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Monday, March 10, 2003
Feature

Culinary Websites get cooking
Shalini Singh

Illustration by Sandeep JoshiKHUSHI was too happy. She was getting married to the love of her life. As the ceremonies proceeded, she was welcomed with great love and fervour. And now she had to prove herself. She was asked to make something sweet in the future kitchen of her dreams.

Without hesitating, she headed towards the kitchen and within an hour’s time, she was sitting with everyone watching them eat garam garam gulaab jamun that she had just made.

Her parents-in-law complemented her profusely. Khushi was overwhelmed and in anticipation of more admiration looked at her husband. His face was replete with love and pride. He just got up and thanked Khushi for making everyone happy.

The next moment, Khushi was on the phone, narrating everything to he mother. She was so contended and kept on saying, "Mummy did you see how my information technology proved to be a boon?"

Khushi, is an example here, but we know in today’s fast moving world all of us want to catch up as much as we can. Today, apart from going to the cookery classes, or reading those volumes of cookery books, you can just log on to various cookery sites and learn new recipes.

Several sites have been catering to the younger generations. So when mothers are busy watching Khana Khazana or The Tarla Dalal Show, daughters can log in to www.sanjeevkapoor.com and www.tarladalal.com

As we have been talking about newly-weds and have been trying to help them through our information in their endeavours to reach out to the hearts of their in-laws, www.tarladalal.com needs a mention. She has been holding numerous cooking classes, which were supposedly an essential pre-requisites for young girls of marriageable age. You have to register yourself to traverse through this informative site. There is also lots of stuff related to kitchen and dining for online shopping.

The kind of membership you choose, you can be a gold, silver or a regular member.

All these three memberships have different benefits attached to them. To avail those benefits and learn more about the site log on to www.tarladalal.com/Benefits.asp

Now if you are looking for recipes from all over the world, log on to www.topsitelist.com/world/recipes

You will find professional recipes. A click on the section ‘What’s Cooking?’ leads you to an easy and quick recipe, which is also very easy on your wallet.

Especially designed for those who want to and are trying to build up their cooking skills is www.murphynews.org/recipe/ recipehome.html

This link has recipes of food that are easy to prepare – which is a must for the newly weds as they want to spend more time with the new family knowing them, rather in the kitchen. The delicacies are also supposed to be delicious to a palate.

Besides these, there are various other cookery sites also. For example, www.recipesource.com is a cookery site that was started by collecting recipes from all over the world. Jennifer Snider compiled the collections in 1993. The recipes are divided on the basis of regions, ethnicity and dishes too.

Another interesting site that we came across is www.mouthshut.com. Hey! no don’t worry, this is nothing derogatory. In fact, it is supposed to be one of India’s most comprehensive person-to-person (P2P) information exchanges.

This site doesn’t confines itself to the knowledge of cooking but also diversifies into various other segments essential to become a good homemaker. ‘ Home makers for the life time!!!!!’

The best part about their particular site is that there is no need to login or register and this, thus saves our concern of filling those unending forms for simple recipe.

For those health freaks, there is microwavecookingforone.com. The name might raise few eyebrows, but is justified in today’s world of nuclear family tradition. So, if you happen to be a newly wed couple, the site serves just the right for you. Log in and enjoy.

Now for those who want to prove the art of cooking during festivals, we have www.womenexcel.com/cuisine/festiverecipes.com.

Click on the link and experience the gamut of dishes made on the various known festivals also the renowned recipes of the popular restaurants and hotels.

Marriages, they say, are made in heaven. So you never know whether your daughter’s stars will keep her in India or take her abroad. The Website,

www.cuisinecuisine.com/indiancookinglinks.html, is designed specially for those married abroad. It is a fun site for anyone interested in learning how to get started with Indian cuisine. The site helps you when you are away from home and are not surrounded with the everyday cuisine.

This site helps to bridge this gap by helping you keep in touch. The main goal of the site is to let the culture be alive. Information on organizing parties, cooking tips, managing time while cooking, menus and more are here on this site.