What's for supper?

[willieandwinnie]

Tonight is country fried chicken, Italian green beans, garlic mashed potatoes, gravy and Italian bread.

[monrein]

My favorite Indian dishes.  Pakora (onion and spinach fritters), Chicken shaii (chunks of chicken in a creamy almond sauce), barbequed eggplant curry, basmati rice with cumin, naan bread, and warm rosewater and cardamom flavoured rice pudding for dessert.

[twirl]

did you cook those dishes
and what is rose water- smashed up roses in water?
and how do you do those onion and spinach fritters
how did you do the eggplant barBque and what the heck does curry tastes like, I'm afraid to try it
do you ever eat hamburger helper and tuna helper casserole(only joking) grill cheese or anything not fancy ( kidding)
no wonder you have a big smile all the time,,,,, you eat like a princess and yet you are so slim......not fair..........

[willieandwinnie]

monrein, boy would Len love you. I'm not real crazt about Indian food but you should post some of your recipes. I could tone them down a bit I bet. Sounds good.

twirl, I made mint chocolate chip ice cream today. Taste pretty good for my first attempt.

[thegrammalady]

chocolate pudding (wish there was more), jello, chex mix, and anything else destructive that i can find. ya'all can tell what kind of mood i'm in. (it's a good thing i don't have my car this evening, i'd go out for ice cream and eat it all)

[twirl]

W&W  my husband already loves you.....now chocolate mint ice cream....... what next---chicken fried steak, rice & gravy???
I will be the lady left behind...do you like Johnny Dep..... a lady told me my husband looks like Johnny Dep

[willieandwinnie]

Twirl, please send your husband.... I love Johnny Dep.

Len wants shrimp today, so I'm poking around the internet for shrimp recipes. I think I am going to make sweet potato fries and roasted asparagus. Of course, it's early and I might change my mind.

[monrein]

 Twirl,I didn't cook those dishes, I got them from an indian restaurant we go to quite often.  Yep, rosewater is basically rose flavored water and adds a delicate taste to dessert dishes (turkish delight is one example).  The spinach onion fritters are made using a thin batter made with chickpea flour then deep fried and dipped as you eat in a sauce made with tamarinds (little tangy, little sweet).  They are truly delicious.  The eggplant bbq curry is a mushy mixture made with all different spices and green peas but barbequed eggplant is very easy to make at home (no curry involved here).

I like the chinese eggplants because they aren't at all bitter. ( If you use regular ones be sure to slice lengthwise into 1/2 inch slices,  salt to pull out bitterness leave about half an hour then rinse and pat dry and continue).  Slice chinese ones in half lengthwise.  Rub with good extra virgin olive oil and garlic (i usually keep oil on hand at all times with pulverized fresh garlic soaking in it...it'll last about three days) then grill till nice and soft.  We eat that as a side dish but its also nice with a little bit of tomato sauce to make a very thick pasta sauce.  Add some fresh basil and good parmigiano reggiano.

I do make a fair bit of indian food and used to do my own spice mixtures but no more.  I buy curry pastes made by Pataks from the UK and basically make big stews of stuff I like.  It freezes well too.  There are so many different kinds of curry depending on the spice blend.  What we buy in the supermarket as curry powder is a very poor substitute for the good blends but I still like some things with it.  The main thing to remember about cooking with dry spices or pastes is that you must cook them gently in oil first before adding any liquids because that brings out the complexities of the flavours otherwise they can taste of nothing much.  This is not the case for herbs.

I eat anything.  My friends joke about me saying that I never met a food I didn't like and that's basically true.  Of course I prefer some things to others but I'll try anything that's edible and won't kill me and I can't think of anything (except kidneys ) that I just won't eat.  I am picky however about eating healthy stuff so I avoid white bread, lots of processed food with preservatives I can't pronounce, and I rarely eat deep fried things , never more than a little bit  and only once a month max.

I used to cook a lot and fancy things or ethnic but nowadays I keep it simple due to lack of energy.  My Mom disliked cooking and never did it because we had a cook in Jamaica but my Dad was an amazing cook and he taught me a fair bit about trusting my instincts for combining flavours.  He was the master of the wok and did a lot of exciting stir fries and the meanest jerk chicken in the universe.

My favorite thing about living in a big multicultural city like Toronto is the huge variety of restaurants serving every kind of food you can imagine.  From Ethiopian to Laotian with lots of stops along the way.

Now how did this post get so long??  Yak yak yak.

PS Send Johnny Depp on to me after you're done with him W&W.  Twirl might miss him a bit but hey she offered him up, we're just saying "yes please".

[twirl]

my husband considers arroz and charro beans exotic
 
a chicken can be a jerk?  the things we learn on IHD....

but do you ever eat hamburger helper? ever heard of it?

you are an extremely interesting person   and your wish to have grad kids   I wish it for you too   you would be an awesome gramma(rather young looking for a grammy)

[twirl]

   my husband was going to grill burgers but he spent so much time on the pool and doing yard work, we are having Whoppers
             
       

[kitkatz]

Del Taco macho burrito for lunch.

[monrein]

Of course I've heard of Hamburger Helper (I only live in Canada, not Outer Mongolia...just teasing as I hope you know by now).  I bought some once a long time ago but I figured that by reading the list of ingredients you can pretty much make it yourself for way less.  But it sure is convenient.  My fast food is in the frozen aisle.  Up here we have a supermarket called Loblaws that has a line called "Blue Line" and it's lower in fat, salt and the bad stuff (no trans fats).  Some is not bad although I usually add some extra fresh veggies to it.

I also have a friend's mother who supplies me with lots of homemade minestrone and a greek friend who makes me spanakopita (with mostly spinach and just a bit of feta cheese to cut back on the salt.  I give them flowers from my garden sometimes but by far I have the best part of that deal.

I know I won't ever have grandkids but I do have 6 godchildren.  One is now 17 and this will be the first summer in 4 years he hasn't come to spend a month with us.  He lives in France so even when he has kids they'll be far away.  We do have quite a few kids in our life however.
BTW, I find you interesting also.  I think most everybody is interesting actually if you actually take the time to get to know them.

Back to food.

[skyedogrocks]

We grilled out last night, cheeseburgers and homemade pasta salad.

[willieandwinnie]

Beef stroganoff, green been casserole. Len had to go to the dentist today so I'm not fixing anything hard to chew. 

[boxman55]

I fell like tacos tonight....Boxman

[thegrammalady]

i'm going to bingo tonight and going to eat something terribly bad for me!!!! (just call it rebellion)

[flip]

Sounds good, Boxman but I think I'll go with chili dogs. I'll probablly sleep better than my dietition tonight.

[boxman55]

I went to a brunch today that was outstanding. Everything from omelets,bacon,sausage,smoked salmon,shrimp,leg of lamb,prime rib,potatoes,waffles, sticky buns, shredded carrots,asparagus,crab legs,huge dessert table, champagne, juices, sodas, coffee, on and on what a feist...Boxman

[thegrammalady]

vietnamese rice noodle bowl (extra yummy)

[vandie]

My girls are making lemon spaghetti.  Kourtney already baked homemade red velvet cupcakes with cream cheese frosting for dessert.

My girls rock!!

[monrein]

We took my moth-in-law out for lunch yesterday to celebrate Mothers Day  (the restaurant we chose is closed on Sunday). 

I had a salad of thinly sliced beets with mixed baby greens, crisp slivers of fried ginger and baked goat's cheese  on top.  It had a pomegranate vinaigrette.  Then I had home smoked (way way less salt) salmon on top of a potato latke.  Both were appetizers so portions were reasonable.  Dessert was vanilla angel food cake with soft meringue on top and a warm fresh strawberry sauce.  I'm still licking my lips. MMNN

[Zach]

My girls are making lemon spaghetti.  Kourtney already baked homemade red velvet cupcakes with cream cheese frosting for dessert.

Any leftovers?
 

[skyedogrocks]

Easy time last night.  We got a rotisserie chicken from BJ's and I made some rice and veggies.  It was yummy!

[thegrammalady]

one of the reasons i like coming to oregon is daddy cooks! last night we has salmon. (yummy and i didn't even have to do the dishes)

[MyssAnne]

Appetizers last night: southwestern egg rolls, cheese sticks, chicken tenders, and chicken wings...AND a mixed drink!  All bad, but what the
hey, we were discussing bad news, so it went well with it!!!