Friday Night Date Night

So it’s Friday Night Date Night and it was Nicholas’ turn to go to The Girlfriend’s house. The Husband asked me what we were doing tonight and I told him, “painting our fence!” I know, the epitome of romanticism, right? We got a new fence installed a few months ago, and just hadn’t gotten around to painting it yet, and tonight the motivation was there. You have to strike while the iron is hot. I had originally planned leftovers for dinner tonight (I know, the excitement never ends), but figured I’d compromise and order Indian food. Sounds fair, right?

There’s a new Indian restaurant that opened up a few months ago and one that FINALLY delivers! Getting Italian and Chinese delivered is no problem, but no other cuisines deliver around here, so this was perfect. They didn’t have all of our favorites, but they had The Husband’s favorite entree, Chicken Makhani, so all was right with the world. I ordered a few appetizers (always my favorite part of the meal), including Samosas, Papadum, Onion Kulcha, Assorted Pakodas and one new thing for me, Aloo Jeera (which are cubes of potatoes smothered and simmered with cumin, mustard seeds, herbs and spices). The Aloo Jeera was to-die-for … full of fragrant herbs and packed with flavor, I forgot to ask them to make everything mild spiced, so this one packed a whollop of a heat punch … oops. Although it was super-hot, it was so good, I plowed right through. I mixed a little bit of sour cream with it to cool it down a bit … now to search for a recipe to make it at home. I have an Indian Potato Salad recipe that I’ve made before and really like and this Aloo Jeera spicing kind of reminded me of that. Anyone have a tried-and-true recipe for Aloo Jeera?

Rachael Ray was on Live with Regis & Kelly today. Unfortunately, I forgot to record it, but managed to catch a small piece of it on Entertainment Tonight. On Live, she made a Drunken Tuscan Pasta, where the pasta is boiled in wine instead of the usual water. Doesn’t that sound delicious? The recipe for it is in her newest cookbook, Express Lane Meals, which I got today, so I think I might make that one next week. Lots of great recipes in the new cookbook, and two new features I like with this one … on the sidebar of each recipe, there is a small box with the ingredients you’ll need to buy at the store and another small box listing the ingredients you should already have at home (i.e., salt, pepper, chicken stock, extra virgin olive oil, etc.). It certainly makes grocery shopping a lot easier. The other thing that she’s done is in the directions for the recipe, she takes you through the steps she makes the meal in, which is important to getting it done in 30 minutes. If she’s making two recipes (for example grilled, seasoned chicken on a salad), her directions go back and forth between the chicken and the salad, like she does on her show, which is very helpful in the timing of the whole meal.

OK folks, that’s a wrap for tonight. Tune in tomorrow to see what hits the grill. Until then…

A year ago today … cookies and my own Cookie Monster.

P.S. Still working your way through Easter Ham leftovers? Check out some great leftover ideas.

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