Thursday, December 17, 2015

Looking Back On 2015

At the end of every year, we look back and take stock of what that time held for us.Needless to say, now is the time I have been thinking back about this year 2015, which is about to come to a close.Though it has been an exciting event filled year, this one has been a mixed bag of good and bad surprises as life often tends to be.For me, this is one way to have a record of events to look back on and reminiscence.

A Retake of the Good, The Bad and the Ugly.....

 The Good:  Some good things have happened here in Australia since the start of the year.We applied for permanent residency after the surprise round of firing happening in my husband's company at the start of the year.We got it on  3 July.We got to witness the housing boom in Sydney with many houses crossing epic prices.



In many ways it was a fresh start for me this year.My passion as an artist...well...yes...I am an artist as well.... was rewarded.I will write about that some other time. But the good thing is I exhibited in some places and my paintings at the Parramatta Open Art Exhibition won me some prizes.My painting Titled "Soulmate" won me the first prize - a cash award of $500 and another one titled celebration won me a third prize.It feels very good to establish myself as a local artist.Keeping my fingers crossed for my paintings to sell.

 The Bad:The bad stuff to happen this year were the deaths of two family members dear to us, on my husbands side.His grandmother passed away and his uncle as well shortly after. It just gave us time to reflect on how short life is and how there are no guarantees as to how or when we will leave this earth.We were stuck here and everyone knows that death of dear ones leave you with a lot of time to think about your mortality, especially when you are abroad.I just hope that all this thinking leaves us less material loving and more compassionate as  human beings.

 The Ugly: The good and bad cannot be heard without mention of the ugly. And the ugly here has been the recent flooding happening in Chennai. Water logging in houses with the smell of sewage water is something which many of us in Chennai will not be able to forget for a very long time.Many lives were lost.The amount of water released from the various reservoirs near Chembarambakkam , Adyar has been epic and unheard of. It is just that Chennai was not prepared for rains of this level.Property has been damaged severely and the help which has been pouring around has just shown us how strong this community is. I personally feel it is a time for all of us to realize that we need to start giving back what we have taken from nature for granted. Since it is Chennai we are talking about, many of us will have already realized that the only help that we are going to be getting is from the people nearby and not any political bighead or leader.

 Now is the time for us to implement steps of waste management  on a individual level and use the power of social media to try to repair not only our homes, but the roads, drains and filth surrounding us.It should not take a flood for us to stop littering in streets and living with garbage around us.Most of all, we should not forget to question our leaders on what is being done with the tax payers money.It is  time for us to stop living selfish and to start to thinking about the greater good of Chennai in every little thing we do.

Happy New Year Everyone.I hope 2016 brings all good surprises for us.

Saturday, December 12, 2015

Tried and Tested Recipes

In this era of technology where most of us learn cooking from recipes and videos that we find online, I wanted to share some links of  various websites where I found good recipes and the final version also came out very well.I personally do not stand to gain anything from providing these links and am doing this as a basic guide to people starting out on cooking.
This might be time saving for many of us, because while there are many links to the same items, some give really excellent results when compared to many others.This is in no way saying that the other versions are bad. Rather these are fail proof ones which are guaranteed to give good results.I will also add anything which I learned from these recipes as well as tips and tricks to get them well.

Gulab Jamuns: Well, for me the ready made Gulab Jamun mix never did yield good results and thus began my search all over the web for a recipe guaranteed to give good end results.I found the one recipe here

This one gives perfect gulab jamuns each and every time. Just be sure to follow the instructions exactly and the measures as well.Now thanks to Bhajias Cooking, Gulab Jamuns are a breeze for me.

Chettinad Tomato Chutney: There are many versions of tomato chutney.This one came out really very well in my trial today and they tasted yummy with the dosas. I really loved this chettinad version and the idea of adding coconut milk instead of coconut was a bit novel for me.You can find the chutney recipe here.

Tiffin Sambar/Moong Dal Sambar: We love the slightly watery sambar which we used to taste in the roadside eat outs in Chennai with the hot steaming idlis and dosas.On the search for the perfect recipe for this sambar. I found this recipe here , which yields the most yummy sambar each and every time.I have tried this four to five times and every time, the end result has been nothing but lip licking delicious  tiffin sambar, which we can drink out of a bowl.Give it a try and you won't be dissapointed.Be sure to check it out here

Dal Tadka: Anyone ever wondered how the simple yellow great tasting dal at the restaurant gets made.I did and a search on the net and further trial and error of various recipes led me to the ultimate one.I must say I was very impressed with this recipe that I do make a habit of checking this website for other recipes as well.Kudos to Dassana Amit for her wonderful recipes. Check out the recipe for Moong Dal Tadka here

 Vegetable Pulav: The recipe for the tastiest pulav after looking at many websites and the feedback, I rather stumbled upon this wonderful website.It kind of gives an intro to chettinad cooking.What I really love about Solai's Chettinad Kitchen  is that the recipes have the exact measures.This is very important when you are starting out new and have no idea what makes what.This wonderful recipe for vegetable pulav is one of my all time favorites and has never failed to give me excellent results time and again.The idea of adding coconut milk is also new.If using instant coconut milk, try adding a little less than 1 cup to 2 cups water as given in the recipe.It makes the rice very filling and heavy.No potatoes in this one.....Check it out here and enjoy.Also check out Solai's Kitchen for many other wonderful recipes.

Methi Paratha Punjabi Style: I have always been reluctant to try these parathas because the measures of spices to be used always to be very tricky.I however found out this video where the measures and instructions worked for methi paratha.I loved that the dhania or corriander seeds are added in theink whole form rather than as a powder.It gave an amazing taste to these parathas.Check out this youtube video for the tastiest methi parathas here