Housewives as Chefs !

Kamalji · Feb 10, 2012

Housewives as Chefs ?

Times of India dt 10th Feb had this interesting article, the onlhy one in the 4 news papers that caught my eye HOMEMAKERS NEW STAR CHEFS AT HOTELS

Here is what the paper said

Home cooked food is entering 5 star menus at the same time as 5 star food is entering homes.
Confused? I don’t blame u, read on .
In a unique gastronomical agreement between hotels and 5 star chefs,there is no written agreement, and there is tradeoff between the two.

It captures the trend,of high paying guests at 5 stars wanting to taste home made food while housewives want to serve 5 star food at home !!! Taj Gateway Hotels has 20 homemakers on its payroll, who cook homestyle food of their region. They are on a monthly contract and work 5 to 6 hours and make 6 to 8 varities , and each variety enough for 12 people.

Since the homemakers were uncomfortable with the big vessels of the 5 stars, the hotel bought them vessels like the ones they have at home, and also their brand of spices and other masalas. This food is not for room service but served in the restaurant, as it has to be fresh and piping hot, including rotis, which we make at home, not the tandoori rotis that the hotels serve.

I think this is a wonderful trend, whereby both the sides profit. The guests at the hotel get to eat sindhi Marwari, gujerati food, and the homemakers learn the 5 star ways of cooking, and the families at home are happy with the change in the daily menu for the better.

In fact this idea I had for many years, but in a different way. There is a Punjabi neighbor who makes wonderful Chole and rajma, we love it, and they love our sindhi kari. But I can tell u, the ladies are loathe to share secrets, and we husband suffer in the bargain.

We get tired of eating the same 6/8 types of breakfasts, and the same style of veggies etc. if the ladies cooperated , I used to say to harsha, suppose the sindhi Marwari, Punjabi and gujerati or a south Indian, all these people show each other in the neighbourhood their favouirtie dishes, each house would become a 5 star, I could be having some lovely dosas, dhoklas, and other things, and they could be having our sindhi curry, and other sindhi specalities, and life would be so tasty and fun eh !

It would cut down on eating out in each family, saving so much money, its jus tthat at times ladies cant stand each other in the neighbourhood. That is understandable, each has their own behaviours, but if we ignore that for a common cause and put aside those differences, life would be heaven eh !

Similarly what if shopkeepers too had cooperation among themselves they would earn money, so what if they are fierce competitiors eh ! Just imagine the current scenario, where all the showrooms of say sarees have their sales at the same time, the customer does not know whom to visit and what to buy from whom. This way the shops sell, well not at a loss, but say a modest profit, but the customers are scattered everywhere.

Let us see this from kamalji angle. Say 4 showrooms , ABC and D get toether. So Suppose they split it this way
A – sale from say 1st to 7th, B the next 7 days, and so on with C and D
When A has sales, the others sell at full prices, so A makes money. And BCD give their garments at a fixed price to A for selling during the sale time. All customers flock to A, and A mints money, while the other 3 have little or no sales.
Now when B has a sale, the other 3 keep full prices, and now all the three give B their goods to sell in its sale, and so on.
This way, each gets their chance to milk the public legitimately, and at the same time their old goods are being sold by the competitor, and what remains unsold is returned to the respective shopkeeper.Win win for all eh !

This I was reminded of an incident, where two friends put up the same stall of oranges on the roadside standing a little distance apart.
The first fellow quoted 30 per kg, the customer would bargain, he would refuse. So when they went to the other fellow, he quoted 25/- and everyone bought form the 25/- chap without a bargain, not realizing it was available in the market for 20. The comparison made them buy from this fellow.
So the 25 buck fellow had the sales and the profits, thanks to the 30 bucks fellow.
Next day they reversed the rates and the other chap minted the money. No competition, just cooperation among two competitors and the milked the profits. HAHA
So ladies and gentlemen, what do u hve to say to this idea of mine, I am curius to know.

Burp !!!

KAMAL MAHTANI

After a long love filled hug,girl whispers to boy
“if u hug me once more like that , I will be yours forever
Boy – Thanks for warning me in advance !!!

Slavery and Torture were banned a long time ago.
But for some reason, marriage was not !!!

If u feel overburned with work, go to the nearest
Biological Anxiety Releif (B A R)
To take carious antidotes known as
Work Isolating Neutralizer Medicine ( R U M )
Bothersome Employer Elimination REbooter ( B E E R)

Issued in public interest by buddies for Eradication of Work Disease Association ( B E W D A)

Missed Call Theroy

5 missed calls from different friends ,mean – u missed a great party
5 missed call from one friend – He wanted to hang out with you
5 missed calls from your girlfriend – You missed a great screw
5 missed calls from your wife – You are screwed man !!!

Only two types of communication are the fastest in the world
Email
And Female !!!

Hare ek kamyaab admi ke peeche ek aurat hoti hai,
Ho use itna tang karti hai,
Ki who dukhi hokar apne kaam mein lag jata hai,
Aur Kamyabi uske pair choomti hai !!!

Anisu · Feb 10, 2012

Kamalji,

You always come up with some ideas or the other ....which is very unique .....

Nice to know that Homemakers have become chefs .....But the idea which you have given about sharing the recipes ..is already there ....Thanks to Chithra mam ..she has given us a variety of recipes ..so that we can choose it and make which ever we want ....

Coming to the shopkeepers ...do u think people are generous in letting someone earn profit ?? no kamalji not at all ...Most of them are selfish ....they only look at how they can make money ..and grow their business ....blah blah blah ....

I wish all think like to in business ...and follow the policy "live let live" ....

Kamalji · Feb 10, 2012

Dear Anisu,

Well , let me say, if the shopkeepers dont fight among themselves, they can make more profit by cooperating .But this way , it is good for the customers eh !

Sharing receipes is one thing, as Chitra does, but teaching personally is something different. REading and cookery books are one thing, and acutally someone teaching u is another thing, what say !!!

Regards

kamal

mimur9 · Feb 10, 2012

Kamalji, when I read that news I was wondering how to register for that...how they take chets....but see you too saw the same news but your way of thought is different! ha.ah.a.

I give a small suggestion kamalji. Why not men learn the hotel cooking stuff and make the family happy by providing hotel dishes on alternative days or atelast on weekends (saved from pockets getting empyt!) . this way both the man and the woman of the household earns a good name, change in life and taste (a chance for the woman to criticse [tit for tat]) ;-)

coming to the shop idea...inthat case shop owners may have to go from door to door to get the customer list (like voter list) in that area, divide them equally among themselves with a checklist for the visiting customer in that area...equal distribution you see!..h.aa...

you know kamalji, here local election is on 16th of Feb and already politicians have started campaigning by hiriing english speaking youths (girls & boys) to go at doorsteps, market & publicise the good things about the candidate and they party (all in good english) with a prominent thing higlighted in the pamphlets "Gradute / Post Graduate / Phd.", take down the door no., name & phone number of the voters (may be to cross check the list on the voting day) so on.... (we know you can spin a nice web from anything!)

Prettywoman73 · Feb 10, 2012

Nice article.. .. Still better were the jokes in the end.

Srama · Feb 10, 2012

That's a wonderful way of utilising all that talent and ceativity Kamalji and it is so beneficial to all the parties involved - the housewives/retuarants/customers! Can we have a better win/win situation? And that stereotype tag of a housewife will undergo tremendous change in more ways than one!

I agree with you, some days even I am bored of my own cooking and crave for something nice or should I say different and that is when DH brings something from a restuarant and if we continue that for a couple of days, my whole family is ready for my precious rasam/rice again!

Oh all this talk about food has me drooling and I now know what I want to ask Mrs.C when and if I get to visit her....... Mrs.C, are you hearing???

navs23 · Feb 11, 2012

Nice blog Kamalji.
One thing is changing in the recent times, people are no longer hesitant or secretive about their family recipes and many of them love to share them on the internet(how can I not mention Chitvish when I talk about sharing recipes? IL is full of her wonderful recipes!!!). So, these days, if I need a recipe for Hyderabadi Dum Biriyani or Chettinad chicken, all I need to do is check the web. There are hundreds of wonderful blogs with recipes in detail and appetizing photos as well(I always check the feedback before following a recipe, the more others say they had tried it and it had turned out wonderful, the better the recipe will turn out to be). These days recipes are hardly a secret ;-)
One question popped up on reading about the home made food making its way into the hotels, are these food cooked at one's home kitchen and then brought to the hotel and heated and served or are these cooked in the hotel premises itself? if it is cooked at homes then, who checks the quality standards? I do not mean to say hotels kitchens are more hygienic, but there must be some way to ensure quality while handling food(wearing hand gloves, cap to prevent hair fall etc) right?
But it is a welcome change for the home makers, giving them an opportunity to do what they like and also help them provide for their families(monetarily and in terms of good food). The schedule also seems to be pretty flexible.

Kamalji · Feb 11, 2012

Dear Mira,

My friend is a chef, in a 5 star, draws a lakh plus, at home he says wife does the cooking he wont lift a finger. i forgot to add this to the blog. laedies are supposed to work at office and work at thome, while men just work at office eh ! Not fair on themens part.HAHA

that election thing is a new one eh ! Guess the politicians are now getting savvy, and now besides the hutment and beggar votes they want of the educated class eh ! Good ideas really.HAHA

Regards

kamal

Kamalji · Feb 11, 2012

Dear Pretty,

thanks, glad u liked the jokes. here isa new one that came in SMS today morning.
When two couples meet
The wives look at each other's sari's/clothes/jewellery
The men, they look at each other's wives !!!!!

HAHA

Regards

kamal

Kamalji · Feb 11, 2012

Dear Sabita,

Yes housewives are now in demand and it is good to know that their talent for cooking now makes even 5 stars want to go to them.Wow.

like u, me too get bore d with the same preparations, wife is pure veg, the maids cook my nonveg, same style day in and day out, so one gets bored, and i dont blame wife or maid, so sometimes i do a take away, like
tandoori chickan and roomali roti, these two u cannot make at home at all.

Mrs. C will oblige u always, i have had the good fortune of having dinner with her and her husband, along with Cheeniya 3 years back and i still remember the delicious food.

Regards

kamal