wednesday

chicken chili
no, not that chicken chili. this is the "soup nazi" mexican style chicken chili(roughly- tho i never seem to be able to exactly follow a recipe)

it has kidney beans and some veggies, and chicken of course in a tomato-onion sauce. i think i like it better with black beans.

im not sure whether to have this with rice or not.

The Sriracha incident

One day I was shopping at the local walmart, and happened to notice a bottle of sriracha chili sauce. Now I had heard something about this here and there, and decided to try it out.

So, I get to the register. Most of the people at the registers of my walmart are Indian. No matter.
Well, the cashier lady picks up my bottle of chili sauce, examines it for a bit and then says "This is very hot, isnt it?". I just smiled because, I assume it is, but havent tried it yet. Anyway, I can take my food REALLY hot.

Then she goes on to ask what kind of cooking I do, that I plan to use the sauce in. " Well", I stuttered, "mostly Indian, but Im not sure what to use it in yet". So next she asks THE QUESTION. Yes, that oh-so-common one that I STILL never have an appropriate answer for, and always makes look like a bumbling fool. "What indian food do you cook?" - What indian food do i cook? I dont know.

I started writing a list once, that i never finished, of just what indian foods I do make. I got more than 100 items. I cover things from north/south/(not too much from east) and west. So, how do I answer that question? Well, first my mind went totally blank. The second thought in my mind was sambhar. Then I got weirdly self concious of pronouncing it wrongly(there happened to be another indian woman behind me in line too). Then I thought, wont that imply I only cook south indian? I searched in my head for SOMETHING to say and didnt find it.

her: "what indian food do you cook"
me: " a lot of things"
her: "a lot of things?" *smile*
me: *smile*
her: thinking.... what, is she acting up because im indian? idiot!
me: thinking..... im an idiot

Anyway, people, please tell me......... how do I answer this next time I'm put on the spot?
Are you asked this also? What do you reply?

Coconut oil

Ive done a lot of reading lately on the benefits of coconut oil and the misguided info on canola oil.
Extra virgin olive oil is also good because its the least refined. Just using plain old olive oil is not going to really benefit your health.

Anyhoo, I am going to try to use less canola oil. But other types of oil are so darn expensive. :(

http://www.mercola.com/2001/mar/24/coconut_oil.htm


Abt the coconut oil- you may believe it or you may not. Im not 100% sure if I do.

But I do believe that whats in our food, all the processing and preservatives, and other unnatural ingredients, including food dyes, are definitely affecting our health and contributing to the obesity rates of americans.

Tuesday

Tomato rice, egg, potato chips and yogurt. Oh and this

Wow, I swore i was not going to feel bad abt no matter what i cook or how it "looks". I really just want to have some kind of record(okay i like to make lists too) so that i know what i am cooking- eating in a months, or years time. the ups and downs. the regular items. all that stuff.

But now, here, its looking awful. Oh well. I dont make "variety rice" for dinner every day, I PROMISE!

Monday

puliogare-tamarind rice, white rice, and dal with green peas. and yogurt. sad i know.

Sunday

An old lunch favorite...... egg omelet, potato fry, and rice
and yogurt. we have yogurt with almost every meal.


Dinner- we ordered a pizza. it wasnt good :(

Just boring food

Hey, I probably picked a bad week to start blogging about this, since my cooking-interest is pretty much on a downward spiral. In my defence, I am sick!