milkballs

rollum made us an incredibly delicious (but highly involved) meal last night: milkballs!  (that's what his dad called it; it's essentially fried, homemade indian cheese balls (paneer) with peas and tomatoes). the whole process took about 2 1/2 hours.  first step: homemade ghee (clarified butter).  you melt butter and skim the inpurities off the top.  in the meantime, bring a gallon of milk to a slow boil. after it boils, add the juice of two lemons.  then curds form.  (i missed the next part - i went to the store to get some cilantro).  for the "sauce" - rollum used a variety of spices (probably about 10 different ones), canned whole tomatoes, and peas.  when i got back from the store, he had the milk curds in a cheesecloth and we formed little balls out of the cheese.  this part's hard because the little buggers don't really want to stay together, but you have to pack the curds in kinda tight.  then he fried the balls in the ghee and transferred them over to the sauce.  i think he also added some of the whey to tomato juice (and maybe some ghee) to make the sauce more liquid-y.

THEN he decided he wanted to try his hand making poories for the first time - ghee solids, water, and whole wheat flour.  we rolled the dough out and then fried it in the ghee. they're supposed to poof out, and while they weren't as good as the indian restaurants, we did a pretty awesome job.  2 1/2 hours later...dinner time.  i literally said "mmmmm!" after every bite.  cheers to my awesome husband for making an awesome, authentic indian meal.  he is quite the cook now...he's been making different thai-ish stir fries with veggies, tofu and rice noodles.

  (LOOKS SEVEN YEARS OLD BECAUSE OF THE SHIRT AND SMILE)

in other news, i did a supported headstand for the first time in yoga tonight!  (shoulders rest on 2 chairs with my head inbetween 'em, go into downward dog and kick up, lay the legs against the wall).  in the past, i was always too afraid to just let myself go for this pose and to be upside down.  i had to close my eyes when i was inverted because it freaked me out. 

with all this talk of paneer, poori and yoga, i hereby declare this to be my hindu post.  

adventures in yard sales

i went to a yard sale in my 'hood during my break from work yesterday and spotted a 70s canon camera for sale.  i came home and did a little research and decided to buy it this morning, if it was still there.  it was, so i did.  there was a roll of film already in it, so i snapped some pictures in my backyard and took the film to walgreens.  it came back blank. so i thought, 'maybe the film was overexposed' so i bought a fresh roll...took some more pictures in my backyard...went back to walgreens=blank again!   i went back to the lady's house and thankfully she gave me my money back. (she had never even used the camera.  she said a woman had left it at her place of employment & never came back for it, so after a year she took it home, but it sat in the closet for years and years).  phew!  i was kinda concerned that i had paid a bit too much for it to begin with, so i am happy the way this all played out.  even though i feel like i've kinda wasted my saturday - 4 trips to walgreens, 1 visit to the Y, 1 mini sandwich at jersey mike's, and browsing at kohl's while i was waiting for film #2 to be processed.

i went to a few other yard sales this morning.  question:  why do people sell used socks, boxers, and bras at yard sales?  question:  does anyone actually buy used socks, boxers, and bras at yard sales? 

i ended up buying "the very best of talk talk" and xtc's "english settlement" on cd.  apparently we already have the talk talk cd.  and an old reader's digest book on sewing that i may pass along to carolyn if she's interested.  

this whole camera thing gave me a photography bug though.  i need to do a little more research and perhaps i'll find another cool old camera somewhere.  

kid pics

via popcandy:  this is a brilliant idea.  you submit a childhood photo & then a new picture re-creating the kid shot as an adult.   my potential candidates for re-creation...sorry for the katie overload:

                                                                

 

     

               

it's been awhile!  i wish i had something exciting to report, but the past week or two has been relatively uneventful.  no pretty pictures to post, no recipes to share.  i guess i'm just writing this for the sake of writing this.

a few not-really-noteworthy things:  

1-i did a focus group study for 20/20 research last week and made $100.   you should sign up for their mailing list, and you just may qualify to participate.  and make the easiest money of your life!  i think i signed a disclaimer saying i wouldn't write about my specific study.  but it involved face care.  

2-i've figured out what i'm going to do for my first gocco project, but i haven't actually made it yet (or taken the gocco out of the box).  hey, that's one step further than before!  but i can't tell you about it because it's a surprise for my family.  

my dog helen

rollum found some glasses in the closet last night.  why not put them on the dog?

chocolate chip pie

chocolate chip pie recipe

it's like a cookie cake, but in a pie pan. or, imagine a pie with no crust, but the entire thing is a cookie.  or, imagine smooshing several cookies into the shape of a triangle, and that's what it's like to have a piece of chocolate chip pie. but it's good.  if you like chocolate chip cookies. 

3thd tooh!

once again, i wish the scanner worked so you could see this in all it's glory, but i'll just have to transcribe it for you. i have no idea how old i was when i wrote this.
without further ado:


Dear toohfairy,
This is my 3thd tooh!
I Wish I can meet you.
Did you ever see the Smerfs wear Baby Smerf gets soom theeh?
Love,
Katie

maybe this will be a regular feature on this blog - i can unearth treasures from my past and embarrass myself.

3 years ago today

3 years ago today.  i've been sitting here for a few minutes trying to come up with something to say about the anniversary.  i just looked through my "memory boxes" and found some letters and notes she wrote me, and what seems most striking now is that my mom always made me feel like i was important. i was living in the dorms at mtsu - a mere 45 minutes away from the rest of my family - yet the way she expressed missing me in these letters, it was like i lived across the ocean and only got to see her once a year.  and now i can't even put into words what this missing feels like.  

i tried to scan some of these notes onto the computer, but the scanner isn't working.  so you won't get to see all the cute stickers on the letter, but here are the words:

you know that i miss you so much. so does dad, and so does courtney. and so does carrie. i love you when it's sunny and cloudy and when the stars are out. you make my heart. may all of the angels watch over you always, and drop stars and rainbows and love in your lap! 

here's another one: 

under the same sun, under the same stars, under the same moon, under the same curly q's. no matter where we are...i love you xoxo

things that suck just a little*

*Not in a “this sucks so much it’s gonna make me depressed or totally alter my life,” but in a “ooooohhh man! Suck!” sort of way. Because I realize that there are PLENTY of things going on that really, truly suck. sorry for saying "suck" so much.

-when your husband leaves a pan of cooking oil in a frying pan on medium heat, leaves the room, and returns 5 minutes later to a burning, smoking, smelly mess. And then the smell of burnt oil and smoke penetrates the whole house and the smell won’t go away, even after the windows have been open all day and the ceiling fan’s been blowing. And when he calls you at work to tell you about this & prefaces it by saying “I’m having a bit of an emergency” and then you panic for a second, before realizing he’s just going to tell you about a burning pan of cooking oil.

-when you pay for $13.95 limited basic (15 channel) cable and you have free hbo and showtime FOR YEARS and then they disappear (I think because they’ve made the fully digital upgrade or something-or-other). When you’ve become addicted to “weeds” and “dexter” and “flight of the conchords” and now you won’t be able to watch ‘em anymore. We’re still getting free “expanded” cable (70+ channels) so…Please, Comcast, please please please don’t take away my expanded cable. You’ve scarred me enough.

images that make me happy

i like how clicking different links on web pages can bring you to exciting places. i started out on print and pattern which led me to illustrator helen dardik and her blog (i have a soft spot for helens)...and then to helen's post about mary blair. not a household name by any means - mary was a 'color stylist and designer' for walt disney in the 40s and 50s and worked on my favorites: "peter pan" and "cinderella".  AND she designed the 'it's a small world' ride.  right on!  

i am a SUCKER for stuff like this. if i could live in this alternate cartoony universe, with chocolate milk and elephants and magic slippers and eskimos, i would.  there was an exhibition of her work in san francisco that just closed (mar 18).

we used to have this record.  the choir director on this recording was the choir director at my school in california.