Technically, nasturtiums aren’t classically part of Sri Lankan kale sambol, but I grew these from seed, so I added them, and they’re so pretty and edible and why the heck not?
Why the Heck Not
A Fabulous Impromptu Cake
When you’ve had a long day, and you realize you have homemade peach ice cream, and slightly over-ripe peaches, and leftover pancakes, and that’s basically a fabulous impromptu cake. 
Enough Time for My Favorite Curry
Nice to have enough time to make my favorite curry.
Energy for Brunch
Still sick with a cold, but clearly no longer exhausted, as I had plenty of energy to make brunch for the family, AND send two e-mails I’d been avoiding afterwards. Yay, me.
Plan for today — keep going on clothing sort; I’m down to workout clothes at this point, so almost done. I have a date with some friends for online board gaming at 1 (at Board Game Arena), which should be fun. I think we might teach a couple of them Wingspan.
Oh, speaking of gaming, while sick yesterday, I played two games of TM with the Hellas expansion and corporate era rules (against the computer), which gives a bunch more cards than the basic game, which is good for me getting used to playing with them before I play Alex again, because I think some of his consistently stomping me is because he just knows the cards a lot better than I do. I played two games as Saturn Systems and Ecoline, and in both of them I managed a much more developed science game than usual (easily passing 7 science tags) and ended up breaking 200 on both, which I don’t usually do. So that was nice.
Sometime today, if I don’t get tired, I’d like to start actually exercising again — I kind of fell off the wagon when ChiCon started, and I can feel the difference in my body. No good. Tentative date with Anand for pool fight at 4-ish, which should take care of it.
And if I get really ambitious, I might do a little writing — my workshop actually really liked the food memoir piece I gave them, which was very good, because I had worked on it for so long, I was ready to give up on it in despair. They think it just needs a little tweaking before it’s ready to send out. Which means I need to figure out the right markets for a literary food memoir piece (around 5000 words). Onwards, I suppose.
*****
“In my mother’s kitchen, the cupboard held a lazy susan stuffed full of little glass jars, bottles that had once held boullion cubes, labels rinsed off. When you opened the door, complex spice scents rose, mingled with the tang of tamarind that had somehow always dripped from the container. Jars full of whole spices and ground, both individual and blends: cinnamon, cardamom, and cloves, mustard seed and cumin seed and fenugreek, chili powder and turmeric and more.
Amma had strict rules for which ones you used when, but none of the jars were labelled — she just knew the difference. Some nights, I’d sneak into the kitchen and reach to the back of the cupboard for her precious dark jaggery; I’d hack off pieces with the biggest knife, addicted to its complex palm sugar sweetness, then sneak it back in, hoping she wouldn’t notice…”
High Stakes Cooking
I tried to reproduce two of Amma’s classic dishes to tempt her appetite — we’re trying to get her to eat a little more. High stakes cooking!
The carrot curry actually came out better than it has in years, even though I didn’t have green chilies on hand. The beef and potato curry was reasonably good, but not as good as hers, and I don’t know why! Her cooking is just magic.
A Better Option for a Big Party
I was getting a little tired, so I almost didn’t make the kaliya curry, but then Kevin was willing to do all the prep for me, so I lay on the couch and watched Darby & Joan (Acorn TV, one season so far, set in Australia, retired nurse and retired inspector solve crimes while cranking at each other about their dubious life choices, fun) while he did all the work.
I did eventually take over the deep frying and the curry making, though. Eggplant, plantain, potato, in a sweet-tangy coconut milk gravy. I admit, I prefer the variant that adds chicken liver — I find that totally addictive. But for a big party, going with the still delicious vegan version seemed a better option.
Green Jackfruit & Chickpea Curry
More of yesterday’s cooking: green jackfruit & chickpea curry, curried lentils in coconut milk. The best part of making curried lentils for me is that I get to lick the spoon clean after transferring them out of the cooking pot. So yum.
A Last Minute Jaffna Crab Curry
I may have last-minute decided to do a Jaffna crab curry — which is mostly an indulgence for me, because I love it, but no one else in my house eats crab, so I don’t have much of an excuse to make it. But party.
Of course, it does mean that anyone unwilling to eat rice and curry with their clean hands instead of knife and fork is going to have a challenge…
Thanks to my sister Sharms Murraj, who taught me how to make this one. It’s her birthday today! Happy happy birthday, kiddo!
Wines With Cool Labels
Doing pre-party prep, setting out the wine. Usually I rarely buy wine, because people bring it when they come to parties, and since I throw a lot of parties, I usually end up with more wine at the end of the night than I started with.
But pandemic meant that we’ve slowly knocked down our wine stores and we were basically out, so I went out and restocked — which I’m only bothering to mention because I know nothing about wine, and so I mostly buy wines that have cool labels.
These are some of the ones I have succumbed to recently — all SF/F or writerly or just a super-pretty label in the case of the wine cans. No idea if they’re any good!
Party Menu Planning
Cooking for Wednesday’s pre-ChiCon party is coming along nicely, I think. Focusing on Sri Lankan stuff for now, since the American food will be mostly just throw it on the grill and/or order.
Kevin helped me tonight with mixing up fluff, chopping cashews, peeling beets and matchsticking them, so it was reasonably low effort knocking out four more dishes, even after coming home from teaching at 7 (it helped that I had seasoned onions ready in the fridge for the curries). Made the mango fluff, the cashew & cranberry milk toffee, the curried beets, and the cashew curry.
Big triumph of the night was figuring out why my last several batches of milk toffee had tried to burn — I kept thinking it was because I’d switched pots, but no — it’s that my Wolf range runs hotter than a normal range, and I’d forgotten that I need to adjust my recipe for that (from medium-high to medium, and from medium to medium-low). SO nice not having to worry about it burning this time!
*****
Menu planning, for the curious. It’s like prepping for Thanksgiving, but more so. Currently have 95 Yes RSVP’d, with another 23 Maybe. I expect some will drop out due to travel complications, tiredness, etc., but still should be a good-sized shindig. Of course, Amma regularly threw birthday parties for something like 150-200 Sri Lankan diaspora folks, so I have a ways to go still…
Thank goodness the weather is looking pretty perfect for Wed — we should be able to be mostly outdoors. Otherwise, my house would be bursting a bit at the seams!
*****
SRI LANKAN COOKING
– pick up some appetizers from Indian store (Darius Vinesar, I may send you on this errand on Wed; I’ll order in advance)
– beef curry — DONE
– pork curry — DONE
– shrimp curry — DONE
– lamb curry (mild) — DONE
– deviled potatoes — DONE
– carrot curry — DONE
– coconut sambol — DONE
– cashew curry — DONE
– curried beets — DONE
– naan — BOUGHT
– mango fluff — DONE
– milk toffee — DONE (except for cutting)
COOK TUESDAY:
– lentil curry
– kaliya curry (eggplant, potato, and plantain)
– jackfruit & chickpea curry
– cabbage varai
MAYBE COOK?
– green mango salad
– vatallappam
– passionfruit marshmallows
– coconut rock
MAKE WEDNESDAY:
– kale sambol
– saffron, sultana, and cashew rice (use vegan butter)
– tropical fruit salad
– mango-passionfruit punch
FOR GRILL:
– Sri Lankan eggplant & mushroom skewers (use vegan mayo and yogurt)
– Sri Lankan bell pepper and ripe jackfruit skewers
– Sri Lankan grilled chicken kabobs
– hot dogs, hamburgers, sausages
– corn with elotes fixings
– pineapple & mango skewers with chili, salt, and lime
– potato salad
– watermelon if it’s hot
– pies
Tuesday night: move frozen curries to fridge; get ice bags for chest freezer
WEDNESDAY: Order Chicago-style pizza
