M+B=E2O2

Tikka Masala

Several weeks ago I decided I wanted to try to make one of my favorite Indian dishes- Chicken Tikka Masala.  Only problem was that I decided to make this on the first Friday of Lent.   So I thought I would take this dish that I'd never made and change the main ingredient-instead of chicken I used shrimp.  I've made it twice since, once again on a Lenten Friday with shrimp then I made it again but finally  with chicken. 

The first go around I used a recipe on http://allrecipes.com.  Since I'd never made anything like it and I was going to use shrimp instead of chicken I followed the rest of the recipe exactly as written.  We were having friends over (Nice of me to test never before tried recipes out on friends huh?) so I doubled the recipe as well.  All and all it was pretty good, especially if you were congested and needed to clear you sinuses! The original recipe called for 2 teaspoons of cayenne pepper.  I have never used cayenne pepper so I doubled it.  whoa nellie! It was so hot! Both Ben and our friend G loved it.  G took the leftover sauce home with him as a matter of fact.   I was able to eat it, but not really enjoy it.  I love hot, but not that hot!

A couple weeks later I tried again.  This go around was for another dinner party and added another two  guinea pigs friends to try my second attempt.  This time I added a spice or two and I cut the cayenne waaaaaay down.    Ben, G & new guest M added the cayenne to their own plates to up the heat, I think the rest of us agreed that it was darn near perfect with out it though.  There was enough of a kick to taste it, but I didn't have to blow my nose throughout the meal. 

I was really excited to finally get it together and use chicken.  I love shrimp, but I hate peeling and de-veining those suckers.  This time I was making it for my mom, two of her two sisters & my cousin who were in town for the weekend.  Those gals are Polish through and through and not really into the heat, so for this round I only gave the cayenne jar a shake  or two in the sauce.  I also tripled the recipe and portioned out a bit for my cousin who is vegetarian.  For her bit I had bought extra firm tofu to use. 
The general consensus was that it was quite yummy- Yay!   I absolutely love it and am so excited to make it again.

Here is the recipe I came up with- mostly as found on the allrecipes.com site.  I doubled & tripled this though.  I cook for 6 minimum around here and more often than not I have a few extras around the table. 

Ingredients:

marinade:

• 1 cup plain yogurt
• 1 tablespoon lemon juice
• 2 teaspoons ground cumin
• 1 tablespoon turmeric
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 2 teaspoons cayenne pepper (only if you love it HOT!) 1/4 teaspoon is what I used the 2nd time
• 2 teaspoons freshly ground black pepper
• 1 teaspoon minced fresh ginger
• 4 teaspoons salt (or to taste- I used kosher)
• 3 boneless skinless chicken breasts cut into bite sized pieces OR 2 lbs of shrimp, peeled, de-veined and tails removed OR extra firm tofu

sauce:

• 1 tablespoon butter
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• 1 jalapeno pepper finely chopped
• 1 teaspoon turmeric
• 2 teaspoons ground cumin
• 2 teaspoons paprika
• 3 teaspoons salt (or to taste)
• 1 8 ounce can tomato sauce
• 1 cup heavy cream
• 1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro

1. In a large bowl combine yogurt, lemon juice, and all the spices from the marinade list-cumin, cinnamon cayenne, black pepper, turmeric, salt  & ginger.  Stir in your meat- chicken, shrimp or tofu.  Cover and refrigerate for at least one hour- I had my stuff marinating all day.
2. If you are making chicken or tofu- you can use your grill to cook it.  If you want you can skewer the  chicken, I just threw it on some veggie grill sheets that I have to keep the meat from falling through.  You want to cook th chicken until the juices run clear- 10-15 minutes or so.
3. Melt butter in a large heavy skillet over medium heat.  Saute garlic and jalapeno for 1 minute. season with the sauce spices -cumin, paprika, turmeric and salt.  Stir in tomato sauce and cream.  Simmer on low heat until sauce thickens, about 20 minutes.  Add grilled chicken/tofu and simmer for 10 minutes.  Transfer to a serving plater and add fresh cilantro on top

For shrimp:

Instead of grilling the shrimp I just dumped the entire bowl of marinade and shrimp into the sauce once it had thickened.  I then cooked the shrimp in the sauce (a little less than 10 min I think- the shrimp should be pink).

All this was served with brown rice that had been seasoned with onions, garlic and turmeric and I added frozen peas once the rice had finished cooking (the hot rice will defrost and cook the peas in a few minutes).  Add some warm Naan bread and you've got yourself a delish meal!

Grilled marinated chicken

Simmering in the sauce

The finished plate :-)

Dog Tales

Much has happened lately, both good and not so much so.  It's the not-so-much- so part that has kept me from posting.  As mentioned in my previous post, I was one of the presenters at the CHN Family EXPO this year.  First let me just plug this event a bit.

If you live in California, especially if you live in SoCal, I can not recommend the Family EXPO enough.  This was our second year attending and it was just so much fun.  We look at the weekend as a family vacation with benefits.  The benefits include the following:

• A hotel full of like minded homeschooling friends, around 1000 of them!
• A  "family village" full of  fun things for the kids to do... All Day Long:  keva planks, arts and crafts, puppet shows, dress up, various classes like paper airplanes, stomp rockets, volcanos.
• game tables set up in other hotel areas
• a little kid area with blocks, games, story times, and lots of chairs for the grown ups to sit and chat with others!
• all day chess room
• amazing and inspiring sessions, just what you need to recharge for the fall
• a packed vendor hall with all sorts of goodies to drool over
• pool fun with lots of friends
• poolside dinners
• hotel staff that loves that we are there
• Fun Fun Fun!

I also want to say that if you are not a member of one of the 3 statewide homeschool groups, join one (or all) today.  The yearly cost are minimal and they are a fantastic resource.  With all that has happened with the court case in this last year it is important for homeschoolers to show the state that we are strong, we are united and that we are a force to be reckoned with.  The best way to show our numbers is to join a group.  I am a member of both CHN and HSC, I plan on looking into CHEA as well.  Look into it.  Now.

One of the things I have not mentioned (aside from on Twitter, and as far as I know only a few of you follow me there) is that about 4 weeks ago my baby dog Bungee was dx'd with lymphoma.  He turned 15 in March and up until then had been doing pretty well for such an old guy.  A little stiff, a little slow, but happy and loving.  When we got the dx we decided that we would do chemo for him and see how he would respond.  He responded GREAT!  His throat, which had been so swollen it was hard to eat, shrank after on treatment. He had a total of 3 treatments and was scheduled for his 4th when we got back from the EXPO.  Our very good friend C stayed at our house and watched the dogs while we were gone.  I left him a long novel about his care, what meds to give and when.  Our vet office knew we were going and had Chris listed in their computers. 

Saturday evening C called to say Bungee was refusing his meds and wouldn't eat.  He's done this here and there, so I wasn't too worried.  Well, this time it was different.  Sometime around 11pm Bungee started throwing up foam.  After a while C realized that this was not good, Bungee was in pain.  He took him to our local 24 hour vet ER. 

X-rays showed that Bungee's gut was twisted.  C called us round 1 a.m. to tell us.  It was a horrible thing to be over 2 hours away.  We knew at that point that the best thing for Bungee was for us to let him go.  At that point he was on morphine and completely out of it.  It broke my heart that I was not with him the last 3 days of his life.  I know that I was with him through out his life, but still.  I missed his birth by hours, I missed his death by a day.

There is some good in how and when it happened.  The kids didn't have to be there to see him.  But they also didn't get to say goodbye.  I didn't either.  That hurts.  We were in such a rush to get out the door that I don't know if I got in a good "see ya later".  I just keep reminding myself of the good though.  I still cry, I still miss him terribly, but I know it is ok and I know he feels so much better.  His ashes arrived Friday.  That sent me over the top too, but I am glad he is home.  We are thinking of taking him to a nearby beach that he used to love and letting him go there. 

It is funny how things work.  We have some very good friends who moved up to Salinas 3 years ago.  We went up to visit them in their first year, but haven't been since.  My friend A is a dog person, she always seems to have wayward dogs.  She had known Bungee most, if not all of his life.  She was one of the first friends I called once we were home and settling in to our life with out Bungee. A week or so ago my PDA chimed me a little reminder that it would be her husband's birthday soon.  I mentioned it to Ben and he said, "What are they doing? We should go up!"  I  called up A and asked what their weekend plans were.  As it so happened, she was planning a surprise party for her dh.  We worked out the details and made our plans.  It was at this point she told me about her recent acquisition.  A 4 moth old  black lab currently named Ben-10.  Guess what kind of dog we have talked about getting in the future?  A black lab or black lab mix, puppy in age.  I don't know that now was when were were thinking we would want one but there it was.    A told us how cool and different this little guy was.  She is not a lab person (too much shedding) but they were planning to keep him- if we didn't want him.  He was just that cool.  Well we went up for the weekend and had a chance to meet him.  He was pretty darn cute.  And mellow.  He reminded me of Bungee as a pup.  Bungee was the most mellow dog ever.  He was a lab/shepherd mix.  But not very lab like in the energy department. 

After spending all day with Ben-10 and watching him interact with the kids and our other two dogs, we decided to bring him home.  We have to change his name- not that it isn't cool, but since dh is Ben, we thought it'd be less confusing.  I picked the name Buka (long u, pronounced Boo-Ka)  I got the word from Olivia.  That is what she called the computer for the longest time.  I just loved the way she said it and was sad when she finally got the word "computer" down.  It is also the name of one of our favorite restaurants in Universal City- Buca de Beppo.  In that case Buca means "basement or hole" in Italian. For those of you that know what Ben does for a living,  "hole" is sort of appropriate! 

We got home late last night- well later than we intended anyhow.  All dogs survived the drive and there was minimal complaining from the kids.  Buka traveled well and seems to be settling in.  We need to get him a tag, get him registered with the city and maybe get him a bed.  He likes to chew, so the kids are learning real fast not to leave toys on the ground.

Our weekend with our friend was great she has a horse (not on her property) and we got to go out and ride her both Saturday and Sunday.  That was a real treat!  Ben also finally got to use his golf clubs that I bought him for Christmas...8 Years Ago!  He had fun, and is looking forward to taking lessons with the kids at some point.    I had fun visiting with my friend- I miss her and hate that they are so far away.  The kids loved playing with her boys- they get along really well so it is lots of fun to be around them.

I have a picture of Bungee and me from when he was about 6 weeks old.  I need to take it upstairs and scan it in to the computer to share with you!  For now here is one of the two of us taken July 9.  You can see how puffy his neck is, this was a week or two before we got the dx.

 

In case you hadn't noticed

I weighed in on Monday and I have officially lost 5 lbs!  (since the end of April & the beginning of a little contest between my friend and I).  Our final weigh in for the first month is on Friday the 30th.  I've already met my goal (4 lbs) but now I have to spend all week worried that I'll have some sort of freak 10 b weight gain. Ok well mostly I'm worried about a 2 lb fluctuation gain.  Over the course of a month, even when losing weight, I add a few lbs here and there- usually around or during my period.  I should

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Weird.  This post was supposed to be in draft mode- not published until I said- Publish.  (Hence the sentence that was left hanging.  yeesh. )

Well I did keep all my weight off (YAY) and me and my girl went to a local wine bar and had a perfectly wonderful night.  I'd go into detail but then you'd know that we indulged in yummy cheese, wine, Tuscan style fire baked pizza and (shhhh) we shared a piece of chocolate cappuccino pie thingy. Mostly it was great girl talk while the boys watched all the kids.  (That is a whole 'nother story)

Anyhow my intent was to blog about my crappy day today, but upon finding this here post unfinished I didn't get to do that did I?  Actually the day wasn't crappy, I was just in a crap mood right from the get go when a freakin bird started pacing my roof at 4am.   (We have a cathedral ceiling so I heard every dang step).  I am trying desperately to let go of my negative mood even now at 945pm.  Honest to God if that bird walks the roof again tonight I'll be out front in my jammies tossing rocks at the damn thing (and I really like birds normally- honest).

Peace out all-  maybe tomorrow I'll have my chance to write.  (Jenny I was also all geared up to share about the whole yearbook thing I'm doing too.)

We Wii, We Twitter & We Twirl

I know I know- I still pretty much am sucking at blogging.  I got issues  what can I say!

Last week Ben got us a Wii.  It is the first game system we have bought- apart from the V-smile and a leapster L-max.  Both of those game systems go in and out of fashion around here, and both have gotten quite a bit of use.  Both Ben and I have shied away from the big game systems-  we both love to play video games and know that we'd get sucked into a world we really don't have time for right now.  I have a hard enough time staying away from the computer in order to get things done around here (So you'd think I'd blog more huh?).  Any who, we both have been tossing around the idea of the Wii, mainly because it is a get up and move kinda thing.   Upon returning the birthday bike that never was (Got it put together only to realize it was defective) Ben had to return it to TRU first thing in the morning and it just so happened that they got a Wii shipment in the night before- so he was third to get one from them. 

I have to say it has been pretty darn fun!  I was sore for 3 days after the first night of boxing.  Seriously.  I've also discovered I am much better at Wii bowling than in real life bowling, and even better when I bowl lefty.  All the kids but Olivia can play it with some degree of competence, and it is easy enough to fake Olivia out since we have two remotes.  We have had so much fun creating Mii's ( the Wii people). We have made characters for every family member and several of our friends.  I even made a Severus Snape. (because you need an evil looking fellow wandering in and out of your games)  Making the Mii's is almost as much fun as playing a game.    We haven't pre-ordered the Wii Fit yet, but I am seriously considering it.  It looks pretty darn fun.   I used the boxing game today to complement my workout.  I walked 2-3 miles, then got on our spin bike for 30 min and since my heart rate was up (I wear a hr monitor) I thought I'd see if I could keep my hr in fat burning range while playing wii boxing.  Oh Yeah I can!   I boxed for 15 minutes and was truly sweating!  The kids got a kick out of seeing me use the game to "work out" too.  All in all a great purchase. 

As for the Twitter and twhirl- well if you take a gander at my side bar there is something labeled Twitter Updates.  I had heard of Twitter a while back but never got around to actually looking at it.  One of the blogs I read regularly (Just Enough Nothing More) recently posted about it and that was all it took to get me looking.  (in the past I heard about it on the radio, no where near a computer).   So now I have something else to get addicted to use regularly.  What I like about it is Twhirl- I can keep Twhirl on my desktop and jot lame quick thoughts without bothering to log in and all that fuss. 

So if you haven't already looked into it go have a Twitter and Twirl and look me up- I'll follow you!

It's the End of the Month (as we know it...)

Well the clock is ticking down.  Just a few more days and November will be over.  Generally one might think I have song filled words of Christmas to sing to you and all that crap, but no, it means two other things in this instance. 

1. The 30 day challenge is over at www.orgjunkie.com
2. It is the end of NaBloPoMo

I know I clued you in on the garage clean up thing.  However I have hesitated to say anything about the NaBloPoMo thing.  I sort of decided on a whim that I'd give it a try.  I only officially signed up last week.  How's that for limiting the chance of failure.  Sad I know.  I don't know that I have ever written as much as I have this past month.  I know there were a couple of days of, well, fluff, but I tried, really tried to write a few meaty posts each week.   I have both enjoyed and hated this whole thing.

I like that I feel somewhat accountable for posting.  At the same time I resented that I felt that I had to.  Overall I do think it has been a great exercise for me.   I do love to write. I do love to share my weird musings.  I do love that there are like 3 people who regularly check in on me.  (Along with all those Pink Cast people- which  you know I will be sure to use the words Pink Cast in a post a least once a month so that I can have hits from all over the globe!)

I look forward to slowing don a bit  in the month of December.  I have much to do around this house and blogging everyday is just not likely to happen. 

As for the challenge.  Well, I knocked out quite a bit in the garage this last weekend.  It looks fantastic.  However it is not finished.  There are two areas left that are in dire need of help, and I am just not so sure that I will get to them before the weekend.  I am going to try though.  Either way, I will be posting pictures on Friday of my clean and organized (mostly) garage. 

The Accidental Tradition

We have aways had somewhere to spend Thanksgiving. Since we have been married, I can't think of one time that we have spent a TG day at our own home.  The problem with that is that we both love the foods, and if you don't host, well, you don't end up with too many leftovers.   

We solved that long ago by making our own little feast on Friday.  Sometimes it's just the turkey, others the whole deal.  We didn't intend for this to become a tradition.  Never talked about it.  However that is what it has become.

We get to have a relatively stress free Thanksgiving day.  Making a dish  or a dessert (I made pumpkin chocolate chip cookies yesterday that were a huge hit) and no big mess to clean up.  Friday we make our "leftovers" and get to enjoy another stress free day. 

We don't' do the whole shopping thing- except online.  We took care of 3 family members gifts all before noon, sitting at the kitchen counter.  Gotta love it! 

My Poorly Socialized Kids

We went to a reunion of sorts last Saturday.  I grew up in this area and our family had a sailboat.  From the age of 7 until I was around 16 or so- I spent all my spare time on the water or involved in the yacht club in some way.  We are blessed to have some islands off our coast and every holiday was spent on the boat at the islands.

My parents had a large, core group of friends- most all from the same club.  Many raced their boats as well as cruised.  Those folks partied too!  The 80's were a fun time.  This group of friends has drifted in part over the years, some leaving sailing and boating entirely.  Several are member of the yacht club that we joined.  This was a large reason for choosing this particular club.

A few months ago when my parents were out and we were at the club, they told Big Lar that he should have a fall BBQ at his home.  He has a lovely little home in a nearby small town, and his landscaping is beautiful. (He is a landscaper by trade and his yard is all native CA low water plants).  The idea took and it was decided that it would be "the old crowd". 

We had to go to a family party in LA in the morning, then we headed over to Big Lar's.  My parents and sister came to town for the event.  We got there around 1:45 and stayed until 6pm.  It was a great afternoon of socializing, eating and remembering old times.  LD brought a photo album that spanned the decade and that was sure fun to laugh at! 

Mine were the only children.  Big Lar has no kids/grandkids so his house had nothing but the yard for them to play in.  They had a few pieces of candy and a couple of trinket  toys from their  goody bags that they got form the party.  They played non stop- happily- without fussing or fighting- the entire time.  They were polite and respectful and a real joy to have there. One friend gave them the greatest compliment.  She said to me "Your kids are so nice Michelle.  You know sometimes you go somewhere and there is just one kid, and after a half hour you are ready to throttle the kid, and here you have four kids and you'd have hardly known they were even here.  They are just so pleasant!"  Wow!  That sure feels good!  Even my Olivia was happily playing, only coming to me periodically. 

Yes my poor, unsocialized, kids. How will they ever learn to adapt to "the real world"?

Oh and now, it has been decided that this will be an annual event... how cool!

Ben's Birthday Weekend

It's pretty cool when a single day can morph into a 4 day event.   His actual birthday was Saturday, but he got to start celebrating on Friday at work.  Nothing major, but a nice gesture.  Friday night we left the kids with my MIL and went to the yacht club.  Every Friday they have a Friday Night Dinner.  Once a month they celebrate all the birthdays of the month during  the dinner.  This was the October Birthday Dinner, so along with several other members we sang Happy Birthday and got a bottle of champagne.  We met several new couples at dinner and really had a nice time. 

Saturday marked the big day- 35.  He received several rounds of happy birthday from the kids, then he left for the off track betting place to go bet on the Breeders Cup with his brother.  He didn't end up winning, but had a great time.  While he was gone the kids and I went to Costco to get him his birthday present.  We got him Airhog helicopters.  I can't tell you how long he has wanted a remote control helicopter.  They also had the adjustable weights that we've been waiting and hoping for them to carry.  Each dumbbell can adjust from 5 lbs to 52 lbs.  So he got an unexpected present from me. Needless to say he was thrilled.   

Saturday night we had made plans with G & C.  we dropped Olivia off with the grandparents and the rest of us (G, C & their 2 kids) piled into The Beast (my suburban) and we dropped off all the kids at the Halloween party at the gymnastics studio and the 4 of us went out to dinner-completely free of children.  Now that was a treat! 

We went to a favorite tri-tip/bbq restaurant near gymnastics.  G & B had never been so we were excited to share it with them.  After a lovely meal, they pulled out their gift to Ben.  I had wondered why G had brought a sail bag into the restaurant.  The bag itself was part of the gift.  They put together a "Sailing Conversion Kit" for him.   Because of how clever and how much thought they put into this, I am going to share with you the directions for the kit, which were included.

• 1 retro Ullman Sails Sail Bag-  Container for sail, gear, cold beverages, etc.  Can also be placed over head to disguise oneself after bad performance.
• 1 North Sails One Design Mylar Enclosure- To house all impeortant sailboat documents, note it is waterproof.
• 1 Yacht Club Burgee-  To be flown proudly from any vessel you may be aboard, duplicates may be flown from backyard to show off to friends you have enough money to be a member of a yacht club.
• 1 Jimmy Buffet Novel-  Does anything really need to be said about how to use this?  If ou ever forget how to have a "laid back" time, this book wil remind you.
• $100 Dollar Bills-  Just a friendly reminder of the obscene amount of money it takes to participate in this adventure.
• 1 Personal Sized Tube of Sunscreen- to be aplied liberally to all exposed areas.  Warning, not for spousal consumption.
• 1 Package Crusing & racing Magazines - Because when your're not on the water, you need to act as if your preparing to be.  The 'Showboats' one is so once again, you can impress your friends.  Just tell them you interseted in a new "time-share" that's way cooler than a condo.
• 1 Mount Gay Rum Red Hat - You'll be shocked to learn this is the coolest, most coveted sailing item in the industry.  Can be found on EBAY for exorbitant amounts of money.  If you ever need extra funds for your boat and you put this online, we will no longer be your friends.
• 2 Ullman Sails Stickers - To be considered one of the chosen few, you must tattoo your car/window with a sailing sticker of some sort.  These have been treated with UV protection.
• 1 Sailing Related Invoice - To prepare you for the reality that you will be spending a lot of those $100 dollar bills. 
• 1 Roll of Duct Tape - Haven't you heard, it really does fix anything.  Can also be used to cover the mouths of obnoxious crew members.
• 1 Extremely Used and Loved Sailing Book - This has some really good information in it and can occupy the nex 3 years of your bathroom time.
• 1 Pair Size 10 Flip Flops - Because no matter how hard you try to resist, you always feel more relaxed with out shoes.  Be free our friend, don't fight it!
• 1 Harken Block Key Chain - quite possibly the most expensive key chain you'll ever own.    You already have a wallet that proves your true identity,now you have a key chain that proves you've been converted to a true sailor.  By the way if you ever get rid of this, we will disown you.  We weren't kidding, these suckers are expensive.
• 1 Bottle of Mount Gay Rum - You are a sailor now.  You need to ditch the Captian.  This is the true sailor's rum of choice.  Besides, if all esle fails with the above mentioned items, you can enjoy this item thoroughly.

Seriously-how cool was that!  Like my friend Jenny said recently- "But regardless of whether those friends are helpful, thoughtful, intoxicating, or sobering, I've found that friends are always worth the effort."

So true.  Our circle of friends has grown in the last year, and truly the effort is beyond worthwhile. 

On to more of Ben's birthday.  So let's see we left off at the restaurant.  After a very enjoyable opening  (and reading of) gifts, we went back and got our kids.  We came back to our house and got them all upstairs and in bed.  FIL brought a sleeping Olivia back and again we were 4 adults with out children.  Awesome!  We had a few drinks, talked then played the game Cranium.  It was really fun!  The boys won in the end but not with out a good fight from us girls.  We hit the sack much too late, but I'd say it was almost worth it (I'm still trying to catch up on sleep!!!)

Sunday G & C had a Gal Guy sailing event so I kept the kids while they sailed.  Ben went out to lunch with his good friend C (thus marking day 3 of the never ending birthday), then he helped Ben pick out a computer for work.  C is our computer guru.  I am now the happy owner of Ben's old laptop, and Ben's office is sporting a new desktop PC.

Late in the afternoon, the kids were getting edgy so I piled them all in The Beast and we went to the yacht club.  C & G were just taking the boat out of the water so it was great timing.  I sat and chatted a bit then piled my crowd back into The Beast and we headed to MIL's house for Ben's birthday dinner.  She makes an amazing lasagna.  We sang to Ben (again) and he got a whole set of tools and a tool box from them.  Our house was sadly lacking proper tools.  We have a mix match of random stuff, but now- we've got it all. 

Finally, we get to Monday. The last and final day of Ben's birthday.  On Monday Fed-Ex delivered the gift I had originally ordered for him.  I got him wireless headphones so he can get on the bike in the early morning and watch the Justice League or Lord of the Rings- two of his favorite things to workout to.

And so it ended.  The 4 day birthday.