Friday, March 21, 2014

Reincarnation of ....?!?


Reincarnation of Jesus? Buddha? Anne Frank?

The title is way too evading from the real content. The blog is actually about the reincarnations of yesterday's not-so-good dinner or today's left-out lunch:-)
ha ha ha....Yeah...The blog is just about how I rendered some fine make-over to some of my left-out or not-so-good dishes!

Cooking for family of two is often cumbersome and time-consuming. Oh..wait.. let me justify
It makes not much sense (at least to me) to cook close to 1 hour a day and prepare something of quantity that should get over the same day. We can neither eat the same dish again nor throw it for that matter.

To obtain the trade-off between spending less-time in kitchen and make variety of dishes, I used to reincarnate some of my creations;-) :-)
There are days that I have spent more time in thinking about the procedure of reincarnations and preparing it than I would have spent in the kitchen otherwise. But the excitement and the fun that I got out of these experiments are  so high that I tend to miss my goal...the goal of  lazing around with kitchen work.


Rasam to Sambhar/Milagu Kulambu

Thakkalai Rasam can be made into sambhar with addition of Dhal and appropriate Vegatables.
Puli Rasam can also be added with vegetables made into Milagu kulambu...
Since we generally don't add pepper/Jeera into Sambhar it can be called "Pulila Kari". That is not imaginary dish. It exists in the reign of south indian/south tamilnadu cooking.

The type of Rasam that was made and the sambhar/kulambu that can be made is purely speculative. Tampering of the spices can be easily made according to your family taste. Welcome the Person who complains on bad tastes to Lab(kitchen) to test the dish on experiment. This way, the person is on limelight and can be conferred ownership on failures. If that kind of person at your home is you , I can guarantee you will never try this ;-)


Veg. Biryani/Pulao rice into Veg. Manchurian

Mash the left-over biryani or give a small grind in the mixer grinder without water.
Make the dumplings into ball of required size.
Use Corn flour(or corn flour + rice flour) mixture to cover and make the ball firm enough to be fried. Fry it in the hot pan for crispy dry veg Manchurian to be had as snack. It can also be gravy with the usual ginger+chilli sauté sauce



There are few more reincarnations that I perform which I think is obvious. Anyways listing few of them and hoping to add few more interesting experiments as I remember or as I perform new ones.

Left out Boiled/Cooked Vegetables curry (carrot/Potato/Cabbage/Beans/Corn or mixture of the same) made for south-indian lunch can be transferred into the following depending on the need of the day.

1. Puffs /Samosa (with its usual cover procedure)
2. Patties (by mashing+ rolling over corn flour + Rolling it down into desired shape + cook it over the pan.
3. Stuffed Parato
4. <xxx> Masala dosa(sprinkled over dosa batter)
5. <xxx> dosa ( Grind the vegetable well and mix it over the dosa batter itself)

Please note the clear difference between name of  4 and 5 ;-)

I am closing this blog not due to lack of notes for the topic but for the fear I can visualize in your eyes about your planned visit to my home and for the pity that you have already developed for Nambi and Abhinav ;-)


Monday, March 3, 2014

Evolving with the Radio-centric life





Mother (of 90s): Hey Where is my transistor(shorty for the transistor radio)?!? (almost screaming from Kitchen)
Daughter (peeping into her clothes rack shouts (literally) back): I am having it ...going to have my bath...so I am taking it inside....
Mother: That is my radio...give it back to me in Kitchen ...That's how I keep track of time......(she still is happy that her daughter has inherited the habit of listening to radios)

Now....2014


Son (very early in the morning): Where is your i-phone?!?
Mother (from the "same" kitchen): It is here only …what is the matter?
Son: I want to watch Rescuebots. GIVE ME THAT... (Of course in top of his voice)
Mother: (Shouts back if she has time or yields in if she has no time to spare for the combat): [mumbles to herself]...That's the only thing I have to track the time.....



The impact (positive/negative)  of the modern technologies pertaining to Apple, Inc related products is highly arguable. I am not getting more into that since it is out of the scope of this blog let ;-) 





Aim: I am taking few citations and common scenarios to illustrate that the Radio had/(possibly)has the great role in molding the successful person. Does that sound as a over-exaggeration??!?! I can justify with appropriate equations.


Some Quotes for RHS (Who is successful person?!?!?) : 


  • Success isn't measured by money or power or social rank. Success is measured by your discipline and inner peace. - Mike Ditka
- Inner peace (or peace of mind) refers to a state of being mentally and spiritually at peace, with enough knowledge and understanding to keep oneself strong in the face of discord or stress.



  • The size of your success is measured by the strength of your desire; the size of your dream; and how you handle disappointment along the way.- Robert Kiyosaki
    - Radio helps you to handle disappointment as in reality.

    • Most of the successful people I've known are the ones who do more listening than talking. - Bernard Baruch
    - Obviosuly you listen to Radio ;-) 

     

    Ok, Lets map to the LHS and say hence proved...

    • Hypothesis 1: Inner Peace
    Consider
    While you are studying for the most difficult exam of your life. Of course, with the radio in the background. You get a call from your friend that she overheard your teacher telling that question paper is very tough. You are distracted with the question "Can I finish reading the syllabus?” and the Radio announcer(RJ) says “The song for you to reflect your mood”

    Option 1:  Peppy Song (e.g) : "Vetri midhu vetri vandhu yennai serum" (from the movie
    Thedi vantha maappillai
    ) Obviously, it strikes  your chords and get you to work harder…
     

    Option 2:

    What  if one of the saddest song is broadcasted in Radio: "Kanavu kanom valakai yaavum"(from the movie Neengal Kaettavai)  - What a timing?!?!

    Do you shun away with your activities and get depressed?!?

     May be not!!! You are bound to be reactivated when you continue listening to the songs lyrics further till the pallavi…

    manithanae kadamaiyai indre 
    seivathil thaane aanantham “ 
    Even on the worst case; the next song or the next program is bound to rejuvenate your vibes with "your" kind of songs and get you to the restart your studying.

     Immaterial of you finish the syllabus, find the questions difficult; complete the exam with flying colours the song teaches you reality of living in few steps ;-) (If you bound to learn from it the easy way)

     Can I say “LHS=RHS”? Or we need more substantiations?!?

    Inner Peace – keeping oneself strong in the face of stress = in terms of motivational songs and lyrics immediately or sooner enough.

    • Hypothesis 2:  Handling disappointments

     Consider having a recorded CD of your very favorite songs; How long can we listen to just that?It is like a very planned, well settled life with no problems/issues.
     A transistor radio on the other hand is the replica of reality. One would not know
     What song is up next?!? What is up next in life?

    One's favourite song? ...Happy “only-Good" moments
    Or unheard song?!?...unexpected happenings
    Whatever it may be, we “used to” listen to it as yet-another one….get-over the situation

    How you handle disappointment along the way = Easy way to learn handling unexpected(positive/negative) things on the way = in terms of the suspense you have about the next song.As you could, it also gives the needed amount excitement to look forward for new adventures and things.

    Listening more than talking = Radio “had” programs which gave lot of new informations which “was” worth listening.

    I am not against today’s revolution in Radio industry. I am just convinced that the competition in the industry has kind of changed the way the Radio had influenced our living. We have predetermined set of songs we hear and re-hear.....rather we circle around the sequence of events we live and execute(this is not re-living)

    I say “Hence Proved” J

    any oppositions?!?! Pls comments