Basil is an herb that is widely used for enhancing flavor of different dishes and appetizers. Though nothing beats fresh basil leaves that are picked right off the plant for flavor, drying and preserving some basil leaves ensure a good supply through out the year.
Whether you have your own basil plant in your Garden or you buy it from the market, it is always better to have some extra basil preserved so that you can use it in future even when it's not the growing season. Drying basil is the best way of preserving it. There are different ways in which you can dry these herbs. Following are some of the ways that you can try at home:
Instructions
Air drying
Cut the stalks of basil and rinse them properly under cool water to ensure it's clean from all the dirt particles and insects.
Place them on flat paper towel to dry.
Select an apt place in your home where you can hang the basil to dry. Basil can be dried anywhere be it your kitchen, a pantry, or even a basement storage area, where the atmosphere is relatively dry and also free from physical disturbances.
Once dry, hold the stalks upside down such that the top points downwards and tie the base of the stalks together with a string, a thread or a rubber band.
Hang the basil in the area that you have selected for drying. You will know the basil dry when it will turn brown and brittle. It takes nearly two to three weeks for basil to dry thoroughly. However the duration may vary depending upon the drying conditions.
When the basil is dry, preserve it in an air-tight container. You can either store it in full leaves or crushed. However, storing the basil without crushing helps it retain some of the flavor for long.
Sun drying:
Pick stems of basil and rinse them properly. Pat dry them with paper towel.
Spread a clean bed sheet on an area that will receive full sun. Place big stones or other heavy weight substance at the corners of the bed sheet to weight down the edges.
Pluck the basil leaves and spread them out on the bed sheet such that the ray of the sun hits each leaf.
Make sure at regular intervals you move the leaves a bit so that they get more sun.
Depending on the weather conditions, the leaves will take several days to dry thoroughly.
Apart from air drying and sun drying, you can also try drying basil in oven. It's really simple. All you need to do is to pluck the basil leaves and place them in a roasting pan. Save energy by simply placing the leaves in the oven just after you have used the oven for cooking something at 350 degrees. Remove the dish from the oven, shut off the oven and then place the pan with basil leaves inside the oven as it cools down. The remaining heat in the oven will be sufficient for basil to dry. Make sure to stir the leaves with a spatula every half hour to ensure the leaves do not stick to the pan and get properly dried up. You don't require baking it. You simply need to use the remaining oven heat to dry it out.
So is the time to contemplate and plan something unique to celebrate your loved one's special day already around? Making an ice cream cake for the next occasion at home could bring an end to finding ways to circumvent an ordinary celebration. To add to it, you could try out various combination of your favorite flavors but ensure the flavors of the ice-cream and the cake match.
Making an ice cream cake is never as difficult as it might seem or sound. All that is necessary in preparing one is the precautions that must follow the procedure. If you fail for once, you could definitely become an expert the second time. As the name suggests, it is simply the mixing up of an ice-cream with a cake.
Step 1: As ice-cream cakes usually occupies much of a space, before you start off with anything, ensure you make enough space in your freezer at set the temperature low enough for an ice-cream not to melt.
Step 2: Shop for your favorite ice-cream flavors and corresponding or contrasting cake mix.
Step 3: Fill a cake pan with the ice-cream and coat the sides with a wax paper, wrap it in a plastic wrapper, days before the date you want them ready. Place them in the refrigerator. Different shapes of cake-pans could be used, but round cake pans make their mixing simpler and elegant.
Step 4: Put the ingredients of the cake mix together and follow the instructions given. Divide them in two separate pans and bake them. Leave them for sometime and allow cooling.
Step 5: Remove the ice cream from the freezer and wait until it reaches a consistency when it could be applied over the cake with a spatula.
Step 6: After removing the coverings of the ice-cream, mix them in a bowl.
Step7: The assembling of the cake and ice-cream is the crucial step. These need to be assembled as cake-ice cream-cake form. For this, apply a layer or two of ice cream above the cake. Although inverting the bowl of ice cream over the cake is possible, however unless you are a veteran the risk is not worth.
Step 8: Place the second cake pan containing cake over the ice-cream and seal the sides with the ice-cream left.
Step 9: Place back the neat assembly of ice-cream and cake back to the freezer with the necessary plastic wrapping for a minimum of three hours.
Now that the ice-cream cake is done, there are things that are essential and still lacking – the decoration. An elegant presentation of your preparation would make up for the effort you put in. For this you could prepare an icing with whipped cream, vanilla and sugar. Cocoa or other flavors could be added according to your preference. Above the layer of icing, certain cherries could be placed beautifully. Sometimes, fresh flowers also make wonderful pieces of decorations for the cake. The decoration part could be done hours before you surprise your loved one with your innovation.
Watch a video instruction on how to make an ice cream cake
There are two aspects of acquiring those six packs: Firstly, the focus should be upon melting your fat and secondly it should be upon building up muscles.
The A-Z of melting fat is just following some simple but effective tips. These comprise not only what you must eat and eliminate but also how you must eat:
Taking a lot of fluid either in the form of plain water or along with fresh juices or herbal tea does great to your health.
Having breakfast especially within the first hour of waking up helps prevent over-eating during the rest of the day.
Adding a lot of fibrous foods like fruits, vegetable salads, sprouts, nuts, etc. reduces the intake of high-calorie foods.
The key to an ideal diet is to split the major meals into smaller healthier high-protein snacks that allow you to burn more calories than you consume. These should be had every three hours.
The best and easiest way to burn calories and melt fat is to coalesce exercises with lifting weights. Exercises like cycling, treadmill. Swimming, jogging and walking for 20-30 minutes help reduce that fatty abs. Among all, boxing helps burn the maximum calories.
However, doing all these could only help accelerate the visibility of six packs. The main set of activities you must involve yourself into to get that look on your abs is through workouts mentioned.
Crunches: Lying flat on the floor and having your hands crossed on your chest get your knees as close as possible by bending. The workout should be stressed upon the abdominal muscles only.
Sit-ups: Still lying down, perform sit-ups by holding back your hands on your chest while lifting your upper body away from the floor without obtaining support of any sort.
Air-cycling: Lie in a way that only your upper body up till your buttocks is placed on the bed while your legs are put together and make movements similar to cycling in the air.
A bicycle maneuver shows significant results in getting the abdominal muscles toned. This involves
-lying on the floor with hands crossed touch the behind of your ears with the tips of your finger. - putting your legs together make movements similar to riding a bicycle. - while doing it, cross-touch your elbows and knees, at the same time taking uniform breaths.
Drawing a human face is the most challenging and complicated subjects in art. Drawing a human face requires the artist to focus on the lines which form the face rather than the whole face. Allow yourself some time and practice and you shall definitely master the art of drawing a human face. For the time being let's go through the step by step guide which can play the role of foundation for your practice.
Start with drawing an oval which will be the outside of the face that you are drawing. Incase you are drawing from a model; draw the shape of the front of the head. Remember that some people have pointed or squared jaw lines which may not demand a perfect oval.
Now create a grid by cutting a vertical and horizontal line across the face. Each grid represents around ¼ of the face. The horizontal line will help you with the eyes and the vertical line will assist you in keeping the nose and the mouth along the same line.
Towards the bottom of the face draw a horizontal line halfway between the center and bottom of the chin. This is the line where the nose will end.
Now draw another horizontal line halfway between the nose line and the chin. This represents the centre of the mouth.
Divide the entire main horizontal line into 5 equal sections of which the middle section will house the center intersection of the face i.e. between the eyes.
Pay attention to the hairline and draw light broad strokes for the hair.
Now very lightly sketch the eyebrows, wrinkles or laugh lines.
Do not concentrate on being perfect. There is no such thing as a perfect face in reality also. Gradually practice will ease out things for you.
Creating a website is not at all difficult. Although there are many advanced techniques available for sophisticated users but we are going to focus on the basic steps required for creating a website online. This step by step guide is basically formed keeping in mind the first time users. There are certain things which are needed before setting off to start a website. They are:
Modem
Scanner
Internet service providers
FTP programs
Adobe Photoshop
Macro media Dream weaver
Microsoft word
Microsoft front page
Paint shop pro
Netscape composer
Scanning software
Clip art CD ROM's
Let's get started with the process of creating your first website:
Obtain a file transfer protocol (FTP) program.
Open the program and log in to your host server by entering your username and password.
Access that directory where your home page belongs. The address is usually in the form of /pub/username, /pub/www/username or /pub/username/www. There will be specific instructions in the FTP program and your host server on how to access this directory.
Now upload each page and graphic of your site according to the instructions.
Choose an ISP to host your website. Remember to choose the ISP based on maximum space, reputation, terms of service, accessibility etc.
Download a web page editor. One such example is Netscape composer. It lets the user to see the site as it is being built. It doesn't require the learning of any programming languages.
Now you need to name your site, create backgrounds, add links, insert images and create different sections by using the web page editor.
You can create images for your site by using a scanner for photographs or draw them yourself by using your PC's paint feature.
Basil is an herb that is widely used for enhancing flavor of different dishes and appetizers. Though nothing beats fresh basil leaves that are picked right off the plant for flavor, drying and preserving some basil leaves ensure a good supply through out the year.
So is the time to contemplate and plan something unique to celebrate your loved one's special day already around? Making an ice cream cake for the next occasion at home could bring an end to finding ways to circumvent an ordinary celebration. To add to it, you could try out various combination of your favorite flavors but ensure the flavors of the ice-cream and the cake match.
Turning the abdominal fat into a definite abdominal muscle is what refers to the term six packs. Getting a six pack abdomen might seem trendy. However, this should be considered as a trend that never becomes passé, considering the fact that they are absolutely best suited for every individual's health. But there are definite ways of getting them on your abs. Looking forward to walk the ramp within a matter of time and bearing in mind to get those packs within this time could never be a right thing to do. This is because it needs to be a slow and systematic process and working to attain them quickly could have altogether a reverse effect.
Drawing a human face is the most challenging and complicated subjects in art. Drawing a human face requires the artist to focus on the lines which form the face rather than the whole face. Allow yourself some time and practice and you shall definitely master the art of drawing a human face. For the time being let's go through the step by step guide which can play the role of foundation for your practice.
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