Life's Perspective

Yesterday, as i was focussing some objects for a photograph in the macro mode of the camera, i learnt that the camera and our life both represent the same view, towards an object. As i was focussing something that was too close, the objects in the distance gets blurred and as we focus the distant object, the object close by gets blurred. Doesn't the same perspective apply for our life. When we focus on the nearby little goals of life, the bigger goals gets distracted, blurred and we get lost in the circle of smaller goals of life. In the same way when we focus on a distant bigger, main goal, all the smaller goals are by passed, they seem nothing in front of the main distant bigger goal of life we really dream of achieving. Now its in our hands, how we handle it. But sometimes, time too plays a bigger role. At times not everything works according to what we plan. Still we could focus on the bigger picture of life . Apply the macro mode to your life too.

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Ingredients Glossary

Kalonji:

Nigella seeds (kalonji, Kalaunji, black cumin) are a spice harvested from the plant Nigella sativa and are used as a spice in Indian and Middle Eastern cuisine. These black seeds are approximately 0.125 inches in length and have a slightly triangular shape, and may also be confused with black sesame seeds. The dry roasted nigella seeds flavor curries, vegetables and pulses. The black seeds taste like oregano and have a bitterness to them like mustard-seeds. It can be used as a "pepper" in recipes with pod fruit, vegetables, salads and poultry.

The Nigella oil is an anti-oxidant and popular for its medicinal value.

Shahi Jeera:

Shahi Jeera is also known as Royal Cumin Seeds. they are smaller in size and slightly black in colour as compared to the normally used cumin seeds. Shahi jerra is available in local markets.

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Methods of Cooking

BROILING:

This involves cooking on open fire. As this draws out the fat from the meat use a broiling pan to keep the fat from touching the meat.

Spray the broiling pan with cooking spray to prevent meat particles sticking to the broiler pan. This is the fastest way of cooking meat, provided it is not overdone. For succulent meat, place the broiling pan a little lower in the oven.

FRYING:

This is the method of cooking food by dousing in hot oil or fats. As results in high cholesterol and high fat intake it is better to avoid this method. One can have one's favourite items like french fries, etc in a much healthier way in an oven

GRILLING:

An excellent method for cooking foods, grilling involves cooking on an open fire from below. In this method the moisture is locked inside the food while the fats drips away.

DUM COOKING:

The term cooking under dum actually means allowing the food to cook under pressure in its own steam. This is different from pressure cooking.

To cook under dum the pan should be covered with a well fitting heavy lid and sealed with wheat dough (atta) along the edges so that the steam does not escape.
Check this site for detailed notes on Dum cooking.

ROASTING:

This is one of the most effective ways of cooking if you want to follow a low fat lifestyle.

It means cooking in an oven or a roasting pan without using much liquid. Use a roasting rack to keep the meat away from fat that drips from it.

Do not cook any vegetables with the meat as it absorbs the fat. Also, do not stuff poultry while cooking as the stuffing's will absorbs the fat

POACHING:

To cook tenderly in warm water, that does not boil or simmer. One can poach an egg to a chicken. An excellent method for low fat diets as all the fat is cast aside with the water. The ground rule is that the water for poaching should not even simmer. Food cooked in this manner is extremely tender and tasty.

SAUTING:

It means frying quickly in a shallow pan stirring constantly. This method looks in this juices and flavour. Always use non stick cookware and little oil for sauting. This is ideal for a low fat lifestyle. Besides both meat and vegetables can be cooked using this method.

STEAMING:

It involves cooking food indirectly, by use of steam. This can be done on the stove, oven or microwave. Moreover, through this method vegetables and meat can be cooked without losing nutrients, flavour and moisture



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Take life with a Pinch of Salt

“Let yourself be open and life will be easier. A spoon of salt in a glass of water makes the water undrinkable. A spoon of salt in a lake is almost unnoticed.”-Buddha.

Leave your ego at the front door when you go into workplace or when you meet somebody. Just be open don't built a closed space around you, so that you become the undrinkable water in a closed glass. Just take life with a pinch of salt, its not necessary for us to agree with each and everything others say, learn to say NO at the correct moments, else life wouldn't be easy living. A pinch of salt makes all the difference, if added in excess or if its too little, surely does makes a lot of change to the dish. The same applies to our life, don't get too involved with other people's life neither do not ignore your own life too much, maitain a balance in every outlook.Not more, not less, always remember the common salt perspective towards your life. With a right outlook, right attitude and postiveness, absorb all goodness of life into you and that makes you a better person similar to a tasty dish, where the right amount of salt is absorbed by all the ingredients giving out a great dish.

The power of salt is told remarkably in this folk tale:

Well, there was once a very rich gentleman, and he had three daughters, and he thought he'd see how fond they were of him. So he says to the first, "How much do you love me. my dear ?"
"Why," says she, ''as I love my life."
"That's good," says he.
So he says to the second, "How much do you love me, my dear ?"
"Why," says she, "better nor all the world."
"That's good," says he.
So he says to the third, "How much do you love me, my dear ?"
"Why, I love you as any dish that requires salt in it."
Well, but he was angry. "You don't love me at all," says he and remained angry with her.
So one day, the youngest daughter prepared dinner but without salt in any dish, when the father began to eat the food, it was so tasteless that he couldn't eat it. He tried first one dish and then another, but all were tasteless, and then he burst out crying. "What is the matter?" asked the daughter to the father.
I asked you how much you loved me. And you said, as much as any dish that requires salt in it.' And I was angry with you, for I thought you didn't love me. And now I see who loves me best of all.

Now, thats the power of salt, without it, any garnish or flavour you add, still it wouldn't taste good, thats why Homer many centuries back, called it 'Divine'.

Salt - A must for food to taste good, In modern times salt is so common that restaurants give way for free. Salt if added too much to the food or too little in the food makes a lot of difference to the food, making it tasteless. For centuries both cooks and physicians have realized that salt is not only an essential component to good health but makes food more palatable, bringing out the essential flavor of a dish like no other item on earth.

Salt has become an inexpensive and readily available commodity that most of us take for granted. But in older times salt was heavily taxed and wars were fought over it, it was as important as gold. Did you know, Salary derives from the Latin word salarium, a payment made in salt? In ancient times the barter system was prevalent .Salt was the oldest preservative, which was very rare in those times. It was so rare that it was used as pay in olden times. A few spoons of salt for a days work. The Roman word salarium linked employment, salt and soldiers and in Roman times, wages were often paid in salt. It also gave rise to certain expressions like "being worth one's salt." In ancient Greece, slaves were traded for salt- hence the expression 'not worth his salt'.

Our very lives depend on it, yet we call it common salt.

Salt helps maintain the normal volume of blood in the body and also helps keep the correct balance of water in and around the cells and tissues. It is also necessary for the formation and proper function of nerve fibers, which carry impulses to and from the brain, and plays an important part in the digestion of food and is essential in making the heart beat correctly. Even the simplest processes in our body need salt or its inherent elements in ionized form. The simple act of drinking a glass of water requires millions of instruction that come as impulses. In the beginning there is the thought. This thought is nothing but an electro magnetic frequency. The salt is responsible for enabling this frequency to transmit commands to the muscles and organs.

Life is not possible without salt. But our consumption of salt is killing us. Why is that? Because our regular table salt no longer has anything in common with the original crystal salt. Salt nowadays is mainly sodium chloride and not salt. Natural crystal salt consists not only of two, but also of all natural elements. These are identical to the elements of which our bodies have been built and originally found existing in the “primal ocean” from where all life originated. Interesting enough, our blood is a sole, containing the same salty solution as that of the primal sea, that is, a fluid consisting of water and salt. It also has the same ratio of concentration as existed in the days when life left the primal sea. This sole flows through more than 56,000 miles of waterways and blood vessels throughout our organism with the forces of gravity and levity and regulates and balances the functions of our body.

Tears are salty and so is blood. Salt bathes a body’s tissues. A solution of salt water substituted for blood lost will keep a human or animal alive for hours.

The late French scientist Dr. Alexis Carrel kept a chicken heart alive for over 37 years by having the pulsating heart in a solution of sea salt. Dr. Carrel voluntarily ended the experiment after a third of a century, having proven that living cells can have physical immortality. Amazing, eh?

The saltiest seas are in the Middle East where the hot sun beats down evaporating the water and making it saltier and saltier. The Red Sea is so salty you cannot sink- the salt keeps you floating!

Harsh salt laws were one of the chief causes of the bloody French Revolution.

Mahatma Gandhi’s 'Salt March' brought about the freedom of India from British Colonial rule and the salt tax.



For More Details:
http://www.chewonthis.org.uk/fat_salt_sugar/salt_facts.htm#sells_drinks
http://www.top-indian-recipes.com/salt-facts.htm
http://www.fnri.dost.gov.ph/wp/salthyper.htm

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