Memorial Day Weekend

Along with my regular weekend off, I also had today off. I had a really good weekend with the activities I planned. I didn't get them all accomplished, but I got a lot more done than I had been doing. Needless to say, tonight I am whipped! After you see the pictures coming up, you will know why.
Saturday, Son's girlfriend and I went garage saling together. All in all we spent close to four hours together with just one of the five kids with us. The baby was really good and seemed to enjoy being out in the car for the ride as the entire trip she didn't even make a fuss other than once after she had a nap she woke up wanting her bottle. I was really wondering how I was going to handle going to garage sales since I have such a problem with walking and standing for any length of time or distance. I wanted to check out just a few things for myself but mainly I wanted to look for things for the grandkids. Well, having Son's girlfriend along really helped out. She did all the looking around and I stayed in the car enjoying the weather. It wasn't hot out and the sun was shining so it was really nice out. It would be nice if all year long had days like that day was. She was able to find things that the kids could actually use and I paid for part of her finds so it was like it came from me anyway. She was a little worried that I wasn't having any fun because I couldn't do much of the looking. But I was happy just being out of the house enjoying the sunshine. At one sale, the owner walked close enough to where I was parked that I could talk to her and ask about some big flowerpots she had in the yard. She had 18 of them in all and after a bit of dealing, I got the whole kit and kaboodle, plus a rubber tub to carry part of them in for $3. So I was happy. Son's girlfriend and I got to spend time together and talk and get to know each other better as well. It was a good day.
Saturday night I was up much later than usual...well actually about 2 hours or so later. I was watching some good movies on tv and didn't want to go to bed. So, Sunday I slept in late, then got up and watched my church programs on tv for a few hours. I relaxed the rest of the day and ordered pizza delivered for supper. I still have pizza left over for tonight. It was going to go into the freezer, or to Daughter today, but Daughter forgot to take it home with her. After my activities today, I think it will make a good supper for tonight. Think I will eat it cold....too worn out and sore to mess with heating it up. But the soreness is well worth it!
Today, after another semi-late night playing chess on Yahoo, I slept in a little. Daughter came over and we went to our WalMart store. This time we didn't do the grocery shopping. This time was to accomplish two of the other things I wanted to get done this weekend. One was to get fishing pole, tackle box and some basic tackle, and the other was to get some good top soil and houseplants to put in at least some of those big pots I got at the garage sale. All I have to do now is go out and get my fishing license which I should hopefully be able to do at some bait shop near the lake where I will fish...or I can go back to WalMart and get it at a later time. Going fishing was the only thing I had on my list of things to do this weekend that I didn't get done...well, that and taking some landscape/lake/nature photos which I would have done while fishing.

I have been wanting to fill my home with houseplants ever since before I moved here. It was one of those things that got put off while I was sick. Now it is time to get it done. Today made a HUGE start in that project. I think I may need a little help moving all the now filled big flowerpots off my dining table. They are heavy with all that dirt in them.

Enjoy the pictures...they finish out the story of this weekend.

In this picture below, on the left you can see the bottle of rose water I will be using when Daughter and I finally make our gulab jamuns. Also you can see a jar of something yellowish. That is either moong or toor dahl. I didn't look closely at it since I took the picture to be sure which it is. It is a type of split bean or split pea used in Indian cooking.

Why am I so worn out and sore tonight? All three of those bags of top soil are now empty! Oh how good the dirt smelled and felt while I broke up the clods in the tightly packed bags. Each bag said it was .75 cubic feet of top soil. There are still a couple of plants that don't have pots to put them in or the dirt to fill the pots. All the pots I got at the garage sale were big ones so there are no small ones for the two plants I have left. I will have to leave them until the next shopping trip. They will be okay for awhile.

Now, that last picture didn't have anything to do with gardening, fishing, garage sales, or anything else that was part of the goals of the weekend. That was just the "icing on the cake" so to speak. Daughter and I had lunch at Bob Evans and both of us decided to indulge a little. We justified it this way....had we baked the actual chocolate cake at home, we would have eaten a whole lot more! For me anyway, this should hold me over for a good 6 months or more for craving chocolate cake! That was really really rich!

Another Baby Step Forward!

You can read all about this in my Faith Journey With Jesus blog...I just want to tell you about it quickly and briefly now! I am excited about it. If you want details, check the other blog.
Today when I was cooking, which I always do sitting in a chair at the sink and stove, for the first time I had this sudden feeling of being tired of sitting there. So as I was cutting onions, I stood up, without really thinking about it, and finished cutting the onions standing there, leaning on the sink....but standing up! It wasn't until I was standing there that I really thought about what I was doing and how long it had been since I had stood at the sink to do any cooking. I even sit in the chair to run water until it is cold enough to fill my water bottle for drinking. So standing there to finish cutting the onions was fantastic!

By the way, I made my dahl today....but I tried making it a different way, basically from what I have been finding in the cooking videos, is my version of makhani dahl. It's good but really could use more spices. I think mine are not as strong as they were and I need new ones which I hope to get soon. Sorry, I didn't take a picture yet. Tomorrow morning after Daughter and I go shopping, we are planning on celebrating Mother's Day a bit late by making those gulab jamuns finally, and then I want to teach her how to make roti and puris. I hope Grandson will allow us that time without getting grumpy. At least we won't have to cook the dahl since it is already done. After sitting in the fridge all night, it will taste better tomorrow.

Indian Cooking Videos I Like

Some Indian recipes I want to try. I enjoy watching this guy cook. He is funny, especially as he is enjoying the results of his cooking. All of this guy's videos make me so hungry, but I watch them too late in the evening to go start cooking. Check out his website for more videos at www.vahrehvah.com .


These first videos are for Dosa. I want to learn how to make different dosas and this one is one I want to maybe start with.





These Pakoras sound interesting and good. I have only done potato or onion Pakoras before. We also call them Bhajia.


This video is for Rasmalai which I have helped make before, but not this way. Instead of making the paneer, we used ricotta cheese. Saves time and is very good.This recipe looks like it took a lot less time than ours did. Maybe I have to look it over again. The way we did it involved the oven and was a lot more time consuming, but it was oh so good. Son wants me to make this. Maybe I will give him this recipe video and tell him to do it himself. He loves to cook.


This last recipe is for an Indian bread called Naan.

Busy Day Ahead

Life in the call center was brief today...it was very very slow so I got a call to tell me I could get off early. This happens occassionally and today it was at a most perfect time. Daughter and I had plans for tomorrow which got changed to today. Had I had to stay full shift I would still be working for three more hours which would make a very late start for our escapades today. Daughter's hubby is going on a weekend trip and daughter is having a weekend to play. First activity on the agenda is time with me coming to her house to cook a big Indian meal. We haven't decided yet what to cook...whether it might be chicken curry, beef curry, or kheema, which is a curry made with hamburger...only ground turkey may be added this time. Son-in-law is not a rice fan and curry isn't one of his favorites either. So Daughter is looking forward to a weekend of Indian food that she doesn't have to worry about what her husband will eat. She is also ready to give Grandson a taste and see how he likes it. Luckily we don't make it spicy hot. This will be an interesting day.
It is also way past time for my hair to get a trim. Daughter is my hair stylist. My hair these days looks more like a fuzzy mop. I think it was just yesterday I told her that when I got out of bed I realized Bozo had a sister! ME! That is how far out my hair looked...it just wasn't red. So, after the cooking, I am going to have her trim the fuzziness off my hair. Hopefully, after all that I will be on my way back home to relax. I have the weekend off from the call center as well, and want to take advantage of the nicer weather, my digital camera maybe, get some shopping done maybe, and get back to church.
Due to my health situation this past year, I have not been in church for a long time and I miss it. So, hopefully I am going to go this Sunday. Surely I will be shocking everyone when I walk through that door. It is good that my health is improving somewhat. I feel better and can do a little more these days. I really am looking forward to enjoying this spring and summer this year. Last year all I did was stay home and try to keep cool. It was the hottest summer I remember in a long long time. I sure hope it is a friendlier summer this year.

I am so glad to be making this Indian food with Daughter today. I have been wanting to make something and have put it off. It is more fun cooking it together anyway.

How about if I add a recipe this time? This is how we do it...not necessarily how someone from India would. This is a variation of how my mother-in-law taught me. As I said earlier, I don't make it hot. Most of the ingredients you can get now at regular supermarkets. It used to be that we had to get them all in Chicago or other large cities where there were Oriental groceries. I still have to go once in awhile to the Indian grocery close to where my electrophysiologist office is. That is where Daughter and I go to the Indian restaurant, too. That trip is coming up again a week from Monday. Maybe I can get the pictures then and add them to the blog.

Okay, recipe time: Be prepared, this isn't written like our "normal" recipes usually are. It is good to have the spices ready ahead of time until you get used to how long it takes to get the onions done.

Meat curry Beef, Chicken, or Kheema:--read through before starting to cook to make sure you have everything.

Start with 1 or 2 large onions finely chopped or slivered. Fry the onions in veg. oil in a large dutch oven or kettle until browned to a dark golden brown. Once they start browning they must be stirred regularly and often or they will burn quickly.

Have a large glass of hot water waiting by the stove and pour the water into the browned onions slowly so they don't spatter. Cook the onions and water until boiling hard and the water has become dark reddish brown.

While the water is boiling, or beforehand, mix the following spices. I generally do not "measure" these...it is by how it looks and by taste preferences.

Mix these powdered spices in a bowl and when the onion water is thoroughly boiled, pour the spice mix into the water and stir well.

2 very heaped tsp corriander powder
2 very heaped tsp cumin powder (or a little less if you used cumin seeds fried with the onions, which is also good)
1/3 tsp turmeric
1/3-1/2 tsp red pepper (chili powder) more or less depending on how hot you want this dish.
1/3 tsp cinnamon or a few sticks
1/3 tsp cardamom powder or a few cardamom seeds
salt to taste
1/3-1/2 tsp black pepper

Cook the spices until you can no longer "feel" the graininess with the spoon against the bottom of the pan. Do not allow the water to cook out totally but you can allow it to become a thin paste.

If you have these green spices listed below already made up...use the following at this point...if you don't have these spices, add 1/2 tsp ginger powder and 1/2 tsp garlic powder to the previous powdered spice mix.

Green spices are made from pureeing in the blender the following

whole garlic cloves
whole ginger cut to be blended
corriander leaves
tiny green chilis or jalepeno's

(We make a large batch of these and divide into how much we use for each time we cook, and freeze in sandwich zipper bags...lasts longer that way. We get maybe about 10 whole garlics, and about 5 or 6 large pieces of ginger root, 3-4 bunches of the corriander leaves, and green chili's depending on how hot you really want your curries to be...then clean, chop, and puree all these, pour into a large bowl and using a dipper spoon, we dip one spoonful into each sandwich bag, squeeze the air out and freeze.)

If you have just made it fresh, use one dipper full to each kettleful of curry. Stir this into the cooking spice mixture and continue cooking until boiling another 5 -10 minutes.

Add 1 can chopped tomatoes, diced tomatoes, etc...unspiced...check ingredients; or 1 small can tomato sauce, or 1 small can tomato paste.

Stir and cook until boiling again, then add 3 pounds chopped meat...beef, hamburger, or chicken breast...or 1-2 whole chickens cut up in small pieces by the joint...leave bone in.

When meat has had a chance to cook partially through, add cut potatoes...I use 8 medium potatoes cut into quarters.

Cover and cook until potatoes are done. If you make chicken curry, at this point you may also add 8 -12 boiled eggs, peeled, whole and stir carefully into the curry. This is optional. Also optional, but our family likes it this way...when cooking time is completed, in a small saucepan with a lid, add a little vegetable oil and get it hot, then add 1/4 cup black mustard seed and cover quickly. Keep covered, shake slightly to spread the seed through the oil, and fry until popping slows...removed from heat immediately to prevent burning the seeds, and pour the seeds and oil from the pan into the curry and stir through. This adds a unique flavor that we love.

Allow the curry to sit for a few minutes...maybe 10 or so...and then skim the oil from the top that has accumulated through the cooking process. Serve on top of cooked Basmati Rice, or with roti, or both.

I hope you have a good time trying this recipe. Let me know how it turns out.