#187 - Ruby Chicken and Gardening

We had the day off today and we both slept in. I was awake around nine-thirty but went back to bed after bringing an Amazon package into the house.

Robyn and I finally sat up and gave up on sleeping a little after noon. She had stayed up late working on a painting until three thirty and I was in desperate need of some sleep.

We watched and episode of the daily show and “The Last Thing He Told Me” before the kiddo Facetimed to say he needed his mommy. And then Robyn decided to get some work done, while I watched some YouTube videos and did a little more reading and played a game or two of chess.

I spent some time outside; the weather was an amazing twenty degrees Celsius and the sun was shining. It could have been a summer’s day out there. I did a little bit of gardening, mostly moving some tulip bulbs from the back to the front. I can feel that I got a little bit of the sun today on my bald head. It is unusually warm to the touch.

I was pleased to see my Van Gogh Irises were coming up and in much larger quantity than last year. They have a beautiful green and purple flower. Last year was the first year they had bloomed since I planted them. So, I am hoping for a nice display from them this year.

I can see four alliums growing this year, and I think I only planted three of them last year. Always exciting to see your plants multiplying for free.

After gardening, our friends Paul and Laura called to say they would be by to drop off some things in an hour.  I used that time to read out on the front porch and play a few more games of online chess. It was such a perfect day, I didn’t want to spend it all indoors, even though I could have easily gone back to bed.

Our friends arrived and we had a short visit with them, time enough for a cool beverage. They had been busy doing some spring cleaning and seemed to enjoy getting a break from that.

After they left, I wanted to use the new stove to make the Ruby Chicken recipe from the Dishoom cookbook. I set about doing that, by first cooking the marinated chicken on a grill plate and then the harder part, making the makhani sauce. Making the sauce took about an hour to do, and it you need to hover around stirring the pot now and again to make sure it doesn’t burn.

It was at that point I started to wonder if all this effort was worth it. Patak makes some really great Indian sauces at a reasonable price and they taste great. But I kept on with it, because homemade usually tastes better. And boy was I glad I made it from scratch. The flavour was fantastic. I made some basmati rice and toasted some naan bread to go along with it. Robyn really enjoyed it said I could make this any day and she’d be happy.

There were two surprising ingredients in this dish. I have made many Indian recipes before, so I had a good understanding of what goes in a standard dish. The addition of some dill fronds was unexpected. I’ve never had a recipe of Indian cuisine ask for it. And the other additional surprise was the final garnish that included pomegranate seeds. I wasn’t sure how I was going to feel about them, but now I want to add them to all the other Indian recipes I cook. It definitely added a nice counterpoint to the spicy and savoury sauce.

After eating and packing up the leftovers into the freezer to be saved for a work lunch, it was time to take it easy for a bit. I was ready for more leisure time, and my weary body was ready to be horizontal.

I may have mentioned that after an Indian meal, both my fate rand myself crave chocolate like a junky needs their next hit. I hadn’t planned for this scenario, but luckily Robyn was able to produce enough chocolate out of thin air to tame the beast.

We watched the first episode of “Your Friends and Neighbors” followed by an episode of “Dare Devil.”

And to end the night, I am writing in bed, and Robyn is reading next to me.

It was mostly a day of rest. I was grateful to catch up on some of things I enjoy doing like the gardening and trying out new recipes. I was due for a day of ease and some much needed sleep recovery. And I get to sleep in again tomorrow. We don’t have to be anywhere until noon, which means I can at least sleep in until nine thirty or ten.

I still need to get some of my tax info together as well and I may have time in the morning to do some of that.

The nice weather today has me wanting to get out on my scooter. But I was too tired today to ride it safely. It’s days like today, when you are drained of energy that accidents happen and I am too old to recover from them quickly like I did when I was young.

I have forgotten to take my AG1 supplement again today, breaking the streak once again. Some of these streaks take a few attempts to really get going. I start again tomorrow and see if I can make it stick this time around.

I see in the news a US fighter jet was shot down somewhere in or near Iran, which comes a surprise after the US president stated the Iranian ability to wage war was all but destroyed. The facts aren’t matching the bravado coming out of the White House. And then I heard Pete Hegseth fired a bunch of Generals just the other day. Seems like a lot of odd things are going on over in the Trump’s White House. And then there was the firing of Pam Bondi right after the firing of Kristi Noem.

Lots of balls up in the air and plates crashing to the ground.

Things seem to be spiraling out of control for our neighbors to the south.

A shorter post tonight.

I am tired and need to bring some Uncle Brian energy for the niece and nephew tomorrow.

Have a Happy Easter.