Must have summer nail colors!

Summer is here! That really excites me because I can bring out all my neutral and pastel nail colors. Since summer is also that time of the year when I do get some free time on hand I always utilize it to pamper myself. One such pamper pass time for me is to do my nails. I do give myself a good manicure, cut and file my nails and coat my nails with these array of nail colors and feel all dolled up.

All these are available in Health and glow and are pocket friendly!

This is in the shade rusty

Love that this is called Humidi Tea

This one is aptly named Coral craze!

This lavender one is called Soulmate and this is such a soft pastel color! Lasts for well over 10 days too!

This is my absolute favorite! Its called Cloud and I am afraid I might run out of this one soon (Oh no!)

This here is an old favorite! Nude skin is my go to shade.

Maybelline make the best drugstore nail colors!

These are some of my all time favorites! I love the bright neon colors for summer specially but the neutrals are all my year round favorites! All these colors with a good base coat and top coat will certainly last you for well over a week and the Revlon ones last you for up to two. I hope you enjoyed going through my nail color selection. If you would like to recommend a new nail color to me, let me know in the comments below and I will read it and go buy it of course!


Love,
Ranju

Keto date night

Hello everybody,


It has been a while since I went out and specially since I put myself on diet I have hardly gone out to eat. While I do enjoy going to the movies or to the mall I felt like I really did miss out on the entire experience of catching up with a friend at a café or having a huge laugh over dinner.

Love the wide open window and the brick wall behind me

So after much research I found this café called 'Hug in a mug' near my house and decided to meet a friend there last weekend. I thought even if there was nothing they could offer me to eat that was within the limits of my diet, I could at the very least have a cup of green tea and chat away! But when I went there I was in for a total surprise. The café had mushroom omelets on their menu which instantly made me fall in love with everything about the café (yes, food is the path to my heart!) It has a great outdoor seating area and with make shift tables and chairs. The indoor area is very basic with open and spacious windows and doors. Fresh air is easy to come by here.

The call of the mushroom omelet was too strong!

Of course I didn't eat the bread but that green tea was really refreshing!

The very best part about this café is that it is pet friendly! If you are a pet owner then you can take them along with you and not have to feel guilty about leaving them behind. It is also a great place to meet new people and make friends with other pet owners, play with their pets, have yourself a great coffee, tea or any cold beverages from their menu. And if you are not on a strict healthy diet like me then you have a wide range of sandwiches and waffles to choose from along with some really mouth watering desserts.

My friend's Greek salad looking so incredible next to my omelet

Since this is a very casual place to hang out I am saved the bother of wearing elaborate makeup and fancy outfits. I just did a basic BB cream, concealer, mascara and lip gloss for my face. Braided my hair casually as you do on the side and for my outfit I wore Levi's skinny jeans, Navy tank top from People and because it was a chilly night, I also wore this flannel I bought from Forever 21. On my feet I wore flip flops as it is still summer and that was me all dolled up!

The Greek salad even came with flowers on top!

I just was so happy to be out and about that night that I even met a special person and fell head over heals in love with him!

Meet my boyfriend - Scooby!

Scooby, as you can see, is just about 2 months old, he is a white kitten with stripy ginger ears and tail. His fur is so soft and when you hold him he purrs in your arms and falls asleep. He is also very active, playful and please don't mind if he cheerfully paws you and tries to bite your finger tips, that's just his way of showing the he likes to play with you!  

I love him so much! He purred in my hands the whole time!

All in all, I had a very fun night and if you really want to have fun, it doesn't really matter what diet you are on and if you are really serious about eating and staying healthy you will certainly find a place that will cater to your needs. So next time you are in Bangalore, or if you already stay in Bangalore, then do check out Hug in a Mug in JP Nagar and you will have a pleasant time there!


Love,
Ranju

The Body Shop Vitamin E Microdermabrasion Review!

So I bought this scrub about a month ago when I ran out of my The Body Shop Vitamin E scrub. I tried it on the back of my hand in The Body Shop counter and loved the texture of the product and the smell of it. What I was not expecting was how deeply I have fallen in love with this scrub and how amazing it is for my skin. Before I confess my love to this product let me give you some specifics and description of the product.

The Body Shop Vitamin C Microdermabrasion
Description:

Fine exfoliating micro particles and crushed garnet stones remove dead skin cells to reveal a brighter, more radiant complexion.

• Removes dead skin cells
• Leaves skin feeling soft and smooth
• Gives skin a brighter, more radiant look
• Improves skin texture and tone

It also says on the packaging - Weekly home-spa exfoliation. With Vitamin C rich Amazonian camu camu and community fair trade Shea butter.

This scrub comes in an orange flip top tube and is easy to either carry within your travel bag or just place it on your bathroom counter. The product itself is thick, creamy and is packed with tons and tons of itty-bitty granules and is easy to squeeze out just as much or as little as you want. Personally I use not more than the size of a dime and that is plenty enough for my face and neck. Also this scrub has a beautiful, mild citrusy, zesty smell of oranges and hence feels very refreshing to use specially on a hot muggy day or a typical summer day.

Having said that, I do use it every week irrespective of the season simply because it does everything it claims to do. The fine granules not only remove the dead skin from my face but it also removes those tiny stubborn black heads and white heads. It is in fact so efficient that just after one use it leaves my skin remarkably smooth, soft and supple - almost air brushed and polished looking. It even leaves my skin looking all radiant with a healthy glow. The texture of my skin now after using it every weekend is that of a new born baby and it also helped get rid of some of my scars from an old spot or pimple.

To use this, I just wet my face and neck with water, squeeze a small amount of this product on my palm and work it all over my face and neck area in gentle circular motion. Since this scrub has a lot of granules my suggestion is that you not use too much pressure on your skin or you might give yourself a rash specially if you have sensitive skin. After thoroughly scrubbing my face for about two to three minutes, I just rinse it all off with water and pat dry my face. With this scrub, I even find that it has reduced some of the fine lines on my forehead that have just started to form (or so I keep worrying about like every girl in her late twenties.)

With that said, I rate this product a definite 4.5/5 and this is about the only scrub I have been reaching out to since this came into my life. I will continue to keep repurchasing it and keep using it regularly. The only real down side for me is that the pricing of this product is pretty steep but since The Body Shop only sources organic and Community fair trade products and they are cruelty free and most importantly since the scrub does everything it claims to do, I find it reasonable.

So if you are looking to buy this product then definitely do so, I will highly recommend it to anybody at all.

Love,

Ranju

What does it feel like to be fat? (Episode 1)

Hello everybody,


This blog post is a very personal and emotional post for me in the sense that I am trying to write the experience of absolute worst feeling that I have ever felt about my body. It has been a struggle both to have been over weight and not to be able to stop putting on weight.

This is where I'm at now

This is where I aim to be at

Over these years where I have been obese I've had to endure people insult me for my size, I've had to listen to people comment that I've put on weight (like I've not noticed it myself or I don't look at myself in the mirror) with a smile, I've had to feel like an absolute failure every time I've attempted to lose weight and instead only put on weight or developed some new health condition.


While I think every woman irrespective of her age, color or size is beautiful, sometimes, the world can be really cruel. I've had a boyfriend in the past make ridiculous jokes at the expense of my weight and because it was all in the name of fun I was somehow supposed to understand and laugh along. It literally broke my heart since it made me feel like I was ugly and somehow he was doing me a favor by being with me. And then, there was this other time a very close friend of mine who knew my struggles with weight very well, just casually asked if it felt very heavy to walk around or jump... yes he really was that dumb. It made me so furious that I asked him if it felt light when he walked or if he felt like he would take off when he jumped since he was skinny and all. Yet another time, a relative would constantly tell me every time she bumped into me that the dress I was wearing was very pretty but if I was thinner I would look pretty too or if only my arms were thinner this shirt suited me or if my belly was flatter that skirt would have looked better. This completely got me lost and I totally lost any sense of what to wear. I tried to hide behind loose and baggy clothes, I stopped enjoying shopping because I felt all clothes made me look fat and ugly. At one point I had the smallest closet with barely four tops and one pair of jeans that I thought fitted me the best, because I was too embarrassed to ask the sales lady if she had something in Extra Large.


All these behaviors and statements while in their perspective was perfectly harmless actually took huge chunks off of my self confidence. Weather knowingly or unknowingly the world to me seemed to fat shame me and I endured it in silence each day feeling a bit more disgusted about myself. There have been many a nights where I've cried many a silent tears and hated my body for being the way it was. They have been the absolute worst years of my life... I've starved myself until I fell ill just to lose a couple of pounds, I've run till I developed sever shin splits and later couldn't even touch my shins for months, I never took a million selfies like how every normal teenager would and in the group images that my friends took, I would always stand at the back hiding behind someone so much so that I barely have a few images of mine throughout the time I was in college.


And although these things were told to me years ago I still find that I can't forget the hurt and the pain of it, what absolute horrors I put myself through and it still stings whenever I realize that a person who has never been fat and has no idea how a fat person might be feeling inside despite that brave smile on their face, just decides to mock and make fun.


Please do not get me wrong... I am not hating on the thin/skinny/healthy, I am just requesting the world to be a little considerate and compassionate. Give everybody the time and space to understand their body type and why they maybe putting on weight and why they may not be losing weight in spite the many ridiculous diets and crazy workout sessions. Everybody's body is different, everybody's metabolism is different and not all diet or workout reacts to everybody's body in the same way. It absolutely does not mean that if it worked for a friend and she lost all her weight that it will work for you too or you will lose all your weight at the same rate too.


After putting myself through literally all possible diets that anybody bothered to suggested me, I decided that I wouldn't listen to any of it anymore and start living my life. If I'm meant to be fat then so be it, but at least I will never again let anybody shame me for how I look and I decided to go all out and live every bit of my life to the fullest.


But the past one year has been a game changer for me. I even made a video on my YouTube channel about what finally caused me to stumble upon the right path towards eating healthy and how I slowly but surely embarked on this weight loss journey. (Watch it here www.youtube.com/sriranjanin)


After much research, I fully understood how a human body works and how a certain carb or sugar might not only be secretly leading you into obesity while the fat and proteins take the blame for it. It even explained why it was so hard for me to give up on sugar and fight off unwanted cravings. It even answered why I sometimes got crazy mood swings and why my anxiety and panic was getting consistently worse. Below are a list of websites and links that helped me become aware of what really is healthy to eat and what isn't :
http://www.ruled.me/guide-keto-diet/
https://authoritynutrition.com/ketogenic-diet-101/
http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/keto.htm
https://www.facebook.com/SQUATSJC/

Taken at Munnar 5 months ago

Deepika Padukone is my ultimate goal. Who is yours?

Clearly from the above links and my YouTube video (if you have watched it) you know that I am now in a Ketogenic diet successfully for a month. It is a low carb and no sugar diet plan designed to make your body realize fat as an energy source and target fat burning for your everyday energy requirements.


Of course, I did not buy the diet plan or hire someone to do this work for me. I went to a health and fitness store and got a BCA (body composition analysis) done and finally figured out that I had 41.9% body fat and the normal should be around 20% for a healthy woman. I was also over weight buy 20kgs. I was 69.1kgs when I weighed myself before staring this diet and I am ideally supposed to weigh between 51 and 53 kgs for my height of 155cm. My BMR (basal metabolic rate which is supposed to be around 2000Kjs for a normal healthy person) was about 1200Kjs and my goal is to keep increasing while losing fat and putting on lean muscles.


With all this data at hand a few free tools on Google I now count calories, eat caveman style and workout for about 1.5hours a day. By that I don't mean intense cardio which renders you dizzy but weight training with weights that feel comfortable and friendly. I even go for a walk for about 45min every evening as a part of my LISS (Low intensity steady state - Please google more about it as this is the best way to loose weight according to recent studies) workout routine.


I'm aware that this post is already too long so here is were I bid you Goodbye for now. Surely I will be writing a post soon about how long it took me to get used to this diet and how I managed to get through my Keto flu. I will be writing an update on my weight once every month and some of my favorite Keto recipes. Having said that this blog will still be dedicated to beauty and fashion - I will still be doing product review, OOTDs and makeup tricks and hacks.


Here's to a healthy life (both physically and emotionally) ahead and many friends and friendships to be made through the course of this journey!


Love,
Ranju

Beach day | Benaulim beach, Goa

Recently I went on a lovely long vacation to Goa with the usual suspects, my sister Rach, Niki and a few other friends. While I had so many beautiful and peaceful days there, the beach that really made its mark on my memory is Benaulim beach in South Goa.

(Left to right - Rach, myself and Niki)

The drive to this beach is simply the best! We hired scooters at Vasco bus stop and drove via Dabolim airport. Once you exit the highway, the roads are peacefully calm! Kudos to the Goan government for there was not a single pothole throughout the long winding road that lead to the mouth of the beach. What is refreshing too is that you will find old Portuguese style homes and coconut trees on either side of the road. Occasionally, you will even come across a lake of two full of wild water lilies. It is like going back in time into a much peaceful era where the nature is untouched and people knew how to co-exist with plants and animals alike.

When we reached the beach we were so famished that we decided to chill in Icecube restaurant and bar. The shack was beach facing and very basic. We were given a spot under a thatched umbrella and after about two minutes of settling in and ordering the local King's beer and seafood the feeling of vacation really did set in. The ombre blue of the sea, the soft whooshing of the waves and the feeling of sea breeze on my face was like no other. For a while all I did was just put my sun glasses on and took it off. It felt like adding and taking off Instagram filters off this perfect white sandy beach that stretched miles on either side of us.

Chillin at Icecube restaurant and bar overlooking the sea.

Local King's beer

As we made our way through a couple of more bottles of beer and seafood platters and the warm sand under my feet was the finest ever. It was even therapeutic to wiggle my toes through it and let the sand flow trough my fingers.

As the hot tropical sun began to set, we decided to take a walk down the beach. The waves were the calmest ever and it was as if the sea was playfully tickling my feet. We walked along the beach until we reached Colva beach where we found this fishing boat and went selfie crazy.

Dress - Asos, Sandals - Hill road, Mumbai, Sunglasses - Amazon, Accessories - Collaba Cosway, Mumbai

At Colva beach

As the sun begin to set into the now beautifully steel grey sea, we played amateur football and ran all the way back to Benaulim beach were we had parked our scooters. We watched silently as the bright red sun cast ruby rays across the waters as it set slowly and serenely as it should at the end of each day.

Epic sunset at Colva beach

This is how the sun went down in Benaulim beach

With a feeling of content at how the day had turned out, we left the beach and headed back to our hotel rooms and called it a night (as if, we then went to Casino Pearl, lost a lot of money gambling and returned to our rooms completely broke for money at 1 o'clock in the night.)

Until next time then!

Love, 

Ranju

Groom hunt (episode 1)

Hello everybody,

So my mom recons I am old enough to be married like all mothers do, but the difference between all the mothers of the world and mine is that she is Indian. If you are an Indian then you know how big of a deal it is for Indian girls to be married young. And since I am not cool enough to have a boyfriend or have someone I can introduce at home, my mom has taken the matter of my marriage upon herself and thinks that it is her life's goal to get me married to a nice, well settle guy who comes from a good family.

Well that is not too long of a list to look for in guys right? Apparently that is expecting way too much from guys. My mum who has registered my "profile" is an "matrimonial house" got this profile of a guy (whom I won't mane) and let's just call him Mr. Dokey!

Now, Mr. Dokey lives in Miami, Florida and has done his masters in Engineering and works there as a business analyst at a hospital. After both our parents initially spoke over phone they exchanged the details of our profiles over email which took about a week, I saw the few images that were sent to my mum by email and he looked alright and it first looked like I looked fine to Mr. Dokey too. So he told his mother that he would like to have a conversation with me on Skype. That was what I wanted too, because I have firmly told my mother that I am not going to marry some random guy without getting to know him better.

So last Saturday, Mr. Dokey's mother emailed me his skyde details and I added him to my contacts. To my surprise Mr. Dokey was already online and was ready to have a conversation with me. And since I had never really met a guy physically or virtually with marriage in mind this totally threw me off guard and I was literally this close to having an anxiety attack.

When he called, I was so nervous that I had such difficulty breathing I was sure I would pass out. That is exactly what would have happened if he had started to interrogate me about my life. Luckily, he turned out to be really chilled. That is something I had least expected of any guy (don't know why.) He was all smiling and the conversation was really pleasant. He actually told me all about himself without me having to ask him much and whenever I asked me some basic questions like what kind of wife does he want he gave a reasonable enough answer. Also I must add that he was extremely charming and he put me at ease the moment our conversation started. I slowly started to relax and breathe easy. ti even felt comfortable after the first ten minutes and was began to have fun. It was exactly like going on a first date but with a computer screen between us. We spoke about our college, to work life to everything about our favorite movies and music and hobbies.

Now this is what threw me off a bit about Mr. Dokey. He said he has no hobbies and in all the 8 years of him living in America he has travelled only to Yellowstone National Park once and does not watch movies in the weekend and he doesn't like to go out over the weekend but loves to bring his work home and finish them by Monday morning. To be fair, I am not a very outgoing person either and I love staying home with my copy of Wuthering Heights. But even me - an introvert - have friends I meet up with over the weekends. And as lazy as I am, even I have hobbies and I love travelling and watching movies!

But at the moment I was so charmed by Mr. Dokey I thought, 'Oh this is no big deal, I can live with a boring man as long as he is charming and I am smitten.'

After talking for about ninety minutes we ended our conversation saying that it would be best if we spoke some more before saying anything to our parents and since he is always working and so busy all the time he would email me and let me know when we would talk again.

Obviously, my mum who was standing right outside my door in spite of managing to hear some of our conversation did ask me to tell her in detail about what we spoke and what I thought about the guy and would I like to marry him. I told her (as per Mr. Dokey's request) that I would like to talk to him again before giving my answer.

After this conversation I got really busy the following week and so did my mum and I forgot all about the conversation plans with Mr. Dokey until last night when my mum reminded me. I promptly checked my email to see if he had sent details on when we would talk next and there was nothing. My mum called his mother today morning and apparently Mr. Dokey told his mum that he feels very confused and doesn't know how he feels about me. He is too busy at the moment to call me and continue conversation with me and hence is still contemplating if it is the right time for him to get married to anybody at all.

So here I am thinking, if you don't want to get married why create a profile at the matrimony house and make both our parents figure out computers and internet and exchange profiles? Why would you want to even talk to me and waste my time if you don't have marriage on your mind? Or is he such a chicken that he is making this up to avoid refusing me?

So with the end of this story ends the role of another jerk in my life. If you are opting arranged marriage are you ready to face jerks? If you are already married and your marriage was arranged how did you know your spouse was the one?

Wishing you happiness and a successful marriage,

Love,
Ranju

First time at Forever 21

Hello beauty queens,

If you are regular at my blog then you know by now that I live in the most exciting Bangalore city. The reason I find it exciting to live here is because of late the best stores are opening.

I always dreamed of shopping at Forever 21. It was one of my 'must do's whenever I went to the USA or Hong Kong. But not any more! Forever 21 is now in my own backyard!

And by backyard I mean Garuda mall at Magrath Road (haha.) Forever 21 opened here two months ago and ever since I so badly wanted to go and look for myself if their clothes were as stylish as I had read them to be and if their accessories where as beautiful as I had seen them on pintrest. I know my expectations were pretty up there and from the moment I entered boy was I super impressed!

I didn't know what I wanted to buy. Everything looked so pleasing and picture perfect to me. Rows and rows of the most beautiful summer dresses, the largest collection of the coolest looking hats, walls covered in shiny necklaces and so many lovely pairs of shoes to try on.

Since it is the summer the store was well stocked with beautiful skater skirts, the most summery crop tops, floral summer dresses and jogger pants and everything else I am forgetting to name.

I remember last year my sister and I looked literally all over the  city and into every single store and we couldn find a single crop top. And here in Forever 21 there were hundreds of crop tops in all possible prints and fabrics just casually hung in rows for us to be spoilt for choice.

As much as I would have loved to shop everything my eyes fell on I had to hold myself back and remind myself that summer really was winding down and even even if I bought a whole load of clothes I wouldn be able to wear them for long.

So did I walk away without buying anything? As if! I did a whole load of jewelry shopping. They have these gorgeous dainty little necklaces and finger rings that I have probably never seen anywhere ever. And these were not just dainty accessories they were rose gold accessories.

Now before we get ahead of ourselves I need to tell you I am not a gold person. I don't like the color for some reason and I cannot pull it off. But when it comes to rose gold and copper I am all over it. In fact I can't get enough of it! Since I had never really found rose gold accessories with ease before I went nuts! Below are the things I bought and I don't flaunt them lightly. I am obsessed with what I wear and how much I love it and I make sure all my girlfriends notice it (haha) and if they don't I keep shoving it on their face until they do. (yes, that's me, I am that freak.)

Now if you are thinking this has got to be expensive well it was only just as pricy if not cheaper than most of your regular accessories from a local store.

So next time you are at Forever 21 make sure to go nuts and shop till you drop. I highly recommend the store, the more than helpful staff and the satisfying shopping experience.

Wishing you a very happy shopping!
Love,
Ranju
xoxo

Posted via Blogaway

MAC Studio finish concealer Review

Hello everybody!

I am so sorry I haven't written anything in a long time! I have been super busy with my YouTube channel and my bake sale. But enough excuses! Today let's talk about concealers!

The real reason I went into the MAC store looking for a concealer was because there isn't enough shades of drugstore concealers available here in India to match us all. I got tired of looking in every beauty counter for my perfect match.

MAC Studio Finish Concealer pot

When I went to the MAC store I honestly doubted that I would find a concealer in my shade but I was so overjoyed when I found the studio finish concealer was available in so many shades!

The lady matched me up with two shades- I mean I had difficulty finding one shade to match me all along and here I was trying to decide which of the two shades looked closer to my complexion. This was totally a new experience and I was very happy!

The shade I chose was NW 40.

The concealer is cream based and feels lightweight on my skin. Even though it is a heavy duty full coverage product it feels light and not cakey in the slightest. It can hide even the darkest spots and the best part is it does not cling to my dry patches. And the fact the it has Spf 35 prevents my dark circles and spots growing darker because of the sun. Yay! I feel like it is a win-win-win-win product throughout.

My dark circles and that tiny spot over my eyebrow need concealing

Depending on how much time I have no hand to get ready I sometimes blend it with my ring finger and the other times with a real techniques blending brush. The result is flawless both ways! This means that if you don't want to invest in expensive makeup brush it is still possible to look gorgeous with just the concealer blended with the pads of your fingers.

The result after the product

Also because it is so tiny I always find space for it in my travel beauty kit. And the products behaves very well in bad weather too. Last August I took it with me to Gujarat and it was so hot that I was worried that it would melt and ruin my bag but it stayed put in the container and stayed in pretty much the same condition. When I took it to Mt. Abu this January it survived 7 degrees. The concealer did harden a bit but it blended easily under my eyes with the heat of my fingertips.

I used this concealer for at least six months before I purchased my makeup primer and even without the primer it stayed put for hours once set with powder. And with the concealer I am sure it stays put on my face for longer than 12 hours. 

The other thing I absolutely love about this concealer is that a little goes a long long way. So even though it comes in a small pot, you can use it for well over an year or two.

Love the packaging!

I love that the concealer comes in a small pot with a transparent lid. It is a plain black plastic container but it is sturdy and has not cracked even a tiny bit even though I have dropped it a couple of times.

Name of the product: MAC studio finish concealer
Shade number: NW 40
Store price: Rs. 1650
Net weight: 7g 
Spf 35

Overall to me it is great concealer and is worth the money. I highly recommend this concealer if you are having a hard time finding your shade or if you are looking for something with full coverage. This is surely one beauty product in my makeup kit that I am going to purchase when I am through this pot.

You can also find me on:

Twitter - @Iamranjun

Instagram - @iamranjun

Youtube - Ranju N

Thank you for reading and being my friend :)

Love,
Ranju

Why do I travel?

Hello again,


I know I have not blogged in a long while and the reason for that is, I took a break for about 18 days and went travelling off to Gujarat, Rajasthan, Mumbai and Goa. I love taking long vacations. Last summer I backpacked my way across Tamil Nadu - from Hosur to Kanyakymari  and from Coimbatore to Chennai.


The other day I sat jobless-ly and thought about why I enjoy travelling so much. And please don't think I am the kind that goes to a posh resort and spend all my time by the pool or in their spa (even thought that's a great way to relax.) I am the kind that travels like how a nomad wanders. I barely plan my next destination and more often then not take a bus or a train without thinking much about the destination. The joy I incur when the unplanned destination turns out to have great weather, amazing people, excellent food is some thing that will stay with me forever.


That thought and experience right there is why I am inspired to travel so much. In an ideal world I would be travelling all over the world (not necessarily in luxury) every single day of my existence and exploring the planet through my eyes and not through a travel show in a lifestyle channel.


There are some people who travel only to the beaches and then there are others who travel only to the hill stations. And then there is another kind of travelers - the ones who only travel to a place of pilgrimage. I on the other hand am neither of above mentioned kind and yet I belong to all the above kind. I am a wanderer trapped in a city chick. When I first started travelling I went exclusively to hill stations so I could trek and explore the forest, raft through the rivers and camp out. Till date I find trekking very meditative and find the exercise very restful even thought I am actually working my thighs and calves out ( the next day's soreness in my legs stand as proof in elaborate detail.)




The first time I travelled to a place that was not green or surrounded by forests and rivers was to Goa a couple of years ago for my best friends bachelorette party. There too I managed to find a trekking trail to Tamdi Surla and enjoyed the waterfall. But what surprised me the most was that a walk on the sandy beaches and the beautiful sunsets were just as peace evoking as any of my trekking experiences. This feeling was unexpected and surprised me so much that I started to re-think my travel dream for the next five years. This is the reason why I recently went back to Goa again and explored South Goa extensively. I completely gave up on the crowded tourist traps and headed to remote beaches that only a handful of localities were aware of. That opened a new world where I drove through winding roads shaded by coconut trees, ate more quintessentially Goan food, walked on the best most peaceful beaches and caught some of the more spectacular sunsets.


The Goa experience the first time inspired me to go backpacking across Tamil Nadu - and I don't mean the beaches or the coast (although the beach at Kanyakumari was fun.) This time I took the scorching sun inland over the dreaded summer. I started my journey at our country's end in Kanyakumari and travelled north and encountered the best kind of waterfalls. It made me wonder how a state that is so hot and muggy can still have numerous waterfalls (between Namakkal and Coyambattore) of such grace and beauty. This vacation thought me to be more confident and patience and I could finally learn to let go and still be ok when not everything went my way and I was going the way everything else pulled and pushed me. I felt like a piece of wood lost in a beach. Nothing went the way I planned but I learned to accept everything that came my way and by the end of that vacation I was probably more flexible than play dough (I know I am probably kidding myself.)


Now that I had experienced woods, waterfalls, sun and surf it only made sense to go to a sandier desert. So my next destination was the state of Rajasthan. Rajasthan being a state that was once ruled entirely by the kinds is a state like no other. The forts still look formidable, the palaces still look so rich that some still have gold plated ceilings and ruby and emerald encrusted marble floor. The ornate architecture is mind boggling considering the lack of technology and almost every archway and statue was hand made. The attention to detail in the palaces of Rajasthan is like no other. Even the food and the snacks of the state are made with rich ghee and even a commoner eats like royalty. And then there is the desert itself. The only way to travel in the desert is to catch a camel back ride. If you have never ridden a camel then you are in for a startling shock as the camel sways back and forth very violently every time it stands up and sits down but the ride is not too different from horse riding. Camels are very gentle creatures and as they give you a ride they mind their business gurgling the water from their water pouch. If I thought the desert sand will be just as similar to the beaches of Goa then I was absolutely wrong. The desert sand is so fine you can hardly hold it in your hands for a little more than a five seconds. It was super exhilarating to climb over my first sand dune (again unlike what I had seen on TV these were huge and you could easily get lost behind one) and the I got to see the India-Pakistan border. It was here that it struck me so profoundly that I was an Indian and was very proud to be one.


So here I stand thinking why I travel. Is it the wanderer in me or is it the need to be adventurous? Do I travel to escape from the monotony of my life or do I travel to add more color to make my life more vibrant? do I travel for the love of woods or is it that sand? Is it the desire to do something new everyday or just to kill time?


The answer could be a mixture of all but I couldn't tell you that for sure. As long as I am moving from one place to another, learning new cultures and languages, tasting new and exotic food, trekking over a new mountain, walking along a new beach, experiencing a new means of transport I am just very happy. And to me happiness is reason enough to travel the way I do and live on the go.


I would love to hear why you travel too. Please let me know your thoughts in the box below.


We can also be friends on Instagram @sriranjani_n
We can be friends on twitter @Iamsriranjani


If you are interested then you can watch me travel and experience everything I mentioned above on my Youtube channel www.youtube.com/sriranjanin



 

YouTube addiction

If you are an extremely outgoing person and have all the people skills you may never really understand my point view. This blog post is for people like me - introverts, internet addicts and even though we have a lot of work on hand we prefer doing it another time because we would much rather watch a family vlog.

Yes, that's me. Its not that I don't have friend, I do. And its not that I am not a fun person because I love travelling and am very adventurous. But if I were to choose between staying in my room watching YouTube videos and go meet exciting people outside then I would take the first option.

I don't quiet remember the first YouTube video I ever saw but I am sure it was something related to food. I also remember watching a lot of videos of WahChef. The host Sanjay is an exceptionally great chef but he is also hilarious. One of my fondest memories of me and my sister is us watching his entire playlist irrespective of weather we are cooking his recipes or not and laughing heartily at his yummy noises - no offence. This is so way back that YouTube still had the 5 star rating system.

Slowly from all of the cookery videos we broadened our circle of interest and from time to time when we had an event or family gathering to attend to we watched simple hairstyles tutorials and natural makeup tutorials. Although we watched beauty videos very rarely - owing to the fact that my sister and I are total tomboys - whenever we watched one video we would always watch the suggested videos on the side and even though we had settled on a hairstyle we would manage to watch videos for about three to four hours and would only realize we had done so when our mother returned from work and screamed at us for not even getting started on homework.

Well, such is the power of YouTube. Weather you have subscribed to a bunch of channels or you are simply surfing through from channel to channel, the world of videos sucks you in and keeps you mesmerized until you are brought to reality by a violent external force. If you are thinking this is already intense then this is only the beginning of the things to come.

I am sure we have all spent hours on YouTube watching videos and surfing for things that we were not even interested. But there comes a time in every Google account holder's life when he/she will stumble upon one YouTuber whom they find so entertaining that they end up subscribing. The First YouTuber I ever subscribed to was Superwoman. She is a Canadian resident Indian who makes videos that are so funny that you will fall off your chair or drop your laptop laughing. Now I wish it had stopped there but alas, the internet had other plans for me!
All YouTubers at one point of the other collaborate with other YouTubers and make videos together to increase their audience. Hence, I subscribed to Tyler Okley, Zoey Sugg, Troy Sevan, Bethany Mota, Tanya Burr, Alfie Dayze, Caspar Lee, Louis Cole, Thatcher Joe and Marcus Butler. I know its a long list of YouTubers but that's how they get you - they make fun videos together on both YouTubers' channels and ask you to check them both out and subscribe to both. And once you have subscribed there is no turning back. You are so smitten by their charm that you are hooked and watch their videos as and when they publish. But this isn't bad.... it is still only one healthy addiction.


But before you realize, you are following them on Instagram, Snapchat, Blogger and Twitter. When you have reached this level of commitment to a YouTuber there is no way out of the maze. Your parents may be chocking next to you and you would be busy liking your favorite YouTubers' tweets and Instagram pictures. When I was in this stage I got all my friends to subscribe to my favorite YouTubers and whenever I met them I would discuss the latest videos of the YouTubers like how most people discuss TV series. Yet, if there was a major blackout or if your internet server was down you would still survive.


You know you are truly terminal when you are so inspired by your favorite YouTubers that you want to become a YouTuber yourself. Yes me... the introvert! It is not like now that I blog and make videos for YouTube that I have suddenly become an extrovert but now I do love people virtually and I am surprised at how easy it is to make friends on social media. It is like opening a new chapter in my life!


It is because of YouTube that I now have friends all across the world. Also because I am a big stalker I now know their first names, their silly quirks, their interests and oddly enough they are just as interested about me! Now there is just no going back. Throughout the day, I am now replying to comments on my videos, watching my friends make videos on their channels and also watch people who inspire me. I spend nearly twelve hours a day on YouTube and love every minute of it. If there is a power breakdown or if my internet is low, I just pick my camera up and make a video. If I don't find anything interesting to watch then I sit and edit my videos and upload them on my channel. If I am stressed then instead of turning to comfort food like I used to before I now have a set of videos I watch to comfort me. Such is my love and addiction to YouTube and I don't think there is a rehab facility for that.


As I finish this post I am so excited to announce that at this moment my channel hit 200 subscribers and I am ecstatic. Now, this introvert only wants to make more videos, wants to be more inspired and make a lot of new friends! So if you do have the time then please check out my YouTube channel and subscribe. I make videos on beauty, food and DIY projects.


Looking forward to becoming friends with you guys on YouTube. My channel link is:
www.youtube.com/sriranjanin


Love,
Ranju

Christmas fruit cupcake

Easiest Christmas cupcakes ever!

I remember the first time I ever made a fruitcake for Christmas. I started it in the second week of November (I chopped all the dry fruits and let them steep in the alcohol for fifteen days) and baked it in the first week of December and I continued to cure it with alcohol twice a week until the day of Christmas.

Then came the Domestic Goddess Nigella Lawson herself with a super cheats recipe and I must tell you that, that was the cake I made for the past few years as it eliminated all the weeks of steeping and maturing the cake with alcohol. Now this meant I could bake this cake in the second week of December and get away with it without the fuss and the palaver of long elaborate steps and procedures.

Ah! But then I accidently stumbled upon this recipe on pintrest the other day and it claimed to do a lot more with so few ingredients and much lesser time. I got extremely intrigued and after much trial and error devised my own recipe that works every single time like a charm.

Looks so pretty! Makes great Christmas presents too

Now, this cake batter can be either baked into a traditional Christmas cake in a seven inch cake mold  or (if you are pressed for time and patience) into cupcakes. All you need to do to make this cake look pretty is some festive cupcake paper cases and a snowy dusting of icing sugar on top.

Don't forget the snowy icing sugar dusting!

This recipe calls for a kilogram bag of mixed and chopped dried fruits but if you can't find them then you can make your own by chopping and mixing some dried prunes, apricots, dates, cranberries, currants, sultanas, figs, raisins, blueberries, cherries and any other dried fruit you can find.

Also the stronger the espresso you use to make this coffee the better it tastes and the best I can find is the dark Italian roast espresso powder from Starbucks. If you wanted to incorporate booze element into your cake then instead of using two cups of espresso you can use a cup or espresso and a cup of rum or brandy.

Lastly, if you loved my cupcake paper cases and wondered where I bought mine from, I bought mine from Nilgiry's. My paper cases have stars and bells and holly berries and I think by using a festive paper case you are halfway through gift wrapping it if you decide to give these away as gifts - just place them in a transparent plastic bag and tie the open end with a gold ribbon.

Yes, these do make excellent Christmas gifts. If you are a vegetarian or vegan or non-alcoholic or diabetic or have friends who are vegetarians or vegans or non-alcoholics or diabetics then these make great Christmas gifts to give away or to have yourself for Christmas tea.

Finally, if you think you don't want to make this cake into cupcakes and want it to look traditional then you can pour the batter into greased and lined seven inch cake mold and bake in the pre-heated oven at 160C for about 40 minutes or till a cake tester inserted comes out clean.

Using a festive cupcake paper case makes it look extra special

Ingredients:
1 Kg mixed, chopped, dry fruits
2 cups (500ml) strong espresso
2 cups (250g) self-rising flour
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 bar (100g) dark chocolate
2 tablespoon icing sugar (optional)

Procedure:

1. Preheat the oven at 160C and prepare the cupcake molds by placing the cupcake paper cases in each of them and set aside.
2. Place a heavy-bottom pan on low heat and tumble in the dry fruits and the espresso.
3. Stir till the mixture begins to smoke and take it off the heat. Stir once in a while so the dried fruits absorb some of the liquid and the mixture looks sludgy. Set aside to cool for a bit.
4. Add in the ground cinnamon and the self-rising flour and stir to incorporate and make a smooth batter. If you feel your cake batter is too thick, then add in a splash more of the espresso or milk and stir. 
5. Finally add in the chopped chocolate and stir to combine.
6. Spoon in the cake batter in to the cupcake cases almost to the top and bake in the middle rack for 20 minutes or till a cake tester inserted comes out clean.
7. Set aside till the cakes come to room temperature and just before serving, dust it with icing sugar for a festive indulgence.

A thing of beauty does for Christmas tea time.

If  you want to watch me bake the cupcakes then you can watch them on my YouTube channel
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NQQyoEkIE3o

We can also be friends on Instagram @sriranjani_n

and also on twitter @Iamsriranjani

Make sure to tweet me the images of your Christmas cakes because I would love to look at them and drool.

Hot chocolate mix, White hot chocolate mix and spiced Darjeeling tea mix.

Ok the other day I had pulled to out my duvet in the middle of the night to stop my fingers and toes from freezing over. Bangalore is currently in a weather spell where it is cloudy and rainy because of the cyclones from Chennai and also chilly and cold as it is turning winter.

The city is slowly coming into itself. - Starbucks have brought out their Christmas seasonal drinks, Brigade road is getting its seasonal fairy lights and the malls are setting up their giant Christmas trees. Even though Christmas is nearly 5 weeks away I can't help feeling super excited for it.

I guess it is the cold that gets me in the good mood. I have always come across people complaining if it gets cloudy and rainy but I thrive in this weather. I am found pulling out my favourite sweatshirts, Christmas jumpers, my reindeer socks and my numerous scarves.

But I am also found with one other thing. Its always a large mug-full of my favourite warming, soothing, hot cuppa.

Hot chocolate

There can be nothing better than a cup of hot chocolate when you feel like your fingers have gone numb. And if you are the person who finds rain and cold irksome and depressing then the chocolate will help your mood. 

I agree you can buy perfectly good hot cocoa mix in the supermarkets today but my hot chocolate mix is pretty phenomenal and greatly festive. Considering it is the festival season I think it is ok to indulge too.

Ingredients:

Unsweetened cocoa powder

Sugar

70% Dark chocolate

Vanilla custard/ pudding mix

Mini marshmallows

Procedure:

Into a glass jar of your choice, add the cocoa powder till about a fifth of the jar is filled. Now add the sugar and Vanilla custard mix powder in the same quantity as the cocoa powder. Now break the dark chocolate into tiny pieces or cut it into shards and add till yet another fifth of the jar is covered. Finally add the marshmallows till the very top and seal with the lid.

To make the hot chocolate:

To serve one person, add about two tablespoons of the hot chocolate mixture into a pan (set aside the marshmallows for later) and add a small splash of milk at room temperature. Stir with a fork till there are no lumps and add about a cup full of milk. Set this on a low flame and stir till the chocolate has dissolved and the liquid is smoking and thickened.

Pour this into a mug of your choice and tumble in the marshmallows. If you are in the mood for it then add a swirl of whipped cream, more marshmallows and a sprinkling of chocolate chips on top.

White hot chocolate 

If you love dark hot chocolate or if you feel like you have had enough to last you a lifetime (which happens to me after I have had a large mug everyday for a week) then this is a delicious alternative. This pale, creamy white hot chocolate is nothing short of magnificence and equally delicious and flavourful as the dark hot chocolate above.

This too is just as simple and easy to make as the above recipe but with a small alteration in the ingredients.

Ingredients:

Sugar

Vanilla custard/ pudding mix

White chocolate

Mini marshmallows

Procedure:

Into a glass jar of your choice add a fourth of each of the above ingredients. Break the chocolate into tiny pieces or shards and seal with the lid.

To make the white hot chocolate:

To serve one person, add about two tablespoons of the white hot chocolate mixture into a pan (set aside the marshmallows for later) and add a small splash of milk at room temperature. Stir with a fork till there are no lumps and add about a cup full of milk. Set this on a low flame and stir till the chocolate has dissolved and the liquid is smoking and thickened.

Pour this into a mug of your choice and tumble in the marshmallows. If you are in the mood for it then add a swirl of whipped cream, more marshmallows and a fresh grating of nutmeg on top.

Spiced Darjeeling tea mix

If you are a tea addict like most of us Indians are, then you will be so glad this came into your life. It is spicy and so warming that it is almost like mulled wine. If you do want a splash of alcohol then you can add a generous slosh of rum into this drink and in the above ones as well to keep you going. I absolutely love this and this makes waking up in the morning so much easier.

Ingredients:

Darjeeling tea leaves (or chai leaves)

Sugar

4 tablespoons black pepper

4 tablespoons cumin seeds

1 long dried lemon grass

1 dried ginger root

6 green cardamom pods

1 stick of cinnamon

Procedure:

Into a glass jar of your choice add the tea leaves till a third of the jar is filled and add the sugar till another third of the jar is filled. Now add in the black peppercorns, the cumin seeds and the green cardamom pods. Break the cinnamon stick, dried lemon grass and dried ginger root into tiny pieces and add on top. Seal with the lid to store.

To make the spiced Darjeeling tea

To serve one person, add about two tablespoons of the tea mixture into a pan and add a small splash of water. Place this on medium flame and let it come to a boil. Now add a cup of milk, stir with a fork and simmer for about a minute or two till the milk has taken on the color and flavour of the tea and the spices. Strain the tea and pour it into a mug of your choice. 

If you are in the mood for it then add a swirl of whipped cream for a bit of an indulgence.

That being said you can watch me make these on YouTube and while you are at it subscribe to my channel and give the video a thumbs up if you enjoyed it.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qxFkjJVDG9w

If you try this you can take pictures and tag me in Instagram @sriranjani_n

We can also be friends on twitter @Iamsriranjani

Let me know in the comments if you try this and how you liked it because I am so curious.