5 Easy, Simple Ways To Keep Friendship Fresh

What do you do when you miss your friends, especially those that live far away? It can be quite sad, isn’t it? It is even much harder for those who are in a relationship. But with all the modern high technologies, it has become very easy to keep in touch - email, MSN, webcam, cheap calls, mobile phone etc. The BIG problem is taking the effort to do it. The most common reason is, ‘I don’t have time’. Is life really so busy? Or is it because of attitude problem or pure laziness. Only you know the answer. Well how to you keep up with your friendship and keep it fresh? The following is what I do.

5 easy simple ways to stay connected with friend:

1. Choose at least one form of communication.
   If you are really very busy, a fast way is to use email. Make it personal, not the same email to everyone. It doesn’t take you long to write a very good email. If you cannot spend about 10 minutes for your friend once in a while, then you are obviously not a very good friend yourself. Learn how to use email if you don’t know. Don’t give excuses. Phone calls are cheap these days too, so there’s really no excuse.
2. Have a journal or diary.
   If you have too many friends which not many people have these days, then keep a diary of the times you keep in touch with them and also the times when they keep in touch with you. In that way, you don’t forget to keep in touch with them or miss out some.
3. Place your friends higher up on your list of priorities.
   If friends are important to you, you will put them higher up on your list of priorities. If you don’t, they will soon be pushed out of your mind and heart.
   
4. Know well your purpose of having friends.
   Ask yourself why you want friends and why you want those friends on your list. Are your friends a blessing to you or a burden to you? And are you a blessing to them or a burden to them? It is a noble purpose if you are one that is more giving than receiving. On the other hand it is difficult if your friend hardly reciprocate your kindness.
5. Visit each other if possible.
   If it is possible, visit each other often especially if you are staying in the same area. Have coffee time or a simple meal together. Such occasions always deepens friendship.

I have so many friends that I often miss. But the ones that I miss the most and who are my greatest friends are my mom and dad. They are the ones who are behind my every dream that come true. Talking to them always brings tremendous comfort and joy. Each time I’m away from home, I just miss them and it hurts even though our thoughts are always connected. Each time I think of them, this song in the video here is what I would sing.

Maybe today you can take some time to list down who your friends are and why you have lost some or gain some friends. How can you improve your friendship? How do you keep your friendship fresh? Are certain friends worth keeping? Whatever it is, we must all keep learning to be a better friend. Don’t wait until you need a friend to stay in touch. And don’t forget to keep smiling as you think of your friends. Do comment and share.

Thought of the day……

“A friend is one who believes in you when you have ceased to believe in yourself.”

Lysha

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Characteristics of Good Friends

Best Turkey Rice Porridge

One of my family’s favourite foods is the turkey rice porridge. It is even good for children. On several occasions I cooked for my friends and everyone loved it. It’s really my best turkey rice porridge. I love cooking it because it is very simple and easy. Even though I love to cook, I would not prefer to stay for hours in the kitchen. I’m always looking for shortcuts to faster cooking. This is one of them.

This turkey porridge took me 2 short sessions to prepare. I bake 2 drumsticks to use it for 2 times. Of course you can bake 4 in one go if your oven is big enough. You can use one and keep 3 in the fridge for another 3 times. Each turkey drumstick can make enough porridge for 4 people.

Recipe

Ingredients A (preparing roasted turkey drumsticks)
2 turkey drumsticks
salt

Marinated turkey drumsticks

Sprinkle salt generously all over the drumsticks and let it sit for 2-3 hours. Then bake it in a preheated oven at 200 degrees Celcius for 1 hour. Do not throw away the juice from the roasting. Add to the stock for flavours and taste.

Roasted turkey drumsticks

Ingredients B (preparing soup stock)
Carrots
Water
Turkey bones

Roasted turkey bones

Sliced turkey meat

Remove the meat from the bones. keep the bones for the stock and slice the meat for topping on the porridge.

Grated carrots

Grate 3 big carrots for the stock. Carrots make the soup tasty because of its sweetness.

turkey soup stock

Put the turkey bones, carrots and water into a pot and put on slow boil for about 1 hour. Then add in the cooked rice and boil for about 10 min, longer if you want the rice to be softer. Add in some salt and enough Kikkoman soya sauce to taste. Top it with chopped spring onions, fried shallot oil and some sliced turkey meat and enjoy the best turkey porridge. It’s cheap, low fat, light, full of nutrients, easy to cook and filling.

Ingredients C (cooking the porridge)
Cooked rice (enough for 4 people)
Kikkoman soya sauce
Fried shallot and oil
Spring onion

Best turkey porridge

Have a go at this porridge and let me know how much you like it. It is even good for those who want to lose weight. To be a good cook, you need to keep learning, keep trying and keep smiling as you progress. If you like this article, you can subscribe for free to my RSS (orange button on top right) or through the email so that you don’t miss out on any future articles.

Thought for the day……

“Success is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts.”

Winston Churchill

6 Great Health Benefits of Carrot-Apple Juice

Carrot-apple juice - a wonderful drink!

I have heard of many amazing stories from friends of the great health benefits of freshly-made carrot-apple juice after they started drinking it. I shared in my previous post how my daughter was finally cured of her leg pain and stomach ache. You can read it here.

Flu Cured

One of my friends was so distraught that her 7 year old son was suffering from endless flu; pale, running nose, sinus, cough and poor appetite. Like many, she found it hard to believe that carrot-apple juice would help. Of course I am not 100% sure but there’s no harm trying as it is natural food. At that time I only read that it works and my family had already benefitted a lot from it.

Worse, she even believed that it would do more harm than good! She would rather give antibiotics to her son as prescribed by the doctor while complaining at the same time. Each time she complained to me, I only have one answer for her - carrot-apple juice and avoid all junk food. After many weeks, she decided to try. Within one week, her son recovered completely! I was amazed too and so happy for them. Of course the happiest was the mother.

No longer craving for junk food and fast foods

Another amazing story is from a mother and daughter who both wanted to lose weight. The daughter was about 16 years old then and loves fast foods. I shared with them about the benefits of carrot-apple juice to help them feel full and stop them from craving for food. They tried and immediately fell in love with the juice. Amazingly they felt full and didn’t have the urge to eat junks or fast food. Well, I didn’t realise that it is so effective. I’m of course very happy for them.

Out of wheel chair at last

There is another story about an elderly lady, about 70 years old then. She’s my friend’s mother. She had very weak legs and was using the wheel chair for quite a while. I persuaded my friend to give her carrot-apple juice. I told her if it doesn’t cure the weakness, it is still nutritious for her body. Finally she did.  After a few months of consistent drinking everyday, she gained strength to stand up. A couple of months later, she was even able to join her daughter to go for a short holiday. Isn’t that amazing?

Click here to visit the Natural Way Health website.

6 great health benefits of carrot-apple juice

There are endless accounts from friends of the amazing benefits after they started drinking juice. It would be too long to share all. I hope you will try out. Then you have your amazing story to tell me. Here I would like to share with you 6 great health benefits of carrot-apple juice that I know of:

1. It is loaded with nutrients.
2. It is easily absorbed by the body.
   
3. It is very easy to make.
4. It can fight off illnesses, often without the need for drugs.
5. It can replace a meal and so can incorporate into dieting program.
6. It tastes great and you will look forward to drinking it.

Freshly-made juices contain all the live nutrients that our bodies need. You do a great favour to your body when you take in live nutrients. All you need to start off is to get a very good juicer, one that will give you high quality juice, easy to set up and easy to clean up. If you are not sure, read my post, The Best Juicer For Health, the only one that I recommend.

Do add and comment. Share your experience if you have been drinking freshly-made carrot-apple juice or other juices.

Thought of the Day…..‘

‘We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, therefore is not an act but a habit.’

Aristotle.

Disclaimer
All contents presented here on www.keeplearningkeepsmiling.com is based upon my opinions and experiences and is for information purposes only. It is not intended as medical advice or to substitute consultation with your physician. I assume no responsibility for using any information on this blog

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Simple Cure Through the Power of Carrot-Apple Juice

Simple Yet SO GOOD!

Freshly made carrot-apple juice! Nothing beats that. It tastes so good and refreshing. It’s my favourite drink. It’s one of the most important food for my family, one of the simplest way to a healthier body. We have been drinking it for more than 10 years. It’s power packed when freshly made. Never buy from the shelf.

Carrot-apple Juice - What a Wonderful Drink!

Doctors and Specialists Couldn’t Help My Girl

My second daughter was born with several health problems. She had severe leg pain. Doctors call it ‘growing pains’. It was so severe that the attacks came almost every evening and night and she would be screaming in pain for hours. I would carry her, walk up and down the room trying to pacify her. Nothing worked. She would fall asleep after all the exhaustion from crying. It was heartbreaking as a mother to see her go through each time yet helpless and felt so hopeless. On top of that she had constant stomach ache and severe hives. She had very poor appetite and not growing well. There was nothing that doctors could do. Specialist after specialist we took her to see but nothing helped. It only added more anguish and anxiety.

Chinese Doctor’s Diagnosis

In frustration and helplessness, a friend recommended me to take her to see a popular Chinese doctor. She was about 4 then. After observing her for about 10 minutes as she played, the doctor took her pulse rate. He asked, ‘Is she very irritable, often throw tantrums and refuses to eat?’ I said, ‘Yes’, shocked that he knew. He said that her intestine was not absorbing nutrients. He said that healthy kids are easy to take care. She was irritable and threw tantrums because she didn’t feel well.

I told him that she loves KFC & McDonalds. He said unhealthy children only eat food with great tastes but it made the condition worse because such food are deep fried and contain a lot of salt and seasonings. He gave some Chinese medicine and asked me to try and give her simple, easily digested food.

Cured At Last

For more than a year, things didn’t improve because I didn’t know what to cook for her and didn’t know how to make her body absorb nutrients. Every meal was a fight and a pain to make her eat or drink as she would complain that she had stomach ache. After much reading, I decided to make carrot-apple juice. It was so sweet and nice but yet she refused to drink. After much persuasion and bribes, I managed to make her drink 1 tablespoon, a few days later to 2 tablespoon until soon she was able to drink 1 cup. I stopped giving her milk. In less than a month, her stomach ache  was gone. Very soon, her leg pain attacks grew less and was finally gone after a few months. She started to have better appetite. What a big relief! It was just unbelievable. I also learned to cook simpler, healthier food.

Click here to visit the Natural Way Health website.

Recipe

Making carrot-apple juice is very simple as I shared in my previous post, Carrot-Apple Juice - What a Wonderful Drink!

Try it. Many of my friends who tried have gained tremendous benefit from this simple juice. My whole family have benefitted greatly from it. Of course there are other juices that you can make. You can experiment it.

Do come back tomorrow as I will share about the right type of juicer that you should invest in. It is The Best Juicer For Health, the only one that I recommend. And don’t forget, feel free to leave your comments here. In the mean time, start drinking freshly-made  carrot-apple juice and let me know how you get along with it.

If you like this article and more, do subscribe to my RSS (orange button on top right) or by email so that you don’t miss any future articles..

Thought of the day…..
‘The measure of a man’s real character is what he would do if he knew he would never be found out.’
Thomas B. Macaulay

Disclaimer
All contents presented here on www.keeplearningkeepsmiling.com is based upon my opinions and experiences and is for information purposes only. It is not intended as medical advice or to substitute consultation with your physician. I assume no responsibility for using any information on this blog

Related Articles

Carrot-apple juice - what a wonderful drink!
6 great health benefits of carrot-apple juice

Carrot-Apple Juice - What A Wonderful Drink!

My favourite drink? It just has to be freshly-made carrot-apple juice. It just taste soooooo GOOD! It is very easy to make too. I won’t want to miss it unless I’m travelling. It comes with a lot of benefits which I’ll share in my next post. I always encourage my friends to do a great favour to their body - START making juices and drink it fresh. Those who did really enjoy drinking and reaped many benefits out of it. In my next post I’ll share with you the benefits of it especially how my family have greatly benefitted from it. Here I’ll share with you how to make it.

Carrots and apple

You will need about 5 medium carrots and one apple to make a 250ml cup of juice for one person. You can use either red apple or green apple. I prefer using the red apple because I love the sweetness of it. I don’t put the carrots or apples into the fridge before juicing because I don’t prefer to drink it cold. According to Chinese medicine, cold drinks are not good for our bodies because it chilled our organs.

Carrots and apples (washed, peeled and chopped)

The chopped-up carrots and apples, ready for juicing. I always cut the carrots in long strips and the apples in wedges, easy for juicing.

The best juicer

This is my juicer. To me this is the best juicer. It is heavy duty. I bought this juicer in Malaysia. I had one before with the brand, Oscar, which I used for about 10 years before I gave it away. It was still in very good condition. Then I bought this one from the same company but they changed the brand to Alpha. In UK, this same juicer is called Matstone and cost about £160 and in the States is Samson. I’ll share in another post, The Best Juicer For Health, why I say this is the best juicer & why you must invest in getting one.

Click here to visit the Natural Way Health website.

Freshly-made carrot-apple juice

Finally, my best drink of the day - my carrot-apple juice! It’s so refreshing and tastes so good. What a boost to my thoughts and everything as I sit down to do my computer work! If you make your juice, do not dilute it. If you don’t dilute it, it acts like a meal and you feel full. Want to lose weight? This is definitely one that you can corporate into your dieting programme. But start slow first and increase gradually. And if you want to raise healthy children, this is definitely a really nice juice to start them with.

Do you make your own juices? If you do, please share the benefits you gained from it. If you haven’t you can start today. Because health is so important, I just want to keep learning how to improve my health and stay health, enjoying and smiling at every effort and progress that I make.

Thought of the day……

‘Happiness is not an accident. Nor is it something you wish for. Happiness is something you design.’

Jim Rohn

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The Most Expensive Egg!

Goose eggs at £2 each

What’s the most expensive egg you’ve seen? For me, it is the goose egg. My parents kept about 15 geese at one stage when we were young. They were very fierce and used to chase us around. They could run very fast & they often caught up with us. A peck on our leg is a guaranteed bruise. No wonder people said that geese can help to keep robbers away from your house. Besides my parents said that goose droppings can keep snakes away from the compound.
Read more

Dancing ‘The Sound Of Music’ At The Train Station

It takes courage, initiative and creativity to organize a surprise dance at a big public place like at the train station that will impress every age level. And that’s what happened at at Central Station Antwerp, Belgium. Even though it is part of an ad campaign for a reality TV show, I find it absolutely inspirational. What a way to bring something refreshing to a dull, stressful day from all the rush and work. It brings so much joy and a big smile on my face.

Enjoy the video clip. Keep watching and smiling if you need to. Why not just get up and dance along too? Life can be mundane and dull. Why not take a break just to sing a song and do a little dance? It will help you to relax every part of your muscle. Find something to laugh. We all need to keep learning and keep smiling to make each day a better day.

Thought of the day……

‘Winning is not everything, but the effort to win is.’

Zig Ziglar

A Surprised, Sweet Encounter - Another Special Friend

Won’t it be so sweet if everyday you have a surprised encounter that just warms your heart throughout the day?

I would say I am very lucky to have such an encounter after a wonderful encounter at McDonald. But this occasion really amuses me.

Broken-hearted

A few months ago, a good friend of mine was going through a hard time after she and her boyfriend broke off. They had been together for 1+ years. She was very upset, disappointed, disillusioned, hurt and angry. There are all the Whys? Whys? Whys? I felt so sorry for her. She said, ‘Mary, help me to find one fair and hairy one.’!! I nodded, wondered, smiled and said, ‘OK. The right one will come along. Give yourself some time.’

‘Request’ met - not the right one!
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