Real Men Cook Real Food!

butter, sugar, egg, flour, baking powder, chocolate, coconut flakes (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

There is a certain group of old people who believe that a woman's place is in the home – or more accurately, in the kitchen cooking for her man, but do you know what – guys cook too! I actually really love to cook in the kitchen. In fact, I would go so far as to say 'Real Men Cook!'
I cannot even get my head around the fact that there are men out there who are incapable of feeding themselves properly. How does one get to adult life without the ability to roast a chicken, boil some eggs or bake a lasagne? I guess it might help that I am a really independent sort of guy and I would not be comfortable having to depend on someone else to feed me. I feel like it should be basic human nature to care for your own body. My mother always had us help when she was cooking and by my early teens I was able to make a number of meals. Nowadays, me and my wife probably share the cooking equally. I think in modern times where both partners tend to be full time employees this has become common. I know I wouldn't feel right making my wife cook after working the same as me even if I didn't enjoy cooking.


I do not really know why I am so at home in the kitchen. I think it has a lot to do with the small child living inside me. Cooking, especially baking, is a little bit like magic. I mean we take all these raw ingredients mi them together and add heat and they turn into something a bit delicious! Think about the last time you baked a cake. Flour, Sugar, Butter, Eggs, Baking Powder – none are particularly enticing (well not raw) but blend them together and pop it all in the oven and twenty minutes later you have a gorgeous cake to munch. That intrigues me. I think that is why when I am in the kitchen, I will lean towards cooking from scratch rather than out of a packet. I just feel it tastes better and is more rewarding.


Of course, like most men – even those who don't cook – I love to grill! I am king of the barbecue at home. There is some kind of primitive masculine urge when it comes to roasting meat over an open flame! Me Man Make Fire Eat Meat!!!

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Examining The American Bachelor

Bachelors seem to be overtaking our population! It is estimated that in America today, 18,022,000 men are 'without women' – that includes bachelors, widowers and divorced men. What is surprising to me is that 81.9% of those unattached men – a total of 14,768,000 are bachelors. Just under 12% are widows and the remaining 6% are divorced. These statistics show that around 1 in 4 men in the United States are choosing to live alone. It is definitely not a case of there being a shortage of women because single women outweigh single men. In an attempt to discover what compels men to live a bachelor life, the study highlighted a number of facts about unattached men.

First of all, if a man is still single when he turns 35 years of age then the chances are that he is never going to marry. Men may continue to talk of a desire to marry, but evidence suggests that men of 35 years and older are unconsciously rejecting the idea of marriage because men who really want to get married will usually find their mate by their late twenties. However, it is not always a case of choosing to remain unattached, the growing mobility of our society as a whole means that young men who are regularly uprooted by their careers or by military service will find it difficult to meet a wife.

While many men claim to be confirmed bachelors who are happy to live alone, it has been suggested that they are in the minority as a large portion of unmarried men spend a fair amount of their free time trying to find a partner. In addition to this, single men are just as interested in sex as married men, but less inclined to seek commitment or companionship. Men approach finding a life partner very differently from women. Females are likely to rush towards marriage while males approach it much more slowly and move towards it generally.

What Is Audit Software?

Many people may ask what an audit software is. Businesses and internal control have turned out to be very important and valuable. Due to various reasons, it is important to have the internal accounting standards high. These controls help a great deal in building the client’s faith since most of them do not want to risk anything. It is quite challenging for workers since a lot of documents stored could be in volumes. Getting one balance sheet could turn out to be a problem.

Technology is now being used unlike some time back when all this was done using paperwork .Nowadays; the internal accounting process is done using recent technology. The work is much easier since it is not necessary for employees to spend so much time looking for ledgers and balancing sheets. Audit software is a tool that offers a lot of advantages to companies.

• It prevents overpayment. Most companies that do not use the software find themselves loosing a lot of money on overpaid vendors. With a lot of things to run in the company, mistakes might occur. The software is able to check and balance all the payments with no time.
• Easy detection of loopholes involving fraud can easily be detected. You will always find people who try to take advantage over absolutely anything that comes their way. Their main aim is to get a chunk of what they never earned. It is easy for such people to go unnoticed when using balance sheets. There are some software’s that are able to investigate every invoice and easily detect frauds cases.
• The audit software is able to provide information and help in decision making and analysis. This does not mean that it can be left alone to work on it. It means that it can help in creating internal reports.
• It is easy to use and so it saves a lot of time.
• It makes the company save its money by reducing manpower.

It is very important to know that having auditsoftware does not mean that it is an option; to eliminate accounts. It is just there to help and work side by side with the accountants. Humans make errors, that’s why software like these will assist in accuracy and time saving factors. It can really be helpful in large companies or company in dealing with large sums of money. You should get an audit software to help boost your company’s effectiveness.

Fake Body Plugs

Earrings have come a long way. They started to be worn very many years ago by our grandmothers for beauty. As years have gone by, the original ornaments or jewels are rising in their prices forcing people to buy fake ‘ones that will be able to solve their problems. Since more and more people are gaining the interest of wearing plugs there are other markets that have come up to supplement what is sold in the original market. The plugs and ornaments being worn now are fake plugs which are most preferred due to their cheapness and beauty.

Another advantage of fake plugs is that hey can be worn by anyone. Whether the person has pierced his ears or not, one is able to get plugs to wear as ornaments. This especially goes to individuals who do not want their ears pierced or are afraid of the piercing pain. One can find a fake jewel that looks exactly as an expensive jewel and still not know the difference. They are called imitations. The original piece and the fake one look exactly the same and it could be a problem trying to differentiate them. You will find stalls with such items really full with people since they want the plugs and the price is pocket friendly. You will be able to buy even more than one pair if you want to.

Fake plugs and fake piercing have come together. There were some people who really wanted to accessorize themselves with plugs but could not since they had not pierced their ears. So the fake plugs were formulated to deal with the problem. They come in different types of shapes, colors and are made in such a way that they catch the, customer’s attention from afar. In short, they came in many designs. This is an advantage since the satisfaction of the market is being achieved.

It is more advantageous to use fake plugs since the piercing of one body has many adverse effects. Infections may happen to the part of the body where the pierce was done. People do pierce their body parts for beauty purposes. Many different parts of the body may be pierced to achieve the desired beauty. Some pierce their tongues, ears, nose, nipples, umbilical cord and even their private parts. Most of them are made from magnets. They can be worn by young adults who can not afford the original ones yet they want to look stylish. Fake plugs can be of different types depending on the part of the body they are to be worn.

Bachelor Life?

A (single) friend of mine recently introduced me to this blog he has been following lately called The Bachelor Life Survival Guide. It's written by a guy called Ethan Lee, a confirmed bachelor living in LA and he offers advice on a variety of things from cooking to making money. At first I wondered why my buddy was sending me this link, I've been married for years, but the thing is that even although Ethan is writing to a target audience of bachelors, what he says still makes a whole lot of sense! Take this little excerpt from his latest blog entry:

“There’s something magical about public speaking and improv comedy. I highly suggest someone take both. They compliment one another and both are incredibly powerful when used correctly. Being witty and funny on the spot takes a lot of time and practice. I know from my friends and family that I am indeed a witty and silly person, and even when I took improv comedy it bolstered it to an all new level. Plus, the class itself is an absolute blast! “ 

Ethan Lee, 4 Easy Ways To Be & Look More Intelligent, Sophisticated & Awesome

That sort of advice doesn't only apply to single guys, or the male population in general – anyone can look at that advice and take it on board. I continued reading and I wanted to know more. It's definitely on my reading list now.

So can a married man live the bachelor life? Is it more about attitude than marital status? I know to some extent I have to put my wife and children first, but I am definitely going to be putting some of Ethan's tips to the test!

Hanging Interior Doors

So apparently, we absolutely HAD to get new interior doors – because one doesn't match. Now back me up here guys? Logic dictates we should just replace that odd door with one like the others. Right?

Wrong!

Woman logic dictates that one mismatched door equals buying eight new doors. She apparently got a great deal on them and they arrived at the house on Wednesday. I looked at them and asked.. “ummm so where is the handy man?” She shrugs and says you can handle it! I won't lie. I started to panic. I have never hung a door in my entire life. But the wife had thrown down the gauntlet. My manliness was about to be called into question.. I had to hang these doors.

There was blood. There was sweat. There may or may not have been tears. But I did it! So if anyone else finds themselves in the position where they need to hang an interior door then here is a step by step guide for you to follow.

1. First you have to remove the old door. To do this take out the bottom screws before the top ones. Always make sure that the door is well supported as you remove that final screw.
2. Now the new doors need to be cut to size. If your old door was a good fit then it can be used as a template. I was lucky and the wife had ordered exactly the right size! But if you do need to trim them then be sure to cut equal amounts from both the top and the bottom.
3. Next check that the new hinges will fit in the recesses left by the old ones. If not, set them in the bottom of the recesses and use a chisel to remove enough wood to accommodate the new hinge. Screw the hinges to the door frame with just one screw and open the hinges. Prop the door in it's frame and use a pencil to mark the top and bottom of the hinge onto the door.
4. Unscrew the hinges from the door frame and line them up with the pencil marks on the door. Draw around the hinge and use the chisel to remove the wood from inside the template.
5. With the door supported at right angles to the frame and fix the hinge flaps to the door frame and affix with one screw in each hinge. Check to see if the door opens and closes and if no adjustments are needed you can screw in the remaining screws.
6. Finally affix the handle.

South African Food Initiative

South African travel and leisure is placed to get an additional boost this current year as a result of record numbers of visitors from India. As outlined by Ms Haneli Slabber, Country Director for South African Tourism says that South Africa is going to be focusing on a total of 100, 000 Indian travelers in 2012.

During 2011, South Africa observed a 26 % increase in the number of Indian tourists achieving an 12-monthly total of just over 90, 000 throughout the year. The most up-to-date studies suggest that over the first couple of months of 2012, the amount of Indian holiday-makers coming to South Africa has observed an 18 percent increase. In The month of january and Feb . of this year an overall total of 14, 001 holiday-makers visited South Africa from India compared to just 11, 864 the prior year. Around 8, 500 tourists are expected to visit from the state of Kerala by itself.

In response to the increasing numbers of Indian, Chinese and Brazilian people traveling to South Africa, the South African Chefs Association (SACA) have introduced a whole new initiative in partnership with SA Tourim which means holidaymakers will be able to anticipate enjoying Chinese, Indian and South American food whilst in the country. The initiative sees the release of a brand new cook book called 'Guide to Vegetarian, Vegan and Jain Dining in South Africa'. The booklet includes 50 tested recipes from leading South African chefs, all of them prepared using solely fresh ingredients sourced locally.

This SACA cookbook is ready to be shipped to around 6000 chefs within South Africa allowing them to cater to guests from emerging tourist markets. The book describes special nutritional demands of vegetarians, vegans and also jains and indicates which food items they cannot consume. There is also a short description of these ethnicities. The recipes will mean that many hotels and restraunts will be able to decide on a handful of dishes to incorporate on their menus which will cater to the requirements of these holidaymakers in addition to more mainstream visitors.