For Vinay and Sabrina

I miss my lovely friends Vinay and Sabrina so much.  I've talked about them before here when I made their sons quilts. They now live across the outside of London too far to provide me with cooking lessons.  When we were relative neighbors in Massachusetts, they taught me the finer points of Indian cuisine including condiment (chutney and raita) preparations.  This is for them...

Using a Shan spice mix I made this chicken biryani.  There is a recipe on the back of the box that I followed loosely.

Biryani is great for slightly past-their-prime veggies.  I cut up some carrots and eggplant and other veggies that I had laying around in the kitchen, plus some tomatoes that I was stewing for later canning.

Before the chicken and the brown basmati.

After this photo, I added some yogurt, mined mint and cilantro plus the previously sauted chicken and then a layer of par-boiled brown basmati rice.

All done...very tasty.

Hey I've got leftovers. Any takers? ~ksp

F#ck Cancer! - Team DM

My dearest friend DM has a Burkitt-like lymphoma and will spend the summer in treatment at St. Barnabus Medical Center.

I am very pleased and honored that he is allowing me to help him through these tough summer months. Not to do it alone, I enlisted the help of ChopChop and MadameFoo to help ease the imaging issues that cancer treatment can sometimes bring by knitting caps for him to wear.

This group of classy ladies put together a bunch of caps for him to wear. The drab colors are his request to accompany both his wardrobe and default mood.

I lovingly refer to the large and ever-growing list of people who offer his support, food, encouragement "Team DM". Lord knows this is a rough spot and its great to have folks there to help lighten the burden. We also decided that the team's slogan is "F#ck Cancer!". Its our attempt to put the lymphoma on notice that its days are numbered.

I eventually made him try all of the hats (to ensure good fit and to make him laugh). While it will be hard to wear in the summer months, he is often cold in the hospital so they'll come in handy.

A face anyone could love.