Curry night

Every once in a while, we invite a few friends around for a meal. Sometimes it’s after they’ve dropped subtle hints along the lines of “when are you going to cook us another curry?”

For some reason, people seem to like my curries. I make no pretense at any kind of authenticity, but it is something I’ve always enjoyed cooking since I first started cooking for myself roughly hmpprhpp mumble mumble years ago.

So yesterday out came the spices and half the pans in the kitchen cupboard. I should have taken a “before” photo, too, to show the mountain of sliced and chopped onions and tomatoes, all heaped on chopping boards arranged by dish, ready to cook. But here is the end result snapped before we ferried the dishes outside to the deck. Luckily we had a fine day evening after a gloomy spell earlier.

From left to right, and front to back, we have:
Creamy chicken curry
Chicken Jalfrezi
Curried shrimp and spinach
Chana Masala
Rice
Naan
Puppodums with minted yoghurt and chutney

Too good to eat?

Megan wasn't feeling too good earlier today and had to come home from school. I guess she's feeling better, because she just surprised me with a special creation - an apple swan.

It looked too good to eat, but in the end I decided that was better than letting it go all brown and yucky :)

Special evenings

Saturday evenings are usually Mum & Dad nights, when the kids eat in front of a movie, and then we two have a special meal to ourselves.

But, with Ali and Matthew off at a Scout camp, it was Dad & daughter night instead.

I don't know what the Scouts are eating, but we settled down to steak & rice topped with mushrooms & cream, and a caesar salad. Megan doesn't like mushrooms, but she does like the cream they're cooked in.

And the evening's entertainment? Kung Fu Panda. Fun movie.

Ghosts of blogfests past

I can tell that life is getting back to normal again.

We are back to Mayhem Monday, and another world-famous Botanist curry is doing its hubble-bubble-toil-and-trouble thing on top of the stove.

But in between various kitchen-ey things I wanted to find time to share this.

I can't believe it's only three weeks since I took part in Jen and Melissa's Be Jolly By Golly blogfest. Follow link here to my post, which links back to the owners' blogs and all the other entrants.

We have actually used two of the recipe suggestions now. First off, the frozen cranberry ice cubes (sorry, I can't now find who suggested that) went a treat at Christmas in our celebration fizz.

Then yesterday, I dug out L'Aussie's toblerone cheesecake recipe. I decided the recipe looked simple enough even for me, but I only got as far as the base before Ali pitched in and carried on with the topping. Probably just as well. I deal with a lot of the savoury specialities, but Ali is the undisputed pastry chef and dessert queen.

We then had a tough time for the rest of the day defending the fruits of our labours from marauding fingers until after dinner.

So, let's ask our tasting panel what they thought of it...

Yep. I think that is two cheesy grins and one big thumbs up!

Something warm for a windy day

Typical Monday evening: Ali gets the kids a meal while I'm on my way home from work, then she and Megan disappear off to Guides. Meanwhile I start on a meal for the grown-ups, in the middle of which I drop Matthew off at a music lesson. Ali collects him (it is just down the road from the church where Guides meet) and when they all get home it is time for some adult quality time, shared with curry and beer. All choreographed with military precision.

This evening was no different, except when I took Matthew out to music I ran the gauntlet of first leaves and then branches bouncing off the top of the car. While the curry was cooking, I had to round up the furniture on the deck that had been doing a fair imitation of a scene from the Sorcerer's Apprentice. I finished off to flickering lighting, wondering how much I could get cooked before the power failed.

No power outage, yet, but the wind is still moaning outside and the sound sends chills through me, so here is a warming sight to share instead...

Thanksgiving 2010

In the spirit of "when in Rome", we've taken to celebrating Thanksgiving. I think it is fitting, because this was the time of year we were busy winding up our old lives back in Guernsey and getting ready, nervous (read: petrified), to decamp to a new country.

For many Canadians, this is a huge family affair. People don't bat an eyelid at talk of cooking for 20 or more but it took a couple of years for us to realise this, because, although huge, this is an intensely private holiday. Although it is talked about, there is none of the OTT commercial hype of Halloween or Christmas.

Of course, we don't have family over here so we celebrate in our own quiet way.

This weekend, we were joined by a good friend now living up in Courtenay. He arrived yesterday, shortly after Ali and the kids returned from an overnight Cub camp. We saved the turkey dinner for today, getting the gastronomic side of things off to a start last night with a dish of braised pork and clams with fresh-baked olive bread and a crisp salad. Today, we pottered around for a while before preparing the turkey for the oven, then went out for a good long hike (and a bit of geocaching along the way) to work up an appetite. Turkey was served with a couple of our signature vegetable dishes: sprouts with mushrooms and almonds, and parsnips in creamy horseradish sauce. We finished off settling down to watch Avatar.

If there's any interest, I'll try posting some recipes another time.

So that was our Thanksgiving. How was yours?

'Tis the season to be camping

Spring is here.

I can tell.

Never mind the sunshine outside, the blossom on the trees, or the grass that needs mowing weekly. I can tell, because every other weekend on the calendar has some notation involving the word "camp". And the house is quiet.

With Megan in Guides and Matthew in Cubs, and Ali a leader in both units, that often leaves me to keep the home fires burning.

Two weeks ago, Ali and Matthew went to the Wolf Howl at Camp Barnard. About two hundred kids and half as many adults. That left Megan and me on our own, which was nice. We ate pizza and watched The Fifth Element. We took Gypsy for a leisurely walk in Butchart Gardens, rode the carousel, and treated ourselves to hot chocolate and chai latte at the cafe.

Ali returned earlier than expected on the Sunday, which was ominous. Both she and Matthew had run out of steam because throughout the non-stop-active weekend the organisers had chosen to skimp on the catering.

Food should account for most of the cost of a weekend like that. Camps I've been to have involved substantial quantities of tasty and filling meals and snacks. Not this time. Not only did they plan out a bare and unappetising menu, they stocked it with the cheapest bulk ingredients available (including carrots that were intended for animal feed), they watered down the dressings for salads and the syrup for the pancakes. And still they ran out of key items before serving everyone. Ali and Matthew went without soup one evening, and without sausages at breakfast.

Luckily they had a full Sunday roast to look forward to at home.

We were worried that might put Matthew off further camps, but, apart from hunger, he did enjoy himself. So he is back at Camp Barnard this weekend, just with his unit this time. And they do know how to look after themselves properly.

Meanwhile, Ali and Megan are over in Vancouver for the Memories and More rally to celebrate 100 years of Guiding.

We had to get up at five o'clock this morning so I could drive them to meet up with other units from the district, and with the coaches that would take them over on the ferry. Five o'clock? What kind of time is that? I guess this is payback for the early start I inflicted on them a few weeks ago for the TC10k.

So that leaves me entirely on my own for the day.

Did I get any writing done? Did I heck! Too much to do around the house. But it was an opportunity to choose a meal that doesn't normally take anyone else's fancy. So I sat down this evening to baked trout with peach and almond stuffing, saute potatoes, and a green salad. Mmmmm.

Time for some fun

Over the last year or two we seem to have got out of the habit of entertaining as much as we used to. The summer evenings and weekends all seem to have been filled with some Guide- or Cub- or school-related activity and flew by with barely a pause for breath, let alone a convivial barbecue. Must do better this year.

Now, we've seen a couple of Canadian Thanksgivings and we have not yet tried to play in the forty-assorted-guests-for-turkey-dinner league. Mostly, we just have a couple of friends around at a time, usually with children in tow, but children are such easy-going guests. I don't think we've even catered for eight adults since before the children were born.

So last evening we waited slightly anxiously for three of my work colleagues and their partners to arrive. This was an informal dinner, but we had to break out the good china and silverware just to scratch up matching sets of eight of anything. And the occasion prompted us finally to repair one of the dining chairs with a sagging bottom that had been sitting, neglected, in the end room for years.

But everyone arrived. Wine & beers were ceremoniously cracked open, conversation flowed, dinner was served, and not a lot was left at the end of it. Everyone seemed to depart happy, and we certainly enjoyed the evening.

The Menu

Cajun chicken salad (Crisp lettuce hearts, topped with a few slices of red onion, ranch dressing, and thinly sliced chicken fried in cajun seasoning. Simple but effective.)

Beef Wellington (Tender striploin, sealed and laid on a bed of fried onions, mushrooms, liver pate and cream, and wrapped in puff pastry.)
Served with red cabbage braised in red wine, asparagus, carrots, and potatoes.

All sweetened with homemade trifle and washed down with wine, courtesy of our guests.

Today we were in recovery mode, just attending to the minimum necessary weekend chores. The sun shone, and we packed up a picnic and went out to Witty's Lagoon to gaze at the seals (and a couple of otters) and mountains while the kids mooched around in rock pools.




And today we let Magic explore the house, and meet some of her new family.