Tuesday, January 8, 2013

what i wanted to post

this is what i wanted to post today: lovely pictures of all my christmas knitting, beautifully posed by my silly little tinsel christmas tree, and happy pictures of various family members wearing said knitting.  i wanted to post pictures of my epic peppermint bark making adventure, inspired by that most famous of knitting bloggers, yarnharlot.  i also wanted to post some pictures of my new year's eve party and its ensuing madness too.  why haven't i posted such things, you ask?  because the pictures are on my stupid smartphone, and i can't get em off of it, because i am here in the middle of nowhere working and there's no signal.  poop on my smartphone, i say.  it slices, it dices, it takes better photos than my actual camera- then holds them hostage when i really want them.  maybe it wants a present?  i could knit it a cozy.  so anyways.... i will attempt to paint word pictures instead, so that you can have some idea of my nice little holiday. 

#1: peppermint bark.  i spent way too much money on peppermint bark, by the way.  i took my little self and my husbot over to whole foods to get the chocolate and white chocolate and peppermint for the bark, and i found the chocolate just fine.  i then spent a very grumpy half an hour searching a very busy gourmet food store three days before christmas for peppermint candies.  any peppermint candies.  i found candy canes, but they were in such "creative" flavors as pomegranite (why?) and butterscotch, and would not do.  turns out that the entire store had no peppermint candies at all- three days before christmas.  so then i yelled at the cashier lady.  i'm ashamed about that.  i fumed a bit, and then went to a different, non-gourmet food store and found my candies in about two seconds.  of course.  the bark making, though, was easy and amazingly good.  if you could see the pictures, you would want some- white chocolate and crushed peppermints on the bottom, dark chocolate ganache in the middle, more white chocolate and peppermints on top.... and no, i didn't eat it all.  i gave a good bit to a dear friend who's just started eating gluten free due to an auto-immune disease, and shared with the fam... but you do have to understand, i can't eat a lot of christmas goodies.  i didn't feel all that ashamed about the bark.

#2: christmas knitting.  so here's the rundown on the stuff- i'll post pictures if my smartphone ever wises up.  mom = purple handwarmers.  i think she likes them, but i don't know.  dad = blue cabled handwarmers.  again with the thinking he likes them.  both of my parents are sensitive to wool, so i had to make em out of acrylic.  sigh.  sisters = blue and green colorwork hats in three different patterns.  they really like them, and like that they match without copying each other.  i didn't think that it would be such a big deal when you're 22, 16, and 11, but apparently it is.  huh.  my special brother = stripey socks.  he loves them, and is currently pairing them with overalls and bright green rubber clogs from ikea.  i love that kid.  my hip brother = dude beanie.  he says it's warm.  my friends got an assortment of socks, and they like them too.  my MIL = slipper socks, and hopefully they're something she likes.  they're also my first toe-up socks, so they were an adventure that nobody cared about but me.  but it's really fun to learn a new knitting thing, so i kept on calling the husbot over to show him.  i know he thought it was at least as important as i did, and didn't resent me at all for interrupting his video games.  i also made my oldest little sister convertable mittens and a cowl out of some crazy sparkly cotton yarn that she will use for running.  whew.  i think i'll go make myself a sweater now.

#3: new years party.  not a whole lot to say about that one, except that to get the full effect you have to imagine a bunch of nerds, a bunch of alcohol, and the game apples to apples.  extrapolate at will- and then add falling down, fajitas, and fireworks.  yup.  a great evening.  (the pics are very blurry.  i think my smartphone was feeling its cups a little by that point.)

next post will have the really good sugar cookie recipe i came up with to satisfy my cravings without getting all wheat bellied out.  and hopefully pictures, even if they're of a broken telephone.

Monday, January 7, 2013

C is for Curry

so a wee bit ago (like the beginning of the week, or the end of last week, or something... days tend to run together when you're me), i happened to mention on facebook that i was going to try and make a chicken curry stew for dinner, and make it in the crock pot for maximun laziness.  i didn't really think anything of this mention, i mean- it was on facebook.  if i'm mentioning something on facebook, i usually don't think too much of it. it's not like i'm sixteen and am concerned that the boy i like might read all of my posts, so i make sure that all my posts are pictures of myself taken from way up high and slightly to the right.  nope, i'm an adult, thanks.  so when i had a large response asking me about my curry stew and if it was good, i was a little surprised.  it was good, in fact.  quite good, and really really easy.  i guess a lot of folks are a bit burned out from the holidays and needs something simple and filling for dinner, not to mention cheap.  this fits the bill nicely.  so i've decided to write up the recipe that i used here, and feel free to take, use, and change as you see fit.  after all, it's crock pot stew. the potential for variations are endless.

Coconut Chicken Curry Stew (almost alliteration... sigh.)

3 chicken breasts
1 can of coconut milk
1 can of chicken broth
1/2 onion, diced
4 russet potatoes, peeled and diced large
2 red bell peppers, diced
4 carrots, peeled and chopped
1 T garam masala (this is imperitve for good flavor)
1T curry powder
1/2 t cayenne pepper
1 t garlic power
salt to taste

put the chicken breasts in the crockpot.  add the can of coconut milk, the broth, onions, potatoes, and spices (execpt salt. do that later, because you really shouldn't taste stuff with raw chicken.)  cook on high for 4 hours or so.  at that point, add the rest of the veggies and cook another two hours.  take out the chicken, and shred with two forks, then add back in.  salt to taste, and serve with yogurt and basmati rice, or naans, or crackers, or nothing.  it's good by itself too.  i figure you could add cauliflower, which i would have if i had any, or any other veggie that stands up to slow cooking.  don't forget to use the garam masala though.  it's what gives the stew it's clove-y cinnamon-y flavor.  you can get it pretty much anywhere in the spice aisle, but i get mine at the indian grocery store if i can.

so there you facebook folks go.  my stew.  it's lovely- so lovely i think i'll make it again next week.  it's so good i actually ate leftovers.  need i go on?

ps- i finished all the christmas knitting before christmas.  it was a holiday miracle.  everybody liked it too.