January 30, 2007

Are you havin' a laugh?

  • Damn. I am so in love with this season of the Extras on HBO - I really enjoyed the 1st one, but THIS one has me in stitches - I got teary-eyed with laughter at the David Bowie episode last week. I adore the new premise of Andy starring in a lame "shitcom" which has probably one of stupidest punchlines ever (refer to post title). Ricky Gervais is simply a comedic genius with that uncanny ability to quit while ahead.
  • Speaking of which.....watching the Extras has made me yearn for some BBC, a healthy cache of which I am already in possession of in my DVD collection. Towards this end, I decided not to continue with Grey's Anatomy, after all - I had a hard time getting sucked into season 2. Again, it's not a bad show and I am not knocking it. However, I can't really justify watching another show right now and I'd really like to dig back into my DVDs such as Ab Fab, The Office, Cold Feet, Coupling, etc.
  • It's official - this pregnancy is different. My desire for Mexican food has waned to a dull thud and my cravings for Indian food have reached a fever pitch. Oh sure, with Arun I could eat Indian, but didn't really crave it ferociously like now. Anyway, the problem is - we live in Kansas City. We have some okay North Indian places, but none of them are anything to write home about - Kababesh Grille is probably the best of the bunch, but it's really Pakistani more than Indian. The issue is that I am craving South Indian - an area of cuisine in which Kansas City is severely lacking. There's a so-called South Indian place here called Ruchi that ironically, isn't so "ruchi" (ruchi=tasty in Hindi). However, NewKid demanded dosas on Friday and so I strong-armed X into going there. I wanted a mysore masala dosa so bad that I ached. We hadn't been there in ages because the service had gone downhill, but the last I had remembered, their dosas weren't so bad. Um, first off......when you walk into an Indian joint and your Indian husband is a minority, you know you're in trouble. And dear Lord, were we IN TROUBLE. Except for the carrot pickle that I greedily inhaled, the entire meal was a disaster. We left there vowing never to return. So, I've moved on - to my own fucking kitchen. X even remarked on the irony that a Kansas bred n' born white chick can make a better dosa from a fucking mix than those nitwits at Ruchi's. My rava idlis weren't half bad either. Still, doesn't food always taste so much better when someone else makes it? Sob.
  • I've determined that cleaning a house in which a toddler dwells is akin to sweeping your kitchen floor with a makeup brush. Both are possible. In theory.
  • And finally, here is some knitting for you. Because nothing says Delurk!! like a blogger droning about her knitting. Squee! Anyway, I have declared 2007 The Year of the Stash - I am attempting to finish half-attempted projects and to also work on the box of stash that is lurking in my hall closet. So, I finally finished Arun's baby blanket - I used the Big Bad Baby Blanket pattern from the Stitch n' Bitch book. The pros? Easy pattern, durable yarn and the dimensions came out quite large because I used a Signature yarn instead of the one the pattern called for. Arun should be able to use this blanket for awhile. The cons? A blanket is a pain in the ASS to knit. It doesn't travel well and became so heavy at the end that it didn't help my pregnancy-induced carpal tunnel syndrome. This is why the project took so long. I also finished a backpack - one of my very first attempted projects. The biggest problem with this project is that I had no use for it until recently - once I had incentive to actually seam the damned thing together and attach the cord, it was a snap. Anyway, drool away. You know you wanna.

Backbreaking Backpack



Big Bad Baby Blanket



Appreciation

14 comments:

metalia said...

I, too, am LOVING this season of Extras; last season was great, but this one is absolutely hilarious.

Also, that blanket is gorgeous!

Lisa said...

LOVE your couch, the backpack, blankie and pic of your little man!

Monkey McWearingChaps said...

Hey...I make the idlis out of the mix too and it's super-tasty. I chop in coriander and ginger and add yoghurt. I let mine "sit" for about 3 to 4 hours.

When I was staying with the Malyali-Tamil family up in SF during the Bar they made all their idlis out of mixes as well. These days it's very hard to find the time to grind up all that stuff and ferment it properly.

Haven't tried dosa mixes-my parents have pretty much switched to idli mixes but ferment their own dosa batter.

Doesn't it make you dream about taking a Southwest daytrip to Devon, though? Hehehe...wonder how understanding X would be about that.

Cagey (Kelli Oliver George) said...

Metalia,
re: Extras - yes, there is just something about it that is really clicking with me!

Modern Day Hermit,
Like you, I usually judge ethnic restaurants by what I call a "local factor". We ate at a Chinese restaurant in Boston that had ACTUAL Chinese in it - imagine that. I was the only whitie, our friends were Indian and well, then there was Arun. It was the BEST Chinese I have ever had, too.

Lisa,
Thanks!

Monkey,
Whew. Making stuff from mixes totally feels like cheating to me. Nice to know it's not just this whitie doing it. Re: a trip to Chicago - don't you know it! Devon street would be an awesome day trip.

Rozanne said...

Devon Street is awesome, but my favorite south Indian place (Natraj) is gone. Wah!!!!!!

There are other south Indian places like Gandhi, but I never liked that place. But what do I know?

I can't wait until the new Extras season comes out on DVD!!! (We don't have cable.)

Goofy Girl said...

I don't know my North from my South when it comes to Indian food, but I'm always willing to visit Korma Sutra. Yummy!

Also, there is a place up north called Swagat. And the place over by my work...India Cafe. Are any of those southern Indian food? What clues would I look for? Will I be greeted with, "Care for some dosas, y'all?"?

p.s. I was just about to request some Simian Snaps, but you obliged. Yippee!

Anonymous said...

Daaaamn, white girl! You're making dosas and rava idlis? My Malayali ass is shamed.

Actually, the last time my mom was in town, we tried a pre-made frozen dosa batter that they sell at our Indian store-it was pretty good! Now I just need to make better sambar.

Boutros said...

I too have given up on Grey's Anatomy. And I concur about Ricky Gervais. Extras and his podcasts are the funniest things I've ever seen/heard.

Diana said...

Sure, it was a bitch, but you just gotta love that blanket!

I can't wait to see Extras. I just read about it a week ago in some magazine or other and it looked like a scream. I'll be Netflixing it.

Cagey (Kelli Oliver George) said...

Rozanne,
I always used to go to Devon street for Pakistani specialities such as nihari and haleem - haven't been there for the Southern stuff. Now that KC finally has a Pakistani place, I can expand my horizons the next time.

Goofy Girl,
Yes, Korma Sutra is pretty good for some northern stuff and their service is excellent. We've always been treated nicely there. But seriously, you should check out Kababesh Grille. Swagat is definitely northern focused, but I am going to call them to see if they do dosas (many southerners pose as northerners since the White People know northern style better). I didn't really care for the India Cafe, though.

Shalini,
I was using MIXES (Gits and Swad are my favorites). My dosas are still way too thick, though so I need to work on my technique with smoothing them out. They're still edible, though. And idlis are not hard - it's fun dealing with those molds, too because it "feels" like serious work. hee! BTW, I used a Git Sambhar, added my own tomatoes and it was pretty damned good - even X was impressed.

Boutros,
I really need to do the podcasts. Ricky Gervais is simply Genius for his time. One thing about the Office that I totally FORGOT to put in my post was this - apparently in an interview Gervais pointed out that The Office is supposed to be "reality TV" and of course, as usual with reality TV, the filming is only going to show all of David Brent's bad moments. Whoa. Brent had GOOD ones? I totally wanted to rewatch to see if they allude to the fact that there were good moments.

Diana,
Oh, yes - the blanket was worth the time. Arun is currently using it as a pillow, so he definitely likes it!

meno said...

I feel lucky to live in an area where there are many Indian restaurants. Some good, and some are.....reasonably priced.

Anonymous said...

Hey, I have a question...was it your blog I was reading and you were talking about the scholastic book sales in KC? I would love to go and stock up on some good books for my little boy! bethy_blu2@yahoo.com THANKS

Cagey (Kelli Oliver George) said...

Meno,
One complaint of X's is that there aren't enough FANCY Indian restaurants. There is one in the DC/VA area that we like to go to, but none in Kansas City.

Bethany,
I've emailed you, but am also commenting here. I hadn't heard of any Scholastic book sales, so it definitely wasn't me. I get most of Arun's books at used book stores (The Dusty Bookshelf in Lawrence is my favorite). Would like to hear of some Scholastic book sales, though!

Jenn said...

I'm lovin the #4 analogy. Perfect!

p.s. feel free to knit me a backpack! Cause it's AWSOME!