Vahrehvah.com: A superb resource for Indian cooking

by Abha Malpani on

Finding this Indian cooking website has changed my world. I can cook basic Indian food, thanks to my mum, but when it comes to anything a little complicated, I get a lazy — especially because (from experience) — after a hours of work, the end result has not been worth the effort. I would also blame the disaster dish on me living in Spain: “All the spices are not available and what are available just don’t taste the same.” It’s all rubbish. What I needed was a good guide and I think this is it!

A bad translation of “vah reh vah” in English would be “that’s just awesome”, but it’s enough to give you the gist. The website has recipes of over 230 Indian dishes, but the best part is that many of the Indian recipes have a video guide to go with them.

The “Vah chef” Sanjay Thumma is a great host. Very Indian. But great. His passion and talent for cooking is evident in the videos. For example, in his video that teaches you how to prepare Hydrabadi Biryani (one my favorite Indian dishes), he gets a little emotional in the end; when he tastes what he made, I’m pretty sure that his eyes welled-up with joy!

Another element key in making this website a super hit: Since it is targeted towards non-resident Indians, he often mentions in his recipes ingredient replacements should you not be able to find something specific in your country. You can also help yourself on this front by checking out the site’s Cook’s Thesaurus.

You can also access Sanjay Thumma’s video channel on YouTube. He is quite a personality, you will enjoy watching him. He has won a gold medal for his recipes in the All-India Chefs competition for culinary arts, and all the video work is his own production done in his digital studio, that by the way, has just gone HD!

Other than Indian food, there are recipes for other cuisines; however they don’t have video content. A must visit if you want to cook some good Indian food.

Face to Face with West Africa’s Wildlife

by Josh Lew on

The Penjari Biosphere is a wildlife preserve in a remote corner of the West African nation of Benin. Like many such wildlife areas, it struggles with poachers and environmental problems, but tourism, in the form of photo safaris like the one in the video, is an important source of income for the area.

Even the most jaded tourist, wary of tourist traps and non-authentic experiences, would find a safari like the one in the video exciting. The fact that getting up-close and personal with wild animals is an attractive proposition is nothing new to the African tourism industry, but fully capitalizing on the tourist potential while protecting the wildlife for future tourism is the challenge. But, there are now economic reasons for creating a sustainable tourist model. The more interest in wildlife tourism grows, the more demand there will be for sustainability.

This video was taken in early morning, when the Penjari’s animals all head for the nearest watering hole. Check out the menacing elephant about a minute-and-a-half in.
Video courtesy of Boing Boing

Daily deal – FREE AVS Video Editing software

by Scott Carmichael on

Today’s daily deal is for the AVS Video Editor. This video editing package was developed so anyone can collect, edit and produce stunning video clips.

The software supports importing video files in various formats, including content recorded on your digital camera, camcorder, analogue video camera, and even off your PC webcam.

The editing package comes complete with 300 video effects and transitions, including chroma-key (green-screen) and picture in picture. When you are done editing your video, you can even add titles, credits or a soundtrack.

Completed shows can be recorded onto a DVD or converted for viewing on an iPod or other portable media player.

This video editing suite normally retails for $89, but for just one day (Saturday September 13th), you can download and install the application for free. The only catch is that you must install and activate it today.

You’ll find the AVS Video Editor at Giveawayoftheday.com. I took the program for a quick spin, and it really does seem very complete, and most certainly more feature-rich than the video editor included with Windows. So, if you are looking out the window at a dull and rainy day, why not gather up some of those old family video’s and create your very own blockbuster!

Could you be Southwest Airline’s new Blog-o-spondent?

by Grant Martin on

Are you handy with the camcorder, good at setting up shots and taking quality video? Were you the founding member and president of the A/V club in high school? Do people always think that you’re the center of attention at parties? Then you might be a great candidate for Southwest‘s new Blog-o-spondent position to which they just started recruiting.

Over the past few months, the airline took one of their lucky employees through a whirlwind tour of the company as she video blogged the entire experience. Now, they’re looking for a Southwest fan to hand off the reins. The lucky person will be assigned a year’s worth of excitement as he or she jetsets around the country, video blogging on the entire airline, experience and any excitement that’s going on in the Southwest community.

Obviously the airline is going to pick someone that’s quirky, loves flying and is great on video, so try to emulate those traits if you don’t have them and put together a one minute video application.

Think you’ve got what it takes? Take a look at the trailer and head over to Nuts About Southwest for details on the contest.

Hacker installs video camera in checked luggage

by Grant Martin on

Ever wonder what happens to your luggage after you give it to the ticket agent and it gets swallowed by the conveyor belt system? Or why you always seem to have that note from the TSA after you get your bag back saying that they dug through your bag and helped themselves to your gummy worms?

Computer programmer Algormor was curious about why his bag kept getting molested by the TSA every time he traveled, so he finally got fed up and installed a camera inside of it. Leaving the film rolling, he checked his bag on a few trips and recorded what happened in the airport innards. His talk on the whole setup and execution was featured at The Last Hope conference earlier this year, but until a few days ago he hadn’t posted the video.

For all of your conspiracy theorists, what he found unfortunately won’t floor you. His videos show a lot of time on conveyor belts, the camera vibrating all around and the general boringness that many would expect from a luggage system. No fiddling, rifling through or malice from the TSA.

Perhaps the most interesting (least uninteresting) parts seem to be on the leg between Indianapolis and Chicago where you see a TSA fella pick up the bag, flip it over and go back to text messaging. On next trip around on the conveyor belt he’s taking a break.

Big deal. But for those curious about baggage handling systems, a fun little tour. Check out the videos at algormor.org.