Wednesday, October 24th - class # 6 complete

Fall is finally here, if the temperatures are any indication. It's currently 4' this morning at 5:30 and we're heading for a high of 7' that's apparently only going to feel like 3'.Good thing my honey had the fire going in the wood stove when I got home from school last night!

Our theme this week was curry. Someone had asked if we could try making some curry recipes. I have to admit that I'm not a big fan of curry. I have had it and sometimes enjoyed it but it's not usually my first choice for a meal out. So I did some research and found some recipes that didn't look too difficult to execute. First up was a vegetable curry. It required the making of a curry base sauce first so I did that on Monday night as we wouldn't have had time to do that at school. It simply needed to be added to the sauteed vegetables and then simmered.

Next up was a Butter Chicken recipe. It was also very good. The sauce was made first, then set aside. Then the chicken is cooked, and added to the sauce to be simmered for a little while. To add to this we cooked a bit of Basmati Rice and heated up some Naan bread.

Butter Chicken on Basmati Rice

After the break, we sat down to our feast. I have to admit I quite enjoyed it, especially the chicken. In fact, that's what we're having for supper tonight. I'll get Lloyd's opinion on the two recipes as he's a big fan of curry dishes. We'll see just how close we got. A fellow that he used to work with in Toronto, invited Lloyd to dinner with his parent who are East Indian. Needless to say, he was treated to a feast. It was nothing like you get in restaurants. Everything was homemade, authentic and fresh and he says it was absolutely wonderful.  We'll see what he thinks of my feeble attempt.

Today the Van Gaals are saying a temporary good by to Caitlin (she'll be back at Christmas for a visit). She heads off this afternoon for a new chapter in her life. She's starting a job in Edmonton and is flying out tonight. We wish her all the best as she takes on this new challenge. But she's pretty adaptable and she'll do just fine. There's also a handful of people out there that she knows so that will help in getting adjusted.

So my Christmas shopping is well underway. It helps if you know what you're looking for - it makes it much easier to get started. James and Meghan are done and Tristen just has to be sourced. I also found the items I was  searching out for James' birthday, which happens to fall on the 22nd of December. Not sure if he'll be able to use his birthday gift right away or not, but we'll see.