Dating back centuries, simnel cake is a fruit cake that was originally eaten on Sunday during Lent throughout the United Kingdom.
The cake is topped with a layer of toasted marzipan and 11 or 12 marzipan balls, which represent the 12 apostles.

United Kingdom: Simnel cake

Pascua is Spanish for Easter, so Tarta Pascualina means "Eastertime Tart." <ul><li>The savory pie is filled with ricotta, hard-boiled eggs, spinach, artichoke, and parsley. S</li><li>ince it is meatless, it's a common dish during Lent, and the many eggs used to make it symbolize the resurrection of Jesus Christ.</li></ul>

Argentina: Torta pascualina

Recipes for capirotada — a bread pudding served on Good Friday — vary across the country, but it's usually made from:<ul><li>Bread similar to a baguette (bolillo), which has been soaked in mulled syrup made from sugar, cinnamon sticks, and cloves. </li><li>Nuts, dried fruit, and sprinkles are common toppings.</li></ul>Capirotada is meant to signify the crucifixion: the cinnamon sticks represent the cross, the cloves represent the nails, and the bread represents Christ's Body.

Mexico: Capirotada

The French have a particular Easter recipe for leg of lamb known as "le gigot d'agneau Pascal:" The meat (lamb being known as a sacrificial animal) is seasoned with garlic and herbs such as rosemary and then roasted.

France: Leg of lamb

Those making mämmi for Easter need to start the preparation days in advance, as it needs to be stored chilled for three to four days before being served. The traditional dessert is made from water, molasses, malted rye, rye flour, and Seville orange zest for seasoning. It's usually eaten cold with milk or cream.

Finland: Mämmi

<ul><li>White borscht isn't exclusively made at Easter, but it's common during the holiday. Made from soured rye flour, sausage, and hard-boiled eggs, the soup is hearty and filling.</li><li>Although babka has become a year-round dessert favorite in many countries, the spongy yeast cake has traditionally been served on Easter Sunday in Poland for years. Typically, the babka is round and covered in a sweet glaze.</li></ul>

Poland: White borscht (zurek) and babka wielkanocna

Sweet breads are common holiday food in Italy. There's panettone at Christmas and colomba di Pasqua at Easter. Shaped like a dove, a symbol of peace, colomba di Pasqua is stuffed with candied fruit and then sprinkled with almonds and pearl sugar.

Italy: Colomba di Pasqua

This is a hearty soup that consists of a variety of grains and beans as well as bacalao, dry salted cod. The exact ingredients differ from household to household, but common ones include fava beans, squash, corn, rice, garlic, onions, peas, and milk.Ideally, 12 different kinds of beans are used to make the soup, representing the 12 apostles. The bacalao symbolizes Jesus.

Ecuador: Fanesca

Tsoureki is a braided sweet bread. The three-strand braid symbolizes the Holy Trinity, while the hard-boiled eggs that the bread is commonly served with are meant to symbolize the blood of Christ, which is why they're dyed red.

Greece: Tsoureki

<ul><li>Known as kerbelsuppe in German, chervil soup is made from chervil, a herb related to parsley. </li><li>The soup is typically eaten on Maundy Thursday (the Thursday before Easter), which is known as Gründonnerstag, or Green Thursday in German — hence the green soup.</li></ul>

Germany: Chervil soup

Rosquillas de Semana Santa, or Easter doughnuts, taste more like cake than doughnuts since they're made with fermented flour instead of yeast. How they're served differs across Spain, but a common preparation is a dusting of sugar on top.

Spain: Rosquillas

The ham is sweet, thanks to either a glaze made from honey and brown sugar or from being covered in sliced pineapple.Before fridges existed, animals were slaughtered in the fall, and their cured meat wasn't ready to eat until Easter — hence the tradition.

United States: Baked ham

Pinca is a popular Easter treat used to celebrate the end of Lent in many Eastern European countries, like Slovenia and Croatia. Before it's baked, the sign of the cross is carved into the dough at the top of the bread.

Slovenia and Croatia: Pinca

Made with cottage cheese and cream cheese, pashka is a savory dessert that can either be eaten alone or with bread. The cheese mound is often decorated with dried fruit and the letters XB, which mean "Christ is risen."

Russia: Pashka

A combination of both pizza and pie, pizza chiena means filled pizza in the Neapolitan dialect. The Neapolitan specialty is stuffed with a variety of cured meats and cheeses.

Naples, Italy: Pizza chiena

These sweet, spiced buns are traditionally eaten on Good Friday to signify the end of Lent, and have been an Easter tradition for centuries. Currants or raisins dot the bun, and a glaze is used to make a cross on top, which signifies the crucifixion of Jesus.

United Kingdom: Hot cross buns

This sweet and salty Brazilian candy is made from only a few simple ingredients: ground peanuts, salt, sugar, and sometimes cassava flour.

Brazil: Paçoca de amendoim

From a marzipan-topped fruit cake in the UK to a stuffed savory pie in Argentina, here's what Easter meals look like across the globe.

Stashed ideas

What people eat for Easter in countries around the world

Has the following ever happened to you? One of your co-workers got the promotion you wanted, even though their professional credentials and achievements at work were not as good as yours. Unfair? Perhaps. But maybe it was simply because your colleague was better at “selling” their achievements than you.
And what is true for employees is even more so for the self-employed and for entrepreneurs – both small and large. At a time when we are flooded with information through the media and online, it is less important than ever before to simply be good at something.

Self-Marketing

Some people believe it is enough to be “good” at something because quality will eventually prevail on its own. That is naive. If that were the case, companies such as Mercedes or Apple could have stopped their advertising and PR campaigns decades ago. 
Even people we don’t normally associate with self-marketing owe much of their fame to their ability to build their personal brand, even those who claim that fame is a nuisance to them.

Just Being Good Isn't Going To Work

Einstein cultivated the image of the scientist who attached little importance to clothing, hated collars and ties, did not comb his long hair, wore no socks and left his shirts open.
Asked about his profession, he once quipped, “Fashion model.” Rumour has it that as soon as photographers approached, Einstein mussed up his hair with both hands to restore his quintessential image as an eccentric professor.

Even Albert Einstein Did Self-Marketing

When negotiating with publishers, theoretical physicist Stephen Hawking demanded that his next book should be available in airport bookstores all across America: “If I was going to spend the time and effort to write a book, I wanted it to get to as many people as possible.” 
His book A Brief History of Time spent 147 weeks on The New York Times bestseller list and a new record 237 weeks on the London Times bestseller list. It has been translated into forty languages and sold ten million copies.

The Book Of Stephen Hawking

Brand "Me" — or the Power of Self-Marketing

Accounting software is a program that helps to manage a company's financial transactions. The accounting software you use can help track critical financial data in your business, keep track of your taxes, and pay your employees on time. Freelancers and small businesses can use a generic solution, while enterprise organisations need a more complex system.

The need for accounting software

The right accounting software can simplify business processes by doing the following: <ul><li>Automate business finances and remove human error.</li><li>Access your data anywhere with cloud-based software.</li><li>Prevent data loss. Cloud-based accounting software backs up your data.</li><li>Integrate with third parties like expense tracking and CRM solutions.</li><li>It makes filing your taxes easier.</li></ul>

How accounting software help you business

<ul><li>QuickBooks is best for small businesses.</li><li>FreshBooks is good for invoicing.</li><li>Zoho Books is a good pick for microbusinesses.</li><li>Oracle NetSuite is suitable for ERP tools.</li><li>Xero is good for growing businesses.</li></ul> All these options offer third-party integrations.

Top accounting software

Any accounting software should include basic features such as a general ledger, account reconciliation, accounts payable and accounts receivable. Other features are: <ul><li>Invoicing.</li><li>Payment processing. Your accounting software should give easy ways for customers to pay online, like scanning a QR code or clicking a button.</li><li>Payroll management.</li><li>Enterprise resource planning (ERP) helps collect and organise information.</li><li>Inventory management.</li></ul>

Accounting software features

Keep the following in mind when choosing accounting software:<ul><li>Ensure your accounting software integrates with your bank. It will automatically download new transactions.</li><li>Your business needs, for example, business size, the specific industry, etc.</li><li>Your budget. Many cloud-based solutions can accommodate nearly every budget.</li><li>Ease of use.</li><li>Scalability.</li></ul>

Choosing the right accounting software

Pros<ul><li>Accuracy.</li><li>Automation. By using artificial intelligence, the software can record and reconcile transactions and generate financial reports.</li><li>Relatively low cost. </li><li>Streamlined invoicing. Software like FreshBooks helps to create invoices within minutes and set up automatic payment reminders.</li><li>Collaboration. Many accounting programs let you grant outside access to your accountant.</li></ul> Cons<ul><li>Technical problems.</li><li>Potential for fraud.</li></ul>

Pros and cons of accounting software

Accounting software helps you stay on top of taxes, manage critical financial data, and pay employees. Here's how to choose the right accounting software.

Find the Best Accounting Software for Your Business - business.com

Competition for brand recognition is fierce. While digital-native newcomers with their tech-savvy, direct-to-consumer approaches enter with ease, the traditional retailers are struggling. A big part of the problem is the inability to connect with customers. One PwC consumer survey showed 73 per cent of respondents valued customer experience. The same survey showed that consumers are willing to pay up to 16 percent price premium for a superior experience.

A good customer experience is essential

Companies fall into one of four groups:<ul><li>Differentiators have a differentiated brand strategy and effective operations.</li><li>Visionaries only have a differentiated strategy.</li><li>Doers only have effective operations.</li><li>Hopefuls lack in both.</li></ul> Assess your company's effectiveness and rank yourself using a scale of 1 to 4.<ul><li>Brand strategy: Identity, value, perception, awareness.</li><li>Operations: Product offering, strategic pricing, digital engagement, loyalty programs, omnichannel experience, supply chain.</li></ul> You should rank at a 3 or 4 in each of the brand components and at least 2 of the operational components.

A framework for success

The path to differentiation depends on whether your company is a hopeful, doer, visionary, or a differentiator. <ul><li>Hopefuls need a strong brand strategy.</li><li>Doers will benefit from a capabilities-driven strategy. First, identify your competitive advantage and build a strategy around it.</li><li>Visionaries should focus on building operational capabilities so that they can take action on their strategy.</li><li>Differentiators should focus on growing strategically through innovation, strategic alliances, etc.</li></ul>

Becoming a differentiator

Hopefuls and doers should put the customer at the centre of their approach in the four brand strategy components: identity, value, perception, and awareness. Then they should build operational capabilities on top of that strategy. <ul><li>Focus on what you do best for your customers.</li><li>Recognise that value is more than just price.</li><li>Ensure you know who your customers are.</li><li>Use social media to connect with consumers, sharing stories and other engaging, authentic content.</li></ul>

How to build strategy, then operations

Operational excellence doesn’t require differentiation in all six areas. Most successful companies focus on only a few of the areas. Operational areas:<ol><li>Product offering. Adidas set record-high sales by focusing on its portfolio, where other retailers often do the opposite.</li><li>Strategic pricing. Everlane positioned itself as an ethical value player in the clothing industry.</li><li>Digital engagement. L’Oréal encouraged people to experiment online with their products.</li><li>Loyalty programs.</li><li>Multiple channel experience. Online and a store.</li><li>A well-functioning supply chain is crucial.</li></ol>

Focus on a few operational areas

Retailers continue to face a changing environment, such as market disruption, changing macroeconomic conditions, competition.  Consider the following tactics to stay relevant:<ul><li>Embrace disruption from new entrants. Continue to innovate and reinvent.</li><li>Capture growth opportunities. Acquisition targets can help to leverage or enhance your existing capabilities.</li><li>Know your competition. Identify emerging direct, indirect, and adjacent competitors.</li></ul>

Keep evolving

To differentiate your brand, let a customer focus guide your strategy and operations.

How to stand out in a crowded marketplace

<ul>
<li>Budding writers should not be afraid of writing, but should experiment it as a form of free hand sketching.</li>
<li>They should spill out their brains and then build, fix or arrange the content in a creative way.</li>
<li>Writing does not just happen when we write something, but also happens when we are thinking, talking, seeing, listening and texting.</li>
<li>One needs to fall in love with writing and not think of it as a task to be accomplished.</li>
</ul>

Writing is just one step in a much larger process

<ul>
<li>Whether digital or the (preferable) pen and paper, having a journal is a must to document nonsensical, random thoughts that may be the bricks of your next masterpiece.</li>
<li>Prewriting is as essential as the actual writing, and this rough exercise is done on your doodle pad or notepad. We can then give it shape, categorize it or file it for later use.</li>
<li>Writing is to be looked at from a reader’s mindset, and has to be about giving something.</li>
<li>The struggle, ego and insecurity are part of the writer’s block that simply disappears if we love the process of writing.</li>
</ul>

Building a writer's mindset

To overcome your fear of writing or writer's block, remember that writing is only one step in a larger process.

Communication

How to Write 10,000 Words a Week

Yuval Noah Harari, author of the best-selling books Sapiens and Homo Deus thinks that science fiction shapes the understanding of people on issues such as intelligence and biotechnology, which will likely change our society in the future.
Science fiction wrestles with concepts such as AI taking over the jobs of workers. One good science fiction movie is worth a hundred articles in Science of Nature.

Science fiction and public opinion

It is uncertain how many times a person can reinvent themselves during a lifetime. Reinventing yourself five or six times would cause immense psychological stress.
It would be interesting to see a science fiction movie that explores the mundane issue of someone reinventing themselves. Just when they settle down in a job, they hear that the new job has been automated, and they have to reinvent themselves again.

Yuval Noah Harari on automation

After reading 1984, it leaves one questioning how to avoid getting there. But with Brave New World, it's more difficult. Everyone is satisfied and happy. There are no resistance or secret police. Yet, we have this very uneasy feeling that something is very wrong with a society that's been hacked in such a way that they're content all the time.
When it was first printed, it was a frightening dystopia, but today, many people read it as a utopia. It says a lot about the shift in our worldview.

Yuval Noah Harari on dystopias

On immortality: Another interesting science fiction movie considers what kinds of relations parents and children would have when the parents keep on living to be 200.
On technology: Many science fiction scenarios can't materialise because society can take action against dangerous technologies, such as envisioning huge body farms where millions of people are raised to harvest their organs and then sold to rich people.

Yuval Noah Harari on immortality and technology

Why Science Fiction Is the Most Important Genre | WIRED

Storytelling has always been a powerful, influencing tool since ancient times.
Crafting a good story around yourself is a great way to make anyone feel better about you. If we simply voice out our opinions, it sounds polarizing instead of persuasive, and if we really want to tug at the other person’s heartstrings and change their mind, we need to weave an engaging narrative.

The Right Narrative

A job candidate has an incredible tool to use during an interview: Crafting a beautiful story that evokes positive emotions in the recruiter. 
The art of storytelling releases a rush of dopamine in the brain of the listener and makes the meeting memorable. It is also good to have a theme that you promote in your job hunt with consistency, as it builds upon the memory and makes your profile unforgettable.

Storytelling: All The Power Is Yours

We normally dole out a lengthy list of accomplishments, experience, projects and activities in our job application, hoping to be caught by the keyword searching tools used by recruiters. 
While this seems logical in this competitive world, we need a different approach to stand out from the crowd: To not be a cookie clutter applicant, but a real human.

Storytelling: Making Yourself Look..Human

Knowing your audience, who are recruiters, in this case, matters while we are trying to get a job in a sea of candidates competing for the same profile. Recruiters look for technical skills as well as soft skills:
<ol>
<li>Being a people person.</li>
<li>Having emotional intelligence.</li>
<li>Being authentic.</li>
<li>Strong communication skills with equally good listening skills.</li>
<li>Mindfulness and inclusivity.</li>
</ol>

Storytelling: Start With Knowing Your Audience

We can conduct research on Linkedin and find out what the recruiter wants, and the needs of the industry. We need to find out the problems, issues and challenges that the hiring managers have and provide them with a solution. 
The recruiter should look at our resume/cover letter and find the answer to their current problems.

What A Recruiter Needs To Hear

Listing your accomplishments as narration is only half the work done. We need to expand our profile and let our personality shine by giving context to our story, the three elements that flesh out the narrative: Setting, characters and conflict.
The Three Basic Elements Of Your Story:
<ul>
<li>The setting is the place where the events of your story happened.</li>
<li>The characters are the people in your story, like your family, your team, your client, or your boss.</li>
<li>The conflict is the crucial problem of your story that spurred you into action.</li>
</ul>

A Story With Context

Do not sprinkle your resume with jargon and buzzwords, as it does not convey any story, but only feels like hollow boasting to the person screening your profile. 
Go for the simple approach and craft a story that hooks the recruiter, and sets you apart from others.

Storytelling: Avoiding Jargon

The prospective candidate needs to end the story as a hero, giving the listener a reason to care about the conflict, the handling of the problem and the main characters, and eventually the final resolution (an impressive metric) to provide a sense of closure and accomplishment that says: Hire me now!

Be The Hero Of Your Story

The narrative should have a big idea in the beginning, followed by the conflict and the characters who are impacted. One can then describe the setting and add more characters. After fleshing out the conflict and creating suspense, one can end the story with a resolution.
Just by narrating the same facts which are already listed in your resume in a storytelling format, one can influence the recruiter.

Storytelling: The Right Approach

Four tips that will help you get noticed (and get ahead) in your career.

The Key to Landing Your Next Job? Storytelling.

About 300 billion emails are sent around the globe every day. On average, people working in an office get 121 emails per working day. We often send and read them without thinking about them for a second.
But emails are vital. We send them because of traceability or a time difference, or we need many people reading the same thing.

Emails are fundamental to our daily communications

An effective subject line consists of three things:
<ul>
<li>It is short</li>
<li>It calls for action</li>
<li>It indicates familiarity with the recipient</li>
</ul>
For example, Meeting tomorrow, please respond!

Make an excellent first impression: the subject line

Sending an email written in black and white is like speaking in a monotone voice, without using your body or face.
We can add feeling by using different kinds of punctuation and emojis - the digital body language. Think of digital body language as the spices and seasoning - depending on the culture, environment and background, you may use more or less, or none at all.

Add colour and feeling to your email

Research shows that many emails aren't read but just skimmed or deleted. Every word you write past your first 40, you directly reduce the chances of getting an answer.
<ul>
<li>Be very brief, around 280 characters. But that may be impossible.</li>
<li>Otherwise, the part where you ask for something can be kept to the length of a tweet.</li>
<li>Meeting notes can be included as an attachment.</li>
</ul>

Keep an email as short as a tweet

Dale Cargenie stated that "A person's name is to him or her the sweetest and most important sound in any language."
If you use a person's name at critical moments and in proportion, you will increase the likelihood of getting an answer. But, if you misspell the person's name, you can completely ruin your email.

Use names at critical moments

The last impression can be just as powerful as the first impression. It's the one thing that sticks with your reader.
If there is one important thing to say or one vital thing you need from your recipient, try to wait until the end and put it in the P.S. line.

The power of "one last thing"

Too many emails aren't read​ -- they're just skimmed​ or simply deleted. Want to save yours from the digital trash can? Follow this basic advice, from business professor Guy Katz.

5 tips to writing emails that will always get you a reply

<ul>
<li>Adjust your body language.</li>
<li>Learn to handle friendly teasing.</li>
<li>Tell your own embarrassing stories.</li>
<li>Let go of managing people's opinions of you.</li>
</ul>

Turn awkwardness into confidence

By simply adjusting your body language, you can improve both how you see yourself (thus, improving your self-confidence) and how other people see you.

Body language and self-confidence

Give everyone in your audience at least 3 seconds of continuous eye contact before moving to the next person. This is usually enough to make people feel included in a conversation.
The '3-second rule' is a great and simple way to engage your audience and convey a sense of ease with it, even when you're feeling nervous.

The '3-second rule' of eye contact

... and gesticulate while you're speaking.
Hiding your hands and palms usually signals to your audience that you are hiding something, thus making you look less trustworthy.
Using your hands also makes your stories and arguments seem more intriguing.

Show your palms

Embrace the awkward moment fully. By doing this, you show true confidence.
The fear of looking ridiculous and being judged by others freezes your emotions and expressions, amplifying your discomfort in front of others.

Commit to what you are expressing

<ul>
<li>Take up more space: this signals that you are not afraid to take control on a physical level and it shows increased confidence.</li>
<li>Laugh with the group: if you laugh with it, it goes away in most cases.</li>
<li>Double down on the joke: amplifying the joke puts you in control of the situation, shows your human side and spreads the laughter.</li>
</ul>

Handling friendly teasing

<ul>
<li>Show confident body language, especially if the story is self-deprecating.</li>
<li>Use high impact words, packed with emotions, to draw people's attention.</li>
<li>Embody the characters of the story (act like they would and match their voice and accent).</li>
</ul>

Telling your own embarrassing stories

99% of all awkward situations are made worse because you are trying to be perceived in a certain way by the others.
Stop managing people's opinions of you. Your confidence should not be based on those outside perceptions, but in recognizing that you are not perfect and liking yourself anyway.

People's perceptions of you

Check Out Charisma University: https://bit.ly/2XcFYEf Subscribe to Charisma On Command’s YouTube Account: http://bit.ly/COC-Subscribe Like it or not we have all been awkward at different points in our lives. Sometimes that awkwardness gets in the way of connecting with other people or even feeling confident in ourselves. Awkwardness doesn’t need to be the end of the line. In fact, if you handle yourself well you can turn awkwardness (whether it’s just a moment or a way of being) into confidence. Which is what we are covering in this video featuring Tom Holland. ⏰TIMESTAMPS⏰ 0:27 - Point #1: Adjust your body language. 4:05 - Point #2: Handle friendly teasing. 6:39 - Point #3: Tell your own embarrassing stories. 9:37 - Point #4: Let go of managing people’s opinion of you. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- #TomHolland #CharismaOnCommand -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Connect With Us Further: Website: http://www.charismaoncommand.com Facebook: http://facebook.com/charismaoncommand Instagram: @CharismaOnCommand Or if you want to see our personal stuff (regular life + playing music): Instagram: @CharlieHoupert Instagram: @IamBenAltman

How To Turn Awkwardness Into Confidence

People think of a smiling person as likable, trustworthy, cooperative, and believable. But smiling is so easy anyone can fake it and exploit the other person.
Genuine smiles involve a few wrinkles around the eyes and are also called Duchenne smiles. The problem is people can also crank out a seemingly genuine smile on demand.

Fake Smile Vs Genuine Smile

A smiling face is better than a non-smiling one, so many people put on a plastic smile.
According to research on human social interaction by Alex Pentland, a computer scientist: An engaged, responsive smile that is contextual is likely to be genuine. A consistent smile, without paying any attention to what is being said at the moment is most probably fake.

The Signalling Theory

Smiles can be a way to dupe people because they’re easy to fake – but we’ve figured out which smiles can be trusted

Bite-sized knowledge
to upgrade
your career

Lila S.
@lila_ls

What people eat for Easter in countries around the world

Brand "Me" — or the Power of Self-Marketing

Find the Best Accounting Software for Your Business - business.com

How to stand out in a crowded marketplace

How to Write 10,000 Words a Week

Bite-sized knowledgeto upgradeyour career

Lila S.@lila_ls

What people eat for Easter in countries around the world

Brand "Me" — or the Power of Self-Marketing

Find the Best Accounting Software for Your Business - business.com

How to stand out in a crowded marketplace

How to Write 10,000 Words a Week

Bite-sized knowledge
to upgrade
your career

Lila S.
@lila_ls