Chicken Curry

A note before beginning: turmeric stains like nothing else! Don't use a plastic container to mix the curry in (unless you intend to throw away or don't care about discoloration), use glass or metal. Wear an apron when cooking, or you will have yellow spots for the rest of the life of your garments. (A tip from experience, grr!)

5 Tbs coriander
5 Tbs cumin
2 Tbs garlic powder
2 Tbs fenugreek seeds
2 Tbs turmeric
2 Tbs paprika
1 Tbs chili powder
1/2 Tbs asafetida powder
1/2 Tbs ginger
1/2 Tbs mustard powder
1/2 Tbs black pepper
1/2 Tbs cinnamon
2 chicken breasts
5-6 Tbs butter
1/2 can of olives, sliced
1 can of sliced mushrooms, or 1/2 cup sliced fresh mushrooms
1 small onion, diced
1/2 jar sliced roasted sweet peppers

Curry Powder Base:
Mix together all spices. Store in an airtight container in a cool dark place up to 6 months.

Curry Paste:
Mix together 2 Tbs. curry powder base and 1/2 cup water, 1 Tbs at a time. Melt butter; add curry paste all at once. Stir constantly for 2 minutes.

Chicken Curry:
Add chicken and remaining ingredients. Simmer approx. 30 minutes to let flavors blend. Serve over saffron rice.

Fish Eye Squares

A twist on an old classic. This week's freebie features a traditional pattern - moire-like dots that get larger nearer to the center. A centuries old trick to fool the eye into seeing patterns of light and dark based on how close together and how large the dots are. This flavor however, uses squares rather than dots. Enjoy!

FES

Garden Plot

Mother's Day, May Day, and spring officially arriving. That's what's on my mind at the moment. Also, so much for my goal of posting once a week. It turns out that it's closer to twice a month or so. It just takes up a lot more time than I thought it would, and I have less and less of that lately. So, as I've got other things taking higher priority for the time being, I'm scaling my goal down to posting 2 times a month. Means I need to get back on the horse again next week.

Meanwhile, I hope you all enjoy the new header. In keeping with scaling back, I've updated the DS theme to something that will last longer than a month - spring! My garden volunteered 6 garlic bulbs, several parsnips, and (weird) a couple patches of leaf lettuce. Can't wait to go shopping with my mom for seedlings for this year's veggie garden! With that on the top of my brain, I have whipped out a little doodle for you. Hope you like it, let me know in the comments!

Descending V's

Today's freebie looks very simplistic, so I thought I'd give an example of a blog design to show how this one can shine. Sometimes simple is better. I think you have a lot more options and freedom of choice with a simple design. So without further ado...

Art Deco

Well, some health issues have kept me from my goal of (at least) once a week posting. So, to make up for lost time, I've decided to post several Art Deco designs I've finished. I'm not terribly crazy about Art Deco in general, but these ones pass the muster. At least for me. Hopefully, I'll be back to posting regularly after this.

Concentric Circles

A cool optical illusion inspired freebie is here this week. Concentric circles! I like this one so much I mocked up a totally cool new theme for my website, but haven't committed to switching over to it yet. Bees, my favorite! The pink is awfully feminine, but fitting for the month of February I guess. Take a peek and let me know what you think!

Ana's Cross Stitch

All right, this one isn't mine, but I helped, so I'm putting it up here anyway. My daughter has recently joined Girl Scouts. The other day, she begged, whined, and wheedled her way into this project. She wanted to do some 'stitching'. Does this have anything to do with joining Girl Scouts? Maybe not, but I'm sure she can get a badge or something for it. Anyway, she knows paper is my medium, my motto being 'I hate sewing!' That doesn't mean I never do it; on the contrary, I keep trying to get into it, but not finishing what I start. So when I dug into my fabric project chest, I was able to find this cute counted cross stitch kit. She loves this project to pieces, but has set it aside for the moment. (A lot like her mom? I swear I didn't do it!)

What she has done so far she completed in 2 days. With some help from mom. I thread the needle, I tie the knots (yes I know, I showed her how to sew the ends of the thread under, but we felt knots were going to be easier). I help her counting, and show how to read the pattern. So she gets lots of support, but it's still mostly her making x's - mom does the rest. :P Still, she's proud of what she's done, and I am too!