LIFE ON YOUR WALL

Paintings can bring life in a room... I remember my early days of setting up my first home a day after my marriage in a new country…forty countries couples all had the same decorated and furnished houses in a small place called Camberley in England. All the houses were so beautiful yet so still…there was no warmth around the house and nothing to make it feel like a home. The winter outside and the cold atmosphere of the house made me feel homesick.

Then one day our friends Dr. & Mrs. Nath took us to a fair. Considering our need, they felt the best present would be a painting and so they let us try our hands on “Wheel Painting”. We both enjoyed making it. The expression of colours we both liked produced a beautiful result with the mood at that time as well as the colours close to our hearts. Coming back to our house that evening, we were so excited to bring life into our quiet home as that painting brought brightness and warmth. Colours speak for themselves and Life on the wall was what changed that house into our home!

Today after forty years with my Interior Design background, I have been able to reframe that painting to find the right place in my house and do justice to that priceless possession. The black mount to the colourful painting gives depth to it and the beige wooden frame further brings out and brings forward the bold black mounting. Right framing can play a great role in highlighting a painting. Influenced by the oriental scrolls, I added length to the painting by selecting a rectangular frame and particularly making the top and bottom black borders of the mount broader than the sides…            



Minna's Painting





Minna's Painting

   

This is a Gold prize winning recipe selected by Kikkoman Corporation. The Judges found it nutritionally well- balanced. Since the medium of cooking was keeping in mind the Japanese taste, white sauce was replaced by Soya sauce as a topping. This recipe was inspired by my mother's favourite dish that she frequently cooked for our family known as "Mother's Pride" where she actually used white sauce as a topping for the crepes.     

“SOYA HIGH RISE”

INGREDIENTS:

For Crepes-         2 Eggs

                                1 Cup Milk

                                2 tbs. Soya Sauce

                                4 Green Chillies

                                1 Ginger-about 4cm. 

                                ¼ Onion cut finely

                                50grams Cashew nuts crushed

                                2/3^rd Cup Flour

                                6 tsp. Oil for frying                         

For Filling-         ½ kg (500grams) Pork minced Meat

                               ½ Cup Kikkoman Soya Sauce

                               ¼ Cup Sake (any)

                               2 tbs. Tomato ketchup

                               100grams Raisins

                               ½ tsp. Chilli Powder

                               1 tbs. Salad Oil

Sauce for Topping-     Left over Soup from the Meat

                                       2 tsp. Flour

Garnishing-        ½ Cup grated Cheese

METHOD:

On medium flame, place a pan with the 'Filling' ingredients and cook for 7 minutes with a closed lid.

Meanwhile in a bowl, mix the 'Crepes' ingredients with a hand mixer and keep aside.

Then remove the pan containing the 'Filling' ingredients (containing the meat) from fire. Drain all the soup through a sieve leaving the meat dry for the filling.

Use the left over soup for making the sauce topping by cooking soup with the flour on slow flame.

Finally, cook a 6 diameter round Crepes pouring 50cc mixture in a pan with 1tsp. oil. Make 6 Crepes.

Divide the filling into 5 portions and put the filling between each layer of Crepe in a dish.

Lastly, pour the sauce on top of the last layer of Crepe in the dish and garnish with cheese.

*Tip: Serve cold after keeping in the fridge for 2 hours. Use a knife to cut the layered cake of crepes.