OK, everything I type turns to mush lately. It’s like I never took an English or spelling class. I cannot wait until the kids are grown and I have no more munchkins in my bed so I can resume life as a fully functional adult. Anyway, this is why I have been blogging less and less because I have been writing even more like a neanderthal than usual. Please bear with me.
I did it again. I made this recipe of Aloo Gobi last night and added too much hot pepper. I made it with rice and roti, and it smelled so good. I was very excited anticipating our modest feast. We all sat down and took a bite. I literally “mmmm”ed out loud and the rest of my family said “wow, that’s spicy,” Oh well, I have the leftovers for myself for lunch. Maybe I have no nerve endings in my tongue.
Spring fever has hit here. We are seeing patches of grass here and there, more and more each day. I am having a hard time keeping the kids concentrated on their studies. I am happy, yet come spring there is much work to be done. The barns are a mess.
I am also very sad at the anti-Catholicism that is rearing its ugly head surrounding Mel’s movie. I think I have had it with Hollywood If you take the subject matter of The Passion out, the cinematogrophy and the direction in the movie are excellent, and they cannot give him credit for that. I am disgusted everytime I open a newspaper. This is why I stopped getting newspapers.
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Yumm! Aloo Gobi is one of my favorite Indian recipes!
With regard to the Passion, I know exactly what you mean. I just got done writing a post on it, actually. The other night, I was watching the news, and this one reporter who was a freelance news consultant, was saying that Mel’s casting of the Jews in the film was insulting. He said that they all had hooked noses and rotten teeth. Whatever. :o\ Another guy said how unbiblical it was. Aaargh! How frustrating!
I know, I saw more Romans with bad teeth. Besides, where the bad teeth are concerned, I saw many physically lovely Jews in the movie too.
do you have a recipe for palak paneer?
Dear Pansy, don’t EVER wish your children’s childhood away! IT goes soooooo fast. Just 8 years ago I was a mom with a 6 year old, a 3-year-old and a new born, and now those chilren are 14, 11 and 8!!!! It went by like that *snap.* Enjoy, enjoy, and savor!!!
Oh no Elena, I do not really wish there childhoods away. I was more wishing I was a bit more functional. But you are right, it does go so fast. It seems like yesterday the ten year old was a chubby toddler.
Alicia, I love palek paneer, and I wish I had a recipe. I actually do not like making INdian food because it never resembles what I am used to from Fiji. I think it is because I can not get the same quality spices here in the states. I used to have a friend that would give me curry her family sent from Sri Lanka and it seemed to improve my cooking.
Pansy,
First, your writing is fine, and if it weren’t, please compare it to Boisei rather than my tribe, the Neanderthals (look, the current trends in Physical Anthro are all wrong – I mean, have you read the Rants recently?!). Someday we are going to take over again and will make you H. sapiens sapiens regret making us the butt of all those jokes. I can’t wait to see Journey to the Barbaric and Savage Land of the So-Called Modern Humans. HAH!. It is sure to be a classic. We will gnaw on the haunch of some game, and beat the air with our clubs in glee! Oh the sweet revenge!
Second, Indian food is lovely and all, but they completely lack a good repertoire of beef cookery. Now, when I look at the cows there I can kind of understand it – scrawny things. However, I have seen (and tasted) what that breed can yield if properly fattened up.
Seriously, though, I used to eat Indian food all the time, until I got completely won over to Indonesian and Thai food. Now, if I am going to go to the trouble to make curry pastes, they are strictly South East Asian. And the Javanese have some good beef (well, buffalo) recipes. Yum.
Erik, I looooove Thai food. But you have to go to the right place to get it (like anything else I suppose). I have never ventured to making it, if you can share a recipe or two I would be most obliged.
My husband and I gave up meat for Lent though, so no meat for now. BUT, what do you think of Buffalo meat?? Do you like it? My husband works close to this place and was going to bring home some buffalo meat, but we are waiting until after Lent.
Pansy,
I too have given up meat for Lent (except on Sundays, which is why I made a trip eight blocks down the road to Moniz Portuguese Sausage Factory this afternoon). Otherwise it is all cod, eel, veggies, etc.
I love buffalo, both the real buffalo (like you get in Southern Italy and Asia), as well as the American Bison. One thing to keep in mind is that bison is very lean, so you need to cook it slightly differently than regular beef. We like to grill New York cuts over mesquite charcoal (and a handful of damp oak chips) with just a brushing of olive oil, salt and pepper (then finished with a drizzle of Meyer lemon juice). Serve with a lightly dressed mixed green salad, focaccia, and a Cote du Rhone or some other lively, fruity red (a good Chianti works fine, too, but I am a California boy, so Zinfandel and the punchier varietals and cuvees come to mind with grilled red meat).
For Thai, unless you are interested in either short cuts (not recommended) or in long, involved processes and exotic ingredients that you will have to mail order, I would say forget it. I neither have simplified recipes, nor do I feel comfortable simplifying mine (I just do not know how to do it to make it still taste right).
If you are serious about it and would like to learn, you should start with True Thai by Victor Sodsook. If you follow his recipes you cannot go wrong. Once you are done with that, then you will probably need to start hanging out with Thais or at least Indonesians (that’s how I got into it, by playing in a Balinese Gamelan Angklung. Whenever we had guest teachers from Bali, I grilled them for food ideas. We also had an amazing sui generis restaurant in town (India Joze in Santa Cruz, unfortunately it has been out of business for years) that had an insane genius for a chef. They had the Angklung play in exchange for specially prepared food. One of the cooks was part of the ensemble, so he told me a lot, too).
For Thai, unless you are interested in either short cuts (not recommended) or in long, involved processes and exotic ingredients that you will have to mail order, I would say forget it.
Gotcha, oh well. We will just have to keep this on a going out to eat basis-LOL!I have no problem with that.
Really, that is probably the best, as restaurants can do big batches of the various pastes and such, so that when they take the time to do it, it is good for a lot of dishes, while you would be doing a lot of prep work to yield ONE dish (and no Thai meal is complete without at least three dishes). When I get an itching to make Thai food, I plan menus for awhile, then I take a day of just making the bases and pastes. Then it all goes pretty easily. Now, keep in mind that I have access to incredible variety of ingredients that you just do not have outside the Bay Area.
So, you are doing the smart thing. Also, Thai food is one of the cheaper cuisines to go out for, so it is not like you would save a bundle or two by doing it yourself.
Roti tastes good