A Better Day: Icecream delivery, Family Lockdown Boogie

Each weekday, our editors are sharing their quick tips, workouts, recipes, and observations to help us make the most of our time at home. We hope it makes your day a little bit brighter. #stayhome

Let’s start with some good news…

Staying at home with young children can be testing at times, but families in the UAE are being given a helping hand adjusting to the ‘new normal’ with parenting tips and activities for all ages courtesy of The Sharjah Child Friendly Office. Dishing out advice on how parents can talk to their little ones about the crisis, with guidance on how to ensure their physical, mental and emotional wellbeing, plus ideas for family activities designed to boost parent-child relationships, it’ll help to see you through.

Do this for a healthy body

Creaky joints? Learn how to exercise safely with these best and worst exercises for bad knees from Joanna Soh, including how to master knee-friendly squats and lunges.

Do this for a healthy mind

Yoga Nidra is a powerful form of guided meditation that evokes a complete state of relaxation that some say is the equivalent of a couple of hours of deep sleep. Get comfy on your bed or yoga mat with a pillow and blanket while following the visualisation cues in this deeply calming 30-minute Yoga Nidra class led by Caley Alyssa.

Delicious deliveries to your door

Who knew that Häagen-Dazs delivered pints of ice cream through Deliveroo? Certainly not us, but now we do we can almost feel our post-quarantine belts straining.

What to watch

Get a glimpse of people who have transformed their lives by downsizing everything they own to build their dream tiny house in the popular Living Big in A Tiny House YouTube series. It has been watched by millions, inspiring people around the world to live differently

What to listen to

Here’s one your kids will love, and you might find yourself learning a thing or two as well. Wow in the World hosts Guy Raz and Mindy Thomas talk listeners through the best child-friendly news of the week, like cool scientific discoveries, and the pair also answer your questions with comedic results.

Home help

Laundry piling up? Champion Cleaners is chomping at the bit to help share the load. The dry cleaning and laundry service is offering free pick-up and delivery when you schedule its dry cleaning or sanitization services through the app (Available on iOS and Android platforms) or by calling +971 42 858 581.

Isolators we love

Family Lockdown Boogie is the light-hearted video you need in your life today. If you’re in need of an isolation soundtrack and momentary comic relief from life as we now know it, Jack Buchanan’s lyrics and his family’s dance moves will provide just that. Could you be the next family to go viral on YouTube? Get practising.

Join the party

With its popular Illinois live music hall and the listening room closed for the foreseeable future, Space is running an All Dressed Up & Nowhere to Show virtual concert series, which calls upon past performers to stream songs from their living rooms and share them live to its Facebook page.

Cook like a pro

Possibly one of the few fine-dining restaurants to encourage its diners to come barefoot (they obviously haven’t seen our isolation feet), Ba’theli restaurant at Milaidhoo is the first modern Maldivian restaurant in the Maldives. Led by local chef Ahmed Sivath, Ba’theli’s dishes are steeped in Maldivian tradition, such as this grilled lobster and red snapper curry. Extra marks if you can make it look anything like it does in the picture.

For the fish
1. 200gr red snapper or any meaty white fish
2. 0.5Kg fresh lobster
3. 2 medium onions, finely sliced
4. 2 tomatoes
5. 300gr grated fresh coconut
6. ½ tsp turmeric powder
7. ½ tsp cumin powder
8. ½ tsp salt
9. 1 tsp ginger garlic paste
10. 4 curry leaves
11. 1 tsp lemon juice

Method:
1. Put the onions, lemon juice, tomatoes, ginger garlic paste, salt, curry leaves, cumin, and turmeric powder into a blender and blend until the ingredients form a paste.
2. Marinate the lobster with the paste, keep for at least one hour in a refrigerator.
3. Take a pan, add a dash of vegetable oil then grill the lobster and fish until it is golden brown and crispy.
4. Serve the grilled lobster and the fish on a thin bed of curry sauce with white rice or grilled vegetables

For the curry sauce
1. 2 onions, finely sliced
2. 1gr curry leaves
3. 5gr pandan leaves
4. 1 tsp ginger and garlic paste
5. 3 cardamom seeds
6. ½ tsp chilli powder
7. ½ tsp turmeric powder
8. ½ tsp cumin powder
9. 200 ml coconut cream/milk
10. 300 ml water

Method:
1. Sautee the onions, garlic, ginger paste, curry leaves and pandan leaves in vegetable oil, add the chilli powder while stirring no more than 30 seconds. Lastly, add the cumin and turmeric powder, add water and cook on low heat, stirring frequently
2. When the paste starts boiling, add salt to taste as well as the cardamom and continue cooking on low heat, stirring occasionally. To finish, add the coconut cream and simmer to the preferred consistency, about 15 minutes

And lastly…things we’d never thought we’d miss #11

Dressing for work. Or dressing at all, come to think of it.

Please feel free to share your own frivolous yearnings via editor@hotmedia.me

For your home interiors, advice and inspiration in the UAE visit https://blivinguae.com/