John & Belle Have A Blog

Reverse Engineered Vindaloo

Me: "I reverse-engineered lamb vindaloo!"

John: "I don't think that's legal in Singapore."

What to do with that leftover leg of lamb? Watch, and be amazed. Hazy memories of dubious food in NYC on 6th street+leftover lamb=yum. Be sure to cut off any silver skin or grody bits; take the time to make the lamb cubes nice.

UPDATED: I forgot about the tamarind. I actually thought about it in the night when I woke up, at 3 or something. I should probably think about blogging a lot less. Corrected below. I mean, the tamarind thing; the blogging is still a problem, apparently.

1 t fenugreek

2 t cumin seeds

seeds from 8-10 cardamom pods

3-4 dried chilies

8 cloves garlic, peeled and roughly chopped

1 3-inch piece ginger, peeled and roughly chopped

1 1/2 T butter or ghee

2 T tomato paste

2 bay leaves

2 cups leftover roast leg of lamb (obviously, it could be fresh lamb cubes, but then you probably wouldn't have:

the bone from a roast leg of lamb

1 large potato, cubed

1/3 c tamarind paste with seeds, mixed with 1/2 c warm water, smooshed around with your fingers, and then put through a strainer. Or, I think vinadloo recipes also sometimes contain vinegar.

water or stock, about 4 cups

1. Roast the fenugreek, cumin, cardamom, and chilis in a dry pan until they are fragrant (or you are choking to death).

2. Pureé the garlic and ginger with a little water in a spice grinder or food processor.

3. Heat the butter or ghee over medium heat, and then fry ginger-garlic paste for a minute or so. Add dry spice powder and stir a minute or so longer. Add water or stock, lamb, lamb bone, tomato paste, bay leaves and tamarind liquid. Bring to a boil and then reduce to a simmer; cook 15 minutes. Add potatoes and cook 20-30 minutes more, till lamb is tender and the oil floats to the surface. Salt to taste.

If Orwell were alive today, he'd be leaving angry comments in my enemy's comment box

That just seemed like a good post title.

Words fail me, pictures slightly better

Hugh Hewitt:

The left has become disfigured because the excess that dominates the lefty blogs is absorbed by rank-and-file activists and encouraged by the Democratic Party leadership, which embraces, posts at and praises the blogs that are among the angriest and most vulgar/profane/hate-filled.

The collapse of the left's ability to engage in politics will continue and in fact accelerate unless and until the leaders of the Democratic Party rebuke the party's activist base and its spokesmen, which is unlikely to happen anytime soon.

The best thing the GOP has going for it in November, 2006 and in the presidential campaign to follow is the fury of the unhinged left. The vast majority of Americans reject politics of this sort, but there's no hiding what the left has become or the Democrats' endorsement of it.

The ISB provides the best advice, as always.

Do you think Hewitt is actually trying to engage the other side in reasonable discourse, but just doesn't know how to say it? Discuss.

More Trip Stuff

I think they helpfully block out the front of the tri-shaws so you can't see out while your driver is overtaking. So much more restful. I had been fantasizing some blognum opus, which this is not, but I was inspired to post by Tena's reiteration today (as I made a recipe her mom taught me) that I have the "right" hand for bitter gourd. Just as American and French pastry makers believe some people have the "cool hand" needed to make a flaky pastry (and I can see the logic there, at least, even though I think practice probably has more to do with it than poor circulation), people in the Philippines apparently believe you can have a hand appropriate for making bitter gourd, or not, and that if not, whenever you make bitter gourd it turns out too bitter.Of course she totally jinxed me and the first piece I tried was bitter as sin. I hope further cooking has improved it. Likewise, you're not supposed to stir bitter gourd too much. Now, if you don't eat bitter gourd, you might say, hey, why not just eat a less bitter vegetable, moron? I'm telling you, bitter gourd is actually very good, provided it's not too bitter. To acheieve this state you can, in addition to having magical hands of some unspecified type and not stirring too much, salt the cut gourd well and let it sit in a strainer for 20 minutes, before rinsing it and using it in the dish.

The Witch, the Lion and the Wardrobe

Zoë watched the second half of The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe on the plane and wasn't bothered, even though at home she finds the Rugrats 'too scary'. When we got it, she decided it was scary after all. But she still wants to make an illustrated edition. Here's her cover:

Here's her representation of the Blitz in London. She was disconcerted to learn that World War II was real.

Pig's Ear

[Discussing Zoë's trip - see below.] How did you like pig's ear?

It tastes like rusty potato chips. But good.

That's close to life imitating our family's favorite Pogo bit: "Tastes like rusty old campaign buttons. Good, though."

Trip Report (Partial)

Well, we did indeed have a great time. I have a lot of thoughts about this but here is a preliminary report. Tena's hometown of Mangaldan (near Dagupan City, Pangasinan) isn't actually all that far from Manila; driving to Manila on our return and leaving at 6am we got to the outskirts of the city at 9:15. Naturally it took another hour and a half to get across Manila to the airport. I am not sure just why it is that the Philippines has failed to exploit its obvious tourist potential, but I think the fact that Manila is such a shithole has something to do with it. Sadly, it used to be beautiful, but all the Spanish-era buildings (and everything else) were destroyed by bombardment during WWII, whether from the Japanese or the US it's hard to say.* The rebuilt town is unusually unattractive and has traffic worse than Bangkok + LA x suburban Virginia at 6pm on a weekday.

Maturapalooza! (With Brian Donlevy)

Having defended Victor Mature's honor against Adorno, perhaps there is no great harm in sinking further into the culture industry mire by noting that Amazon has the world's best Victor Mature movie, Kiss of Death, marked down 50%! In fact, they've got lots of noir for cheap, if you like that sort of thing. Fallen Angel, - oooh, the original docu-drama, The House on 92nd Street. Haven't seen all of these, though. Anyone care to comment?

Root Causes of Crime

David Frum: "Over time, they [the Republican class of '94] succumbed to some of the high-handed and self-serving practices of the old Democratic majority they defeated."

Redstate: "Where he started by using the enemies' tools against them, [DeLay] began to take part in the excesses of his Democrat predecessors."

Could it be this Culture of Corruption thing has all been the fault of the Democrats, because they provided Republicans with a bad environment? It's sort of an intriguing 'root causes' argument. Odd, though. I was led to understand hand-wringing about 'root causes of crime' was a liberal sort of thing to do.

The War on Baseball?

"Playing the World Series over the school PA system - what a concept! It doesn't happen anymore - primarily, because MLB makes more money when all the games are played at night; secondarily, because it would probably be politically incorrect." [link]

Yes, it's called the liberal War On Baseball. Thanks for asking. But it will have to get in line behind Christmas, parents, Christianity and a couple other things I'm probably forgetting.