Life Essential

What You Are..
What Job You Have Chosen..
Do It Well..
Do It With Love..
Without Love..
You Are Dead Before You Die..

BAKSO BAKSO BAKSO!!!! Simple Recipe

It has been a while since my departure to the United Kingdom. I miss my country a lot, the people I love, and the food I admire.

One of the food that I miss so much is Bakso. It is a special Indonesian Meatball. What makes it different with any other ordinary meatball is the bouncy texture and the smooth surface. It has a rich flavor of beef and usually being served with beef stock soup, a little bit of rice noodle, and a little bit of egg noodle (yellow noodle).

I asked my mum about the exact way of making Bakso. Unfortunately it seems very difficult since it needs a special machine to mix the mixture. The mixture needs to be extremely cold, so Bakso sellers in Indonesia usually add ice to their mixture. Because of that there is a need to use a very special machine that will be able to be strong enough to mix all the ingredients.

So I try to make an experiment on making the Bakso in a simple "amateur" way without using any special machine. We cannot say we can't before we try! Right????



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Surprisingly, GOD LOVES ME SO MUCH...!!!!!!

My first experiment on the Bakso is a total success. Yayyyy.....!!!!!

I did not use any machine. Even no blenders, mixers, or food processor were used in the experiment. Just follow these steps:

 Ingredients:
250 gr Beef Mince
1 egg
1 tsp garlic powder/garlic paste
1/2 tsp black pepper
1 tbs salt
2 tbs tapioca starch
1 tbs corn starch
1 tsp baking powder (this will make the meatball bouncy)
1 tsp baking soda (this will make the meatball grow bigger)
a pinch of sugar (it's very optional, but sugar will increase the taste)


 

How To Make:
1. Put all the ingredients in a mixing bowl.


2. Mix all the mixture until well mixed. Wrap the bowl with a plastic wrap (or put in in a container with a lid). Refrigerate overnight (I make my mixture the night before I make the Bakso soup. But keeping it in the fridge only for a couple of hours is also fine. What's important is just to make sure that the mixture is completely cold).



3. When the mixture is completely cold, prepare a pot. Add water, then bring to boil. After it comes to a boil, turn off the heat (stove). Take out the mixture from the fridge. Shape it like a small ball. Directly put the ball mix into the hot water.



4. After all the mixture has been shaped as a ball in the hot water, turn on the stove again in medium heat, then bring to a boil. Leave to cook for about 5 minutes after it comes to a boil.

5. Lift the Bakso ball. Then use the water as the beef stock for the soup. Just simply add fried garlic and fried onion to the beef stock. Add a bit more of salt and sugar. When the taste is okay, put back the meatball into the beef stock.

6. Prepare your ball with any fillings you like (example: rice noodle or egg noodle). For me, I just put rice. Then, put the bakso and the beef stock into the bowl. Garnish it with some Spring Onions. And there we have it.. The deliciously made BAKSO.. Yummyyyy...


 


Bon Appetit... ^^


With Love,
Handini Audita

E.L.F Likes and Dislikes: Free Gift Package

Today I woke up with a total mood booster. As what I have said in my previous post, I am waiting for the free gift that ELF would give me as a present because I am their 325.000 customer who "likes" their Facebook Page. Today I receive the package which is way above my expectation. Since it is a free gift, I was only expecting to receive several sample packs of their product. Surprisingly they give me a box of full original content make up(11 pieces of make up). Yayyy..!!!! So Happy...!!!!



So the package was like this:



When it is opened, this is what's inside:



The content:



So, in total there were about 11 pieces of make up that they deliver to me. I tried them all on already today. Overall, I am happy with what they give me because all the tone colors they give is a natural color that actually fits to my Asian skin tone. Some products are outstanding, but some are actually not recommendable. So this post I will also write about the product review from the product I like most to the least.

1. ELF Studio Cream Blush in Heartbreaker



The most recommended product from the free package. Two thumbs up for this product. I am very pleased with this product because the color are very pigmented and the pink shimmer added to the blush just make my cheek pop like a doll. The cream blush is very easy to apply since we do not need any brush. The packaging looks so exclusive. It also looks very natural since it is able to blend generously with the foundation and powder which we have already apply before hand. To be honest in my skin I do not find significant problem in this product, but I may not suggest this product for those who have very oily skin.


2. ELF Nail polish in Mint Cream



I love the color. The fresh young milky color just fitted so much with Spring season. The real product is actually a bit darker compared to the color in the picture, but I still like it anyway because the color is so adorable. Being applied to my nail, the coverage of the product is quite good. It is actually comparable to nail polishes that cost higher than this product. However, the liquid is not very thick so it might results better if we double cote this nail polish to make the color more outstanding and long lasting.


3. ELF Lipstick in Charming



I like the natural color of this lipstick. If talking about the color of the lipstick, I have to say that this is one of my favorite color out of the lipstick that I have here in the UK. The least satisfactory things about this lipstick is the texture of it. When applied to the lips, it feels very dry. Perhaps because they wanted to keep it "matte", but compared to the other matte lipstick that I have, this is the "most driest" lipstick I have ever felt. The packaging says "smooth and long lasting coverage". I agree with the "long lasting", but do not agree with "smooth". However, since I love the color so much, I don't want to waste it. So before I put on the lipstick, I will put on thin layer of Vaseline petroleum jelly to reduce the dryness of the lipstick.


4. ELF All Over Color Stick in Honey



This product is intended to treats under eye, blemishes and skin redness. I really like the light and smooth texture of it. It can give a kind of additional glow above my cheek so I can look more fresh. It also have a fresh lemon scent added to it. The only thing that I least satisfied with is coverage. Perhaps because it is very light, that is why their coverage is not too thick. For skin like mine which have lots of acne scars, I may need thicker coverage to cover the scars. However, because of its lightness in my skin, I will definitely use this for my daily usage.


5. ELF All Over Color Stick in Golden Peach



First I was actually quite confuse about what to use this product. It is said to be instantly brightens eyes, lips, and face. I search in youtube in several "make up guru" channel to find out what to use with it. I found out that it can be used as eye shadow, blush on, and lipstick. So I try them on. For eye shadow and lipstick is a BIG NO NO. For blush on, the color is so light so it does not result any shadow. At first I hated this product (was thinking of not using it again). But after I experiment with it a bit, I find out that it is actually great to be used as a soft highlighter under the eyes. The soft gold sparkle gives an outstanding glow to my skin.


6. ELF Clarifying Pressed Powder in Honey



The powder is very soft and light. The packaging comes with a petite packaging so it is very handy to bring. The only dislikes about this product is about its inability to be long lasting. Specially for those who is very active outdoor, this might not be recommended.


7. ELF Tone Correcting Concealer in Light Beige



As a concealer, I have to say that it is the lightest concealer I have ever wear. It's a good thing for your skin, but then it does not cover your blemishes too good which means that the concealer does not do what it suppose to do well. The texture is not too creamy also which makes it more difficult to cover up the unwanted spots.


8. ELF All Over Color Stick in Pink Lemonade



This product is actually the same product with the "number 5" list but just in different color. The reason why I put this to be least preferred is because it cannot work as a brilliant highlighter. For eye shadow and lipstick is also a big no no. However, this product works well as a blush on (even though for me, the color is a bit too light for blush on). It's texture is quite similar to a cream blush but it is more moisture. I do not recommend this for oily skin.


9. ELF Natural Radiance Blusher in Coy



I am actually quite loving the Radiance Color Blushes packaging. Small, simple, and handy. I also actually like the texture of the brush which is very pigmented. The only thing that I do not like is the color. I just find it does not make my face looks fresh as expected. But overall, I may wish to buy the natural radiance blusher but in DIFFERENT COLOR.


10. ELF Liquid Eyeliner in Black



I am a big fan of black liquid eye liner. That's why I was very very very excited when I first open the box finding a black liquid eye liner inside it. But, after trying it on, it is very disappointing. First the color is not black enough. Second, it cannot be applied in one swipe so it takes ages for me to properly put it on. Third, the applicator brush is too thin for me. So I cannot say more, but I would not purchase this product in the future.


11. ELF Duo Cream Eyeshadow in Black Licorice



Personally, black is really not my color for eyeshadow. It just does not fit my personality. So this might be the first reason why I put it as my very least preferred. Second, I find it hard to blend. The texture is too moist and creamy so it is very difficult to apply. It feels like putting petroleum jelly on my eye. Third, it does not last long. The color fade easily just in 2 hours. Fourth, it's hard to do experiment with it because of the texture and color. So in conclusion, this product is a big no no for me.


So that is all my review about the product that I received from ELF this morning as a free gift. Overall, I am very happy receiving this gift (who doesn't love free stuff). Even though there are some "misses" in some products, but my satisfaction with the product overlaps my disappointment. I still say that ELF is a highly recommended product to purchase as a daily usage.

Once again, thank you so much ELF for the lovely gift...

I appreciate it..

I LOVE YOU E.L.F

Hugs and Kisses...

Marketing To Women

Women are earning, spending, and influencing spending at a greater rate than ever before -- and they account for $7 trillion in consumer and business spending in the United States, and over the next decade they will control two-thirds of consumer wealth. Women make or influence 85 percent of all purchasing decisions, and purchase over 50 percent of traditional male products, including automobiles, home improvement products and consumer electronics.

But 91% of women say that advertisers don't understand them.

Recognizing the power and influence of women must be a top priority for marketers if they are going to tap into the market's full potential. Here are 30 surprising stats to help marketers get a handle on this misunderstood demographic.



Earning Power

1. The average American woman is expected to earn more than the average American male by 2028

2. Fifty-one percent of U.S. private wealth is controlled by women

3. Women account for over 50% of all stock ownership in the U.S.

4. Women control more than 60% of all personal wealth in the U.S.



Spending Power

1. Women account for 85% of all consumer purchases, including everything from autos to health care

2. Women make 80% of healthcare decisions and 68 percent of new car purchase decisions

3. Seventy-five percent of women identified themselves as the primary shoppers for their households

4. Women influenced $90 billion of consumer electronic purchases in 2007

5. Nearly 50% of women say they want more green choices, with 37% are more likely to pay attention to brands that are committed to environmental causes



Women and Cars

1. Women buy more than half of the new cars in the U.S., and influence up to 80% of all car purchases

2. Women request 65% of the service work done at dealerships

3. Women spend over $200 billion on new cars and mechanical servicing of vehicles each year

4. Forty-five percent of all light trucks and SUVs are purchased by women



Mom Power

1. Moms represent a $2.4 trillion market

2. Fifty-five percent of active (daily) social media moms said they made their purchase because of a recommendation from a personal review blog

3. 18.3 million Internet users who are moms read blogs at least once a month

4. In 2014, 63% (nearly 21 million) of all online moms will read blogs

5. Moms mention brands an average of 73 times per week compared with just 57 times per week among males

6. Seventy-seven percent of mom bloggers will only write about products or brands whose reputations they approve of, and another 14% will write about brands or products they boycott

7. Ninety percent of moms are online vs. just 76% of women in general

8. Sixty-four percent of moms ask other mothers for advice before they purchase a new product and 63% of all mothers surveyed consider other moms the most credible experts when they have questions



Women Online

1. As early as 2000, women were found to have surpassed men in Internet usage

2. Seventy-eight percent of women in the U.S. use the Internet for product information before making a purchase

3. Thirty-three percent research products and services online before buying offline

4. Women account for 58% of all total online spending

5. Twenty-two percent shop online at least once a day

6. Ninety-two percent pass along information about deals or finds to others

7. The average number of contacts in their e-mail or mobile lists is 171

8. Seventy-six percent want to be part of a special or select panel

9. Fifty-eight percent would toss a TV if they had to get rid of one digital device (only 11% would ditch their laptops)


This article has been published and could be found at www.mediapost.com

Social Media: What Does It Take To Succeed?

Many said that social media is like a teen sex. Everyone wants to do it. Nobody knows how. When its finally done there is surprise is not better. Officially though, when manage in a right manner, social media is not like teen sex. It can be determined as an umbrella which defines the various activities that integrate technology, social interaction, and the construction of words, pictures, videos, and audio. It is also a fancy way to describe the zillions of conversations people are having online 24 hours 7 days a week.

Another important issue which businesses should concern is about brand awareness. Brand awareness does not only talk about the case of "Brand Mind", but it should also cope with the "Brand Heart" and "Brand Wallet". Having people recognizing, loving, and buying your brand would help businesses survive through the challenging competition in business. In the past, utilising endorsers, print or digital advertisement might work well in building awareness of certain product. However today, consumers are giving less trust to paid advertisement. In the other hand, consumers are very attracted to messages distributed and communicated by unpaid references such as the other customers which has an experience with a certain product. Because of that, utilising social media in this era where consumers could communicate and create factors like word-of-mouth, buzz, or going viral would be a good idea to create awareness and persuation of a certain product. In addition to that, looking at the behavior of todays generation which are mostly highly dependable toward the internet access, had made the practices of going to social media in businesses becomes a must.

Let’s talk about what can happen in a day in social media. In the next 24 hours, 700.000 more people will join facebook bringing it’s total users to 30million in the UK alone. Today they will tag, post, view, and share, more than one billion pieces of information. Having this big numbers of users, it is important for businesses to successfully reach the social media demographics of their target market. Utilising the facebook adds to engage to the right customers is one alternative ways to reach the right audience. In the next 24 hours, 90.000 iPhones and 160.000 android devices will be sold. Smartphones had put social in our hands. No wonder that 300.000 people will join Twitter today, sending more than 45.000 tweets per minute, or 64 million tweets per day. With it’s ability to go limitless in bringing information to the world, twitter could reach more people with a single tweet than Wall Street Journal, New York Times, or Financial Times which we got for free everyday. In twitter, when you follow and being followed by those “high followers twitteres”, you will be able to get a change to widely spread your messages. Youtube, as the 4th most visited site in the world and the 2nd largest search engine in the world has made them one of the huge things in the marketing world. 24 hours of video are uploaded every minute. That’s about 1.1 billion hours of video content added every 24 hours. So what does all this mean? When only 14% of people trust advertising and 90% trust recommendations via social media, it means if you’re not taking social media seriously, you will loose your opportunity to become BIG.

So now let’s talk about factors that are important in social media which bring to successful social media practices. Hill and Moran describes several important factors. Customization is important to give your business point of difference compared to the competitors which conducts social media marketing also. In the case of Facebook, Customization includes the ability to give customized attractive landing page in facebook, and also the ability to customized the usage of their page according to their objective of going into social media marketing. Interactivity is also important which includes the ability to stimulate conversation by their followers and viewers. In addition, businesses should also concern about the ability to create the social interaction in their social media marketing. The communicated message is not only expected to create interaction between customer to the business, but it should also able to go 360 degrees where customers and viewers are motivated to communicate the message widely though their networks. To support those important action, having your whole employees involvement and support is crucial. The social media marketing is not expected to only be the responsibility of the marketing department, but having every employees in every department participating will make the social media marketing becoming a part of the whole firm strategy. Last but not least, clear performance measurement is also an important factor. You cannot manage well things that you cannot measure. So make sure you have a clear goal to measure and keep a close eye on the metrics that you are reaching.

We have a case study which define a success story of social media marketing implementation. Decathlon Italy which is a retail company of sports utilities. In the begining, they have around 6000 likes in their facebook page. They feel that this number of likes does not give a satisfactory amount of viewers coverage. So they decided to go for a concultancy. After the concultacy period ends, and Decathlon starts applying the strategies suggested by the consulting firm, they are able to have an increase number of 25.000 likes. It continously to keep rising. Today, they have more than 84.000 of likes and having around 6.500 conversation in their page.

So what is the secret to their success?

First is their willingness to involve all the employees in the process. When the page is very crowded, it might be difficult if only one particular person engage in every conversations created. Because of that, when all of the employees are commiteed to the social media strategy, this will enhance their ability to better engage in the interactivity of the conversation. Second is their ability to utilise the SEO well to make it easily accessable to those target audience which are not familiar to the brand. Third is the way they maintain the balance of their emotional content and information. They understand that the main purpose of social media is not only to attract people to talk about the issue they stimulate, but also the ability to communicate information regarding their brands to their target audience. Fourth is the integration of information. Decathlon are able to use the information they generate from the social media to be utilised by every depatment of the firm to create better strategies. Last but not least, is their ability to create community in their social media marketing strategy. Community which had individuals having similar identity to the brand had helped Decathlon to reach more target audience.


This article has been written by HANDINI AUDITA and assessed by UNIVERSITY OF STRATHCLYDE, UNITED KINGDOM. This article are assessed for the subject of International Marketing Works by Dr.Beverly Wagner
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