Tasty Ice Cream from All Over the World

Tired of the usual cookies and cream flavor? Here are the best ice cream from all over the world you should try.

Dondurma

This Turkish ice cream is made with cream, salep, mastic (a resin), whipped cream, and sugar. Locally known as Maras ice cream, it is similar to the Syrian booza, which was a long-kept secret of the Ottoman Empire. Dondurma does not melt easily and is tough and sticky. The thickness comes from a flour called salep which comes from the early purple orchid roots.

Helado de Paila

The term paila refers to a bronze bowl used to make this Ecuadorian ice cream. It is made primarily from fruits, ice, and sugar. The type of fruits used can vary but they use tropical fruits such as soursop, coconut, blackberry, tree tomato, naranjilla, mango, strawberry, and passion fruit. This might be the ice cream for you if you are lactose-intolerant because it doesn’t use any milk.

Gelato

This is the Italian name for ice cream, but what separates it from your usual ice cream is that it has more flavoring, less air, and is served at a different temperature. It contains at least 3.5% butterfat to be considered gelato and is made primarily with sugar and milk.

Faloodeh

This Persian ice cream looks like noodles in soup, but it is made from rice noodles, sugar, lemon juice, and iced rose water. If you are not convinced that it’s ice cream, then you should try serving it with Bastani. To make this, you will need double heavy cream, icing sugar, rosewaters, beet juice, and vanilla custard.

Kulfi

This yummy dessert from India is made from flavored and sweetened milk, ice, and salt, but other versions use boiled milk, dried whole milk, bread crumbs, and sugar or evaporated milk, condensed milk, heavy double cream, sugar, and cornstarch paste. Usual flavorings include various fruits and spices.

I Tim Pad

Translated as stir-fried ice cream in English, it is a type of dessert popularized in Thailand by mixing milk, fruit and other ingredients on an ice pan. Dairy or soy milk can be used to create this ice cream. Watching how it is made is just as fun as eating it.

Ais Kacang

This Malaysian dessert is translated as bean ice which is made primarily with shaved ice and red beans, although there are varieties nowadays that incorporate other ingredients. Sometimes the following ingredients are included: agar agar, palm seed, sweet corn, grass jelly, nata de coco, aloe vera, other ice cream, cendol, and many more. It can also be served with milk, red rose syrup or sarsi syrup.

Sorbetes

This Filipino ice cream is made primarily with coconut milk or carabao’s milk, cassava flour, and various fruits such as mango, coconut, chocolate, avocado, melon, strawberry, jackfruit, ube, cheese, and many more. These are usually served in sugar or wafer cones or bread bun.

4 Easy Cookie Recipes to Try

Need new ideas for fun weekend desserts? Try these easy and delicious cookie recipes.

Granola Cookies

Ingredients: ¾ cup pumpkin seeds, 1 ½ cups pecans, 1 cup almonds, 1 cup unsweetened coconut flakes, ½ cups oats, 2 eggs, 3 tablespoons melted olive oil, 2/3 cup sugar, and ½ teaspoon salt

Preparation: Preheat oven to 325°F. In a rimmed baking sheet, toss oats, pecans, pumpkin seeds, almonds, coconut, oil, and salt until the dry ingredients are well coated. In another bowl, whisk eggs and sugar until the mixture looks thick. Pour this into the nut and seed mix then toss. Pour mixture into baking sheets then bake for 15 to 20 minutes until golden, making sure to rotate the baking sheet after 8 minutes.

Chocolate and Mint Cookies

Ingredients: 2 cups semisweet chocolate chips, 1 teaspoon mint extract, 1 cup unsalted butter, ½ cup granulated sugar, ½ teaspoon vanilla extract, 1 ½ cup flour, ½ cup unsweetened cocoa powder, ¼ teaspoon baking powder, ¼ teaspoon salt, and 4 teaspoons canola oil

Preparation: In a stand mixer, combine butter and sugar until fluffy before adding mint and vanilla extracts. In a separate bowl, combine flour with cocoa powder, salt, and baking powder. Gradually add this dry mixture to the wet mixture until it creates a dough. Form dough into a flat disk then wrap in plastic. Refrigerate for an hour. When ready, preheat oven to 325°F and line the baking sheets with parchment paper while resting the dough at room temperature for 5 minutes.

Roll dough then cut into desired cookie shapes. Place in baking sheets and chill for 20 minutes. Next, bake for 20 minutes and set aside. Prepare another baking sheet and microwave chocolate chips for 1 minute until smooth, making sure to stir occasionally. Dip cookies in the chocolate and place in the second baking sheet. Chill cookies before serving.

Carrot Cookies

Ingredients: 1 cup grated carrot, 2 cups flour, 1 cup molasses, 1 egg, 1 cup sugar, 1 ½ teaspoon baking soda, ¼ teaspoon ground ginger, ¼ teaspoon ground cinnamon, ¾ cup butter, and 1 teaspoon salt

Preparation: Preheat oven to 350°F. In a bowl, whisk flour with cinnamon, ginger, baking soda, and salt. Set aside. In a mixer, beat butter with sugar, egg, carrots, and molasses. Gradually add the flour mixture until combined. Form dough into small balls then place into parchment paper-lined cookie sheets and bake for 10 to 12 minutes.

Walnut and Rosemary Shortbread Cookies

Ingredients: ½ cup ground walnuts, 1 ½ teaspoon chopped rosemary, 1 ½ cups flour, ½ teaspoon salt, ½ cup unsalted butter, ¼ cup granulated sugar, ¼ cup dark brown sugar, 1 teaspoon vanilla extract, and raw sugar

Preparation: Preheat oven to 300°F. In a bowl, whisk in flour with nuts, rosemary and salt. In a mixer, beat butter and the sugars for 3 minutes before adding vanilla and the flour mixture. Form dough into a round loaf then roll into a parchment paper. Refrigerate for 30 minutes before cutting dough into cookie shapes. Press raw sugar on the edges of the cookies before baking for 15 to 18 minutes.

Mental Exercises to Help You Fight Against Distractions

Whether we’re working in an office or studying at school, we all know how important it is to stay focused on what we’re doing. Having good focus and concentration is essential to stay productive regardless of where you work or study in Singapore. Of course, you may have tried to get your focus back, but all the distractions just seem overwhelming. Don’t fret! Here are the things you need to remember.

Do it slowly but surely

Let’s use a classic example. If you go to a gym as a complete beginner and try to lift heavy weights without any prior training, your body will explode anytime soon. That’s just a vague example but that’s how it usually works when it comes to teaching yourself to focus. Being easily distracted is a habit that we’ve developed throughout the years. Just like many other habits, it will be hard to get rid of. If you force yourself to stay focused, you’re just going to tire yourself out. So, it’s important to do it slowly but surely. The following points will help you further with this.

Write those distractions down on paper

The most common type of distraction comes in the form of an idea that suddenly pops up in our mind. “Who was that actress in the new movie again?”, “I wonder what’s trending on Twitter right now”, “What’s the second Harry Potter book?” We toggle away from our work just to feed our curiosity about these ideas and we don’t even notice that we’ve wasted a lot of time already. The solution to this is actually really simple! Every time a distracting idea comes up, just write it down in a piece of paper and continue your work.

Meditate

Meditation helps relieve stress, keep you calm, and help you make well-organized thoughts. But aside from those, it’s also been found to have profound positive effects on focus and attention span. Just dedicating at least 10 minutes of your time every day can help you reap these wonderful benefits of meditation. It would be best to do it in the morning though, so you can start your day off with your focus already in tip-top shape.

Try your best to avoid reading summaries

Reading summaries when you actually have the time to read the whole thing only fuels the desire for instant gratification. For the most part, instant gratification is a big factor as to why we get distracted so easily. We do work, then go read a short summary of something completely unrelated to the thing we’re doing, then go back to our work again. Put things into perspective and realize that you’re missing out on a world of knowledge if you read something so short compared to the original piece.

Things to Remember When Writing Fiction

Whether you’re required to make a story for school or you aspire to be a well-known author, you will almost always experience writing fiction. Some excel at it while some take a bit more time and practice getting used to it. Just like any other form of writing, fiction does take a good amount of imagination and creativity. And though it can be quite overwhelming at first, it’s also really enjoyable once you start getting better. So, here are some handy tips for you!

Read and read and read

I can’t even describe how important it is to read as many as much as you can. Reading and writing come hand in hand! For one, you can get inspiration simply by reading others’ work. And two, you can get a lot of ideas and enhance your own creativity and imagination as well. Also, even if you’re aiming to write fiction, it doesn’t mean you’ll also have to read only fiction too. Reading news articles, poems, maybe even screenplays, can also be beneficial to your work.

Have an exclusive writing space

Everybody has their own preferred places to write. If you find it most comforting to write in your room, then stay there. If you feel like you get a lot of ideas when you’re in a coffee shop, value your time there. When you start writing though, make sure to go to a place where you can actually focus on your work. If you need to stand up and act out a scene to get a feel for it before putting it on paper, you wouldn’t want to do it in public. You won’t want people to have a weird impression of you!

Create realistic characters

The most important aspect of creating characters is making them relatable. This may sound simple but it’s actually quite difficult to do, especially because as an author you tend to have biases. Characters should have raw emotions, they should make mistakes and have flaws, basically make them as human as possible. That way it will be easier to reach out to your audience since you allow them to feel like the character in some way. Of course, it’s not just the protagonist you should focus on but also all other characters in your story.

Always remember to revise

Here’s something you should always remember: never be satisfied with the first draft. No matter how perfect you think the story is in the first writing, that’s never the case. After you’re done writing, leave it for one or two days. Then go back and read it again slowly. You’re sure to find grammatical mistakes and scenes that could use some improving. It would also be helpful to ask for others’ opinions. Bottom line is, always remember to revise!

Terms Used in Insurance You Should Remember

Are you planning to get an insurance for yourself or for your possessions? It is important to understand what you are getting into and what you are investing your money in before signing any documents.

While you do not have to be an expert in insurance, it would not hurt to know the most common terms you might hear or read in order to make an informed decision.

  • Insurer – This refers to the company that will accept the risks after the pays claims and premiums are received.
  • Insured – It means that the party or person has an insurance against risks and is the one paying the insurance.
  • Beneficiaries – The person/s to whom the policy will be paid in case something happens to you.
  • Broker – A professional who advises people who want to get insured. The broker can act as your agent.
  • Premium – It refers to the amount you pay regularly in installments to the company based on the agreed amount in the insurance policy.

  • Commission – The money that is paid to the brokers who are selling the insurance. The commission is paid by the insurer.
  • Excess – It refers to the amount you must pay if you want to claim your policy. The amount will depend on what is specified in the policy.
  • Liability – It refers to your responsibility of the adverse actions you might have taken or the lack thereof.
  • Third Party – Another person, company, or group of people that may be affected by your actions. The other parties are you and the company.
  • Sum Insured – Premiums are calculated based on this factor. It is the value of the goods at risk or the goods you want to insure.

  • Indemnity – This is the sum of money paid as a compensation in case of loss or other financial burden.
  • Damages – This refers to the monetary compensation for a breach of contract or a civil wrong. The compensation is given to the party affected.
  • Reinsurance – The act of transferring all or part only of the risk to another company. This is usually done to reduce the amount commensurate with the financial resources in case of loss.
  • Double Insurance – If a subject is insured in two or more companies, the total sum insured exceeds its value. You can have a person or item insured twice but with different insurers.

  • Deductible – This refers to the amount you have to pay for damages sustained from your own pockets before the insurance can start to pay.
  • Co-Payment – Half or some of the fee that you pay for medical visits while half of it is paid by the insurance provider.
  • Face Amount – This is the amount of money the insurance policy will pay if the insured dies.
  • Coverage – This can be term or whole life coverage in most insurance companies. Coverage specifies the period of time or term with a defined end date.

6 Common Cancer Myths You Should Stop Believing

Nowadays, it seems like everything in our day-to-day lives can cause cancer. Cancer stories are never too faraway from headlines, but that is mostly because people can easily make claims on the internet without providing justification or any proof. Unfortunately, this news spread like wildfire and pass among friends and acquaintances through social media. Here, we expose some of the common myths and why you should stop believing them.

Cancer is one disease

No, it’s not. In fact, there are hundreds of cancer types. Each cancer has unique molecular signature and distinctive clinical explanation. For instance, in neuro-oncology alone, there are 120 identified subtypes.

Cancer just happens and there’s nothing you can do to prevent it

About 50 percent of all sorts of cancers can be prevented by living a healthy lifestyle—proper diet, regular exercise and avoidance from toxins. Even just a 30-minute walk every day to keep you physically active. For your diet, avoid excessive sugar intake and processed foods, and include a lot of fruits and vegetables in your meal.

When a family member has/had cancer, you are doomed to get it, too

While it is true that cancer can be genetic, it doesn’t mean that you are bound to get it, too. There are many intricate pathways in our cells and metabolism that can turn our genes on or off. It is a field called epigenetics, where external influences can alter your genes behavior. If you’re living a healthy lifestyle, you encourage your cells to be healthy, too.

Getting surgery only spreads the cancer

Cancer cells spread through the lymphatic system or the bloodstream. Surgery is done for the purpose of the removal of the cancer. Doing it does not increase the disease’s potential to spread.

Having cancer means having fragile health

Exercise almost always have positive effects versus other scientific treatments. It is a type of physical therapy that can benefit multiple systems in the body, and may even permanently alter the environment of the tumor. But of course, it is still best to check with your healthcare professionals for the ideal exercises you can perform.

People with darker skin don’t get skin cancer

Fair skin may boost your odds of developing melanoma and other types of skin cancer. However, no skin color grants an immunity from the disease, especially if you fail to take preventive measures. Dark-skinned individuals and sometimes even doctors can miss early warning signs of skin cancer, which can appear in commonly overlooked areas of the body, such as on the palms, under the nails, soles of the feet, genitals and eyelids, As a result, they are diagnosed at a later stage.

There’s nothing wrong with being careful, but believing the wrong things that hinder you from doing the right decisions for your health may not be beneficial in the long run.