Craft Show

So I've made these funky purses for little girls and they are things of beauty. Very Oilily, which if you've never walked into their store, picked up their catalogue or skimmed their website, be glad because you just about have to be a bajillionaire to shell out that kind of $$$ for kids' clothes (they have adult stuff, too) and the fact that I cannot afford these clothes makes me want to crawl into my bed and cry. Ok, maybe not to that extent - I'm wordly but not that wordly, but their stuff is beyond supercute - very funky and very euro and their stuff makes me drool all over myself which is what I deserve, I guess. So anyway, I make these purses that are Oilily inspired. I just found out that the local township is holding a craft show that apparently is something to shout about so I am entering it and only have three weeks to produce enough product not to look lame, which is highly likely anyway, so I won't be on the blog for awhile, I'll be creating purses. Please stop banging your forehead against the keyboard, I'll be back post-craft show.

Ricketts Glen

Brandon has this week off, so we have been doing some fun stuff. Tuesday we went to Ricketts Glen, a state park in northern PA. It took forever to get to but the drive was gorgeous and the girls were perfect angels - which is sorta rare. I have wild children. Sweet, but wild. Anyway, the leaves are starting to change here and it was just beautiful. We BBQ'd and had a picinic in the middle of a forest (Ruby got to roast a marshmellow! A special treat for our little diabetic) and then went on a hike where we saw a bunch of waterfalls. The girls were great on the way back and it was a great day.

Indian Night!

I first fell in love with Indian food back when I was just a young pup. My BFF Elizabeth's dad took me and E to a little hole in the wall place across the street from South Coast Plaza Mall where they served their food on paper plates and they gave you plastic utensils to eat with. I was very skeptical at first, being raised in a "meat and potato" kind of family when it comes to food. Very good meat and potatoes, but exotic food was something that didn't pass my lips with the exception of Chinese food and later on, sushi, which started with the safe-sushi: California rolls, but since then I have expanded to raw fish and sushi has become another passionate food-love of mine. So anyway, he takes us to this place where I think the only reason they passed the health-code-inspection is that they threatened the poor inspector with a hit out on him and his family from the Indian mafia. There, in the dirty little 10'x10' "restaurant" - which was actually a galley kitchen behind the register, and 2 plastic tables and chairs, I tasted my first tandoori, tikka and naan. Their naan literally melted in your mouth. If it's still around, I want to go back and taste their vindaloos and masalas. I bet they're delicious.
So, anyway, I wanted to do something fun for the fam, so I planned an Indian night, where I would cook Indian food, play Indian music, wear Indian garb, teach Ruby about India and post pictures of India all around the house. I used to do fun, silly stuff like this for my family (my Mom, Dad, brothers family - mostly for my brothers) from time to time - make treasure hunts, etc., so I thought I'd revert back to that time and do something for my little family (husband, little girls - family.) So out of all those things that I had dreamed and planned of for Indian night, what resulted because of lack of time and energy, was Indian food and a little teaching session to Ruby about India, which I can't even call a teaching session because I didn't do the research on India that I had intended, so the conversation went something like this:

Me: Ruby, do you know what kind of food we're eating tonight?
Ruby: Stinky food?
Me: Yes! It's called Indian food and it's delicious. It comes from a country called India.
Ruby: What's India?
Me: It's a big place where lots of people live. They uh, like to uh, play flutes and make snakes dance. They play music like this : (insert tune from "There's a place in France where the naked ladies dance" here.) And they wear funny hats called turbans...I think...

Then we had DELICIOUS Indian food and I'll include the recipes I used in case any of you other Indian food lovers wanted to have your own Indian Night. Your Indian teaching session would most likely be MUCH more informative (and accurate) then mine.
Anyway here are the recipes. I made Chicken Tikka Masala and Naan.

Chicken Tikka Masala
1 cup yogurt
1 Tbsp lemon juice
2 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
1/2 tsp ground black pepper
1 Tbsp minced fresh ginger
1 tsp salt
3 boneless skinless chicken breasts, cut into bite size pieces
4 long skewers
1 Tbsp butter
1 clove garlic, minced
1 jalapeno pepper, finely chopped
2 tsp ground cumin
2 tsp paprika
1 tsp salt
1 (8 ounce) can tomato sauce
1 cup heavy cream
1/2 cup fresh cilantro, chopped

Directions:
1. In a large bowl, combine yogurt, lemon juice and 2 tsp cumin, cinnamon, cayenne, black pepper, ginger, and 1 tsp salt. Stir in chicken, cover and refrigerate for 1 hour.
2. Preheat grill.
3. Lightly oil the grill grate. Thread chicken onto skewers and discard marinade. Grill until juices run clear, about 5 minutes on each side.
4. Melt the butter in a large skillet over medium heat. Saute garlic and jalapeno for 1 minute. Season with 2 tsp cumin, paprika and 1 tsp salt. Stir in tomato sauce and cream. Simmer on low heat until sauce thickens, about 20 minutes. Add grilled chicken and simmer for 10 minutes. Transfer to a serving platter and garnish with fresh cilantro.

Naan

1 (.25 ounce) package active dry yeast
1 cup warm water
1/4 cup white sugar
3 tablespoons milk
1 egg, beaten
2 teaspoons salt
4 1/2 cups bread flour
2 teaspoons minced garlic
1/4 cup butter, melted

In a large bowl, dissolve yeast in warm water. Let stand about 10 minutes, until frothy. Stir in sugar, milk, egg, salt, and enough flour to make a soft dough. Knead for 6 to 8 minutes on a lightly floured surface, or until smooth. Place dough in a well oiled bowl, cover with a damp cloth, and set aside to rise. Let it rise 1 hour, until the dough has doubled in volume.
Punch down dough, and knead in garlic. Pinch off small handfuls of dough about the size of a golf ball. Roll into balls, and place on a tray. Cover with a towel, and allow to rise until doubled in size, about 30 minutes.
During the second rising, preheat grill to high heat.
At grill side, roll one ball of dough out into a thin circle. Lightly oil grill. Place dough on grill, and cook for 2 to 3 minutes, or until puffy and lightly browned. Brush uncooked side with butter, and turn over. Brush cooked side with butter, and cook until browned, another 2 to 4 minutes. Remove from grill, and continue the process until all the naan has been prepared.

Happy eating!

Hand Foot & Mouth Disease

This is the latest little germ that's been hanging around our house. My children are petri dishes, I've decided. It doesn't matter that we go through economy sized antibacterial soap bottles faster than you can, I don't know, tie your shoe. With a husband who has O.C.D. tendancies when it comes to washing his hands, I'm pretty sure it's not Brandon bringing the little bugs home. I was going to post a picture off the internet of what Hand Foot & Mouth disease looks like just for kicks, but then I thought that those of you reading this that have not been exposed to the same horrific medical school text book pictures that I have might be grossed out. As for me, I am now desensitized from all things guts and blood. The picture I was going to post was of a child's tongue covered with dime sized pussy sores, which is what is currently covering my Ruby's mouth. Needless to say, the absolute LAST thing she wants to do is eat. But people, especially children, with Diabetes HAVE to eat every two hours so she has literally been crying all day and all night (2 nights ago she finally fell asleep at 3:30 am, last night at 2 am and of course still wakes up at 6:30 am anyway) and there's nothing I can do but keep giving her non-effective Tylenol and force her to eat so she doesn't end up in the hospital. So, as I sit here on the brink of insanity, what do I decide to do? Blog, of course!