All Things Indian Today

Today was a wonderful day for so many reasons!  First, it was a ladies day out to the city with three wonderful friends.  Second, we happened to be on an adventure with our friend from India.  She was taking us to the Indian store to purchase Lentils.  Lentils as I learned today are also called Dal in India.  We also purchased several spices so we can start learning to cook Indian food.  And last but not least we were able to eat at a new Indian restaurant after our shopping trip.  The meal was absolutely delicious and savory.  I am one of four in our house that enjoys Indian cuisine.  My youngest is warming up to the idea thankfully.   I was raised with many cultural influences and foods so eating many different  foods were normal to me.  I was taught to make many different foods, however I have never had the opportunity to learn how to cook Indian food and now begins the adventure.  I have started my spice box that I purchased today to hold my spices most commonly used in Indian cuisine.

On my mind....delicious Indian foods!

This is my humble beginnings at the moment I have only three dry seasonings to put in my spice box.  Turmeric, Coriander, and Cumin.  In time as I learn to cook more things I will begin to add to my box and possibly need a second box.  For now I am learning to cook with these and a few other ingredients until I am comfortable.  I use a lot of cumin in my American cooking so it is interesting to me to see the cross over into other foods.  I am very excited to be learning something new and about something I am so passionate about!  Delicious foods :)  As I write this I have a wonderful smelling lentil dish simmering away almost ready to eat.

On another positive note.  Our delightful cat Nigel is back home and doing quite well.  We were able to bring him home today from the vet and he is resting comfortably.  The vet said that he had a build up of Ash in his bladder and it was attributed to his food.  He was not sure why it happens if it is his system that converts  something to ash or not.  At any rate he is now on a special food that will prevent this from happening again and most importantly he is with us and healthy and we are all very happy he is home.