I Survived

Today was the festival of Holi, in which all hell breaks loose. Powdered colors are tossed on people, water balloons and squirt guns filled with colored water are used to soak people and people are encouraged to enhance the day with bhang, added to drinks. I knew from experience that it's not a time for me to be out, so I hunkered down in my house, watching what I could from the balcony. Even the kids were too scared to come over. The dyes used are not monitored by the government, so most that are used are highly toxic, the local paper put in a whole 4 page section with about 1/2 of it repeating the dangers of the dyes, what kind you should buy and how to protect your body from the ill effects. Sounds like a good place to talk about abstinence to me. :)

Yesterday the kids and I mixed together some peanut butter cookie dough, because it had to chill and not knowing when the power would shut off, we decided to bake them today. So when they didn't show up, I decided to do a little test run. I'm baking in an oven the size of a microwave, which means I get to bake about 4 at a time. Which of course was enough to make sure that they would turn out and what temperature and time were best on the little convection oven. Yum, those are some good peanut butter cookies. Once I get some vanilla I'll try out an oatmeal or chocolate chip recipe.

I haven't been too shy to say that I am not a huge fan of Indian food, but when you live in India, and not in a metropolitan area, what's a girl to do? Definitely an as close as you can get to it American breakfast - minus any sort of meat (or at least pork). Lunch, well, left over chapattis make decent quesadilla, or there's always the grilled cheese sandwich or PB & J, or even cheese and crackers. Dinner is where it gets a little more interesting. Every other night, for roughly $0.75 I get a fairly decent Indian meal delivered. It's mainly vegetables, but does what it needs to do. So it's the other nights that I need to be creative. I have been eating the chicken and ground water buffalo that Dan bought for me (not so keen on the buff meat - but I remind myself it's sustenance and protein and stop complaining). Sometimes the chicken freaks me out a little. He saw it when it was alive and told me he probably wouldn't be eating chicken for a while. So as I cut it up, and later have cooked pieces, I've thought of this. The pieces don't look the same - the legs have an extra part to it where it much have been connected to the feet. Tonight I thawed out the wings. I like wings, but I've never really cooked them for a meal and since I'd already had fried chicken this week, I wanted something else. Ah, I've got some Ragu Alfredo sauce in the freezer (bought in Delhi), and some rice, I can do something. Keep in mind - I'm generally a recipe gal (as you'll soon see), but desperate times call for desperate measures. I browned the chicken, shelled and partially cooked some peas, put some sauce, along with additional milk and a bit of chicken bullion in a pan, added the peas and chicken, turned it on low and covered it. Now for the rice...how do you cook rice? Mine never comes out right, which is why I had a rice cooker back in the US. Rice here doesn't come with directions, everyone grows up knowing how to prepare it. Checked one cookbook, nope, just recipes that include rice. Checked another book and there is was "The Perfect Rice". Thank you Mom for giving this to me as a Christmas gift and to Lydia for suggesting it as a book I bring on the field. And let me tell you, the rice was better than perfect. As the chicken finished simmering I tossed in some chopped tomatoes and found that it made enough for two meals, one wing for each. Okay, not really my idea of a full serving of meat, but it's probably more than what I get from the delivered meal. Now how about a cookie to finish it all up with?

And just for kicks...here's a picture of my breakfast. :)