Last month we had a Barnes and Noble gift card and a coupon. We placed an order and to get free shipping we had to check the box to have everything delivered at once. Bookman ordered a new Stephen King book, The Bazaar of Bad Dreams. I ordered a new cookbook. Many of you probably already know I don’t cook, I can, but at my house the kitchen is Bookman’s domain. I, however, am the one who buys cookbooks. I love cookbooks. Twenty years ago when we went vegan it was nearly impossible to find a vegan cookbook. We had a book called Simply Vegan and one called Tofu Cookery. We still have them. Their pages are written on, smudged with sauces and chocolate, and dimpled from liquid spills. They were our life raft as we learned a new way to eat.
These days there are so many vegan cookbooks available I can’t keep track of them all anymore. Our own collection has grown quite large and there are probably enough meals that could be planned from all of them we could eat something new every day for a year without repeats. Nonetheless, I always get excited when I come across a new cookbook that is not quite like the ones we already own. This time I ordered Vegan Richa’s Indian Kitchen. I already know I will love it because I borrowed it from the library first and drooled all over the library copy.
But we have not gotten the cookbook yet because it turns out the King book was a preorder. When I discovered it, I figured we’d get our books in September sometime and my mouth watered and my stomach growled in anticipation of all the delicious meals I would get Bookman to cook for me. Autumn is an excellent time for a good curry in my opinion. Heck, any time of year is.
But here it is the end of September and the books have not shipped yet. I had just supposed it would be this month without knowing for sure and Bookman had no idea. So I started thinking, well, early October. Some little voice told me today to check the order to find out when exactly to expect it. Turns out, it won’t be here until early November! I’m going to be really hungry by then! And Bookman is going to have a lot of cooking to do to make it up to me for having to wait so long.
Waiting so long for a book you ordered is it’s own special kind of torture, isn’t it?
Filed under:
Cookbooks Tagged:
curry,
delicious food,
I am so hungry right now,
Stephen King,
vegan 
This recipe is a total crowd pleaser, great for parties. I’ve been meaning to share it here for a long time.
I often serve it with curried rice. You can see how much we love this recipe (below).
Thanks to our friend Sally for sharing. The recipe came from her mother, Peachy Levin.
Kebabs should cook on the grill for about 6-7 minute per side.
In other news:
-I’ve been making my own falefel, just using the mix in the box. Really easy and so delicious. Also I have a thing for tahini dressing lately, using Mr. Bittman’s recipe. I can’t seem to get enough of it.
-loving Downton Abbey (tv series we’re watching on DVD). It’s soo excellent. Highly recommended, especially if you love the whole Gosford Park/ Pride and Prejudice type stuff.
-saw someone with mustard yellow tights the other day and can’t get them out of my head. It’s a color I’d never wear near my face, but they looked so fun and happy on the legs. I’ve been searching high and low for my own pair with no luck. Tempted to try making my own leggings version using this tutorial.
-Meanwhile in full-swing revisions on my young adult novel. I’d better get back to work.
Have a great weekend!
Continuing my Anastasia Krupnik-esque style of late (and Bud E. Caldwell, and all the millions of other children’s book characters writing in lists), not to mention my theme of talking a lot about myself/dog and little about books (sorry!):
By popular demand... Cooper! Now I only need to manage to upload some video of him chasing his tail.
- Monkey in the Middle, which evolved into Cooper (my step-dog) in the Middle, which evolved to Keep Cooper Out of the Middle of the Food.
- Testes toss. No, that’s not what it’s really called.
Things I cooked for my housewarming party:
- Deviled chicken thighs. Twenty two of them, to be precise. Increasing the mustard, shallots and parsley was a good move.
- A very large pot of curried squash and eggplant, with pineapple. Yummy, but I should have made it spicier.
- Mango lassi… with homemade yogurt. Yeah, slow cooker.
I was going to also make a salad and chocolate pudding, but let’s be real, I’m not that organized.
Disasters that occurred during the cooking for my housewarming party:
- Suddenly deciding to procure drinks while curry curries —> curry bubbles over —> curry onto floor
- Forgetting to depit one mango before putting it in blender —> pit chunks into lassi —> trying to strain lassi —> lassi onto floor
The cooking, folks, is a work in progress. Luckily, Cooper is an excellent helper when it comes to foodstuffs on the floor. And speaking of Cooper…
Most horrifying/hilarious thing that happened at my housewarming party:
When a friend arrived with his very charming six-year-old, we discovered that Cooper loves little kids. More precisely, Cooper loves that little kids are exactly the right size for him to hump.
Unfortunately, this child happened to also love that he was exactly the right size for Cooper to hump (or, in his understanding, exactly the right size for “giving Cooper a ride”). Which meant that he kept bending over for Cooper and yelling, “Oh yeah! Oh yeah!”
His dad was not very pleased. I, unfortunately, was in hysterics, which only encouraged the kid to keep doing it… over and over and over again.
UPDATED to add: WordPress wouldn’t let me upload this, but do yourself a favor and go find Big Mama Thornton’s original “Hound Dog,” the ideal soundtrack to this post. Elvis took this brilliant song and made it… about a dog.
Posted in Life with step-dog
These look lovely – looks like a well used recipe too
Yummers!
Thanks! Very well used indeed.