My husband and I have been eating a lot of Indian food lately. I’m not really sure why it’s taken both of us so long to figure out how wonderful it is. Maybe we were intimidated by the menu. I am not familiar with the food terms, but I’m getting there.
We found a great little restaurant in a nearby town and we are hooked. The family that runs it is so nice and helpful. If we don’t understand what a certain menu item is they tell us without sounding annoyed. That I appreciate.
This particular Indian restaurant is also next to an Indian grocery store. I haven’t been in it, but they have movie posters on the windows so I assume they rent Indian movies. I forgot how much I love Indian movies. I admit I’m a sucker for foreign films. Particular Italian, French and Indian.
Many of the Indian films I have seen in the past are Bollywood productions. Bollywood is big, but not all films from India are Bollywood productions. According to Wikipedia Bollywood is the informal term popularly used for Mumbai-based Hindi-language film industry in India. Bollywood is often incorrectly used to refer to the whole of Indian cinema; it is only a part of the Indian film industry. And did you know that Bollywood is one of the largest film producers in the world, putting out multi-million dollar films?
A few movies I suggest are Monsoon Wedding, Lagaan-Once Upon a Time In India and Devdas. There are so many, but I really liked those. Monsoon Wedding was pretty popular when it came out so chances are you might have heard of that one.
If you have never seen a dance scene from an Indian movie take a peak at the one I embedded from YouTube below. It features Aishwarya Rai. It will give you a taste of the musical aspect of these films. Not all are so extravegant. Most of the dance scenes will lift your spirits like when you watch Singing In The Rain or Grease. If you aren’t into musicals that probably makes no sense. I know there are many people out there who do not like old or new musicals. I live with one, my husband.
So for Tasty Tuesday I challenge those who have never sampled Indian cuisine to find an Indian restaurant (ask around I bet someone you know might have a recommendation)and watch an Indian film after. Or better yet, order take out and watch the movie while you eat at home.
Sometimes I wonder if I’m going to hell. Ok, I’m being dramatic, but I thought that today when I was driving in the car with my kids and Sir Mix-A-Lot’s song Baby Got Back came on. I turned it up. Let the bass kick. Oh no! Am I a bad mom?
My son had a good laugh because it was a song about butts. What four year old wouldn’t think it was funny? I quickly remembered the song was in one of the Shrek movies, so I guess it was sort of ok to let my kids listen to it. Maybe I am not such a bad mom. The song was in a children’s movie after all.
As we were thumping down the road I laughed to myself. I remember going out and shaking my behind to the song at night clubs with my friends in college. It was always a popular song that packed the dance floor. Atleast where I lived.
When I hear Baby Got Back I am instantly reminded of good times. I will be 80 years old and probably giggle when I hear it, get up and shake my geriatric bon bon. My grandchildren will think I’m nuts. That’s ok. Atleast I’ll be having a good time.
I had no idea today was Earth Day. I wrote the post below like a fool not realizing I could have said something about Earth Day in it. Since I am usually the last person to know everything it seems typical for me to be late on things.
I am a bit surprised I even wrote a post about being semi-green on Earth Day. Maybe I’m a bit pyschic or something. Nah, just a fluke.
So, what am I doing to help save the earth? I recycle, use as many earth-friendly and people friendly products I can get my hands on. I limit my driving. Can you say “Homebody”? With the price of gas I just don’t get out as much so I am also not putting out extra emissions from my SUV.
I am not the world’s best at being green or the poster child of earth momma’s, but I try.
Last night we had some family friends over for dinner. The couple were friends of my husband’s late parents. They moved about four years ago. The came over for the standard rigatoni, salad and garlic bread. For dessert I made Kahlua cake. It’s always a hit and it’s ever so simple. If you want to make it look pretty just sprinkle some powdered suger on it before you serve it.
Here is the recipe my mom gave me years ago:
Kahlua Chocolate Chip Bundt Cake
1chocolate cake mix of your choice
1 sm. instant chocolate pudding
2C sour cream
4 eggs
3/4 C oil
1/3 C Kahlua
6-12oz. package of chocolate chips
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Combine 1st six ingredients on medium/high speed for two minutes. Stir in chips. Pour in sprayed or oiled bundt pan. Bake 50-60 minutes, checking at 40 minutes. Cool then invert.
We have several friends who are pregnant. My daughter who is three is curious about all the babies in the bellies. She is even fascinated when I tell her that she was once in my belly.
Last night she came over to me all excited and proclaimed, “You ate me when I was a baby.” I reassured her that no I did not eat her. Then she happily said, “But you ate me and then I was in your belly.”
Because we have several friends who are expecting we have talked about how there will be new babies soon. There is a baby in the belly and one day it will be here to play with. My husband and I have told her that her and her brother were once in my belly. We know she doesn’t quite understand, but we never really thought she imagined getting pregnant happened by eating a baby.
Since she is three, barely by one month, I decided it is not the time for the birds and the bees talk. So she can go on believing that pregnant women got that way by eating a baby. Her idea of eating them is not some horrific vision of women gobbling down screaming infants. It’s purely innocent.
My daughter will grow up soon enough. I am enjoying this time with her. I think her fairy tale vision of the world is special. I love that she thinks I am a princess. I love that everything is magical. I get a kick out of how she talks to people on her play phone like they are really on the other end. Her imagination is refreshing. Sometimes the real world can really get you down. Hang out with a three year old and open your eyes to their world. It will lift your spirits. And give you a few laughs.
Living in an older home things just get sort of old. Late Friday morning I had a brilliant idea to tear out the 1970’s faux wood contact paper in one of the kitchen cupboards that also needed to be drastically organized.
So I pulled everything out and started peeling. Once the paper started coming up I realized that it wasn’t contact paper but wallpaper. If you have ever pealed old wallpaper you will know that the backing usually doesn’t come off so nicely. I have a love-hate relationship with wallpaper because our house was once wallpapered from top to bottom and was a pain the ass to remove.
When my in-laws lived here my MIL, God rest her soul, loved wallpapering so much she used some sort of super-glue that it was a complete nightmare to pull off the walls. She wanted her wallpaper to last through an atomic bomb explosion. So when I realized the faux wood contact paper was wall paper I wasn’t that shocked. But boy was I annoyed.
My quick fix of removing it turned into a last minute emergency repair job. I had to rush to Walmart for contact paper. The selection sucked, but I told myself I didn’t need to spend more money on gas driving to find the perfect contact paper when I had little time to make my cupboards nice again. The kids were in preschool and getting it done while they were gone was going to be my best option. So the faux marble would replace the faux wood. Lovely.
When I got home I started right away. I am not a perfectionist so the finished product isn’t really anything to brag about, espeically if you look really closely. But who is going to get down on their hands and knees and inspect it? No one. And if they do they really need help.
My kids weren’t around for the cupboard cleaning, allowing me to finsih up much quicker than if they had been home. But I did have some helpers. Two four-legged friends that were more than eager to lend a paw.
Check it out!
Here is a shot of the empty cupboard with some of the faux wood paper still in tact. Looks are deceiving because in this little picture it actually looks like wood. Don’t you love the ’70’s?
Bring in the helpers. Bibi the Shih Tzu is hard at work making last minute measurements. Isn’t she sweet?
Almost done. Bibi and little sister Coco the Yorkie pose before they finish up. Now if I can only get them to scrub the bathroom floor…
And I bet you didn’t know that Shih Tzu’s and Yorkie’s are pretty good at organizing. Aren’t they amazing?
Well, you may not find my little pictures funny but my four year old son thought it was hilarious when I told him the dogs cleaned the cupboard. When I showed him the pictures to prove it he almost fell off his rocker. Kids will believe anything.
I think I’m going to reserve every Tuesday as recipe day. Since this blog is fairly new that could change. But it is a goal.
My husband’s cousin Bruce is the master of this recipe. It’s one of his signature family recipes. It’s always a crowd pleaser in our family and it makes a lot. So get ready for leftovers if you don’t have enough people to consume 2 lbs of pasta.
Bruce’s Bowtie Pasta with Chicken, Black Olives and Mushrooms
2lbs chicken breast, cubed
5 large garlic cloves, minced
3 packages mushrooms, cleaned and sliced
2 cans pitted black olives, whole
2 large onions, diced
2 sprigs fresh rosemary
salt to tast
crushed red pepper flakes to taste, optional
1 cup olive oil
1 cube butter
1/2 cup white wine
2 lbs Farfalle pasta (bow-tie)
Directions: Saute and brown chicken in olive oil with onions and garlic in large stockpot on medium heat. Add butter, mushrooms, wine, herbs and spices and bring to simmer. When chicken is cooked, add black olives last, cooking until hot. Toss sauce with drained pasta and serve with Romano cheese.
So who wants a cup of coffee? It seems like a lot of mom bloggers love to talk about their love affair with coffee. It’s like a coffee craze. I figured I should get my two cents in too. Besides, I have nothing better to talk about today.
I admit I have come to love coffee more as a mother. I don’t really depend on it, but I enjoy it. One cup in the morning is enough for me. I don’t bother packing the kiddies in the car to run to the neighborhood Starbuck’s. I am my own barista. I turn on my beautiful espresso machine, adjust the amount of beans to grind, adjust the level of coffee to brew and I hit a button and presto, I’ve pulled my own shot so to speak. Some days I’ll even steam milk. But on the average day I just add some french vanilla creamer for a nice tasty effect.
I gave up driving to coffee houses and spending anywhere from $2-$4 for a latte or other lovely specialty coffee beverage. I haven’t given up cold turkey. I admit it, I love Starbuck’s too. But after I realized I could make my own beverage, with better espresso beans, I was all over the idea. two years ago I did my research, chose the best machine and I took the plunge. It was not cheap. But in the long run it was so worth it.
My love is a Delonghi Magnifica. It’s not the digital version, but I’m not one for bells and whistles. Besides, this baby makes great espresso. I’m not some hardcore espresso shot sipper. I’m more of a latte kinda girl. I also love that I can choose my own beans. I highly recommend Illy and Lavazza. Italian beans are the best. Atleast in my opinion. I know there are great beans out there, I just prefer the above.
The best coffee I had was in Sorrento, Italy. It’s been like ten years and I’m still trying to figure out what in the heck those blasted Italians do to make their coffee (and food) so good. My husband, who was my boyfriend at the time, and his friend Nino and I went to Italy one spring. We stayed in a little hotel in Sorrento. For breakfast they had the basics, toast & jelly, danish’s, etc. But they also brought out a pitcher of coffee and a seperate stainless steel pitcher of very hot steamed milk. Maybe it was that we were in Sorrento. Maybe it was because we were hungry. I think it was just a fantasy since it’s been so long.
So before the morning gets away from me I think I better end here and go get myself a cup. It’s always a great way to start the day before the lovely littles wake demanding my full attention. My cup of coffee and I like to be with each when it’s quiet, but sometimes we make sacrifices. This morning we will sip in silence.
Melissa
