Dear Friends,
Before we could even start the day, we begin to mentally prepare a list of things to do for the day. By the end of the day we forget at least a few things which could have been done easily, if only we had remembered it during the course of our work or the day. With no one to remind us, it becomes even more difficult to keep track of jobs to do.
Would it not be a good idea if we could just jot 'to do' jobs while having our breakfast. This could be on a slip of paper or a dairy which we should not forget to carry. Many of us write down these things and forget to take the list along while stepping out :D
What I further do with this list is to organize the order of things to do if it involves going to different places to get jobs done. If it is a series of 'going out' jobs then I check whether there is a time within which I should be doing a particular job like the shop closes by 7pm, etc. Otherwise I chart out the route in such a way that all areas are covered in the shortest time possible. This helps in prioritizing the jobs accordingly.
It makes a lot of sense to have such a list every day and tick off what jobs have got done and which ones are pending. We should not however forget to add the pending ones to the new list of the next day.
This way we will keep doing all the jobs we wanted to.
Cheers!
Mahalakshmi
Saturday, June 5, 2010
Friday, June 4, 2010
Manual Labourers
Dear Friends,
The renovation work is in progress at our place.
I had the opportunity to listen to bits of conversation among some workers.
They were comparing piece rates from contractor to contractor.
Almost all agreed that the best was a contractor who would give them Rs.10/- each day for 2 times tea (tea costs Rs.2/- per cup) and Rs.4/- for bus fares - up and down plus the wages without any cuts for the above.
For them this is the perk they are happy with.
I wanted to so much interfere and say I shall gladly give you all this amount henceforth, yet I have learnt never to interfere in such matters where their boss is king. What he decides goes best for his team. Our giving this small money to 5 workers on job at our site may not be much for us, a matter of gratitude and joy for the workers but the boss is the one who provides them with continuous work all round the year. Who are we to spoil his team of workers for a very temporary project like ours. The worker could be chucked out of his team. Ultimately the worker is the loser. I dont want them to lose their daily bread.
Bye for now!
Mahalakshmi
The renovation work is in progress at our place.
I had the opportunity to listen to bits of conversation among some workers.
They were comparing piece rates from contractor to contractor.
Almost all agreed that the best was a contractor who would give them Rs.10/- each day for 2 times tea (tea costs Rs.2/- per cup) and Rs.4/- for bus fares - up and down plus the wages without any cuts for the above.
For them this is the perk they are happy with.
I wanted to so much interfere and say I shall gladly give you all this amount henceforth, yet I have learnt never to interfere in such matters where their boss is king. What he decides goes best for his team. Our giving this small money to 5 workers on job at our site may not be much for us, a matter of gratitude and joy for the workers but the boss is the one who provides them with continuous work all round the year. Who are we to spoil his team of workers for a very temporary project like ours. The worker could be chucked out of his team. Ultimately the worker is the loser. I dont want them to lose their daily bread.
Bye for now!
Mahalakshmi
Monday, May 31, 2010
Being Prepared
Dear Friends!
Since the past 9 days we have had to stay elsewhere as 2 bathrooms at home are being renovated.
It could have got finished in a week yet its been dragging on for longer time due to labor playing traunt.
We now travel from Perungudi where we are right now put up at my sister-in-law's (bless her for putting up with us for quite some time now) house to Adyar.
Every day we keep our small money change before we set out in an auto or a share auto which would cost us less than hiring an auto. But getting change for a hundred rupees is difficult early in the morning and no shopkeeper around would oblige either.
Today morning we had a hundred rupee note and no change. Yet we got into an auto. Upon our asking if he had change on him, he said he always filled up petrol for his auto and kept enough change as he dint want to be harassed nor did he like to harass his passengers who could be in a hurry to reach their destinations. I was really very impressed about his attitude towards his profession.
It made me think. Being an auto driver he has to have adequate change at all times otherwise it could mean loss of a prospective passenger getting impatient while waiting for the auto driver to settle his fare with the previous one.
It does pay to think of what all one might need for a particular job and be prepared with them in advance to have a peaceful working day ahead.
Behind success lies hard work and good planning!
Cheers!
Mahalakshmi
Since the past 9 days we have had to stay elsewhere as 2 bathrooms at home are being renovated.
It could have got finished in a week yet its been dragging on for longer time due to labor playing traunt.
We now travel from Perungudi where we are right now put up at my sister-in-law's (bless her for putting up with us for quite some time now) house to Adyar.
Every day we keep our small money change before we set out in an auto or a share auto which would cost us less than hiring an auto. But getting change for a hundred rupees is difficult early in the morning and no shopkeeper around would oblige either.
Today morning we had a hundred rupee note and no change. Yet we got into an auto. Upon our asking if he had change on him, he said he always filled up petrol for his auto and kept enough change as he dint want to be harassed nor did he like to harass his passengers who could be in a hurry to reach their destinations. I was really very impressed about his attitude towards his profession.
It made me think. Being an auto driver he has to have adequate change at all times otherwise it could mean loss of a prospective passenger getting impatient while waiting for the auto driver to settle his fare with the previous one.
It does pay to think of what all one might need for a particular job and be prepared with them in advance to have a peaceful working day ahead.
Behind success lies hard work and good planning!
Cheers!
Mahalakshmi
Waste Not Want Not!
Dear Friends!
For the past couple of years I have been following these simple recipes which are not only healthy but leaves me with at least 2 or if I am able to stretch it further, to 3 different dishes from a single vegetable I want to make for the day.
For instance I wanted to make a cabbage dish called the cabbage poriyal or curry on the 26th May. On such days what I do is the following:
If I need 250gms of the vegetable to make it, I start cutting it. I will then take out the tender portion to be used for the curry or poriyal first.
Then innovate further to use the hard portion like the stems and limpy leaves, if any, and the thick veins which we usually junk, into a clear soup (can make a white sauce based soup too).
Then step 3 would be to convert the hard boiled portion's paste into a gravy for a spicy curry.
Keep the tender cut portion of the cabbage and the hard portion separately:
1)Take the tender cut portion and cook it in a litre of water. Strain the steamed vegetable and saute it in a little oil, salt, red chilly and garnish with grated fresh coconut. One steamed dish is now ready.
2)Tip in the hard portion of the cabbage to boil in the strained stock. Strain the cabbage once again, when they are done. To this stock, one can add herb of one's choice like lemon grass or basil leaves. Or just pepper powder with salt. This could be either a clear soup or a soup with white sauce.
3)The strained and leftover boiled cabbage can now be ground to a paste with any of the following to make another dish called chutney*
OR
4)can be converted to a gravy to which diced carrots, fresh sweet corn, diced potatoes or beans can be added with the garam masala or any curry powder to make into yet another new dish.
*For the chutney, my favourite ingredients are 1 diced onion, two diced tomato, 2 teaspoons of chopped green corriander leaves, 1 green chilly - all sauted in 2 tsps of any oil. Grind all of them into a fine paste. Add salt and 2 to 3 tspns of lemon juice. Heat 2 tspns of oil in a pan, add mustard seeds and some curry leaves and garnish the chutney.
Now you have 3 dishes from the same cabbage, each tasting different with different ingredients!
for instance I wanted to make a dish out of spinach today.
Took 2 bunches of it for a lentil based dish called keera paruppu in Tamil which when translated means 'greens with lentils'.
The stems which have strings or fibre need not be thrown away because we cannot use that portion. What I do in such cases is to separate out the leaves and the stems.
Cut the bottom most part of the stem portion which could have some mud sticking to it.
Put on boil a litre of water in which add the leafy portion first. This gets cooked in about 5 minutes' time. Strain out the cooked leaves and make the dish you wanted to or any one of the following :D
(There are any number of varieties one can make with spinach* alone).
1)Like cooked, roughly mashed up spinach sauted in a little coconut oil, with one or two red chillies, salt and a pinch of asoefotida and grated coconut for garnishing or;
2)Cooked spinach sauted in a little clarified butter with red chillies, salt to which cooked and mashed up lentils are added. Finally 2 teaspoons of lime juice adds a tangy taste to the dish. Can be served with rice or rotis or;
3)Another one can be prepared with cooked spinach with diced onions and tomatoes sauted in oil, salt, spices added and a dash of lemon juice.
The list can go on with a versatile green such as spinach.
Then we come to the next part of our little story of making a dish with the stem portion.
The retained stock should be boiled alongwith washed and cut up stems (we are using up even the stems here), a small diced onion, a diced tomato, salt to taste,
pepper powder to taste. Allow to cool and grind to a smooth paste. Serve it with a blob of butter.
OR prepare a white sauce, add the green paste and serve. Both types of soups are good.
We have this green and healthy soup as a starter.
The dish will serve as an accompaniment with rotis (an Indian bread) or steamed rice.
Next time you start cutting up any vegetable think of ways to use as much of it in as many dishes as possible. All dishes will taste different if we innovate
and plan our menu in such a way. But keep all ingredients ready. Follow the steps. Did you notice how little oil you use in all the preparations as all are first steamed and the stock put to good use too.
The farmer toils in the hot sun to raise vegetables. There are many who cannot afford their daily requirement of vegetables. We could use maximum portion of any vegetable provided we have the patience to think out the steps involved in such adventures. We can save the amount of garbage we junk as vegetable refuse. Save costs over a period of time by consuming more parts of a vegetable and save on the time, energy, money, fertilizers and water to grow more and more vegetables. This type of idea should begin at homes first.
Cheers!
Mahalakshmi
For the past couple of years I have been following these simple recipes which are not only healthy but leaves me with at least 2 or if I am able to stretch it further, to 3 different dishes from a single vegetable I want to make for the day.
For instance I wanted to make a cabbage dish called the cabbage poriyal or curry on the 26th May. On such days what I do is the following:
If I need 250gms of the vegetable to make it, I start cutting it. I will then take out the tender portion to be used for the curry or poriyal first.
Then innovate further to use the hard portion like the stems and limpy leaves, if any, and the thick veins which we usually junk, into a clear soup (can make a white sauce based soup too).
Then step 3 would be to convert the hard boiled portion's paste into a gravy for a spicy curry.
Keep the tender cut portion of the cabbage and the hard portion separately:
1)Take the tender cut portion and cook it in a litre of water. Strain the steamed vegetable and saute it in a little oil, salt, red chilly and garnish with grated fresh coconut. One steamed dish is now ready.
2)Tip in the hard portion of the cabbage to boil in the strained stock. Strain the cabbage once again, when they are done. To this stock, one can add herb of one's choice like lemon grass or basil leaves. Or just pepper powder with salt. This could be either a clear soup or a soup with white sauce.
3)The strained and leftover boiled cabbage can now be ground to a paste with any of the following to make another dish called chutney*
OR
4)can be converted to a gravy to which diced carrots, fresh sweet corn, diced potatoes or beans can be added with the garam masala or any curry powder to make into yet another new dish.
*For the chutney, my favourite ingredients are 1 diced onion, two diced tomato, 2 teaspoons of chopped green corriander leaves, 1 green chilly - all sauted in 2 tsps of any oil. Grind all of them into a fine paste. Add salt and 2 to 3 tspns of lemon juice. Heat 2 tspns of oil in a pan, add mustard seeds and some curry leaves and garnish the chutney.
Now you have 3 dishes from the same cabbage, each tasting different with different ingredients!
for instance I wanted to make a dish out of spinach today.
Took 2 bunches of it for a lentil based dish called keera paruppu in Tamil which when translated means 'greens with lentils'.
The stems which have strings or fibre need not be thrown away because we cannot use that portion. What I do in such cases is to separate out the leaves and the stems.
Cut the bottom most part of the stem portion which could have some mud sticking to it.
Put on boil a litre of water in which add the leafy portion first. This gets cooked in about 5 minutes' time. Strain out the cooked leaves and make the dish you wanted to or any one of the following :D
(There are any number of varieties one can make with spinach* alone).
1)Like cooked, roughly mashed up spinach sauted in a little coconut oil, with one or two red chillies, salt and a pinch of asoefotida and grated coconut for garnishing or;
2)Cooked spinach sauted in a little clarified butter with red chillies, salt to which cooked and mashed up lentils are added. Finally 2 teaspoons of lime juice adds a tangy taste to the dish. Can be served with rice or rotis or;
3)Another one can be prepared with cooked spinach with diced onions and tomatoes sauted in oil, salt, spices added and a dash of lemon juice.
The list can go on with a versatile green such as spinach.
Then we come to the next part of our little story of making a dish with the stem portion.
The retained stock should be boiled alongwith washed and cut up stems (we are using up even the stems here), a small diced onion, a diced tomato, salt to taste,
pepper powder to taste. Allow to cool and grind to a smooth paste. Serve it with a blob of butter.
OR prepare a white sauce, add the green paste and serve. Both types of soups are good.
We have this green and healthy soup as a starter.
The dish will serve as an accompaniment with rotis (an Indian bread) or steamed rice.
Next time you start cutting up any vegetable think of ways to use as much of it in as many dishes as possible. All dishes will taste different if we innovate
and plan our menu in such a way. But keep all ingredients ready. Follow the steps. Did you notice how little oil you use in all the preparations as all are first steamed and the stock put to good use too.
The farmer toils in the hot sun to raise vegetables. There are many who cannot afford their daily requirement of vegetables. We could use maximum portion of any vegetable provided we have the patience to think out the steps involved in such adventures. We can save the amount of garbage we junk as vegetable refuse. Save costs over a period of time by consuming more parts of a vegetable and save on the time, energy, money, fertilizers and water to grow more and more vegetables. This type of idea should begin at homes first.
Cheers!
Mahalakshmi
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