Fun with Indian Food and Spices

As promised, I wanted to share my fun with Indian Spices. If you ever have a chance to buy bulk spices, beware! I'm not sure if it's because the Glad containers are liquid measure or what, but when the package of spice says 14 oz, it fills a 24 oz container. I'm not complaining at all.



I had to come up with some type of label. I came up with this as my sharpie didn't seem to want to write on this.

Tada! I'm so happy with this!

My mother-in-law gave me kheer mixes. This turned out so well.

This is my pepper chutney. The chutney at the grocery store is blended, but I like the contrast with the larger pieces in mine.

This was my first time at a traditional Curry Chicken. With real coconut milk! It was so good I should have doubled my recipe.

This is red dahl, my favorite by far!

This spice mix for Rajah beans is meant for kidney beans, but it tasted great with Chick Peas!


Ok, Indian Okra is wierd. It was like the okra was too old. The seasoning was great, but we couldn't chew it.

This naan was perfect.

The secret to great naan, a very very hot stove heated from the top and a pizza stone. The hotter the stove the the better the naan.

My Grocery Store Adventure

Ok, so get ready! You are about to embark on a world traveling experience. My sister Hester and I started out going to the "ghetto grocery store" and it was very disappointing. Dirty, messy and spoiled is the best way I would describe it. Plus the prices were much higher than we expected. So Hester suggested this international grocery store on 24th and Grand. It's far from our houses, but my goodness it is so worth the travel!

I took so many pictures that I'm sure the natives thought I was insane.

These are Indian eggplant. Aren't they adorable? And the produce was soooo fresh. Hester bought some jalapenos that were the most beautiful I've seen in years.

I told myself to write a note so I wouldn't forget, but sure enough I can't remember what these are.


How about Brown sugar Mushi Cake???

They have a bakery that makes interesting breads from all over!


These are beautiful little candies. I'm not sure how good they are, but they were so cute!!!

I think this is a dessert of some kind.


Very old-world fish market!


My absolute favorite part of the store. I have even more pictures of what I did with these Indian spices, but I don't have much time till I need to get ready for work.




These are adorable Chinese spoons. This was another great part of the store. All the interesting cooking utensils and pots and tea kettles! I bought a Chinese bamboo steamer and a copper mesh spoon for frying things.


I love this! It was made in America, but it sure doesn't look like it.

These are great little glass jars with balls of tea. I've never seen anything like this.


More beautiful tea.

Can you see the regular size eggs? These are tiny little eggs that are so beautiful I can't believe people eat them!?

Strange preserved duck eggs.

These are noodles, but the packaging is like a work of art!

I'm not sure what this rainbow cow noodle thing is.


NOODLES!!! NOODLES! NOOODLES!!!!

This grocery store was clean and wonderful. We listened to Cher in the overhead speaker system. It was a terrifically fun, surreal experience.





Chiz? Ok...???

Someone actually eats shrimp snacks. There were many different varieties of chips in shrimp flavor. YUCK!

This rice had such a beautiful painting on it, I just had to take a picture!

Wine anyone? Well, when I have a few more minutes I'm going to blog about the Indian food I made with all my found treasures. Thank you so much Hester for a great time, probably the most fun grocery shopping I've ever had!

Texas Skies

When the sky is incredibly beautiful, I stop and take a picture with my phone (a Palm Centro). Some mornings if it's not too early, I will send the picture to my parents and wish them a good day. I thought I'd show a couple of my pictures on my blog!


I was driving really slowly to get this picture. The sun was so pretty.



This was in the parking lot of WNL. I pointed my camera up and Voila! Cotton Candy Clouds! I may not have a fancy camera, but my phone takes some pretty nice pictures. What do you think?

Fun with My Mom

On the weekend before last, my Mom drove 5 hours to visit. We were supposed to go to Kansas, but that didn't happen. So I thought I'd share a couple photos from our time together. We made lemonade from lemons! This first picture is at the antique store. Isn't that the coolest chandelier?

This is Mom in front of TGI Fridays, on a Friday!!!


We stayed here talking for hours! It was lovely.



We had soup and salad. It was yummy.

I want to post more, but I need to get ready for work! Have a great Friday. I know I will!

From Canada to Amarillo

See these goats? These are the goats that my aunt Linda visited on her trip to Canada. Aren't they furry and cute?

See this yarn? This is the goat wool after it has been sheared, cleaned, dyed and spun. Linda brought it back for me. I'm working on crocheting something special for myself with it. It's so awesome to think of all the work involved in making this yarn. Plus it is so natural. When I first rolled a skein into a ball, I noticed the variations in the yarn. It's not factory made. I find it fascinating to work with something so wonderful. When it's made in a factory it's just not the same. When it's from acrylic there isn't the same connection to the earth. Thank you Linda! I'll post my results when I'm finished!