.: evil jungle prince :.

Let me just come out and say it: it was nice being able to miss that flight and getting to stay home an extra day. There, I said it. Yes, I am full of guilt that I am missing the first day of the conference I'm supposed to be attending (in a suit) right now. No, I'm not feeling that I'm missing being in Washington DC right now in a suit surrounded by people I don't know and don't-. Well, there it is.

Anyway, I had a nice day today. As usual, I was full of anxiety and nervous energy about flying -- a feeling that continues even now, many hours after I discovered that I wouldn't be flying today. In a Mommie Dearest moment, I ended up trimming plants in the yard in spastic movements and spending the day bonding with the garden, drinking wine all the while to calm myself down.

If you'll remember, I prepared an Indian meal last night to eat on the plane today. For lunch I decided to expand on that meal. So, in addition to my Moghlai-style chickpea curry, I prepared a pot of uppma and ate that as well. Quite the spread.

Here is the uppma, which is essentially a semolina risotto prepared with hot chilli peppers (a good way to start trimming back all the jalapenos I've got going in the garden), cashews, curry leaves, ginger, onion, and mustard seeds. I am so not worthy when it comes to Indian food, but I must admit this batch turned out pretty tasty.

And here we have yesterday's re-heated dish, Moghlai-style chickpea curry. This dish is prepared by sauteing a bit of cinnamon, cardamom, onion, ginger, garlic, ginger, cumin, coriander, salt, pepper, cayenne pepper, garam masala, fresh tomatoes, and then combining this spice mixture with fresh tomatoes, yogurt, and chickpeas. This mixture is boiled down until most of the moisture is gone and only a curry-like consistency remains.

These dishes worked particularly well in tandem. Both recipes, by the way, were obtained from Madhur Jaffrey's World Vegetarian cookbook -- a source from which I occasionally pull material.

Now where's that glass of wine?