curry – Peaceful Reader

We are oh, so close!

Kim Reynolds decided on Wednesday night just around midnight that she would tell school children (and their parents) in the state of Iowa that is was optional to wear a mask around school. At midnight on a school night this was decided. I mean I get that she’s never really believed in the pandemic and she IS all about free choice for Republicans but this still seemed a little extreme to me because we are so, so close to closing out the school year. We have two weeks to go! And unless you actually work or teach in a school you may not know how this would play out on a Thursday morning. Our district in an attempt to be open sent an email out alerting parents of this new decision by the governor. Some parents read this email or knew about the decision handed down but other parents might not have had the luxury to see their email and don’t follow late night decisions from Des Moines state house. They sent their kids to school with masks as they have every damn day of this year. Other parents celebrated this and sent their kids happily to school finally free of the damn mask. Still other parents sent their kids to school with a mask asking them to still stay safe. There was bullying in the first few minutes within our school walls until teachers could get students in their classrooms for a calm and inclusive morning meeting. Havoc. Pure havoc and one more way to politicize the wearing of masks and the pandemic in general. Thanks Kim. Cannot wait to work against your re-election campaign.

In other news I finished Ground Zero by Alan Gratz. This book caused a major stir when it first came in. Lots of students wanted it. I found one of my copies on the shelf the other day and I decided to bring it home to read. It was so riveting I read it in 2 days. The story centers around 9/11 and the war on terror that was the aftermath of that major tragedy. Alan Gratz does not sugar coat the history either which I very much appreciated. I remember watching the towers come down on the news that morning and I was a graduate student at the time and turned on the news because someone at my son’s school mentioned the weird thing of a plane hitting the first tower. I remember what it looked like to see it crumble and it was terrible and the aftermath of what we did as a nation was awful. What ever age you are read this book for a comprehensive look at the reality of that time in history and be ready for a gripping tale told in alternating points-of-view.

I’m taking two classes this summer; one is on questioning and the other is on kindness which are both great topics to introduce more of and next year I will be ready for fresh perspective. After experiencing this election cycle and George Floyd trial with students and the negative comments I want to have some new tools in my school bag. Bring on the kindness and positive discussion!

(Cookie + Kate)

I’ve made a few good recipes recently including this rhubarb crisp from the NYT. My mom gave me some rhubarb stalks. I love rhubarb but cannot grow it for some quirky reason. This crisp was delicious and I will make it again as soon as I locate more rhubarb. I also made this red lentil curry soup from Cookie and Kate tonight and we all enjoyed it with toasted sourdough bread.

I really still want it to be Saturday and not Sunday night but there we have it. I need to get ready for my day tomorrow. I probably should shower as I spent a lot of today with my hands in dirt weeding and planting flowers and herbs around the yard and in my big pots. It was the first good hot day and it didn’t rain. Rain is important but sunny skies help my mood. Peace and love to you…

Reading and Recipes

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I made yogurt this weekend after one failed attempt. Truth: It takes the whole damn day-you’ve got to be prepared for that and I don’t always have a full day to spend with yogurt so I try to sandwich it between things which is why every once in a while it doesn’t work for me. This time I had one failed attempt-stayed milk-poured it right back into the Hansen’s jug used by my husband for his morning cereal. Second time-score-creamy, happy yogurt ready for my morning breakfast.

I also made a curry dish today and soaked chickpeas for the recipe. I found the cauliflower chickpea recipe on The Wholesome Fork and read about the proper method to soak chickpeas on Inspired Taste. I like it when I can prepare a whole meal without opening a bunch of cans. I used fresh tomatoes and some leftover coconut milk saved in a jar in my fridge. It was good and spicy and there’s enough left for lunch tomorrow. While blog surfing I found this great post about my chickpea love just a few months ago.

I picked up a book, Shadow Mountain; a memoir of wolves, a woman, and the wild by Renee Askins, from one of my TBR piles that I’d purchased a few years back while visiting Yellowstone National Park. Nonfiction is not my thing but I loved Terry Tempest Williams’ book Refuge and she is mentioned twice on the back cover blurbs. I’m sure that’s what inspired me to purchase Renee’s book at the Yellowstone gift shop. I’m more than 1/2 way through and I love her story. It makes me feel a little guilty because while I was goofing around in Denver, Co, causing trouble, going to Dead shows, Askins was living her passion, striving and working hard to reintroduce wolves back into Yellowstone. A life well-lived. My passion came later; a late bloomer as my mother loves to say. If you love being in nature, the call of the wild, I highly recommend both books!

Have a good week. We’ve got some changes happening here at our home/sanctuary and I feel I’m going to feel 1000 % percent better when it happens. Ciao!

The end of the month is trudging along

What an unusual April it has been! I’ve made some good food, read some interesting books, and watched some interesting shows/movies with my family.

A long walk to water by Linda Sue Park (2010): This is a fictionalized story of one boy caught up in the Sudanese conflict with alternating sections sharing a young girl’s story as she spends her days carrying water. The stories come together in such a meaningful way; I finished this one in the car as I was waiting for my teenage dancer. If you were watching you would have witnessed me crying in my car. Highly recommend for many readers of all ages.

Green Angel by Alice Hoffman (2004): A short dystopian tale of a young girl left behind after her parents and younger sister take a trip into the city to sell vegetables never to return. The language and descriptions are beautiful and it is an amazing story of Green’s rebirth.

Lost in the sun by Lisa Graff (2015): I read this a few years ago and didn’t love it, then I assigned it to 6th-grade book club and read it again. I liked it much better this time around. I enjoyed Trent’s character more and understood the angst. The parents in the story left me wondering why they did seek help for him and especially thought the dad was an insensitive character.

Choosing Civility; The 25 rules of considerate conduct by P.M. Forni (2003): Forni teaches at the university level and saw a need for an introduction to manners for students. This book is a wonderful refresher course on rules we know but often don’t put into practice. Buy it for yourself or for someone you think could use it.

Curried Lentils: Delicious and easy. We had them with rice first and then another night wrapped in tortillas and heated. Oh so good. She has a similar recipe for curried chickpeas as well.

Chicken & black bean Enchiladas: I made these at the beginning of last week so we would have a few easy dinners. Groovy Girl is really good at making her own food but that takes time and right now she is short on that ingredient so I whipped up this batch of enchiladas so she wouldn’t have to make anything for a few days. I left out the pumpkin this time and used free-range local chicken from our meat market.

Atypical (Netflix)-watched by myself, then with Groovy Girl, and now want to watch with husband. Tells the story of a young autistic named Sam and his crazy yet also normal family. Jennifer Jason Leigh plays Sam’s mom. We love his sister, Casey and her boyfriend, Evan.
Everything Sucks! (Netflix)-We only watch this one altogether. It’s about high school students at Boring High, OR. And in doing some googling discovered this show has been cancelled after one season-that really sucks Netflix. Everybody rush to watch this first season…
On my block (Netflix)-Groovy Girl and I watched this series in one night and cannot wait for more. I plan to watch again with husband when his schedule frees up a little. A small group of LA teens who live on the same block try to focus on surviving their neighborhood. Excellent performances by all!
The Handmaid’s Tale (Hulu)-yes, I’m still watching. I waited to read the book and then I’ve tried to take it slow. It is a tough show to watch and gives me the chills.

Speaking of chills we went yesterday on a family outing to see The Quiet Place. I loved it and I am not a fan at all of anything scary. No Jason for me, no slashers, no creepy houses, etc. This one was more of a scary dystopian with loveable characters. John Krasinski wrote, directed, and produced this one and his talented wife Emily Blunt plays his wife. Give it a try; truthfully I only closed my eyes once or twice and I brought headphones (one reviewer said this might help) but didn’t end up using them much.

This post sums up my whole month except for some major family downs, two road trips, lots of dance classes, and a few friend celebrations. What do you have to share back with me?

February; Weekend Cooking

We went out of town this weekend to attend a Bluegrass Festival in Des Moines. I do love to travel and going anywhere requires finding a few good restaurants to try. On this trip our main foodie experience was Gusto’s Pizza near downtown. This place does not have just your average pizzas plus they do gluten-free crusts for any of their pizzas. I didn’t snap any photos because I was too busy eating. With names like Buffalo Springfield, Vincent Van Goat, Francesco, and the Fromage A’Trois it was very hard to make a choice. With all the menu choices we somehow missed the special of the day which was a spicy Thai pizza.

{Gusto’s Pizza-just NOT the pizza we ordered}

After much deliberation we voted to get the Francesca which featured an Alfredo sauce, mozzarella, Roma tomato, artichokes, cremini mushrooms, and spinach. It was divine. We ate almost the whole thing. There is one lonely piece waiting for me in the refrigerator for lunch or dinner. Groovy Girl got to design her own small pizza; shrimp, fresh basil, Roma tomatoes, and extra mozzarella. She was in pizza heaven and she had a wonderful cream soda to make her smile.

My friend and I both tried 2 different salads from the menu as well. Mine was the Fromage Bleu featuring apples, spiced walnuts, mixed greens, red onion and balsamic vinaigrette. I wished for more bleu cheese crumbled on top-after all the name features bleu! My friend ordered the quinoa continental and it was by far the winner! A small amount of quinoa mixed with mixed greens, goat cheese, roasted butternut squash, dried cranberries, and balsamic vinaigrette. I am going to re-create this salad at home! All in all it was an amazing trip to Des Moines. Oh, and the Bluegrass Festival; it was fantastic as well.

We made it safely back yesterday afternoon just in time for Groovy Girl’s school fundraiser. Last night at about my bedtime I realized I needed to make something for our church potluck. I whipped this vegan curry dish (from allrecipes.com) in about 40 minutes and it was a huge hit. The bowl was scraped clean. Surprising as it was pretty spicy. No leftovers. I’ll have to make more. It’s been a good food weekend for me!

This post is linked to Beth Fish Reads weekly foodie meme. Click her link to find many other food-related posts.

Weekend Cooking; Curry and Chappati

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We’ve been eating…lots of good stuff. Last night I whipped up an easy batch of fettuccine (pasta, olive oil, hard Parmesan, cream, thinly sliced garlic, and loads of pepper) after a crazy day with no heat in our house. Lucky for us by 5:00 last night it was fixed otherwise my hands would probably be too cold to type. But the recipe coup of the week was the curry dish I created last Sunday night for guests. We ate the curry over brown rice, washed it down with a couple of ice cold Stella’s, and popped edamame pods for something green.

I cleaned my house early in the day so I’d have plenty of time to cook with out hurrying which leads to worrying that everything’s not going to come out right. It came out great with very little leftovers. Because of the extra time I allowed I had time to whip up something special for the side that my husband loves; chappati. ( Indian Bread) As a 4th and 5th grader my husband spent two years in Malaysia and he loves most everything related to Indian and Asian cooking. My mother-in-law who I adore and bragged about in this post wrote a short cookbook based on her experiences working with friends in Malaysia. I’ve made a few recipes from her book but the chappati one is one of our favorites. It is incredibly easy and they work perfectly as the tool to get more curry into your mouth.

The curry recipe is from Serious Eats. This recipe called for lemongrass which smelled incredible as I chopped and whirred it together with fresh ginger.

And the chappati recipe:

3 cups whole wheat flour, or atta flour

Water, enough to make it pie dough consistency

Knead the water and flour well, at least 30 minutes before you are ready to fry it. Grease the top with ghee or corn oil, cover, and leave at room temperature until ready to use.

Pull off small tangerine-sized hunks of dough and work in your hand until it is smooth and round. Roll out into a flat, round circle about 1/4-inch thick.

Fry on a very hot griddle until golden brown on each side. May brush on a small amount of ghee or oil while frying to make chappatis soft. If they puff up while cooking, press the air out. Continue making until all dough is used up. Keep warm in oven or between layers of towels. Makes 10-12.

Thank you Phyllis!

There is a curry puff recipe here that is on my list to attempt soon.

I also have all the ingredients to make this Mexican Tortilla Casserole that I first spotted at Beth Fish Read’s interview with Katie Workman and now I have the book. I hope all my peeps like it.

We won’t be having it tonight though as Groovy Girl and I have tickets to the ballet…the Russian Ballet performance of Cinderella so we are donning our dresses and heavy winter coats and heading out, one foot in front of the other to the ballet!

This post is linked to Beth Fish Reads Weekend Cooking meme. Click her link to find many other food-related posts.

Enjoy your weekend…