Kirien Sangha

The best thing about Christmas is the food. When we all finish for the year we get to have a week off work and indulge on all the best treats. 2012 was surely one to remember, and here's the food worth remembering. 

                                  

So as I’m nearing my mid-20s (24 in January), I wanted to start getting to know more about my finances and see what there is out there. It’s easy to feel a little overwhelmed when you start out, but thankfully, there is a finance god in the form Martin Lewis who is here to help.

This is his website (www.moneysavingexpert.com). It's a life saver and is now where I go to find out everything I need to know about finances.

Recently, I wanted to know what credit card to use when I am abroad. It’s always annoying when you’ve spent all of your cash and you just need to pay for a meal at the airport, you have to either withdraw cash or pay a hefty exchange fee and handling fee if you use your debit card. A card is also useful if you want to make purchases in department stores when you are away, too.

Here is a link to what Lewis says are the best cards to use abroad - http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/travel/cheap-travel-money

I opted for the Halifax Clarity card. This card has no foreign exchange fee anywhere in the world, so you can get the best rate possible. 

November 16^th through to November 30^th were some of the best 2 weeks of this year. With three friends I ventured to NYC. During that time we went to watch the Knicks play, dropped into the Ballet, raved out at a gig (Of Monsters and Men, we love you), made it to the Macy’s Thanksgiving day parade – at 6am, hit Broadway, made it to as many museums as we could, and – ate our hearts out. Here are my top tips for NYC travel.

1) If you’re going to Macy’s Thanksgiving day parade, wear two pairs of socks.

2) It makes sense to get this http://www.citypass.com/new-york

3) Do go to Broadway, and when The Book of Mormon comes to London, make sure you go.

4) For accommodation, it is a no-brainer, make use of Airbnb, hotels are too expensive.

5) If you like quirky bars stay in the Lower East Side

6) Make at least one expensive purchase at Bloomingdales.

7) Avoid going to the Apple Store by central park, you WILL end up buying something.

8) If you go to one museum, make it the MoMA

9) Going in the winter? Take Long johns

10) If you happen to be in Harlem and want to take a taxi down town, hail a black cab (yes, really) and tell him to take the Express way and that that you’re willing to pay $25

EAT, EAT and EAT out in NYC. 

There is something for every budget, below are some of my favourites.

Buttermilk Channel – Fried chicken and waffles, melt in your mouth Lamb, and also they serve AMAZING vegetarian food.

Café China – good authentic food in Midtown and very affordable. We had starters and mains for about $25 each.

Jane Restaurant – we went here for Thanksgiving Day dinner and it was about $55 for a 3 course meal, very worth it.

Punjabi –if you’re in the Lower East Side, please go here, a down to earth café were meals are $3.50

Go to Food Swings, a vegan fast food restaurant. Even the most committed carnivores will be impressed – please get their milkshakes and mac and cheese and cupcake and burgers and….

Thai Tai – go here for some real Thai food, it really reminded me of the Thai food I had when I was in Bangkok. About $20 each for starters main and one drink.

Numero 28 – the lady in American Apparel told us to go here, whilst it was good Pizza, I don’t think it was the best ever.

There was a deli on the corner of 1^st avenue and 2^nd Street where the server was from Liverpool. This 24 hour haven was perfect for hot chocolate first thing in the morning and a bagle at 4am.

Sea – this place is as good for the experience as it is for the food. Their servers could have a lesson on manners, but that’s a different story. The food is gorgeous and comes pretty quickly. They have a DJ playing as you eat your food and the design of the restaurant is quite impressive.

Go The Blind Barber - it's a barber shop by day and by night, you go through the secret door and you end up in a really swanky bar.

Other points worth noting - 

1) If there is a few of you, it's worth getting a cab from the airport to the city. 

2) Taking taxis in the city are much cheaper than in London and Paris. 

3) Get a weekly metro pass. 

4) New Yorkers are really friendly so if you're stuck for a place to go, ask people in the stores they always recommended us great places. 

5) (fromatozeny.blogspot.co.uk) keeps a cool blog of great food places in the city. 

6) Get ice-cream from Laboratorio del gelato, take the F train to 2nd Avenue. 

7) YELP.COM - is amazing. 

8) There are great, cheap bars around North 9th and Bedford.

Here are some pics from the trip

 Taken around Williamsburg by an old friend.

 Dylan's Candy

 The MoMA

Of Monsters and Men at Terminal 5

After the revelation I discussed in my last post: my need to discover more music beyond Jay Z and RiRi, I wanted to check out the other bands out there. Unfortunately, as I’ve discovered, I’m the worst when it comes to trying to evolve my musical choices. I do however, have an army of friends who know good music and so, I went to them for help. 

The latest addition to my music playlists is Macklemore and Ryan Lewis who were introduced to me by my good friend Reiss. This duo, Maklemore the rapper, Ryan Lewis the producer, are creating fantastic music. I hadn't heard of them before and thought they were maybe quite underground, but with some of their videos having 10 million views on YouTube, that’s obviously not the case – rather, it just shows how out of the loop I am. It’s a shame that I missed seeing them in London but I will definitely be looking out for when they return. If you haven’t listened to the band yet, their song “Thrift Shop”  is the one to listen to. It’s been put together really well, the lyrics, scenes and performance are all great. 

I have to say that I am quite embarrassed that it has taken me 23 years to explore my music choices - and even then, it was only with force. I am as commercial as it comes. My playlists includes everything from Rihanna to Coldplay, Beyonce to Michael Jackson, and Kanye to Usher. I can listen to these artists on replay for the whole day, and I do. Which is fine, I suppose. But, there is so much other good music out there that deserves to be heard too. 

It wasn’t until my friends looked at my playlists and decided that it needed a change that I decided to take action. And I have to say, there is so much more music out there than what we think. A few months ago my friend told me to listen to Of Monsters and Men. The six piece band from Iceland are complete geniuses. The band work together beautifully, they harmonise wonderfully and execute their music perfectly. I am so excited that they’re playing in New York when I go in a few weeks. I will definitely review them on here. However, if the below is anything to go by, I am sure they will be amazing.

For whatever reason, the past few Fridays have been used as my attempt to make recipes from Nigella Lawson's new food series, Nigellissima. Which, is of course, awesome. But, I am of course, subjective when it come to Nigella. 

Her new series is pretty good though. If you've been to Italy or know of any one who ever went, you would have heard about the food. Yes, the food: the pasta, and ice-cream, and fish, and meats and wine, and and and ....I could go on and on. 

Even after going to Italy though for the first time last year, I didn't realise the sheer variety of pasta dishes there was and it's something Nigella is exploring. However, it's her desserts that have been interesting me and here are two that I've tried from her new series. 

This differs slightly from Nigella's creation here I went for an orange and chocolate ice-cream instead of the coffee flavoured one. It really does taste wonderful, and you don't even have to mix it every few hours.

Her Nutella cheesecake was a complete beast. Each spoonful tasted like Ferrero Rocher in cheesecake form. And the problem with this take? It's so easy to make.

Because it is so rich, I suggest having it with some cream....just to mellow it out a little. Get the recipe here

Advertising in general gets a bad rap. Which, considering the amount of crappy advertising out there, is understandable. There does come a time though, every so often, when an advert is created and it just gets you. Here is an advert for Budweiser, the all American beer brand. It shows perfectly what awesome copy and imagination can produce.

It’s been a great summer for the Sangha’s, mainly because of Serena Williams. 

The powerful and intimidating Queen B, this summer won Wimbledon, Stanford, took Gold at the Olympics and 2 days ago, won at the US Open. 

We have been avid fans of the Williams sisters since 2000 when Venus lifted the trophy at Wimbldon. Of course, this year it’s been all about Serena Williams. 

Williams is not only beating the top players, she’s thrashing them. In her gold medal match against Maria Sharapova, she won 6-0 6-1; thrashed Azarenka 6-1 6-2 in the semi finals; and served 24 aces in one match at Wimbledon. 

With the sisters now both in their early 30’s, it will only be a matter of time before they hang up their racquets. The result, I feel, will be awful for the WTA tour. Both sisters have a reach beyond tennis fans and have drawn people to game from all walks of life – such as my grandma. 

Through her game though, Williams speaks a bigger message. We all know the tragedies she has faced, such as loosing her sister Yetunde Price. Not to mention the amount of injuries she has had. After winning Wimbledon in 2010 Williams had to take 10 months off tour because of recurring injuries. Through her game she speaks loudly of what a true champion is: relentless, passionate, confident and able to deal with setbacks. 

Although she may not have long left on the tour, her legacy will forever be remembered.

With the Olympics been such a roaring success I think that we as nation all looked at the meaning of success. The Olympians, whether they won a medal or not, evoked a feeling of hard work. It’s a contrast to the culture we live in: go on a reality TV show and get famous, quick.

“The How Bad Do You Want It?” video for me, sums up success perfectly. The video has been shot wonderfully, the voice over is powerful; the tone is pitch perfect. The video, which shows an athlete pushing himself to his physical limits, waking up early, training until late, feeling pain, speaks to us all. I like the fact that at the end of the video you don’t see the athlete win any awards, he just stands on a hill looking reflective. Maybe it's supposed to speak a bigger message like, “It’s not the end result that counts but the process, the journey.”

The other video is by the New York based film-maker Casey Neistat, called “Make It Count.” Nike hired the film-maker to create the commercial for the Nike FuelBand worn by various sporting mega stars. This epic video shows Casey go to 13 countries on three different continents in 10 days. Every so often you get a powerful quote show up. My favourite was by Eleanor Roosevelt which read, “Do one thing every day that scares you.” One of the reasons I’m such a fan of this video is because I am a travel enthusiast, but even if packing a back-pack and jumping on a random flight isn’t your thing, you still can’t help but be inspired by this piece