Curry Pasties

I recently got it in my head to try to come up with a curried beef puff pastry-type item. I already had some curry powder, so I picked up some ground beef, onion, carrots, chutney, and pie crusts. Either tomorrow night or Saturday, I'll experiment with them. I'll post the results here, so watch this space.

I also came across a recipe for a Moroccan chicken pot pie, which calls for cinnamon, cumin and paprika, as well as golden raisins and green olives. But for the green olives, it sounds quite intriguing, so I think I'll try that one on Sunday. I thought I'd throw carrots and perhaps some almonds into that, and see how it goes. Anyone have any other suggestions on what would be good with the items I've already named? And for the record, I'm not going to put the olives in.

* 12/26/07 UPDATE * The beef pasties turned out very well! I ended up preparing the filling by using beef, onion, carrots, some frozen peas and chutney. I still have about half of the filling left, so I'm going to try making another batch using tamarind sauce.

Three Non-Proverbs

May you live in interesting times;
May you come to the attention of those in authority;
May you find what you are looking for.

These are supposedly three Chinese curses, each more dire than the last. From what I've read, they're not really - the first record of the phrase "may you live in interesting times" apparently comes from the 1950s.

Nevertheless, as far as curses go, they're pretty potent. If you find what you're looking for, it often will cause you to live in more interesting times. Interesting doesn't mean better; it means more chaotic, less predictable, and more surprising. Does it get more interesting after you've found what you've been looking for? Is it because you now have what you didn't before, and the having creates chaos? Is it because you no longer have the structure of trying to attain the goal - to obtain what you're looking for? And the very notion of attracting the attention of those in authority... *shudder*

In my lifetime, I've gotten some of the things I'd been looking for. They definitely made my life more interesting. Some were good; others, decidedly not.

I'm good with the interesting for now, thank you very much. I don't need any more. I'm not sure I could survive it.

Holidazed

I got a phone call this morning from my parents, asking whether I had figured out what I'm doing for Christmas. They're going to visit my sister and her family back east (why we refer to it as "back east" is beyond me; my one grandfather was the last member of my family before my kids and one of my sister's to be born anywhere other than California, so referring to it as though it's where we came from is a bit misleading), and my kids come out here right after Christmas, so they already knew I wouldn't be going out with them to see my nephews. QIR will be visiting her own folks in New Mexico, so spending the holiday with her is not an option. My best friends here in town will be out of the country. I could go visit one, the other or both of my brothers, but I don't love the idea of going to the Central Valley, and I'd be surprised if they aren't spending the holiday with their respective spouses.

I'm faced with the prospect of spending Christmas alone, for the first time in my life. I've spent Thanksgiving alone before, but never Christmas. It seems just a bit daunting and depressing.