Murgh makhani and other Indian feats

Yesterday was an unexpectedly Indian kind of day.

Morning walk yielded this neighbor's artwork, a little early for Diwali, but maybe it's a welcome to visiting family. Stenciled chalk.

Then I followed through on a plan to make the fairly modern Indian dish, butter chicken, murgh makhani. It's rich with butter and cream, for me whole milk, and takes a bit of doing, not high-level skills, just time.

I followed the Bombay Chef on YouTube for this but had to adapt the ingredients to what I had. Instead of fresh tomatoes, tomato paste, big chunk, a la America's test kitchen where I first saw that substitution.

I didn't have crushed methi leaves, just the seeds (aka fenugreek) so I crushed a few of them. I did have all the spices, chili powder, garam masala, all that, why are you not surprised.

First you marinate, really rub, the chicken pieces in spices, leave a while, then make what I call the sauce, Indians call the gravy.  

This involves another slew of spices, garlic paste, I used minced fresh, ginger paste, I used minced fresh, tomatoes, I used paste, onions, he used shallots, butter galore, cream, whole milk for me, sugar,  malt vinegar, cashews, lengthy simmering, blend till smooth, add in the chicken now fried, and heat all over again, then taste. Wow. Worth the work. 

Container, minus one emergency helping for the cook in case there are no leftovers, now in the freezer, ready for next week's Handsome Son dinner Chez Mom. To be served over jasmine rice.

Later I went out with my spade to dig up that errant sedum I'd promised to my neighbor, Aditha. She instantly ran out to help and I explained it was for her anyway, so she and her husband happily transplanted it across to her side of the little front area. 

So it's now out of harm's way, too close to the sidewalk before, being trodden on by kids playing, threatened by landscapers edging.

Indian art, cooking and neighbors gardening, not a bad day.

Today I still have to eat, here cream of  tomato, chickpea, cashew.  Thai basil starting to grow again in the house, ready to garnish everything that gets within range.

Unhemmed napkin playing a finished one on this blog.

And Neighbor Gary is coming over to replace the ceiling light later. 

Later Textiles and Tea. All good.

Insects, beaded figure, spinning, and chimneys

A mixed day yesterday and today. The good news is that the overnight rain didn't cause flooding at least not right here, and the chimney people finally came 

Yesterday was beautiful, the sedum Autumn Joy in bloom and a major traffic jam of insects, darting about, dive bombing each other and making me refer to my Little Golden insect Guide. 

Since some people are a bit squicked out by insects, I'll omit the ones I was seeing, and just show you favorites. The book also has a big section on butterflies where I got engrossed for a while.

Meanwhile, back at the sedum, there was a potter wasp, too fast for pictures,very sharp black and white striped suit, various bees, honey, humble, carpenter, large and tiny, all kinds of little brown butterflies, just a busy parade before the rain. 

I notice that insects have the names of trades: potter, carpenter, and I'm wondering if there are more. The large bee you see was repeatedly thumped by small insects which he totally disregarded, letting them bounce off.

And the flowers whose name I can never remember, are just as beautiful with petals gone, the architecture still there.

Then finally I was up for some doll making, and the beaded head now has a body, with sculpted arms.  I have some interesting ideas about the rest of the figure, involving a purse. I'll show you when I get there.

Meanwhile here's why the sculpted arms, so the figure is two sided.

And since I was starting to get clumsy, my fingers working only so long, I switched to a bit of spinning, first in a while.

I dropped the spindle and the part of the shaft where the hook is cracked off.  I taped it and continued and it seems to be working okay. This is a small spindle I haven't used a lot, and maybe the wood is dry from disuse. No oils from roving and hands have got on it 

This silk merino is supposed to be for me to learn the supported spindle, but I wasn't up for learning anything new yesterday. Breaking one spindle wasn't a great start, so I'll learn new stuff another day. 

Meanwhile I may knit the figure a beaded top, using the yarn I'm spinning. It's lace weight so it should work proportionally.

Speaking of learning, great story out of Idaho yesterday. Our blogista Chris swears it wasn't her story, but you be the judge!

My chimney sweep story was as undramatic as hoped. He said oh, ah, when I showed him the dryer, inspected the chimney, no need to clean, wrote up the paperwork explaining dryer did not need vent cleaning since it didn't use one. 

Did not do the feared drama at all. Friend never showed up, so that was okay anyway.

So far so good. Let's hope the HOA either doesn't register the difference, or just checks off the done column in my account.

Meanwhile, don't have a cow in Wal-Mart!

Signs of life

After bitter weather, low temps, freezing and thawing, some plants are just intrepid. Here's food getting under way on the patio.  Bittercress, growing well inside the patio, away from the demon landscapers' spraying.

Some of this will go nicely on my soup for lunch.  It grows prolifically around here, in grassy areas, but the only hitch is that they are also areas that get sprayed, so you have to proceed with caution. But I like it as an interesting addition to a green salad.  Or anywhere, really.

And when the leaves drop from trees in the fall, they leave behind the start of buds for next year, always a cheering thought. Here's the Japanese maple.

Then, reason #687878 why I love sedum, here's the Autumn Joy sedum rosettes already making an appearance, under ice and cold, see them, tiny blue green buds there? I'll remove the dead foliage from last year soon, after the rosettes start developing, but for now it's okay for protection.

 

 

All this burgeoning reminds me that in a couple of weeks it will be time for my Annual Witch Hazel Hunt.  The witch hazel blooms in January and there are a couple of bushes within walking distance, just right for me to go along and swipe a few little twigs to put in water.  Then the minute blossoms, perfect miniatures, develop, and a scent along with them. like this, about a quarter inch across, at least the variety I see.

Nature never seems to take a day off.  So much for everything closing down and sleeping through the winter.