anyresemblance

Spicy but delicious

Fueled with enthusiasm by my alphabetical spice collection, I am reverting to the recipes of my 20s.  Eons ago, fueled with naivity and the complete absence of jobs for arts graduates under Thatcher, when I worked in N Africa and had to reinvent my whole way of eating, I owned one cook book.  Madhur Jaffrey's Eastern Vegetarian Food.  I cooked my way through that book and one of my favourite dishes was her Very Spicy Delicious Chickpeas.  There are a few things I cooked then which I have never cooked again but this has remained a staple for 30 years.  Oddly, I haven't cooked it much in the last ten years, but since there are only two of us at home right now, and I often find myself cooking solo meals with the other ones social whirl and shift work, I cooked it tonight.  My former husband used to call this "spicy, but delicious" and the name has stuck.

• 1 onion finely chopped (these days I often whizz it in my mini blender when it is going to form the base of a sauce and that is what I did)
• 2 cloves garlic finely chopped
• oil

Fry onion in oil over low heat till golden but not crispy.  Add in garlic and fry another minute

• 2 teaspoons ground coriander
• 1 teaspoon cumin seeds
• 1 teaspoon turmeric
• 1/2 teaspoon chili

Add in above spices and fry for 30 seconds

• tin of tomatoes (i used the ones already in bits but if whole squish with your fingers into smaller bits)

Add in tomatoes until spicy stuff almagamated

• can of chickpeas drained of whatever brine they stick it in)
• 1 teaspoon of cumin seeds roasted (I do this in a dry frying pan)
• 1 teaspoon of sweet paprika (I only had smoked but used it just the same)
• 1 tablespoon of lemon juice (I think you're supposed to use amchoor but I have never had this in my spice collection. Never)
• 1 teaspoon garam masala
• 1 teaspoon salt (or less if you are more sodium conscious than I)
• 1 cup water

Add in all the above ingredients, stir and cook for 10 minutes.

You can finish with finely chopped green chilli (I only had red so skipped that), some grated fresh ginger (the things you find when you clean out the fridge) and chopped coriander

I ate mine with a roti from Costco cooked from frozen and most excellent it was, and a carrot and black mustard seed salad (also a M Jaffrey staple - grate one carrot, lightly salt, heat splash of olive oil, add teaspoon of black mustard seeds, when they start popping pour over salad, toss and serve, spend 20 minutes wiping up stray popped mustard seeds....)

 

monday, no wait, tuesday...

The long weekend threw me off my game.  Normally Monday mornings are leisurely affairs for me with no calls to my global team and time to reflect on what is needed for the week ahead (the downside is that Friday evenings are a flurry of activity and even Saturday mornings in desperate times).  I completely forgot to check my calendar last night and was 15 minutes late for a 6.30am call this morning (afternoon in LA and NYC).  No matter, she was cool about it.

Yesterday, I channeled Martha Stewart and cleaned out the pantry and the fridge.  I threw out some highly priced chia seeds that the youngest had bought and which kept leaking gritty bits everywhere, some well passed their use by date spices and organised the rest of the spices in a file box in alphabetical order.  This is where I discovered I had 3 packets of cardamon pods.  Three.   I wrote up the inventory on the whiteboards.  I asked oldest her opinion.  "I'd have liked it better if you put it in a spreadsheet and printed it out".  This is what I live with.

 

The long weekend part 1

With my travel schedule this year, I've spent many weekends on the move so it is with some excitement that I have a long weekend (and another one next week). Is there anything more relaxing than a Sunday when you know you don't have to go to work the next day.  So exciting.

 

Charlie and I went up Red Hill the long way.   On the way down, a lady walking a small jack russell commented on how well trained he was not to chase the kangaroo we had just passed.  I was so intent on sliding on my arse, and he was so intent on chasing his ball neither of us had noticed the kangaroo.

The rest of the day was spent in colour coding my wardrobe.  I had an inconclusive discussion with my daughter on whether a t shirt with red sleeves but a grey and white body should be hung in the grey section or the red section (answer: red section).  

I bought these awesome stick on white boards from Officeworks.  I've already put the calendar ones inside the pantry door with my travel schedule and her shifts and I am planning to inventory the spices, flours and stuff so I stop buying endless packs of coconut and cumin seeds while finding I have no chilli.  I don't think this is OCD.  Particularly not when you compare it to my daughter who has to reprint a page of an article and re-highlight it if she considers her original highlighting too messy.

 

Long time coming

It's been a while.   I've been sad about my archives.  I lost all my photos.  I could pretty much count on restoring them if I were halfway competent but I am the mistress of procrastination.

I wake up happy most days. I take pleasure in how squeaky clean my house is.  

My youngest daughter is in South Africa living in a camp, counting wildlife.  She, of the immaculately applied make up and the carefully tonged hair, is sleeping under canvas and pumping water for a hot shower.  She is also see elephants, giraffes, zebras, three legged hyenas and baby leopards.  She has intermittent wifi access and we are devotees of whatsapp.  

In her absence, we've swapped the house around.  I am sleeping in her old bedroom and have handed over my bedroom to the eldest.  My "new" room is smaller but I am loving the fitted shelves in the wardrobe which means I can reduce the clutter to a minimum and slide the doors closed.  The only down side is that the wardrobe doors are mirrored and if the dog catches sight of himself in them, his hackles rise and he starts growling at intruder dog.  I have to slide the wardrobe door over so he can't see himself but this is at odds with my need for symmetry.  I could just keep the dog out of the bedroom but then I wouldn't hear his peaceful snoring at night.

We've been walking up Red Hill most days.  It's steep on the way up but we're rewarded with sweeping views across Canberra.  Most days, I'll see kangaroos.  Most days, they will escape the attention of Charlie as he is way more focused on his tennis ball than any hopping marsupial.  I've not been running since my knees are troubling me  but I have a jawbone up piece of wearable technology and track my steps and sleep daily.  I am not sure it is accurately calibrated to my stride as 10,000 steps seemed easily achievable so I upped my target to 15,000.  It has a little buzzer that goes off if I am sedentary for more than an hour during the day which is a reminder to get up and walk around for a bit and another buzzer to wake me in a window of early morning which is wonderful alternative to the alarm.  Despite not having worn a watch in more than 20 years because I find the straps too itchy, I dont find it obstrusive at all.  I did leave one behind in airport security which was super annoying but now I don't take it off unless specifically directed.

I also listen to stories as I walk.  I find audible a good source of these and pretty much focus on my crime staples.  Right now, I have worked my way through the Adrian McKinty canon and am relistening to Ace Atkins.  I listened to all the Robert P Parker stories read by Joe Mantegna (I have mixed feelings, mostly negative, on the other readers) including the Ace Atkins versions of his Spenser books. What's not to like about a character who reminds people his name is spelled like the 16th century poet?