DesiReflections

Honestly, I did not hear much about Teriyaki before landing  in USA. It enjoy cult food status and can be found in any nearby eating area. Now it is fastly making inroad in India also. But why it has earned status of cult food so fast so quick, let us examine. Teriyaki   originally glazed chicken, is essentially Japanese delicacy, now available in so many avatars.  It is a cooking method  in which sliced meat or fish is grilled, pan-fried, roasted or broiled in a special sauce made from soy sauce, sugar,  mirin  (sweet Japanese rice wine) and sake (rice wine). The word “teriyaki” derives from the word  teri , which refers to a shine or luster given by the sauce, and  yaki , which refers to the cooking method (grilling or broiling). In the traditional way of cooking the meat is either dipped in or brushed with the sauce multiple times before completion. Originally the sauce was applied in the last stages of cooking, but more recently it i...

If you are a vegetarian and want to try some thing other than the traditional Indian fodd, then probably Kimchi is  worth trying. It does not look like much-wet looking vegetables with a fiery red patina. But once it is tasted, it is easy to understand why Kimchi-spicy-hot,salty, sweet-and-sour fermented veggies-is the standard starter to any Korean meal.  It  is a preparation   of  raw vegetables that become naturally fermented in puree of fruits, garlic, ginger and Korean spices. Kimchi is a living food like wine and cheese; the older it gets, the deeper its taste develops. Kimchi preserves nutrients  probiotics that are already in fresh vegetables while self-generating probiotics . After a day or two in room temperature, you need to keep it cold for that perfect tangy soda taste. All of the elements    in Kimchi are beneficial for our body, especially our intestines that feed our digestive tract, blood stream and brains. Ki...

30.05.2015. Friday evening in US is for a sit up dinner with friends, long drive or a road trip, but if in Bellevue area, which is basically Microsoft domain with fairly large Indian Origin people's presence,   a Hindi film is running house full that too in its second week, their is a need to probe what is so engrossing in it. Being a film critic, I am privileged to see preview of the movies for a long time, preview theatre is a place where critics watch the movies not to enjoy but to to threadbare it. But today, the situation was different, I was watching Tanu Weds Manu Returns (TWMR) in a multiplex , where people have come to watch the movie by skipping a dinner,drive or a trip and after paying premium price. I was trying to capture the scenes which compelled this paid audience to laugh a loud. Frankly, in this film that the audience enjoyed most of the moments !   There is absolutely no surprise in the fact that  Tanu Weds Manu Returns (TWMR), sequel of Tan...

विदेश प्रवास -रोड ट्रिप -स्पोकेन यात्रा  भारत में अमरीका को पूँजीवादी व्यवस्था कह कर काफी कोसा  गया है और हमारे साधू ,संत और महात्मा उन्हें भोग विलासिता में डूबी हुई संस्कृति कह कर फब्तियां कसते  रहे हैं. सच यह है कि  आज तक तकनीक , प्रोद्योगिकी और यहाँ तक कि परियोजनाओं के लिए उन्ही की ओर  तकते रहे हैं , और यह साधू संत सबसे ज्यादा पैसा वहीँ पर खोले हुए आश्रमों  से या फिर वहां के अनुनायियों से कमाते आ रहे हैं।  यही नहीं, आज भी किसी अंतरराष्ट्रीय मंच पर भारतीय राजनीतिज्ञ अमरीकी इंडोर्समेंट की प्रतीक्षा करते रहते हैं।  अमरीका के किसी भी शहर में जा कर देख लीजिये , वहां के सामान्य नागरिकों में योग और भारतीय चिकित्सा पद्यति के बारे में जो जानकारी है वह शायद किसी भारतीय को भी अचंभित कर दे। यही नहीं वे सप्ताह में पांच दिन पूरी निष्ठां से अपने कार्य या व्यवसाय में लगे रहते हैं. फिर अपनी हैसियत के अनुसार दो दिन प्रकृति की गोद  में अपने पूरे परिवार, जिसमें पालतू जानवर भी शामिल हैं, के साथ मानसिक और शारीरिक विश्रांति के लिए निकल पड़...

We have Gyan about modern technology now a days on What's Up Groups, Facebooks pages  but not all of it true - it's hard to know if we're treating our electronics properly. We debunk some misconceptions related to modern day to day technology.  1. Mac Computers can't get Viruses  Apple used to brag its computers aren't as vulnerable as Windows PCs to viruses, but the company quickly changed its marketing page after a Trojan affected thousands of Mac computers in 2012.  2. Private/incognito browsing keeps you anonymous  It's good for keeping other people who use your computer from seeing what you've been doing. But it won't keep your identity hidden from the sites you visit or your ISP.  3. Leaving your phone plugged in destroys the battery  Modern smartphones run on lithium-ion batteries, which are smart enough to stop charging when they've reached capacity.  4. Don't charge your phone unless it's almost dead  The reason your phone's batt...

With invasion of global food channels as well lot of innovative food shows on main line channels, now  a days, people are going for more global recipes now a days. Twenty-Twenty Five years back, Chinese, Thai,Mexican and Italian food were not heard even in state capitals,  their Highly Indianized version is now available in smaller cities.But quest for enjoying global food has widened. In this series, we shall talk about some food items which are gaining access to food malls as well as eating joints. Sriracha is a spicy sauce, became very popular in western countries during last ten years. David Tran, is the innovator of this uniquely flavored sauce. he was born and raised in Vietnam, but is of Chinese descent, migrated to America as a refugee in the late seventies. He found much of his liking except a satisfying hot sauce. He settled down in Los Angeles, he tried to make some thing of his own, something chile and garlic based Sriracha which is popular in Vietnam and nam...

Material prosperity is not a guarantee to happiness. That is why in all Hindu scriptures, lot of emphasis is laid down on balance between material and spiritual prosperity.  Can Dutch people provide answer to be a happy society ?  Recently British magazine come out with a write up which  says that  Netherlands consistently ranks as one of the best places in the world to live. Dutch kids are among the happiest in the world, according to UNICEF. Some attribute their high quality of life and general good nature to a rather laid-back approach to work: more than half of the Dutch working population works part time, a far greater share than in any other rich-world country. On average only a fifth of the working-age population in EU member states holds a part-time job (8.7% of men and 32.2% of women); in the Netherlands 26.8% of men and 76.6% of women work less than 36 hours a week (see chart).  Chart courtesy : The  Economist Let us try...