Tuesday, February 19, 2013

Korma Lentils

I find when I go out in the morning (gym this morning) and am rushing around, its hard to stay motivated to eat something healthy for lunch.  Following is a quick and easy Indian dish which is so easy and takes about 10 minutes max and its healthy too

KORMA LENTILS

ingrediants
splash olive oil (I used ghee prefer the taste)
onion finely chopped
2 tsp Korma curry paste ( I used the Pataks brand, make sure it is paste and not sauce, it lasts for ages in the cupboard, I must of had mine for about 6 months)
tin tomatoes ( I used fresh and chopped them up)
tin brown lentils ( I used Annalise brand from the  Italian shop at about 99 cents) drain.

Saute onion in oil, add paste, stir a minute then cool 1 min.
stir in other ingredients and heat thoroughly, I heated until the tomatoes break down a bit.
Serve with english spinach or other greens and a dollop of natural yoghurt.

When I cook this I halve everything.  Half the tin of lentils (other half in the fridge or freezer for another day. Only a small onion. and 1 tsp of Korma paste.  Indian meals are much better cooked with ghee.  Ghee is a product of butter, think you separate it, it lasts longer than butter.  The first tin I bought was about $7 and it lasted me for ages, this time I found a smaller tin and I think it was $3.99 from an Asian shop.  Coles used to sell it but do no longer.
You can add lemon juice and fresh coriander if you like it.
Give it a try and enjoy
Jacky

Leroy

yesterday I cat and dog sat for Joanne as they had a rent inspection.  2 dogs had to stay in the garage until after the class was over when I let them out, cautiously as the older one is a snarly thing and is like to take a snap at your legs, but she was ok.  Now, Leroy, what a heart breaker, he loves to smooch now.  I was on Pinterest and he sat on my hands then he sat on the keyboard then wanted to smooch my face, so I had to give that up, hmmm maybe I need him around more to stop me going on interest.



He has grown so much since I last had him, he has the longest tail too.  Sometimes I think I would love a cat but then I think what would I do with it when we go away.  So, for the time being, I will just get all my cuddles from Leroy, then send him home.

Tuesday, February 12, 2013

graffiti art

 I have always liked graffiti art and particularly the stencil graffiti art.  The weekend that I did the Fringe world Laneway Markets, we ventured onto William Street before setting our stall up as we had arrived early.  Some really funky trendy shops in this strip, very creative and unique.  One shop that drew me in was called the Butcher Shop, much to my amusement it was a graffiti art shop, selling books, spray paints and apparel.  My eye was drawn to one particular book 'Stencil Republic' with 20 usable stencils, I had to have it.  The stencils all by well known artists measure 24 x 24 cm, a good size for what I wanted.
Above is the first one I made for my son, to me it says Victory, apt for my son.  The stencil is by Chris Stain.  I used Golden heavy body paints, some poster images from the newspaper and the Ironlak black spray paint I also bought from The Butchers Shop, I found this paint sprayed very well without blocking the nozzle and gave a lovely velvety appearance.  I would recommend wearing a mask as the fumes are quite strong and I sprayed out in the fresh air. Canvas size 25 x 30 cm.
This is the second one I did using same technique and stencil by STF.
I was very happy with how they turned out, maybe next time I will omit the poster images and just make it bare stuccoed wall.