh.

Loved by humans, envied by trolls.

The saga continues with the 'crazy-sensible' ideas.

Carling Black Label

When I watched this advert, I couldn't help but smile :) The looks that the giggling ladies are shooting at the stripping guy are so thirsty!  

And this cute, innocent old advertising is in an absolute contrast with the first one!

Waitrose

As a big fan of healthiness, good food and lifestyle and of course, business, I asked my self: 'Are the money spent on Waitrose's products really worth it?' Because in the UK, the supermarket chain is famous for its much higher prices, but is also claimed that the food is healthier. So I decided to check this.

According to an article called Waitrose's Green Light for Healthy Food Labels in Regional Business News, 2006, Waitrose has adopted 'the Government's controversial traffic light labelling scheme' which indicate how healthy a certain food is. I'm not familiar with today's situation, but in 2006 many firms refused to use that kind of labelling because that would 'demonise' certain foods.

Also, Waitrose's manager Mr Price says in many interviews that this is what they do - have more expensive food, but are keen on high quality. And he blames the Government of stimulating people buying from the cheap giants - ASDA and Tesco, which in his words, have cheaper and lower-quality food. He also puts that buying cheap food is one of the main reasons for people having health problems.

And there was another article informing that the chains will stop buying fish from 'unsustainable markets'.

I am not an expert, but I am likely to believe that the supermarket chain IS healthy in deed. I didn't manage to find any criticism in the net or in my uni's library reports and journals. So I'll just keep experimenting their foods and will look carefully at the labels. Hopefully, I'll gain some knowledge about the bad chemicals and will be happy recognising the lack of them.

Until that point, I've tried Waitrose's chick peas, lentils and wholemeal cous-cous and was quite satisfied. Ironically, these products are cheaper that ASDA's version.

Euro RSCG

I just came across their website which caught my eye. It loads a little bit slowly, but when it opens, it is very impressive. It turned out that this was voted the world largest agency according 2010 Advertising Age Global Marketers Report.

I had a look and it has some really good stuff. 

And they work for brands such as Chivas, Kraft Foods, Durex, Air France, Danon.

http://www.eurorscg.com/flash/index.html#/Home?id=0

Here is a creation of theirs. Like the bear

Evian's strategy

Is Evian really healthier? The brand has been continuously showing baby adverts. But is it really that different? It tastes differently, I personally don't like it very much (probably because in Bulgaria we have numerous water springs most of which are sweet, soft and delicious). But the fact is that Evian's price is much higher than the average.

Having watched this advert, I find it creepy:

 I read an interview with the person behind the campaign - Rémi Babinet and the way he puts it is that they are trying to add value to the expensive brand in the eyes of the consumers.

" Evian is a premium brand, for which the strategy historically has been to create a value to justify the price of the product. This value has been created through claiming a health effect, something that must be universal and interest everyone, everyday, from the beginning to the end of life, since evian is an everyday product, consumed daily and by people of all ages."

So I'll be careful next time when I try to add something healthy into my lifestyle. The extra money spend will hardly be on water :D As long as it doesn't have any tastes added, I believe that every clean, fresh water is healthy...

At least this one is cool and entertaining.

Oh, and one more thing that is perhaps meant to add to the 'premium' image - the sexy French accent at the end of each advertising.

Bulgaria in Pictures

Here are some photos of my beautiful fatherland.

Vitosha Mountain, near Sofia

Bansko Ski Resort, Pirin Mountain

 Rila Mountain

 South Park, Sofia

 The Boris Garden, Sofia

Barbie & Ken - broke up/came back together?

When Greenpeace was trying over and over and over to make the Mattel to stop destroying forests for the packaging of their toys, nothing seemed to be helping.
Then they came up with this idea of making Ken break up with Barbie!







However, the plastic couple decided that they can't be separated anymore and they made their producers give up on destroying forests.


And love was saved.

The Notebook

Need a good portion of love, deep touch and a bit of tears?
Then if you haven't seen it, I strongly recommend that you do!
The Notebook :)

I hadn't seen it before (because I thought it's like a soup opera), but is something as deep as you cannot imagine!

IMDB link

Now.. when it comes to business, what is the reason behind the success of the movie/book?

In my personal opinion, there are several points that need to be taken into accoount:

Emotions - deep love, happinness, sorrow, excitement

Passion between two young people (and some intrigues of course)

Beauty - both the main characters

Nostalgia - the action takes place in the 1940s and 1950s

Actors - good game by Rachel McAdams and Ryan Gosling 

FInally, judging by some reviews, people seem to be generally happy by the ecranisation of the Nicholas Sparks' bestseller book.

No doubt, this is a good business idea!

The Fine Art of Small Talk

You've probably had this feeling when you meet somebody and are supposed to have a chat, but you just cannot think of some interesting topics to discuss. You end up being in an awkward position with two adults smiling politely to each other, but none of them daring to break the silence.


What is happening is that you both are trying to find an excuse to escape. (Phone call/suddenly remember that you have piles of work to do etc.)
It doesn't have to be like that. One of you can start a simple conversation with personal questions and than use the information provided in the form of  answers to continue.


Example:


"So you said you were born in X."
"Yes"
"Do they still have this shop Y"
"Yeah, and I go they every day"
"Really? Is the shop owner still Mr. Z?"
"Oh, yeah, he is a nice man"


Or


"Do you know long we are supposed to wait?"
"Probably 10 mins"
"Yeah, if they stick to the timetable. I wonder why they need so much time to give these simple results. They're probably chatting to each other"
"Or drinking coffee"
"They should use the break for this purpose"


And so on.


But of course you need a responsive interlocutor in order to continue the chat.
If he/she just gives you 1-word answers, you're in danger of another awkward moment.


Next time, I'll give you more tips for that. But for now, just have in mind this amazing book

Slow Motion Coolness

Love the cat. The face of the boxer was really funny and the balloons always look impressive :)

Amazing organic shampoo!

I've always wanted to try something natural on my hair. Because it is naturally curly, has volume and tends to become dry easily. Trying raw egg yolks, olive oil and all kinds of conditioners, I never achieved completely what I wanted for my hair.


Using standard conditioners (not home-produced), the shiny effect lasted for no more than 2 days.
And when I used literally some kinds of food on my hair, it usually ended with something that smelled funny. Or didn't clean the hair thoroughly, though the yolks specifically did make it nice and silky.


So I decided that I wanted to buy and organic product. The one that I bought is called 'Faith in Nature' and is for dark hair. It has a chocolate extract, so the fragrance is incredible.


I washed my hair with it, went to bed and when I woke up the next day, it was sooo soft and the volume was under control! I'm so happy with this shampoo, so would recommend it to everyone :)


The only thing is that the price is 5.15 (400 ml), but is definitely worth it!

10 reasons for eating/cooking healthy food...

... while you are at uni:

1. Your body and your mind function better.
Better skin, fewer dark spots, better sleep, more energy.


2. You are fitter.
No cellulite (depends on how much you are eating of course), slimmer, more likely to build up a nice body.


3. You can learn how to cook. 
And really enjoy it. Cooking = creativity, stress releasing, enjoying different colours also.


4. Cooking trains your discipline. 
You realise that if you eat your thoroughly prepared ingredients your meal won't become a reality.


5. This is a new hobby for you
Thinking of different ingredients, researching recipes, collecting them.


6. No one eats your food from the fridge.
Because they think it's a tasteless rubbish. But you know that's not true.


7. Every day you enjoy a diverse and delicious dish.
Of your choice.


8. Saving money
You may thin that fast food saves you some money, but if you count the number of sandwiches and pizzas needed to satisfy your appetite, it would actually be much more expensive.


9. Time management.
In order to have cooked food waiting for you every day, you need to manage the time when you have to buy the ingredients, to have enough in stock and to have about 2-3 hours per week to cook it (if you cook bigger portions/several dishes at the same time).


10 Other students secretly envy you.
Because they wish they could replace the frozen precooked meals with a real food.


Image from: http://nakedphilly.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/Screen-shot-2011-02-28-at-1.33.05-PM-560x350.png

The World is Just Awesome 2

Discovery's fantastic ad continues!

The World is Just Awesome

A video made as an advertising for Discovery, but I think it's an universal advert for the awesomeness of the whole world :)

Angela's Vintage Patisserie

For those who watch Dragons' Den: Do you remember that odd lady, dressed in unusual clothes and having bright red hair and piercing below her lip? Angela Newman's look was eye-grabbing, her pitch self-confident and smart and her idea quite unconventional. Her idea was to open a vintage-style patisserie in London where she'd offer retro-style desserts, decoration and even uniforms of the sellers.

I remember that when she was speaking, she was constantly using the word 'beautiful' - for the website, the food, the decors. The usually skeptical Debra was this time provoked and made an offer to Angela and the share in the company (in addition to the money for investment) was later divided between her and Theo. 100,000 GBP for 40% share.

The patisserie is now opened in Soho, London and judging by some pictures and videos, it seams to be doing quite well.

I think that the factors that contributed towards Angela's uccessful winning of the offer were her charisma, passion about what she thought (and is) amazing and her energy.

If I have the chance to go to London, I'll definitely search for this amazing place, especially when Soho is famous for its creative people living there :)

http://www.vintagepatisserie.co.uk/

How did it all begin?

ASDA: A merger between Asquith chain of three supermarkets and Associated Dairies in 1949, Leeds, UK. It was bought later by Wal-mart in 1999. Today, it is the supermarket with the second largest market share (after Tesco)

Charlieissocoollike - posted his first video "How To Get Featured on YouTube". Ironically, he is now one of the most featured YouTube vloggers in the UK! After finishing his school in Bath, he devoted himself to making videos and he earns money for that (not a bad job to have!)

Aldi - the story began back in 1913, when a mother of two brothers opened a a small store in Essen, Germany.  The shop was buying discounted goods from other stores that were left on the shelves. Later, the two brothers became owners of the shop and started opening new branches. They split the company into two, but remained in good relationships.

Maybelline - In 1915, a chemist from New York, who was in his 20s, noticed that his young sister applied Vaselline and coal dust to make her eyes look darker and deeper. In his small laboratory, he produced some cosmetics based on her sisters' idea and soon gained popularity. The name wasn't that attractive itself, so it was changed. Two years later, he created Maybelline Cake Mascara, and Ultra Lash, which was a hit in the mass-market. And the name of the chemist's sister was Maybel. 

Amazon - founded in 1995 by two men who started it as a small online bookstore. They chose the name because they wanted to be found quickly when searched in alphabetical order and Amazon specifically because it reminded them of something exotic and also the name of the biggest river - hopefully, something that they would eventually achieve. They had an unusual business plan that didn't forecast any profit up to the 4th or 5th year. However, the slow and steady growth turned out to end pretty well and their profits started to skyrocket. Amazon even won an award for contributing for the online commerce. By the way, the logo means "from A to Z".

Zara's first shop was opened in 1975 (in Spain) by Amancio Ortega and contained cheap clothes imitating the big and expensive brands. 1980, after the owner noticed the success and the potential of Zara, he changed completely the distribution, the production and the design of the clothes. Relying in information technology and on groups of designers instead of on single ones, he was more able to be up-to-date with the world's trends and to create something unique, which didn't imitate another brands. Zara is now a multi-national corporation, with shops in more than 70 countries. If in a certain country, the laws don't allow an international company to exist, the problem is solved by franchising. 

Subway. The American fast-food restaurant chain started in 1965 when Fred De Luca borrowed $1,000 from family friend Peter Buck for his first sandwich shop. Two years, the second Subway was opened. In 2008, Subway was marked as the second most successful franchises by Franchise 500 . Although at the end of 2010 McDonald's had a bigger revenue, Subway beat it by the number of restaurants.