Column: The Good Life: for Mint Lounge
Return to India: For Knowledge@Wharton
Return to India: One Family's Journey to America and Back Published: November 01, 2007 in India Knowledge@Wharton For decades, it was widely assumed that the brightest Indians would go overseas to study and eventually settle there. Today, signs have begun to appear that the tide may be turning. The fact that global companies are setting up operations in India makes it easier for non-resident Indians to return home, often while remaining with the same employer. Indian students are not leaving the country as eagerly as they once did, and if they do, they go back home much faster because of [...]
Amuse Bouche: their daily bread: Time magazine
Two hours southeast of the Turkish capital of Ankara lies a surreal landscape of giant pink rocks carved by nature into phantasmagoric formations. Locals call the area Cappadoccia, or "fairy chimneys," and at nearly every roadside stop, there's a stall selling gozleme the flat bread native to the region. A mixture of feta cheese, parsley, vegetables and spices is wrapped in dough and sizzled over a hot griddle until perfectly crisp. Gozleme is tangier than an Indian paratha, more robust than a French crepe, and altogether delicious. Cappadocians eat gozleme for breakfast, lunch and dinner (usually with a refreshing glass [...]
The Reds Are Coming: New Zealand wines: Time magazine
With 463 wineries producing 119 million liters annually, New Zealand wines have come a long way since the first Sauvignon Blanc was harvested in Marlborough a mere 30 years ago. Mild, fruity whites are what the country is most associated with, but the long-held perception that New Zealand's terroir isn't suited to reds has finally been overcome by a number of wineries producing world-class Pinot Noir. The silt-loam soils of New Zealand yield a Pinot Noir somewhere between the robust Australian reds beloved of influential American critic Robert Parker and the more complex Bordeaux wines. Some Kiwi wineries have even [...]
Amuse Bouche: Food Fight: Time magazine
Emmanuel Stroobant, chef of Singaporean popular restaurant Saint Pierre, serves a signature wok-fried foie gras with tetaki of Japanese squid, julienne of Parma ham with warm yogurt jelly and black peppercorn reduction. But ask him if he is a fusion chef, and he balks. "I guess I am," he says, "but I don't like the word fusion." "Fusion has become a bad word in Singapore," says food-and-beverage consultant Peter Knipp, whose company organizes the city-state's annual World Gourmet Summit. "People use it as an excuse to mix ridiculous ingredients, charge double the prices and upset a lot of people." It [...]
Hidden Gem: Shopping in Santiago, Chile: for Time magazine
Santiago is one of South America's best-kept shopping secrets. With prices in their own countries skyrocketing because of inflation, well-heeled Argentines and Brazilians are flocking to the Chilean capital for their luxury purchases. Among the best buys�besides leather and wine�are gems like amethyst, malachite and lapis lazuli. Amethyst is locally prized for its supposed healing properties (it's common to find chunks of it lying in homes to counter bad luck). Malachite is used in popular fashion accessories, worn by Chilean women in bracelets and anklets as they sashay down the Parque Arauco Mall. But lapis, the most well-known Chilean stone, [...]
Malaysian Sensations: Four Seasons Langkawi. For Time magazine
Most spa resorts are so cookie-cutter that once you check in, it's hard to tell if you're in Krabi or the Maldives. Not so at the new Four Seasons Langkawi, tel: (60-4) 950 8888. The design of this resort has a very Malaysian sense of place and incorporates elements from the country's Muslim heritage. Arabic tiling turns the large bathrooms into approximations of Turkish hammams. The resort has gorgeous views of the Andaman Sea, and all its airy rooms open on to covered balconies. The main restaurant, Ikan Ikan, is housed in a recreation of a limas, or traditional Malay [...]
Whey They Go: New Zealand. For Time magazine
If you think New Zealand cheese means processed cheddar slices, be prepared for a surprise. The country has seen a mini boom in artisanal cheeses in recent years, with producers taking advantage of a pristine environment and prime, grass-fed dairy cattle to create cheeses that would be at home in any gourmet emporium. Dutch-style cheeses like edam and gouda have been particularly successful. According to Sarah Aspinwall, owner of the award-winning Canterbury Cheesemongers in Christchurch, cheesemakers in New Zealand now produce "the best Dutch-style cheeses outside of Holland." There are many other varieties being made besides, and while skeptics might [...]
Waterworld, Time magazine
Iguazu Falls, as Eleanor Roosevelt famously observed, "make the Niagara look like a kitchen faucet." This may be an exaggeration but not by much�after all, the Iguazu Falls are four times wider than Ontario's most famous body of water. Located amid lush rainforest at the border of Brazil and Argentina, they present one of the best (and most deafening) opportunities you will ever have for an encounter with the unbridled power of nature. The Brazilian side has the panoramas, while the Argentinean side offers proximity to the falls themselves. But viewing from both sides is necessary to complete the experience. [...]
The Oil Boom: Time magazine.
The Oil Boom: Time magazine. June 24, 2005 New Zealand's olive-oil industry is barely 20 years old, but since the first olive trees were experimentally planted in the country in 1985, the number of olive growers there has soared to more than 500. The reason? Olives are very easy to cultivate in New Zealand's temperate climate, particularly in the Marlborough region, where the same weather that is favorable for wine production also results in beautifully rich, fruity olive oils. New Zealand growers have planted olive varieties from all over the world, including Israeli barnea (the most common), French picholine, [...]
The Smell of Success: Time magazine
The Smell of Success: Time magazine, September 05, 2005 (Of course, link won't work unless you are a subscriber, so I am not giving the link) If you're stranded in Bangalore, you won't go hungry. This southern city is rapidly becoming the wealthy, cosmopolitan face of India (even if the infrastructure and road system struggle to cope) and is blessed with scores of decent restaurants as a result, from swanky gourmet venues to trendy holes-in-the-wall. Its upwardly-mobile population is also adept at sniffing out good food and value something that makes many restaurateurs use Bangalore as a testing ground for [...]