Tonight I cross over from the glorious 20's - where one had no need to worry about what moisturiser you used on your skin - to 30, where apparently your hair starts drying out, the extra chocolate does make a difference to the muffin top over your jeans, and the world will take you seriously! (I had better dispose of the 4 boxes of chocolate I received to date for my birthday, tonight! - my head is already aching from the box of Lindt in front of me...) 30 must be the new 20 as I don't feel any different to when I did 10 years ago (apart from a bung shoulder and tendonitis in my wrists (I'll blame it all on 3 kids!!)
When arrangements were made to celebrate my mum and my birthday (I was born on her 25th birthday) with close family and friends, I thought I'd add a touch of class and bust out some delicate Martha Stewart cupcakes for my mum for the party, instead of the mandatory cake. It's been nearly 1o years of dabbling in cake decorating hobby - how hard could it be to go from cake decorating to cupcakes??? I ran here and there buying pretty little flower fondant cutters, and the cutest paper baking cups, awaiting the moment where I would place these little masterpieces on my bargain $7 cupcake stand...
...Long story short, my baking cups overflowed and my delicate mudcakes resembled something from a science experiment with vinegar and baking soda. These "rustic" looking mini mudcakes (Jamie Oliver style I'll convince myself) really looked like their name - mud - and ended up with a dollop of dark chocolate ganache and a roughly piped white chocolate flower - but they tasted good. Here is where I share with you 3 gems of wisdom I have learned this decade...
1. NEVER serve something that doesn't taste good - regardless of how it looks! If it's savoury and tastes bad, add sweet chilli sauce; if it's sweet - it'll probably never taste bad except for a dry lemon madeira cake!
2. Do your homework. Trial and error are the greatest wisdom in life, but not when guests are coming! If you've never cooked or baked it before, leave it for a Sunday afternoon when time is not of the essence!
2. Find what is easy for you and difficult for others - something you'd wake up to do, even if you didn't get paid for it (thanks for this one, Steph!). Once you've found it, go ahead and do it, and share some of it in the lives of others.
As promised in our last blog, I have included the famous recipe for CHICKPEA CURRY below. While everyone dug in at the weekend potluck, Russ dug in to more than a plate of food - and the rest of the weekend saw him leaning over the bucket next to the bed. Be sure to keep your potluck contribution of food cold or hot for a communal event to avoid food poisoning like Russ this past weekend!
Happy (and healthy) eating!
Christia
Chickpea Curry
(Serves 4)
1 medium onion
2 tablespoons oil (I use Rice Bran Oil)
4 cloves minced garlic
1 teaspoon curry powder
1 teaspoon garam masala
1 teaspoon ground ginger (powder)
1 teaspoon cumin seeds
420g can condensed tomato soup
1/2 cup coconut cream
2 cups cooked chickpeas (or 1 440g tin chickpeas)
400g potatoes
1 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon sugar
Peel and cut the potatoes into 2 cm cubes and bring to the boil in a large pot of water. Reduce heat and simmer until soft.
While the potatoes are cooking, chop the onion finely. Heat the oil in a large pot and add the onion and garlic, stirring frequently, until the onion is beginning to brown. Stir in the curry powder, garam masala, ginger, and cumin seed. Continue to cook, stirring frequently, until fragrant up to one minute longer .
Tip in the soup, coconut cream and drained chickpeas and leave the sauce to simmer for about 5 minutes. Add the salt and cooked potatoes.
Serve over basmati rice. It tastes even better the next day on toast!
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