We got a glimpse of this product in a shopping mall in Mumbai. This is Forbes’ answer to Pureit from HUL.

It is a 5-stage water purifier with SureBoil technology. It seeks and destroys harmful bacteria and virus, removes organic and physical impurities and gives water “as pure as boiled water with natural taste”.

Features

• Water level indicator
• Two way tap to monitor flow
• Unique 5 stage purification process
• No boiling required
• No electricity required
• No running water
• Kills disease causing bacteria & virus
• Available in two sizes 18 & 25 liters

The price as mentioned on the site is Rs. 1800/-

For more details visit: http://corporate.eurekaforbes.com/corporate-index.php

Here is snapshot of the product in the mall which is 50 rupees more expensive.

Click on image to enlarge

Continuing from our previous article, here are some more vendors who distribute LPG connections for Domestic use.

Indian Oil Corporation has their own brand called INDANE.

You can check all details pertaining to their services here :

http://www.iocl.com/Products/Indanegas.aspx

Now coming to private players. We have the following:

Supergas

They promise a hassle free connection for Indian homes. You can check further details here:

http://www.supergas.com/hasslefree.htm

Currently, their domestic network is available in the following states – Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra, Gujarat, Tamil Nadu and West Bengal.

The last one that we have in this list is from Caltex.

Check their website : http://www.e-lpg.com/cgil/

We hope you found this two part article useful. Undoubtedly more and more things are moving online.

If you are aware of more private players in the LPG domestic arena, please let us know via a comment.

A large portion of the Indian homemakers use LPG cylinders in their kitchen to cook. We thought of throwing some light on the various vendors that are available in India today who deal with domestic LPG connections.

Image Courtesy : knowledgebase-script.com

The first name in this category would be Bharat Gas.

A brand owned by Bharat Petroleum, Bharat gas caters to domestic LPG consumers. You can check a lot of details such as distributor list online at their website. They even have online booking for gas connection.

http://www.ebharatgas.com/ebgas/pages/index.jsp

The second in the list would be Hindustan Petroleum. Their product is called HPGAS.

 HP Gas is Liquified Petroleum Gas (LPG), popularly known as cooking gas is a mixture of Hydrocarbons which are gaseous at normal temperature but can be liquified at moderate pressure and can be stored in cylinders as liquid under pressure and is drawn out and used as gas.

Like Bharatgas HP also offers a lot of facilities online.

For bookings please visit : http://jihaan.hpcl.co.in/booking/Default.aspx

For complaints and feedback please visit : http://jihaan.hpcl.co.in/cms/register.aspx

More vendors in Part 2 of this article. Some LPG Facts for you:

    Since LPG is almost twice the weight of air it tends to settle down at floor level particularly in depressions, hence care has to be taken in locating gas installations in the house . Also the fact that 1 cc of liquid LPG multiplies into about 270 cc of gaseous LPG helps it spread very rapidly in the atmosphere, hence if a gas cylinder leaks it should immediately be removed to an open area.

Check these messages from the forum:

Cleaning Thermos Flask

Solving Fridge odours

Some tips for kitchen

Way back in February, we had written an article:

Using Kitchen Scales – Tip for Indian homemakers

Today’s article is actually an inspiration by seeing the egg like device on our shelf (see picture below).  

Image Courtesy : mybabygiftsnthings.com

The device which you see above resembles and egg. But it is actually a mechanical timer which is capable of counting back from 60 minutes down to 1 minute. At the end of this countdown, it would buzz like a typical mechanical alarm clock.

How it operates is simple – you take the device and twist it clockwise (wind it up). Care should be taken not to over-wind the device as it may get spoilt completely. After winding it up, you merely turn the dial anti-clockwise till the red market coincides with the time you want to set.

For example if you want a timer for 5 minutes, you can turn the egg’s top half anti-clockwise till the red market coincides with “5″. Its that simple. Once that is done, leave the device on the table and at the end of 5 minutes the thing will ring.

The uses for such a timer in the kitchen are many. You can time cooking, soaking, baking and virtually anything which needs some timing. Most recipes require you to do time based activities and this is the perfect solution for that. Before the advent of electronic timers on microwave ovens these devices were more popular with conventional ovens.

They are available in wide variety of shapes and colors!

Image Courtesy : designspongeonline.com

Image Courtesy : gadgets.boingboing.net

As for the availability, we are not sure where in your city these would be available. Our piece was purchased in Germany. If you already have on, please do let us know where you purchased this.

1) Hobs and Chimneys are never to be placed near a window as this could lead to dirt, wind and blow-out of the gas. Keeping an open window near a Chimney…what’s the point. The smell and grime will spread throughout the kitchen.Better to have the chimney and hob with cabinets on either side.

2) Tall Unit position is no acceptable in kitchen design. Tall Ladder units must always be located near the extreme ends of cabinets…in this case after the fridge itself.This would give a more streamlined worktop from end to end.

3)Space below the hob would be better utilised if the 3 main sets of drawers were with cooking range.

a) A 3 pc set of Cutlery basket + Cup Saucer Basket and Bottom Plate pullout

b) Bottle pullout and

c) 2 big wide Vessel Baskets.

With these 3 Stooges in place the main cooking experience will be a breeze. Need any more advise on kitchen design??

Please leave your questions on this board at the forum :

http://aavaas.com/forum/index.php?board=4.0

People in India working in the kitchen hardly use aids and accessories to their benefit. We had spoken about oven mitts sometime back and today we swing our attention to a more basic item - ”the apron”.  

Image Courtesy : rapha.cc

An apron serves as a protective garment while performing the task of cooking. It reduces the chances of getting heavy stains and splashes on your dress while cooking or cleaning. Further, it also protects you from oil splashes and other such incidents which can occur in the kitchen. The oil spill is a risk especially for Indian women who wear “Saree” because a lot of skin in the abdomen region is exposed while cooking.

The apron also enhances the hygiene value and is well appreciated by guests and family members. It does a wonderful task of protecting your clothes from wear and  tear too. Aprons are also very practical. They have pockets for storing some items which could be required at the time of cooking. The aprons used for kitchen purposes are made from either oil cloth or PVC. We also get aprons made from other material like cotton in the market. Make sure you choose the right one based on the climatic and cooking conditions in your home.

Encouraging people to use aprons while cooking and serving is a good practise. It goes well with being considered as modern and conscious. Aprons are pretty simple to use too. The piece is slipped onto the neck with the cloth being on the front and then the two ribbons are taken to one’s back and tied into a bow-tie knot. Upon completion of task, the apron is removed by undoing this knot and slipping the apron out through one’s neck.

Let us know if you use aprons and share your experiences with us on this.

The product covered today is a useful appliance for all Indian kitchens which use LPG as the cooking raw material. The product is manufactured and sold in India by a company called Zicom.

Image courtesy : zicom.com

Product Features:

• Detects gas leakage from LPG or CNG
• In-built hooter gets activated once gas leakage is detected
• Two-hour battery back up
• Fire-proof and resistant to high temperatures

The cost of the product is Rs.950/- as per the company website.

To see where this product can be purchased in India please visit :

http://www.zicom.com/consumer/locater/conslocation.aspx

You can also reach the company via a toll free number : 1-800-22-4567 (BSNL and MTNL users only)

Mobile users can SMS ZICOM to 58888

Glass is an elegant serving dish. It has been used for a long time in Indian homes. Before the advent of plastic, glass was a popular serving dish in every home. Even the water stored in the refrigerator was bottled in glassware. Glass is not only classy but also more hygienic and safe than plastic. Of-course the downside is that it is expensive and fragile.

Image Courtesy : quartermoon.com.au. Click on the image to enlarge.

Did you know that there is a wide variety of glassware which you can adopt for your home?

• Alcohol based glassware – This would include beer glassware, wine glassware,  shot glassware etc.
• Tumbler glassware – this is referred to by multiple names such as Collins glassware, highball glassware etc.
• Iced tea glassware – also used to serve cold coffee and lassi!
• Juice glass - specifically for serving fresh juices (also tetra-pack juices )
• Glass cups – for serving coffee and tea. These usually come with saucers.
• Jugs/Pitchers – These are used to pour the liquid into the glasses and are equipped with a spout for easy pouring.

Virtually every utensil can be created with glass. Examples are serving plates, bowls, ice-cream cups and more…..

Glass is also highly suitable for microwave oven usage unlike plastic which as to be a special grade material.

For more details you may refer to wikipedia article here : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glassware

Some of you may have noticed that the earlier static page links on our site has changed.

We are slowly revamping these static pages to help serve our readers better. Currently the pages “About“, “Why Aavaas” and “How to?” have been removed. We will put them up shortly after some modifications.

What has been done now is that we are introducing static pages for all the “rooms” in a common Indian home. Here we would be listing all the items which could be put into these “rooms”.

Do drop a comment to tell us what you think about this.