Thai Coconut Curry

Happy Easter! Last week, I was sequestered in a windowless room 'learning' things I already knew about Drupal. We built a practice site together during the training that was food themed, and since I had nothing much else to think about, I stole one of the recipes, which my trainer person stole from allrecipes.com, she said.

I'm blogging this mostly so I don't forget how I made it because it was amazing.

I adapted the list of ingredients in the recipe, made the rest of it up, and it turned out delicious. I used:

1 cup cooked brown basmatti rice
1 Tablespoon unsalted butter
1/4 cup whole unsalted cashews
salt & pepper & cayenne to taste
1/2 teaspoon cumin seeds
1/2 teaspoon ground coriander
1.5 Tablespoons curry powder
1 yellow onion, chopped
1 teaspoon grated ginger
1 large garlic clove, minced
1 cup (or so) coconut milk
1/2 cup frozen peas
1 red pepper
1 green pepper
1/2 cup pineapple chunks
1/8 cup flour
chopped cilantro to taste

Phew. So....

First, cook your rice the way your package tells you too, and when that's almost done, get started on the curry.

Melt your butter. Throw in your chopped onion. Let it get a little translucent, or brown if you're me and you're not paying great attention.

Throw in your spices & garlic & ginger. Next, peas & peppers.

Once the fruits & veggies are all nicely coated with butter & spices & deliciousness, add your coconut milk. Bring to a boil & then let simmer until it thickens. Mine didn't thicken, and I got impatient, which is why I added the flour.

Once everything thickened up, I added my pineapple & cashews. I wanted those to heat up, but not actually get too cooked down, so once that happened, I removed the pot from the heat & served it, topped with some cilantro.

I used what I had on hand. I think this would be great with white rice as well. I also would have added bamboo shoots & lime if I'd had them. I'm sure you could come up with some other great combos.

I'll also be increasing the spice level next time. I don't know why I'm always so conservative...

Let me know if you try & enjoy this recipe! I'm glad at least something good came out of three long, long days of Drupal training. Sheesh!

Weeds

I finished Weeds a week or so ago. I've had a love-hate relationship with the show since probably 2008 when I started watching.

An ex-boyfriend of mine sent me off to my new life in San Francisco with two and a half pirated seasons of the show.

I kept up with season three, but then forgot about the show for a few years until I got a Netflix account.

I watched new episodes whenever they were available on DVD, and more recently (the past two seasons, I think), available for streaming.

I think the show jumped the shark in season four or five. And since seeing Mary Louise Parker in The West Wing, I can't see her as anyone other than the dreaded Amy....

The last season was much better than the previous two...so if you're watching, I suppose I'd tell you stick with it?

Or something. At least they're Silas, and he's not bad to look at, right? Right. Oy...

Friday Five

Regrettably, I spent most of this week sitting in a windowless room 'learning' things about Drupal. I'm glad it's over, and I can't wait to see what the weekend brings. In the meantime, I did have time to enjoy these things throughout the week:

1. Weeds
2. Animal prints like this one
3. Makeup
4. Italian food
5. Oregon Authors

TBT: Spring

Recently, I spent an evening going through all of my old pictures...since I got my first legit digital camera in early 2009. I saved a bunch. Some are good photos I over looked on the first round of selects & edits. Some are of strong memories I want to put deeper thought into. Some are funny photo booth pictures of myself from college.

I think I'll start sharing them here...starting with these. From springtime. Because I'm looking forward to springtime. Looking forward to it feeling like it's springtime. Oregon weather is turning out to be just as ridiculous as everyone says. Raining one minute, sunny the next. There was even a little bit of hail last week!

Not at all like back home in Arkansas. For better or worse.

Cauliflower Pizza Crust

First cauliflower pizza crust. Came out too wet. Next time I'll only use one egg, one head of cauliflower (riced) & one cup of shredded mozzarella.

Tea & Scones

Sunday tea & chocolate chip scones.

(recipe ala Laura Vitale)

The River Monks

We went to Portland on a school night for a good reason: to see our good friends The River Monks play at Valentine's!

We enjoyed dinner at a Thai restaurant called E-San down the street from the venue, and arrived early for the show. No one told us it had been pushed back an hour.

The venue was tiny - intimate, and I wondered how the six-person band would squeeze into the space. Aaron assured me it could be done. And it was. After two other interesting openers.

Aaron used to tour with some of the Monks back in the day when everybody was playing more "hardcore" music.

But, The River Monks are folksy. Their lineup of instruments includes banjo, trumpet & accordion. They are all so, incredibly talented.

I had a great time listening to them and sipping on a some whisky gingers & Baileys & coffee. I almost never drink hard liquor anymore, so that was a treat.

We grabbed some Doughnuts while we waited for the band to load up, bringing my grand Voodoo total to 7 doughnuts in 5 days, meaning I'm currently in doughnut detox.

At the end of the night, the band followed us home, and the 8 - 9 counting Boone - of us squeezed into our little apartment for the night.

I'm so glad we got to host them for the second time - and in Portland this time!

More of you really should come visit. The water is fine up here!