Happy Fools Day!! Origins! Fun Facts! Pranks Ideas!

Its the day of the fools. Learn a little bit about April Fools Day before you play a prank on someone this year.

On which day of the year do you look behind you every few minutes to see if an unflattering picture is stuck to your backside, or you treat every phone call claiming you have won the lottery suspiciously? Yes, it’s the All Fools Day celebrated worldwide on April 1^st. Every year on this day, the unwitting, and the gullible are taken in by tall stories and practical jokes.

These hoaxes and pranks have been part of our lifestyle for years now. Ever wondered how it all started?

Origin or Is it??

Well, you can continue wondering because no one really knows. One of the theories floating around suggests it was the change of the calendar that started this tradition of tomfoolery.

A lot of ancient cultures celebrated New Year around the 1^st of April. When in 1582, Pope Gregory XIII ordered the new Gregorian calendar to replace the old Julian calendar, the New Year’s date was changed to January 1^st. One of the theories goes that France was one of the countries to go with the change of New Year from end of March to January 1^st. Those who stubbornly clung to the old calendar system and failed to keep up with the change and continued to celebrate New Year in the last week of March, had jokes played on them. Pranksters would stick paper fish to their backs and the victims of this prank were called ‘Poisson d’Avril’ or April Fish—which, to this day, remains the French term for April Fool.

But this explanation does not fully account for the spread of the April Fools tradition in other European countries. In England, for example, the Gregorian calendar was not adopted till 1752, but the April Fools day was already well established by that point.

The March-April Springtime period is time where throughout the world a lot of fun and crazy festivals are celebrated. Noted among them are  Saturnalia, Hilaria and of cource the very popular Indian Festival Holi.

Its origins may be suspect but that doesn’t stop the hilarity that ensues every 1^st of April. With the advent of the internet era, a lot of websites have gotten involved in the horseplay.

Google has it -

Google has over the years come up with many ingenious plots to fool the naïve searcher. Some of their most creative hoaxes were the MentalPlex (which claimed to read the user’s mind about their search requirements), Gmail Paper (A new service where users would just click and Google would print all their email and send it to them via traditional mail) and Google Gulp (a fictitious drink that would optimize the drinkers’ intelligence). Google has been running so many interesting hoaxes on April Fools day over the years that when Gmail was launched in 2004 with 1 GB of free storage space, many considered it a hoax as its only competitors Yahoo and Hotmail only provided around 2-3 MB at the time.

Good, Bad and the Ugly -

To this day, one of the best hoaxes is said to be the one played by BBC in 1957, where they broadcasted a short clip about “pasta farmers” in Switzerland harvesting a crop of spaghetti and showed a short video of Swiss peasants pulling strands of spaghetti off some trees. Hundreds of people wrote in to BBC enquiring on how to start their own crop and this pronounced the Swiss Spaghetti Harvest hoax a resounding success.

But not all pranks end up in laughs; many times practical jokes can go horribly wrong.

A London City Hall employee was working on a big report with a far-away deadline when he received a memo that said it was due in 2 weeks. He got so agitated trying to finish it on time that he had heart palpitations and collapsed, causing him to take leave from work. He sued everyone at City Hall after he found out it was a not-very practical joke.

Another sad example is Randy Wood’s infamous April Fools joke. In 2004, Wood asked his ex-wife to come over so he could show her something. When she arrived at his house, she found him hanging from a tree in his front yard (he was actually supported by a safety harness). His unknowing ex-wife called 911 before he could reveal the gag. He was fined $1,000 and jailed for a year.

Play it safe -

It is definitely fun to plan and play a prank on an unsuspecting target, but you must anticipate the possible repercussions also. When playing practical jokes on peers at school or co-workers, make sure you don’t use April Fools day as an excuse to ‘get’ a colleague or school mate that you don’t like. Once you know what you are getting into, forget the hassles of everyday life and have safe fun and a bundle of laughs this April Fools day.

And the gullible….well, watch out!!

Prank it up with some common April Fools day tricks.

Running Late

While the victim is asleep, reset all the clocks ahead two hours. When they wake up they will panic and think they slept late and are late for school or work.

While You Were Out

Leave a phone message for the victim that says that a “Mr. Lyon” called (or Mr. Behr also works), and wants to be called back. Then list the phone number of the local zoo.

Door Ambush

This is the most classic and simple prank ever. Balance a small disposable cup of water on the top of a partially open door. Then wait for the splash!

Mouse Trap

Take a Post-It note and place it over the eye of the victim’s optical mouse. When the victim tries to use his or her computer, the cursor won’t move. Be sure to write “April Fools!” on the note! (if they have a standard mouse, you can perform the same trick by taping a piece of paper over the ball underneath the mouse.)

Weakling

Steal all the victim’s pens and replace them with pens that have the caps glued on.

Don't Cry Over Spilled Cola

Tell a friend that you know a great trick. Put your hand palm-down on the table and balance a full glass of Cola (or any liquid) on the back of your hand. Bet your friend that they can’t balance a glass on both hands at once (with your help to put them in place). As soon as you have the glasses balanced, stand up and walk out. They will be trapped and will have to spill the drink to escape.

Rude Awakening

Sneak up on your victim while they are sleeping and put some shaving cream in their hand. Then tickle them on the nose with a feather and watch while they give themselves a face full of foam!

Leave a Mark

Take a coin and use a pencil to trace around it—this will leave pencil dust all along the edge of the coin. Hide this coin in your hand for now. Go to your victim and tell him you want to show them a trick. Tell him you can do something that you bet he can’t. Take a different coin and roll it down your face from the top of your forehead, over your nose, and down to your chin. Challenge your victim to do the same thing—handing them the “marked” coin. When your victim finishes, congratulate them and walk away. Let them figure out for themselves that you tricked them into marking a big line down the middle of their face!


 

Fooled me!!
One of the most hilarious pranks that was played on me was by a friend when I was in Dubai. A cooking competition was running at that time where a famous Indian actor would come for dinner to the winners house. My friend told me that his aunt had won this competition and she could have a few people at her house when this superstar visited. Since I was a huge fan of this actor, my friend had arranged an invite for me. I was super excited and had even finalised what to wear for the occasion when the joke was revealed. Needless to say I was super embarrassed but also did tremendously enjoy the prank with my only regret being that I couldn’t play prank back.

I'm sure many of us would have had such an April Fool experience. I would love to hear about it. Tell me about an amusing prank you played on someone or an embarrassing prank that was played on you.
And have fun!!

Part of this post are excerpts taken from a feature penned by me for 'The Woman' magazine – Gulf Times Doha

 

Love to hear what you think!

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Sugar-Free Crunchy Almond Cookies

A Simple Recipe for Eggless and Sugar-free Almond Cookies with a Crunch



With Easter just around the corner these are the perfect adult cookies - Eggless and without Sugar. You can also substitute regular Bbtter with a low fat Spread. But I must warn you that butter gives it that melt-in-the-mouth taste which you may not get from low fat. This recipe is super easy and will take under 30 minutes to make, from scratch. 

Makes Around 20 cookies.

What we need

 

Almonds – 1 cup (with skin)
Flour – 2 cups
Sugar-free = ¾ cup (I use Canderel)
Butter or margarine softened - 1 cup
Almond/Vanilla Essence – 1 tsp

How we do it

Line a cookie sheet or baking tray with parchment paper or aluminium foil. Preheat oven to 160^oC.

Roughly chop the almonds. I usually put them in a zipper bag and crush them using a pestle. I like the almond crunch when I bite into my cookie and so like them to be just roughly chopped. If you want the cookies to be smooth, you can chop the almonds in a food processor to get finer bits.

 

That's how I chop almonds

I always use almonds with the skin for cookies as they not only look attractive giving that touch of brown to the cookies but are also rich in antioxidants. Alternatively, you can soak the almonds in water and peel away the skin.

Beat the butter well.

 

Add the sugar free and keep beating until its well blended. Add the essence. Now slowly add the flour, a little at a time, to make a soft dough.

Now add the chopped almonds and blend well into the dough and make it into a round ball.

 

Roll out the dough on a floured surface. Now using a cookie cutter, cut out the cookies. If the almonds are roughly chopped, it may not be very easy to roll out and cut the cookies. But the taste will make up for this inconvenience.

 

 

 Place them on the cookie sheet and bake for 12-15 minutes until slightly golden.

 

 

 Transfer to another plate and let cool. The cookies might be a slightly soft coming out of the oven, but once cooled they will be harden.

 

 

 

Enjoy guilt free!

 

Love to hear what you think!

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Crocodile Meat with Bombay Pav

From the Streets of Mumbai to your very own kitchen!! Bombay Pav!!

South Africa is home to many wondrous beasts. The country is populated with numerous wild life sanctuaries, game reserves and national parks. I find myself very fortunate to be able to live in the country and get an experience of the local culture and the wilderness.

Croc City is a very cute little farm located quite close to where we stay. While crocodiles many not win any jungle beauty contests, they certainly are interesting animals to observe, for they can be extremely still and lazy one minute and amazingly quick and ferocious the next.

All lined up

At Croc City, they not just breed these remarkable cold-blooded creatures but also have a good reptile display that you can actually touch. While my sweet husband carefully stayed away from anything that moved, I took this opportunity to feel up a boa. And God! Aren’t they just incredibly smooth and sexy. I don’t know what it is about snakes that interests me but I just love the touch and feel of them. Ofcource at this reptile park they keep the venomous mambas and cobras well out of reach but you can have a shot with a python wrapped around your neck. The snakes are fed every morning, so you don’t have to worry about a rock python getting a little too squeezee for comfort.

What is not comfortable however, is having a tarantula run up your arm with the guide warning you not to hurt the furry black spider. It doesn’t help to think of the hurt that the tarantula can do to YOU!

.

And thats the runaway tarantula

The farm also breeds the crocodiles for meat and oil. Crocodile oil is supposedly very effective in curing eczema and many other skin ailments. Fresh Croc Meat in neat little plain and spiced packages were also available. They looked just like chicken but cost more than double of that. I am not very choosy about what I eat and am willing to try almost any kind of food. But even I chickened out from sampling the croc meat!!

However, if I had actually bought and cooked croc, it would taste great with some Bombay Pav. Pav is basically a kind of dinner roll and though its available almost everywhere, nothing beats the taste of the genuine Bombay Pav.

This is a simple recipe and involves just the basics of bread making. I have used butter in the pav, but you can also use Olive Oil as a lighter option.

Makes 8 medium sized pavs

What we need:

All-purpose Flour – 3 cups

Yeast – 1 tsp
Sugar – 1 tsp
Salt – ½ tsp
Melted Butter/Olive oil – 3 tblsp
Oil – a bit
Warm Water – As needed
Egg – 1 (optional)

How we do it:

Take half a cup of lukewarm water and dissolve the sugar in it. Add the yeast and stir till mixed. Leave it for 10 minutes till it gets frothy.

Mix the flour and salt in a kneading bowl. Add the yeast water and more warm water as required and knead till a rough dough is formed. Now add the butter/oil and keep kneading until the dough becomes soft and elastic.

Coat the dough and the inside of a bowl with a bit of oil and cover with a cling film/moist towel and let it rest for about an hour. The bowl can be the same that you used to knead the flour. The dough will rise and become double its original size, the bowl should be big enough to accommodate that.

After the dough rises, punch a few holes in it.

Once the dough has risen to almost double the original size, punch a few holes in it and knead it again for a few minutes. Make equal sized small balls and place on a greased baking dish. Keep the dough balls close to each other so that they will touch when the dough rises. Cover with a cling film and keep for another hour.

 

In the meantime prepare an Egg Wash, which is just a well beaten egg. Alternatively you can also use milk. However I personally find that egg gives bread great colour and shine.

Giving the dough an egg wash

Preheat the oven to 180^oC.

Dont you love that golden colour

After your dough has risen again, brush with the egg wash or milk to coat the top and sides well. Place in the oven for about 12-15 minutes until it has properly browned.

Take it out of the oven and rub some butter on the warm pav. The pav is soft, cushiony and has a great texture.

Have it with your favourite curry or just have it warm with some butter. Delicious either way.

You can see the air pockets that gives the pav great texture and makes it super soft. 

 

 

Love to hear what you think!

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Peach Nut Cobbler for a Rainy Summer Day

Try this delicious Peach Cobbler today and you will never look at fruit the same way again.

 

Don’t you just love the rains? The sweet scent of earth, the cool breeze, the wet leaves; everything looks so clean and fresh, like the world’s just stepped out of a shower. Summer is saying its goodbyes and everyday the mercury slips a little lower. This is the perfect weather for a warm delicious dessert to go with your evening coffee.

I always thought a cobbler was someone who fixed your broken shoes, until I saw it mentioned in one of the cookery shows on Food Network. It looked something like an upside down pie and fruit pie has always been a weakness for me.

I’m not a big fan of eating fruit as-is, but change their form by cooking or baking and I can’t keep my hands off them.

Cobbler is a very simple recipe and just needs some basic ingredients. The best part is that you can make it from almost any fruit. So if peaches are not available use mangoes or apples or even berries. Also, if you cannot be bothered with the peeling, you can use canned fruit as well.

The walnuts add a crunch to the gooey-fruity-lusciousness; you can skip it if you don’t like nuts.

You must try it atleast once and I promise you will want to make it again and again.

What we need:

Peaches – 4-5 nos

Walnuts – ½ cup roughly chopped
Brown Sugar – ½ cup (you can also use regular white sugar)
Butter – ¼ cup
Cinnamon Powder – a pinch (optional)

For the Batter:

Flour – 1 cup
Sugar ¾ cup
Baking powder – 2 tsp
Milk – 1 cup and a little over
Salt – a pinch

How we do it:

Pre heat your oven to 180^oC. Take a baking dish and put the butter in it. I’ve used a 9x13 rectangular glass dish. You can use a round dish if you want.

Place the baking tray into your oven which is heating up and the butter will get melted in no time. Once the butter is melted, take out the tray and prepare your other ingredients.

Peel the skin of your peach and cut into bite size pieces. Combine with the brown sugar and cinnamon and keep aside. There should be enough peach to cover your baking dish.
 

Making the Batter
Mix well all the dry ingredients well. Add milk and make it a slightly runny batter.

Assembling the cobbler:

Spread the peach pieces on the melted butter in your baking tray. Sprinkle the walnut on top of this.

 

Finally pour the batter evenly so it covers the fruit but do not stir it.

Bake for 40 minutes until the batter cracks at the top and turns a golden brown.

 

Your Peach and Nut cobbler is ready. Serve it warm with vanilla ice-cream. Yummm!!!

 

Love to hear what you think!

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Happy Women’s Day!! Really???

I woke up this morning to the new message beeps on my phone. They were to wish me a Happy Women’s Day. I hadn’t quite realised it was this ‘special day’ for women until I got these messages.

Every morning, watching the news during breakfast is a ritual in our household. And today’s headlines were all about rape with the most shocking one – the rape of a 3 year old girl. It is quite an irony to hear such news on the so-called ‘Women’s Day’. We talk about celebrating Women’s day but what we women need is not a celebration but respect and a right to live our life. A right to just survive and not be tormented or tortured by those stronger than us. Before being treated as an equal we need to first be treated as a human being. We may not be able to stop all the atrocities towards women but we can try to make a difference in our own way.

Unfortunately it’s a woman who treats another with contempt. It’s a woman who calls another a slut or a gold digger; who dictates class by looking at a another’s bag or shoes; who laughs behind another’s back and shows off one’s good fortune in front of the less fortunate; who’s malicious gossip slurs someone’s character. Men do enough to make a women’s life hell? But can we stop doing that too? Can we stop doing that to each other? Can we learn to respect and honour the women in our life?

This got me thinking about the important women who have influenced my life. Despite the cliché, I could always say it was Mother Theresa or Joan of Arc or even (yes!) Duchess Catherine. But have they really influenced me? I don’t think so. It’s true they have led illustrious lives but I don’t know anything about them except what I have heard. The women who have influenced me are the ones who are closest to me. They are the ones whom I wish to honour today.

The first spot would definitely go to my grandmother who has been the influential factor that has shaped my personality and made me who I am today. I have never seen any other grandmother care or love their grandchild the way she has. Growing up, her word was law for me, not because I was afraid of her but because I never wanted to hurt or disappoint her. She taught me that it’s not fear that sparks obedience but love; for fear only fuels a rebel.

The next place of honour would go to my mother. During my teenage years, there was hardly a day when we didn’t fight. After all, which teenage girl doesn’t hate her mom. It was when I approached womanhood myself that I realised what she means to me. It is being away from her that makes me realise how close we are and how much I really need her. Her strength is amazing. She smiles, makes jokes and laughs at the most difficult times of life. She inspires me to be cheerful when everything looks bleak and makes me wish I was strong like her.

Another person who holds a place in my heart is my aunt. She is the smart, chic woman who I always looked up to as a child. She wore these fantastic stilettoes and I, quite literally, wanted to fill into her shoes. Her style, her confidence has always charmed me. I wanted to do everything she could do. So much so, that my dad still teases me that I would drink a particular brand of cola only because she liked it. She considers me a daughter and has always loved me the same. Maybe the passing years has simmered down the idol worship, but not the closeness that we share even today.

These women in my life have faced tremendous atrocities and difficulties in their individual lives, but I have never seen them shattered by it. They have always beaten the odds and survived as strong individuals. With women like these in my family, I don’t need outside influences.

And when I talk about women in my life, how can I forget my close friends. I have been blessed with good friends in every phase of my life. Friends who not only support me in all my idiosyncrasies but also who never judge me no matter what stupid and senseless thing I may do. I wouldn’t like to name anyone here as I am afraid of missing out someone and offending them. But you know who you are, Thank you!

This post has gotten unbelievably long and I would now like to say a special thanks to all of you who have stuck with me till the end. Good Day n God Bless!!

Love to hear what you think!

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Chinese Style- Vegetable Fried Rice

A healthy and nutritious way to use up your leftover rice.

 

I often cook more rice than is required and end up with leftovers that go into the fridge. This is a great recipe to use up such leftover rice and turning it into a scrumptious dish. I also think of fried rice as an opportunity to clean up the fridge as all my leftover vegetables can go into it. There are no hard and fast rules about what vegetables you can add and what you cannot. However, Carrots, Peas, Bell peppers/Capsicum and beans are considered staple.

This is also a quick and simple dish that you can whip up in the morning and pack in our lunch box. Simply cook the rice and cut up the vegetables the previous night and next morning you just have to put it all together and voila, delicious lunch ready in minutes.

Refrigerated rice works best for this recipe as it does not get sticky as fresh or warm rice will. If you don’t have leftover rice, you can make fresh rice and let it go cool before you do the rest.

Here I have used 11 different vegetables. There are Carrots, Peas, Beans, Green, Yellow and Red Capsicum, Cauliflower, Broccoli and Mushrooms. There were a few snow peas and a couple of baby corn in my fridge that also went into my rice. You can pick and choose any vegetables that will remain crunchy after cooking.

 

 What we need:

Garlic – 1 tsp, finely minced

Ginger – 1 tsp, finely minced
Green chillies – a few
Mixed Vegetables – 1 and half cups chopped
Rice – 1 cup cooked and refrigerated
Soya sauce – 2 tblspn
Red Chilly Sauce – 1 tblsp
Salt – as required
Green Onion /Spring Onions – for garnish

How we do it:

Heat a little oil in a wok and add the Ginger, Garlic and Green Chillies and cook for 2 minutes on a high flame, stirring occasionally.

Add the chopped mixed vegetables, cover and cook until the vegetables are done. They should be just cooked with a bit of crunch not soft and mushy.

Now add the sauces and salt and keep stirring until well mixed.

Finally add the cooked rice and stir for few minutes until it’s all well mixed and take off the flame. Garnish with Spring onions.

 

Love to hear what you think!

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