Recipes - Banana Cake

Banana Cake 

Ingredients

3 bananas (riped and soften)
3 cup butter (softened)
3 eggs

2 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup white sugar (fine)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract (optional)
1/2 cup almond flakes (optional)

Instructions

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C).

Smash peeled bananas with a fork and let it stand at room temperature.

In large bowl, cream together butter and white sugar until smooth. (The effect will be better if you cut the butter into smaller pieces first)

Add the eggs one at a time and carry on mixing till all 3 eggs are added.

Stir together flour in very small amount at one time.

Add vanilla to smashed bananas and add to mixture.

Gradually add almond flakes to the creamy mixture.

Transfer entire mixture to baking pan.

Bake 45 minutes in the preheated oven, or until golden brown.

Cool slightly, remove from sheet to wire rack.

Cool completely.

*Lynspirations

I can't stop raving about this recipe!

Pictures of my fishes

Self explanatory.

*Lynspirations

Fishes

Darlings' dinner

Cooked this for my Darlings' dinner tonight.

Of course I had a share too.

Ingredients are 

1/2 cup of brown rice

2 stalks of celery

5 red dates

2 pieces of cabbage leaves

2 apples (cut into quarters)

1 teaspoon of olive oil

It is quite nice but a tad too oily for me.

*Lynspirations

Health dinner is easy

Banana Cake Time!

Just made a Banana cake and it is so nice!

It is not oily to the touch, not that sweet (if you don't really like sweet stuff) and it smells so yummy!

Here it is...

Isn't the color tempting?

This is taken with natural lighting. Somehow the flash in the first picture makes it nicer!

Here is the empty space for the first piece (went to my small brother).

I wanted to zoom in to focus on the texture but somehow I think I need to retake my photography classes again...

Here are the ingredients. By the way, I will be posting the recipe for this Banana Cake.

There you go, 250 grams of butter (but I used lesser than than as I cleared the remaining butter that I had from my last baking), 3 eggs, 3 riped bananas, 2 cups of all-purpose flour (not the entire packet my dear) and a cup of sugar. Actually, I also used less than a cup of sugar.

I never believe in using so much butter and sugar, anyways...

And I have to smash the bananas and let it sit in the room temperature to let it further ripen.  And the bowl is my creamed mixture of sugar, butter and eggs.

And then I poured in the smashed bananas. By the way, I did add a teaspoon of vanilla essence to enhance the smell.

Finally I felt the mixture was too creamy and I decided to add in some almond flakes for some backup measures ;p

And of course I put the mixture into my oven at 180 Degrees Celsius.

Gave 2 pieces to my Darlings each.

Another picture with flash on.

There... wish you were here to enjoy it with me. 

*Lynspirations

Banana cakes are so easy to make but so sinful!

Review - The China Study - By T Colin Campbell (3)

This is the Part 3 of my review of The China Study - By T Colin Campbell. Do a search for the Part 1 and part 2 at my search box or click here to find them.

In case you are interested, below are the links for the paperback version and the hardcopy version.

My take is that there may be some mis-truths ( I am totally skeptical of everything, mind you). But I believe the author is writing out of good will and providing a truly simple-to-understand scientific explanation of what is happening to meat-eaters.

I was appalled at some of the terms that he used (based on my ability to recall, not my appall factor).

The first thing that jumped out at me was Carnivorous Nurses. And that mices were used on the experiments. 

Of course I know that mices had to be used, same as rabbits or any other animal that can substitute for human beings. It was a necessary evil. But that doesn't mean I condone it.

The references made to the Nurses were abit biased, I thought. How can he call them that and not the whole nation who are on the mostly-meat diet?

Now back to the points I highlighted before - dioxin and aflatoxin.

According to WHO (World Health Organization) on November 2007 source, "Dioxins and their effects on human health" (EXTRACTS):

... Dioxins are unwanted by products of a wide range of manufacturing processes including smelting, chlorine bleaching of paper pulp and the manufacturing of some herbicides and pesticides. In terms of dioxin release into the environment, waste incinerators (solid waste and hospital waste) are often the worst culprits, due to incomplete burning.

... More than 90% of human exposure to dioxins is through the food supply, mainly meat and dairy products, fish and shellfish. Consequently, protecting the food supply is critical. One approach includes, as mentioned above, source-directed measures to reduce dioxin emissions. Secondary contamination of the food supply needs to be avoided throughout the food-chain. Good controls and practices during primary production, processing, distribution and sale are all essential to the production of safe food.

... What should consumers do to reduce their risk of exposure?

Trimming fat from meat and consuming low fat dairy products may decrease the exposure to dioxin compounds. Also, a balanced diet (including adequate amounts of fruits, vegetables and cereals) will help to avoid excessive exposure from a single source. This is a long-term strategy to reduce body burdens and is probably most relevant for girls and young women to reduce exposure of the developing fetus and when breastfeeding infants later on in life. However, the possibility for consumers to reduce their own exposure is somewhat limited.

Now, according to AspergillusflavusOrg, Aflatoxins are toxic and carcinogenic metabolites produced by species of Aspergillus, but Aspergillus flavus and A. parasiticus are of most concern. 

In humans, the risks associated with aflatoxin consumption are well documented, and the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) has designated aflatoxin as a human liver carcinogen.


Then there is another site for AspergillusOrgUK where Aspergillus is a fungus whose spores are present in the air we breathe, but does not normally cause illness. However an individual with a weakened immune status may be susceptible to aspergillus infection.

Wikipedia says that crops which are frequently affected include cereals (maize, sorghum, pearl millet, rice, wheat), oilseeds (peanut, soybean, sunflower, cotton), spices (chilli peppers, black pepper, coriander, turmeric, ginger), and tree nuts (almond, pistachio, walnut, coconut, brazil nut).


The toxin can also be found in the milk of animals which are fed contaminated feed.
Virtually all sources of commercial peanut butter in the United States contain minute quantities of aflatoxin,[2] but it is usually far below the US Food and Drug Administration's (FDA) recommended safe level.

Now I am getting concerned. We should not be using plastics, bleached papers, and should eat less of meat and dairy products, fish and shellfish. Also best to avoid cereals, oilseeds and  spices?

But these are the things that we use daily!

Of course I will take these with a pinch of salt and try to avoid these but will not be overly concerned if I just cannot avoid them.

I strongly encourage you to read this book.

Do read my posts on The China Study

*Lynspirations

Everyone is responsible for their health

Facebook Tips for Gamers

I did a post for Farmville friends. Here are the links to see only the game application feeds for

Farmville

http://www.facebook.com/home.php?filter=app_102452128776 

Sorority Life

http://www.facebook.com/home.php?filter=app_8630423715

Mafia Wars

http://www.facebook.com/home.php?filter=app_10979261223

Fishville

http://www.facebook.com/home.php?filter=app_151044809337

These wonderful link works just when you are logged into Facebook. (Please give me some motivation by leaving me a message on my blog, thank you *wink*)

If you want to use this for other games, you can look for the Games Application ID and substitute the reference number (eg: 102452128776)

Read how to go to Application Settings page here.

Read how to find the games Application ID here.

Read the rest of my blogs here.

And don't forget to encourage me by giving me comments (at the comments box).

*Lynspirations

Enjoy yourself at my blog

Facebook - How to find Application IDs

This posting is to teach you how to find the reference number for Facebook Applications.

After you have logged into Facebook and found your way to Application Settings (Click on Accounts > Application Settings or scroll down to find the link to my previous posting with screenshots), you should click on the Profile icon beside the application you want to find.

My example would be Farmville.

Then you should look for the reference number at the top of the screen in the address bar. (eg: 102452128776)

If you see my picture, the full address is 

http://www.facebook.com/apps/application.php?id=102452128776

 You can do this for other games applications on Facebook, such as Sorority Life, CafeWorld, Petville, Mafia Wars, Mobster, Vampire Wars, Farmville, etc.

Read how to go to Application Settings page here.

Read the rest of my blogs here.

Let me know if this is helpful (leave your message at the comments box).

*Lynspirations

Enjoy yourself at my blog

Farmville Tips : Feeds

Hi Farmville friends

Here is a tip for you.

If you want to know a way to read only your Farmville feeds (postings by Farmville friends), here is a link for you:

http://www.facebook.com/home.php?filter=app_102452128776


This wonderful link works just when you are logged into Facebook. (Please give me some motivation by leaving me a message on my blog, thank you *wink*)

If you want to use this for other games, you can look for the Games Application ID and substitute the reference number (eg: 102452128776)

I will have another posting on how to find the reference number for Facebook Applications.

Read how to go to Application Settings page here.

Read the rest of my blogs here.

And don't forget to encourage me by giving me comments (at the comments box).

*Lynspirations

Enjoy yourself at my blog

Facebook - Application Setting

This is an important thing to know if you are like me and do not like to share your email and other information with strange applications.

Strange because you use them but you do not know what they will do with your information (can you trust what they say, really?)

I suggest you monitor constantly what you do with your Facebook - go and check the number of applications you have given permission to have your email address.

Here is how.

Step 1
Log into Facebook. At either your Wall or Homepage, click on the Accounts icon. (top right hand corner)

Step 2

Click on Application Settings

Step 3

You will be brought to a list of appications that you have recently authorized. Look at the list. I must highlight that you will see a number (eg: 19 in my picture) that will indicate only the applications you have recently used. This is not the number you should be concerned about.

Now, I want you to click on the drop-down box on the right hand corner and select Authorised.

You will then be able to see a longer list and a bigger number. (Eg: 23).

I am not saying that having a bigger number is bad. But remember, the more applications you have authorised, the more likely you will have alot more emails.

Do your math and make your choice.

Browse more of my posts by clicking here or do a search with the search box.

*Lynspirations

You will live with your choice.

Facebook - Account Setting

Check emails constantly is a bother. I decided that I do not want to receive emails since I am already logging into Facebook like 16 or 20 hours a day. (I leave my pc on wholeday).

I recently removed all email notifications for my Facebook account. If you want to follow me, here is how:

Step 1
Log into Facebook and click on Accounts (Top right hand corner)

Step 2

Click on Account Settings

Step 3

Remove all the checkboxes for Emails.

You are done.

Love to read my blog? Surf for more.

*Lynspirations

There is no reason for emails if I am already logging into Facebook regularly.

2010 LouHei gathering

As per past year practise, I met up with my dear friends today at Plaza Singapura for our LouHei at Swenson.

We eventually did not order the $18.80 LouHei that we initially wanted to try. Because we had the Chocolate Sin (something that is so mouth-watering on the menu that I've forgotten its name ;p)

And we got 5 coupons from Swenson.

I do not have any pictures to post because they are with my dear friends.

I can share this with you though (Taken by WL)

This copy has been enhanced by my dear HP Assistant (MediaSmart Photo). This darling always popup whenever I double-click on any picture file... so I just had to let it have a go. It brightened up the picture abit and un-do my make up a little bit.

*Lynspirations

Do not ask me why there is no ice-cream picture when the picture is taken in Swenson

Facebook - Importing blogs (How to)

Finally I have done it! Send my blog posts to Facebook. All thanks to Twitterfeed.

As promised, I am writing a post to tell you how exactly you can follow me... and that linking your Blogspot posts to Facebook is that easy! It is really easy to automatically publish your blog posts to Facebook. I shall do another post on how to do it to Twitter.

Here's how:

Step 1
Go to Twitterfeed at Twitterfeed.com

Step 2

Put in your email and choose a password for Twitterfeed (Pls do not use your email password! Read my post on Scams here)

Step 3 

Put in a name for the feed that you want to have your blog posting sent from. The example I am using is of course my blog. I am calling it Lynspirations (no prizes for guessing!). Then you need to have the RSS feed URL. This is a useful tool that Blogspot gives you.  

The RSS Feed for Blogspot is the Feedburner. To access it, log into your Blogspot and go to Settings > Site Feed.  You will need to enable it if you haven't done so. I could post some pictures, but a faster way for you would be to just click "Yes" on every single thing you see on the screens (this is what I do when I reinstall Windows all the time!)

You can further customize the frequency, etc of how Twitterfeed will update your postings.

Step 4

Once you have put in the correct things (and these are easily if you follow my easy to do steps), you are done! You will see the green color highlight that tells you that your feed was successfully created.

You will then click on "Facebook" icon.

Step 5

Click on the "Connect with Facebook" icon and allow publishing!

There you go!

If you want to know how to find out other information, let me know... I will find a way to help you.

*Lynspirations

Today is a good day :)

Facebook - Importing blogs

It is so frustrating when I try to publish my blog postings to Facebook automatically.

I was following these steps but they did NOT work... (do NOT follow).

*Sigh*... gotta sign up for twitterfeed. 

If you see this posting on Faceboor or Tweeter, then it means Twitterfeed is working!

I shall post how to do this correctly next time... (if it works)

*Lynspirations

Facebook is not blog-friendly

Mafia Wars - My prize for letting them email me

I got this item when I allow Mafia Wars to email me...

Is it worth it?

And it is only under the proxi email via Facebook...

*Lynspirations

I love my privacy

Fishville - Tank Update

Oh, here are my Tanks:

I love my tanks: Coral Tank 1, Chinese Bamboo Tank 2, Forest Tank 3, Musical Tank 4, Stony Tank 5, Lovey Tank 6.

These are taken before I sold off my decos and re-designed my tanks.

Tank 1 is my coral tank. Notice the stone (420 coin per stone, the cheapest deco i can find!) at the bottom right hand corner.

Tank 2, my favourite. I love the color of the red fishes in contrast with the bamboo green and the pastel blue of the tank gravel. And the stones (I believe a total of 79 of them) casted an ominous blue shadow. Mind you, the stone by itself (a single one) does not look that evil ;p

Now my Forest Tank 3. I was planting away to build up my Plants award. But somehow I got distracted and got to the Decos Award first. Hence this tank was my plant project halted. I did not like the purple coral at first, but as I got more, I thought, why not give it some attention?

Tank 4 was designed long time ago. It had so many shells (don't know how they all came to me) that I did not know what to do with it. I simply had to make something out of it and I did. Wanted to make a musical sign and I made the corals and plants musical too. The coral stone just wanted to steal all the attention by making its background white!

This Tank 5, Stony Tank was simply out of frustration. I do not like stones! And I somehow got so many of them! *bleah* Getting this tank redorated is my top priority!

This tank is all red because of the love... Tank 6 happens to feel abit messy to me but I love the Hearts of Hearts effect :) I think this is a keeper :)

There you go...

*Lynspirations

Different sides of me

Sorority Life - Photo Sharing

Sorority Life has come up with a new feature - Take a photo.

I was searching all over to find out how can I take it... After seeing some of my SL sisters taking my picture too!

Here is how to take picture for SL:

Step 1: You need to log into Facebook and bring on Sorority Life. Go to any events under Vacation.

Step 2: Choose an Event that has the camera sign or the Photo sign. Do the event.

The sign looks like either one of the picture below:

 or 

My example will be the Rent Beach House Event.

Step 3: Once you have completed the event, you will see a screen that tells you how much you have spent and what you have got. You will also see the "Take a Photo" icon. Click on it.

Step 4: You will come to a screen that allows you to choose your sister. These are the SL names, not the actual Facebook names.

I found that this list is not in any order. There are times when the sisters' names are repeated on every page! It may be a bug...

Step 5: You will be able to see the photos of the sisters (maximum is 3 sisters) you have chosen to take the photo with. You can customize your Title or choose one of the 2 defaults.

Step 6: If you are like me, taking a photo for the first time, Sorority Life will ask you if you want to publish your posts or comments without any future prompting. I chose Allow Publishing for all promptings.

There are 2 screens for this.

I think this does not affect any permission settings since I have also authorised SL for previous posts, so I accepted it.

The next screen comes on to ask if they can access your News Feed and Wall. Same result: Allow Access.

Step 7: You should be done if you have been following me so far. You will see your picture on your Wall or Homepage in Facebook (outside of Sorority Life).

Below is my first picture with customized title.

Read more at the official blog.

*Lynspirations