Sunday Salon Ramblings

 

Its been an interesting time here lately and I feel as I may look like this particular verison of Mona Lisa :-)

In a nutshell - the cemetery which borders our property has decided to expand.  They cleared a good acre of trees away that gave us a privacy border. Then they knocked down our power line. A live wire is down and the tractor guy still continued to work. Amazing he survived.

A few days later, our electric and water company had a pump break in a well.  I didn't know they had such huge wells to service so many people!  We were without water for 4 days. Fun stuff.

Last but not least Tropical Storm Fred knocked out our power for several hours.  We missed the air conditioning but others across the US had it way worse.  That's it, my three self pity stories. First world problems, eh?

Reading/ Deb at Readerbuzz wrote about this Peter Mayle book a few weeks ago. It's an enjoyable little book with loads of bread recipes. I'm looking forward to trying a few of the recipes.

If you want a decent mystery where (I'd bet) you don't have the ending figured out try Stolen by Tess Stimson.  A child disappears at a wedding in St. Pete Florida and it has good twists.

Next up is The Family Plot by Megan Collins, an author new to me.  Sounds intriging. 

In the kitchen / Besides the Mandarin chicken we also had tried a Donna Hay recipe - a Potato, Pea and Chickpea curry.

Potato, Pea and Chickpea Curry

1 tablespoon peanut oil
1 teaspoon black mustard seeds
1 Onion chopped
2 Cloves garlic, finely chopped
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1 teaspoon ground coriander
4 waxy potatoes (800g) peeled and chopped
440g can peeled tomatoes, lightly crushed

1 can of chickpeas 
1 1/4 cups fresh peas
6 fresh or dry curry leaves
1 teaspoon garam masala

Heat the oil in a deep frying pan over a medium heat
Add mustard seeds, cover and cook until they pop
Add the onion, garlic, cumin, coriander and cook, uncovered, for 1 minute.
Add the potato and the tomato and cook for 7 minutes, stiring occasionally. Add chickpeas. 
Add the peas, curry leaves and garam masala.
Cook stiring occasionally, for 5 minutes or until the potato is soft
Serve with steamed rice and cucumber yogurt

That's it for me this week. We have been staying in, avoiding excessive heat, looking at houses for sale online, reading and cooking. I hope this finds you all healthy and happy!

Linking up with 

Deb at Readerbuzz for Sunday Salon

I Heart Cooking Club

Deb at Kahakai Kitchen for Souper Sunday