Rosemary

The name Rosemary comes from the latin ros marinus and it means "dew of the sea". Rosemary is a very common herb in places near sea water, especially in Mediterranean. It's been used since ages for its therapeutic and cosmetic properties. It is said that Rosemary is one of the ingredients of the elixir of eternal youth, like the one that an alchemist prepared for Elisabeth, queen of Hungary, known as Hungary Water.

MEDICAL PROPERTIES

• Excellent tonic for those who suffer from burnout or chronic fatigue syndrome
• Encourages the production of bile thus aiding digestion
• Helps relieving the symptoms of Bronchitis, Asthma, Flu causing cough and clearing the lungs
• Vision tonic
• Nervous system tonic
• Emmenagogue (induces menstruation)
• Antidiarrheal
• Relieves migraines and headaches caused by stress
• Encourages hair growth
• Relieves vertigo caused by inner ear  problems
• Enchances memory
• Mouthwash for bad breath
• Stimulates brain

HOW TO USE IT:

• Tea: In 300 ml  water add 1-2 spoonfuls of dried rosemary, let it come to boil for a couple of minutes, drink.
• Infusion: in a cup of warm water put a spoonful of dried leaves or flowers and let it steep for 10 minutes
• External use: For stronger and darker hair: put a handful of rosemary dried leaves in 3-5 lt of water, steep for a few hours and use it at the final rinse after washing your hair. Some believe that rosemary stops hair loss. Washing your hair with rosemary water  aids memory.
• Antiseptic: Wash your hands with a rosemary infusion. Burn rosemary to eliminate harmful airborne microorganisms. Burning rosemary and cedar in hospitals  for disinfection purposes was very common.

Be careful when using rosemary if you suffer from hypertension, as it raises blood pressure a bit.

MAGICAL PROPERTIES OF ROSEMARY

One of the strongest protective and banishing herbs, repells negative energies.

If placed under a pillow, it protects from bad dreams and hostile astral entities.

Used in ritual baths for cleansing (make a sachet with rosemary and let it steep in your bathtub for a few minutes).

Used for protection and healing.

Rosemary is a solar herb and as such it has masculine energy.

It is said that rosemary can substitute any herb in a mixture.

Symbol of remembrance. For that reason sometimes it's used in funerals.

A rosemary sprig burned in candle flame was believed to warm a cold heart.

In cooking, rosemary goes nicely with fish and pork dishes

A Natural, Super Easy, Delicious Body Scrub For The Weekend!

Since it's getting really hot here in Greece we thought about making a natural, light and refreshing body scrub that rejuvenates the skin, leaving it soft and shiny. For this simple recipe, you will need very few ingredients that can be found in any home.

       

  INGREDIENTS: 

• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 1 spoonful olive oil
• 1 1/2 spoonful lemon juice
• 1 spoonful honey

Put the sugar in a small bowl and then add the lemon, the oil and the honey. Mix well until the sugar becomes moist.

The final product should look like this:

Your scrub is ready! Enjoy!

Game of Thrones - Winter is coming

 

Game of Thrones is a new, amazing tv series that started a few months ago and has already completed its first season. It's based on the fantasy novels of George R. R. Martin, it takes place in an imaginary, medieval spacetime and it has it all: noble ladies, proud kings, valiant knights, luxurious palaces but also, intrigue, crime, adultery, even incest. An overwhelming atmoshpere in a perfectly set background, which brings in mind movies rather than tv series. Game of Thrones displays crude realism combined with metaphysical aspects and beauty combined with terror and atrocity.

If you are into medieval fantasy, I highly recommend it.

Game of Thrones on IMDb

Game of Thrones on Wikipedia

The Book on Amazon

One of the official trailers:

Chicken with Kritharaki aka Orzo (rice-shaped pasta) - an easy, mediterranean dish.

This is a variation of a greek, traditional dish.I use grams for weight measurement, but if needed, you can do the conversion here . Preparation time: around 30 minutes.

You will need:

1) 4 chicken fillets, cut in strips.
2) 500 gr. of Kritharaki (if you can't find that one, any type of short, tubular pasta, like small rigatoni or tiny star pasta, will do)
3) 6 tomatoes, cut in small cubes
4) 90 gr. of canned pesto sauce
5) juice and grated peel of 1 lemon
6) extra virgin olive oil
7) salt, pepper

Boil the pasta as per instructions on the pack.  Put the chicken strips, the pesto sauce and the grated lemon peel in a large bowl and marinate for 10 minutes.

Fry the chicken in a large pan for around 10 minutes in moderate temperature. Add the tomato cubes and the lemon, salt and pepper and cook for another 10-15 minutes in moderate temperature again.

 The pasta should be ready by then. Strain the pasta, shake any excess water and add some cold water so it doesn't stick on itself. Pour the pasta in the pan with the chicken and the sauce and mix well for a couple of minutes.

Serve immediately with breadsticks and fresh, green salad.

Deviant Art (dA)

DeviantART (dA)  is a huge community, that hosts various forms of art, from traditional painting to the most extravagant pieces of artwork. I can spend countless hours browsing galleries, as there's such a great variety of forms and ideas! Unique creations of some exceptionally talented people, who would definitely deserve to be recognized.

Domain : http://www.deviantart.com/

These are some of my personal favourites:

Bastet by silverfox-5213 . A cute painting of the Egyptian feline goddess Bast or Basted, protector of the home, arts and pleasure.

On a darker note, here's a doll by nicolaiguza

Artisan crafts are not missing from dA. An amazing leather cross wristband from the self-taught artist morgenland .

and The March Hare by the super talented leatherworker RPG-AnimeOtaku 

but also fractal art, like these Toxic Nanoballoids by hyperben2  

and how about amazingly photographed animals? Arkanys-12 Fancy Rat by DianePhotos

steampunk meets leatheworking:CAR by pushok1983 .

Wonderful fantasy inspired digital painting by nathie : Longest Journey: Waiting

Stunning fanart from my favourite game Wolrd of Warcraft by cocoasweety , Lament of Highborne.

http://fav.me/d286zip