Ingredients:
3 Medium Potatoes cut into cubes
1 1/2 Table spoon yogurt
1 table spoon Ginger and Garlic paste (optional)
1 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon Tumeric powder (You can substitute with Paprika and you will get country fried potatoes)
Red Chilli Powder to taste (1/2 teaspoon recommended if you are a lightweight)
1 Tablespoon Cumin Powder
Slice the potatoes into small cubes
Add 2 tablespoons of oil
Once the oil is hot add one and a half table spoons of yogurt
add one tablespoon of ginger and garlic paste (optional)
Mix and then add the potatoes.
Add a teaspoon of salt. Sprinkle it evenly over the potatoes.
Add one table spoon of tumeric powder. You can substitute tumeric powder with paprika. Adding paprika will turn this dish into country fried potatoes.
Add red chilli pepper to your liking. Half teaspoon will give it a mild spicy flavor.
Mix well and let it fry for about 5 minutes and then mix again.
Cover the potatoes with a lid and let them fry for about 3 minutes.
Gently cut a potatoe in half to see if its done.
If its not done let them cook for another 2 minutes and slice again to see if they are at least half cooked.
Add a small amount of water and replace the lid. Let them steam for 3 minutes.
Remove lid and add a small amount of water again and let them steam for another 3 minutes.
After checking to see if the potatoes are done. Add 1 tablespoon of cumin powder.
Mix well and serve.
You can eat this with just tortillas or bread. If you serve it with rice, you can add hunan red chilli sauce to stain the rice and give it flavor.
Tumeric powder can be found in most ethnic stores (usually east Indian). The rest can be found at any supermarket.
Total cost for 2 servings: 50 cents (depends on what kind of potatoes you buy.)
Monday, April 18, 2011
The Real Picture
We hear a lot about how many people are unemployed nowadays. We also know the government is having a tough time creating jobs to get these people up and working. How hard is it to create 22 million jobs? Well, first of all, they probably don't need to create 22 million jobs to begin with. Why you ask? After giving it much thought, I've realized that these numbers have to interpreted realistically. Meaning, we need to know the norm for the numbers and then draw conclusions.
Lets start with the current unemployment number which is 8.8%. Now, this number may seem high but if you stop and think about it, in a good economy (at least in the past 30 years), the unemployment number hovers around 4.3%. So technically, out of the 22 million people unemployed, only 11 million jobs need to be created to bring that number down to normal. Now some people may think I'm being cruel by saying that 50% of the unemployed need to be put back to work and the others left behind. That was not my intention. Lets make basic assumptions about the unemployment number. We have established 8.8% is the current number and the norm is 4.3%. This is where we should ask "Why is the norm 4.3% for unemployment?"
I believe that if we further break down that 4.3% number, we will find that half of those people are what I shall refer to as "Floating Unemployed" meaning that they find a job and someone else loses a job. For example, Joe finds a job, and Bob his neighbor loses his job and starts looking for another one. Then Bob finds a job but his friend Tom loses his job. Basically, half of the number represents transitional phases. Someone losing a job for a while and then finding another one in a couple of months. Think of it as a buffer (if you are tech savvy).
The other half of that 4.3%, well, lets face it. There are people who do not want to work but like to work the system or just cannot hold a job in general. If you are reading this you are probably not one of those people. You wont find those people complaining on forums and in the media about being unemployed.
Which brings me to my next point. If you see someone complaining about being unemployed on a forum or in the comments section of a news article, you are bound to see someone chime in and say "Get a job". These people need to realize that people who don't want to work do not go around complaining about being unable to find a job or requesting for additional unemployment benefits. The general public needs to know that the normal unemployment rate is 4.3% and right now its at 8.8%. These extra unemployed people are NOT used to being unemployed. They do not like being unemployed, neither do they like living on borderline poverty with the little money unemployment benefits provide to them. If they are asking for extended benefits, its only because that's the only lifeline they have at the moment till the economy settles down.
Another thing everyone needs to know is that a lot of the unemployed people at the moment had decent salaries. These people being unemployed is going to take a big chunk out of the economy. This will result in a snowball effect if things are not normalized. Meaning that everyone will feel the brunt sooner or later. You cannot assume that twice the number of people being unemployed wont effect everyone at some point. Right now is the time for everyone to come together and work towards a solution, not point fingers.
As Abraham Lincoln once said ""A house divided against itself cannot stand."
Lets start with the current unemployment number which is 8.8%. Now, this number may seem high but if you stop and think about it, in a good economy (at least in the past 30 years), the unemployment number hovers around 4.3%. So technically, out of the 22 million people unemployed, only 11 million jobs need to be created to bring that number down to normal. Now some people may think I'm being cruel by saying that 50% of the unemployed need to be put back to work and the others left behind. That was not my intention. Lets make basic assumptions about the unemployment number. We have established 8.8% is the current number and the norm is 4.3%. This is where we should ask "Why is the norm 4.3% for unemployment?"
I believe that if we further break down that 4.3% number, we will find that half of those people are what I shall refer to as "Floating Unemployed" meaning that they find a job and someone else loses a job. For example, Joe finds a job, and Bob his neighbor loses his job and starts looking for another one. Then Bob finds a job but his friend Tom loses his job. Basically, half of the number represents transitional phases. Someone losing a job for a while and then finding another one in a couple of months. Think of it as a buffer (if you are tech savvy).
The other half of that 4.3%, well, lets face it. There are people who do not want to work but like to work the system or just cannot hold a job in general. If you are reading this you are probably not one of those people. You wont find those people complaining on forums and in the media about being unemployed.
Which brings me to my next point. If you see someone complaining about being unemployed on a forum or in the comments section of a news article, you are bound to see someone chime in and say "Get a job". These people need to realize that people who don't want to work do not go around complaining about being unable to find a job or requesting for additional unemployment benefits. The general public needs to know that the normal unemployment rate is 4.3% and right now its at 8.8%. These extra unemployed people are NOT used to being unemployed. They do not like being unemployed, neither do they like living on borderline poverty with the little money unemployment benefits provide to them. If they are asking for extended benefits, its only because that's the only lifeline they have at the moment till the economy settles down.
Another thing everyone needs to know is that a lot of the unemployed people at the moment had decent salaries. These people being unemployed is going to take a big chunk out of the economy. This will result in a snowball effect if things are not normalized. Meaning that everyone will feel the brunt sooner or later. You cannot assume that twice the number of people being unemployed wont effect everyone at some point. Right now is the time for everyone to come together and work towards a solution, not point fingers.
As Abraham Lincoln once said ""A house divided against itself cannot stand."
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