Pepper Mushroom

I don't own a smart phone. I still carry around my key pad phone. The phone perhaps shows my age but it fits neatly in my pocket and it serves my purpose for making and receiving phone calls, text when I want to and it is the maximum extent to which I use my phone. I don't tweet,blog or facebook with a phone and when I meet people I actually want to talk to them and not keep looking down on my phone.

I know a few people who just can't be without looking at their phones. This topic of people who prefer to have a conversation virtually rather than converse with people they meet face to face has been beat to death. Sadly nobody seems to be getting the hint. Most people I assume do not realize that they are insulting the person standing in front of them.

The other day in fast moving traffic I am stuck behind this guy who is breaking without reason and straying into the neighboring lanes and also driving well below the speed limit, perfect conditions for road rage when one is trying to get to work or get home. Of course I can change lanes and keep going which is what I did but should he be using that smart phone while he is operating a vehicle?

I don't deny that these smart phones are useful and serve a purpose. I also have seen these things being a big distraction at work and that is a shame. One manager had a rule "phones cannot ring and nobody can answer or look at them" during the meeting. On the other hand I have been in meetings where a few of them had no idea what went on in the meeting because they were busy checking their phones. It is sad that these people do not realize that being distracted means the others have to fill them in and everybody else being in the room lot longer than they want to and the job wasn't getting done.

Why did I bring all this up? I got my cell phone almost a decade ago out of fear. It was during the time 10 years ago when the snipers were terrorizing the area. Just a year before America as we had known had come to an end. Even simple things like going to the grocery store or pumping gas had become dangerous activities. DH was on a traveling job and it was just DD and me. I had to instruct her on how to use the phone if she had to.

Cell phones had just started getting to be a necessity rather than luxury and they had become from brick sized to fairly decent size that they can fit in a pocket.Like life the cell phone evolution has come a full cycle, phones are going back to being bricks what with them being capable of doing more and more functions. If you are smart don't let the phone get in the way of personal interactions. Life is too short to be communicating with an electronic device rather than to the people around you.

Can you share something with me? If you do own a smart phone have you done something that has got you in trouble? One more, are Mushrooms Vegan?

Fresh mushrooms are a delight and I have a sort of love hate relationship with them meaning sometimes I am eager to cook with them while other times I can't stand the sight of them. Anyway I was going through one of the hate phases which came to an end when I brought home a bag of crimini mushrooms with this mushroom biryani in mind. After seeing this recipe on Edible Garden, I decided to make some pepper mushroom instead.

Ingredients

1. 3 Cups of sliced crimini mushroom
2. 1 cup of slice red onions
3. 4 green chilies chopped
4. 2 tsp of black pepper
5. 1/2 tbsp of tomato ketchup or tomato paste
6. salt to taste
7. 2 tsp of oil
8. Lemon juice (optional)

Method

1. Take a skillet, heat a bit of oil and add the sliced mushrooms and let them cook in high heat with salt added till all the moisture evaporates. Set aside.
2. To the same skillet add the rest of the oil and when hot add the green chilies and onions and saute till the onions start to turn brown
3. Now add the pepper powder and give a good mix. Add in the tomato sauce, mix it into the onions and let it cook for about 3-4 minutes.
4. Now add in the mushroom mix it into the spices and let cook for another 3-4 minutes.Check for salt and add if needed.
5. Finsh with a squeeze of lemon juice.

Serve with steamed rice.

Kale Stir Fry

If you are from South India stir fries (poriyal) are as common for lunch as idlies for breakfast. Most stir fries are prepared pretty much the same way with a tiny bit of variation here and there. Though the greens I grew up with are not as common here there are greens here that lend themselves to a pretty good stir fry.

One recent find for me is kale as you all know from this post - Kale and Potato Soup. Though kale blended well with the potatoes and made the soup tasty enough my favorite recipe by far is the stir fry made of kale.

Kale leaves unlike spinach or swiss chard do not become soupy when cooked. They retain the shape pretty well and the bitterness disappears when it is cooked.

OK, while I am extolling the virtues of kale let me also offer a word of caution from an article I read in the Health Section of the Washington Post. You can read the whole article but in an nutshell too much of raw kale (juiced or in salad) is not a good thing. You knew that already, there cannot be too much of a good thing of anything. Oh well it is a bitter green and eating raw is not my style, if it is yours read the article.

The stems of the kale is tough but I used that and the leaves in the stir fry. The slightly bitter taste of the greens, sweet taste of the onions and the crunch from the lentils made it tasty enough for me to want to write about it.

Kale Stir Fry
Ingredients

1. 1 bunch of kale (about 4 cups when chopped, cut them about 1/4 inch apart with the stem) wash and drain the water completely
2. 1 cup of chopped onions
3. 6 red chilies broken and seeds shaken out
4. 1 tbsp of channa dal (bengal gram)
5. 1/2 tbsp of split urad dal
6. seasonigs:mustards seeds, a pinch of cumin
7. 1 tsp of oil
8. salt to taste

Method

1. In a pan heat oil and when hot add the channa dal and let it start to brown, add in the urad dal at this point and let it start turning brown, add in the seasonings at this point and when the mustard starts to pop add the red chilies and saute for a few seconds.
2. Add the onions and saute till they turn translucent.
3. Add in the kale leaves and let it cook for 4-5 minutes. The leaves and stem are mostly cooked at this point. Add salt.
4. If there is moisture left turn the heat to high and cook for another 3 minutes or so till the water evaporates.