Sunday, March 20, 2011

I owe you some pictures...here's a few from the past couple of months.

These first few pics are from when I was making butter chicken. There are a few friends who are trying to do a regular dinner party with a different country as the theme each time. First theme--India. So I made my no fail butter chicken which failed. LOL...which is why there are no end pictures. I tried an actual recipe this time and that was likely my first mistake. My second mistake was using black cardamon. The smell is very intense. Smoky and earthy all at the same time. It wasn't a mistake to use it, it was a mistake to use 3. 3 green cardamon seeds is one thing, 3 much larger black ones is another. Lesson learned. What I did do and will try again is leaving the cinnamon whole. I hate trying to grind cinnamon and the whole sticks leave the same flavor with no effort.



Using my new mortar and pestle. Thing of beauty.

The start of the butter chicken.

Mmmms, spices. My kitchen smelled so good.



Remember this? My fugly telephone table. I bought it in August at the Restore and had high hopes for it...and it turned out awesome. Of course I had nothing to do with turning it into this thing of beauty other than being lucky enough to win a contest. After some time I received it back and am so happy with the look...except that it is covered with a blanket most of the time as the cats feel it would make a good scratching post.






This may look disgusting but I can assure you it was very tasty. I had whipped mashed potatoes at a friends house a few weeks ago and have been whipping my potatoes ever since. So much yummier than dry mashed potatoes.

For those of you who have never experienced the blue potato they are a thing of beauty. :)Often more purple than blue, but the name blue remains. These are small blue potatoes that are blue all the way through, not like the blues I remember from my youth which just had blue veins around the edges. I like to leave the skin on--tastier and more fibre.

And on a totally different lane of thought...

My drive to work one day...


And my drive home the same day....yes it doesn't take long to have a change in the weather conditions. This was from late February.





And back to food projects that didn't work out...grrr. Next time I photograph my cooking I think having someone to take the photos would be helpful. I can't stir/whip/fry while also taking photos.

This is the making of a green cake.
Blending in of the food colouring...note the not smooth cake mix.
 One of my always helpful helpers--Tundra.
 Cake balls. Finally. Wanted to try this in the fall and ran out of time for the party...then again over holidays but the last thing anyone needs is more sweets. So in honour of St. Paddy's day I made green cake balls. They tasted good but I would recommend when making cake balls from a light coloured cake to cut off the browned edges as they show up in the balls.
Waiting for the chocolate.
 The chocolate that went from solid form to burnt. It never fully melted in the pot which is why the 'balls' never got coated in chocolate and brought into work.
Apparently on Saturday night the moon was closer to the earth than normal. Here's proof...
I was lazy and took this from inside my apartment...but in my defense it was late and I already had my jammies on. I think the image turned out pretty good. What is amazing to me is that we were able to see it that night...cause tonight...no moon visible.

Hope your weekend was as relaxing as mine...but I also hope you finished washing your dishes...I didn't get mine finished. Oh well.

3 comments:

Jack said...

Jennifer:

Love the new look of the telephone table, an excellent job. Tundra looks happy to be 'helping' you, and they both love the table as well. I had heard the moon was closest to earth, in, I think, 18 years. Have a great week ahead!

Anonymous said...

Jennifer: The pictures were beautiful as usual. Cake balls I have never heard of but were an interesting St. Patrick's Day food contribution to the office. No one had to know that they were suppose to be covered in chocolate. I think Lori likes butter chicken but I have never tried it and don't think I would ever enjoy it due to the ingredients.

Your kittens are so sweet. They do obviously like the beautiful new telephone seat as well as open cupboard doors.

The moon was beautiful coming up yesterday evening and this morning as I drove to work.

Sounds like you had a relaxing and re-energizing weekend. Just what you needed.

Edith

Anonymous said...

Hi Jennifer,

Enjoyed the pics as usual. The winter scenes are very peaceful, except for the blowing snow!

Butter chicken appears to be labor intense to make! I have some black cardamon seeds and haven't a clue what to use them in. My nephew brought us back some fresh spices from turkey and like a lot of people, I'm saving them for some reason. Most are easy to know what to do with. What else would you use the black cardamon for? I don't think I'd get into grinding my own spice, I like to "sprinkle" from a bottle, much easier for me. You will have to share the butter chicken recipe, or your own version, as it does sound tasty.

Cats appear to enjoy helping everywhere, in the cupboard was quite cute. Maybe they like the phone table as it so close to the door, they wait for mommy to get home there?

Blue potatoes can make an interesting looking potato salad, as long as they aren't cooked too much. When mixed the whole salad has that lovely color - people look twice.

Cake balls are quite interesting, when you mentioned them a while back I googled them and it's amazing how many are decorated to the nines! Another one that appears to be too labor intense for me!

Any news from your interview yet? I'm sure you are sorting through things for India now, or maybe even have everything ready to go by now.

Take care ... Lori B.