Let's Have Indian!

I'm very new to cooking and eating Indian food. What I have tried I really like. To help with ease of preparation, especially on weeknights, I love the convenience of Patak's sauces and curry pastes. One of my favorites is a mild sauce called Balti. I've made it a few times using Quorn but I'm all out and haven't made it across the border for shopping in a while, so I used cubed tofu & it turned out great!

I also adapted a recipe from Cooking With Peta for curried chickpeas that was delicious! We had that over basmati rice along with some samosas that I had in the freezer. Man, was I stuffed! Here's the recipe for the chickpeas.


2 medium-sized onions, thinly sliced
2-3 tbsp. margarine
5 cloves garlic, minced
1 8-oz. can tomato sauce
2 tsp. tumeric
1 tsp. cumin
1 tsp. allspice
1/2 tsp. ginger powder
dash of cayenne pepper, to taste
2 cans chickpeas, drained and rinsed
1 green pepper, chopped into smallish pieces
salt to taste
1/2-1 cup water

Saute the onions in the margarine until golden brown. Add the garlic and spices and stir-fry for a minute or two. Add the tomato sauce and stir-fry for a further few minutes. Add chickpeas and green pepper and fry over fairly high heat until everything is browned, about 5-10 minutes. Add salt to taste. Turn the heat down and add 1/2 cup water and cover. Stir frequently and simmer for 20-30 minutes, adding more water if necessary.

Serves 2-3 (and tastes even better the next day.)

How To Order Wine In A Restaurant

I have linked to the right a blog called Waiter Rant. I work serving the public in both of my jobs, and can totally relate to a lot of the waiter's stories. He recently had a post dedicated to ordering wine in restaurants. You can read it here.

Happy News

Happy New Year!

The last day of 2005 ended up being one of the worst I'd had all year. It's done and past, so let's just leave it there.

Some good news to start 2006...my sister got engaged! I love her to death and miss her like crazy. I live in Ontario and she's in New Brunswick. She's had some pretty rough patches in the past couple of years and I'm glad that she's now truly happy. I wish her and Chris all the best and a long happy life together.

I'm Getting Old

I couldn't tell you the exact moment I went from being a spry young thang to the decrepit old thang that I am now. Geez! No one told me that I'd start falling apart at 40. I thought I'd be good until at least 60. Aside from the itchy, scratchy skin, I'm always experiencing some sort of pain - my back, my foot, now I've got a bad case of tennis elbow in my right arm which is just friggin' wonderful considering I'm right handed. I can barely pour myself a cup of coffee. I feel so weak! My wrist seems fine now though, so that's a plus.
J's not doing much better. He finally got in to see his doctor today and the doc thinks that J has a hair-line fracture in his foot. Great. Add that to his bum knee and we're a fine pair. Grunting and groaning as we get out of bed in the morning. Sexy!
Meanwhile, Simon's allergy shots have got him knawing on his feet again. I started giving him hydroxyzine twice a day and I'll wait out the weekend. If he's still chewing his toes, I'll have to call Dr. Wellington back. I'm hoping when spring comes we'll see some improvement because of these shots. I can't see the point of giving him needles and still having to give him pills. At least when he was just on the steroids, he was only on them during the nice weather. Once the snow came, he was great. I'm hoping his immunity will build up and kick in soon. I hate seeing the little guy so itchy. I know what that's like. Decrepit and falling apart, remember?

Party Time, Excellent....NOT!!

I heard some sad news yesterday. Mike Myers and his wife, Robin are getting divorced. On a weird note, Mike attended Stephen Leacock Collegiate Institute in Scarborough and had a classmate named David Furnish. Last week, David married Elton John! Exsqueeze me? Peas & carrots? Yep, you read right. Strange, eh?

Done and Over With

Another Christmas has come and gone. J and I cut way back this year and I didn't miss a thing. We got to spend some fun time with friends and family and I enjoy that part the most. Mama Rita had us over for Christmas dinner along with her friend Mary. There was a turkey (ugh), but lots and lots of veggies. I brought roasted carrots and zucchini & corn with tarragon. Mary made a bean and pasta dish that was really, really good. We also had potatoes, turnip, home made cranberry sauce, yum! Mama Rita made stuffing and kept some out seperate for me. I brought some vegetarian gravy. Wow! That's a lot of food! J and I came home with enough leftovers to feed us for 2 days.
I worked a short shift at the wine store today. Frances was with me until 4pm. We were pretty busy what with the LCBO being closed. My pay stub was there with a Christmas bonus tucked inside along with a nice letter from the head honchos at the winery thanking us for all of our hard work. Bill had also left us Christmas gifts. Bottles of wine! YES! After I finished there, I got J to drop me off at the other workplace and I got the payroll done and slipped it under Lynne's door for her to finish up when she gets in on Wednesday. I'm not back to work until Thursday. I'm glad all that is done and over with.
I really just want to sleep in tomorrow and lounge around. And I think that's exactly what I'm gonna do! Simon and I will have a great day doing a whole lot of nothin'.