Amarkhand = Mango Shrikhand -- yummy!!

Shrikhand is traditionally made from thick, hung yoghurt or chakka. The yoghurt is placed in a muslin cloth which is tied up and hung till all the whey has drained off. An easier alternate is using labneh, which is strained yoghurt having a cheeselike consistency. Labneh or yoghurt cheese is widely consumed in the Middle East and Mediterranean region as a dip with pita bread. Labneh lends itself very well to a creamy, delicious shrikhand and is not very sour like the store bought shrikhand. Amarkhand is mango flavoured shrikhand. With the mango season in full swing, it is important to balance the heat from the mangoes with cooling yoghurt - amarkhand fits the bill. Serve it with puris for breakfast or as a dessert or have it whenenver you feel like, it's yummy!!

Felt the taste in 2002 when I visited my Friend Ram’s house in Nippani…It was simply Superb..Had it in my recent trip on 25-March-2011…

You'll need:

1 sweet, ripe mango - preferably alphonso

200 gms labneh

A pinch of cardamom powder

Powdered sugar as per taste

Remove the pulp from the mango. Whisk it along with the labneh and cardamom powder till smooth and creamy. Add sugar only if required. Now fetch a spoon and dig in....aah, you're in heaven!

For a variation, you can add chooped fruits to it or saffron and nuts like almonds, pistachios or chironji.

Enjoy!!

Facebook effect :D

Too Good, this is what we can say ..”Modern Bai”

Madam: Useless Bai !!!.. Why didn’t you come last week? And that too without informing me?????? Kamwali Bai: O Myadam... I had updated my Facebook status as “Will be out of town for a week..”. Sayeb knows. He even commented “Come soon... Miss U!!"

The Finger Bowl !!!

The Finger Bowl!! A wonderful story comes from 19th century England. According to the account, Queen Victoria was once at a diplomatic reception in London. The guest of honor was an African chieftain. All went well during the meal until, at the end, finger bowl were served. The guest of honor had never seen a British finger bowl, and no one had thought to brief him beforehand about its purpose. So he took the bowl in his two hands, lifted it to his mouth, and drank its contents down! For an instant there was breathless silence among the British privilege guests, and then they began to whisper to one another. All that stopped; however, when Queen Victoria silently took her finger bowl in her two hands, lifted it, and drank its contents! A moment later, 500 surprised British ladies and gentlemen simultaneously drank the contents of their own finger bowls. It was the queen’s uncommon courtesy that guarded her guest from certain embarrassment. This is a very rare but very effective human trait … while the most common human trait is to look for chances to humiliate/insult someone else or be neutral when someone makes mistake & let him/her go through the embarrassment … but it takes presence of mind, uncommon courtesy to follow someone else’s mistake in order to guard them from embarrassment!!

How to protect your blog from hackers...

So you have finally set up your blog and the number of visitors are catching up too. But sadly, there are people who hack into blogs either for fun or to malign work of others.

Here are simple tips to keep hackers away from yours.

Upgrade your software

Perhaps you have wondered why blogs releases a new version of their software every few weeks. Thousands of people go over the Wordpres code every day in an effort to improve it. A lot of the time, they are trying to plug up security vulnerabilities which hackers have figured out how to exploit.

By upgrading regularly, you can be sure that you have all the latest security fixes.

Update plugins

Many times, hackers will figure out how to gain access to your blog through a vulnerability in one of your plugins. The creators of these plugins often release updates that are more secure, which is something you should take advantage of by updating them regularly.

Hide plugins

If the hackers don't know which plugins you have, then they won't know where to begin trying to hack your site. The way they find out which plugins you have is by looking in your /wpcontent/plugins directory. If you create a blank document, save it as index.html, and upload it to this directory, you can prevent anyone from accessing this information.

Alternatively you can block the standard file list from showing with .htaccess.

Get rid of Admin

Do you still use "admin" as your username to log into your account? If so, you are making things much easier for hackers. If they know the username of your administer's account, then hackers already have half of the information they need to break into your account.

Use strong password

If your password is something like "wood floor", then it can be extremely easy for hackers to guess. They can often simply use a program which guesses your password based on dictionary entries. Create a lengthy password made up of upper and lower case letters, numbers and characters in no particular order and avoiding dictionary words.

Login securely

One way that hackers will steal your password is by intercepting it through the network while it is on its way to most blogs. You can solve this problem by installing the Chap Secure Login plugin. This plugin will automatically encrypt your password when you login, so the hackers will only be able to see your username.

Remove your version information

Often, hackers will attack your site based on the version of the blog you are running. If they don't know which version you are running, they won't know how to attack your site. Install WP Security Scan to remove the identifying code from the header and feeds.

Prevent brute force attacks

One of the simplest ways for hackers to break into your account is to try different passwords over and over until they find one that works. The easiest way to prevent this is to use the Login LockDown plugin. If someone fails to guess the correct password three times within a 5 minute period, this plugin will prevent them from even trying again for the next hour.

Source: TOI Tech article