Spinach and Tofu Curry

Tonight I made a vegan version of saag paneer, a spinach and cheese curry.  The recipe was my own invention, based on having eaten (non-vegan) saag paneer at Indian restaurants and having looked at a few recipes online and in books.  My version may not have been authentic Indian, but it was SUPER tasty.

Because it was so yummy and not too difficult, I decided to share:

• Make some rice.  You'll do something with it later...
• Press a block of extra-firm tofu, then cut it into cubes.
• Heat some peanut oil in a frying pan.  Put the tofu cubes in, and resist the urge to flip them till they've really browned on one side.  It'll take awhile, so proceed with the rest of the recipe, checking on the tofu every now and then.
• In a different pan, saute chopped onions in peanut oil.  
• Once the onions are pretty soft, add minced garlic and chili pepper and cumin seeds
• About a minute later, add some Indian spices.  I used coriander, turmeric, garam masala and a little cayenne pepper but you can use whatever you have around.
• Slowly add a can of light coconut milk.  Stir it in, let it get hot
• Add spinach! Mix it in, let it wilt.
• Once the spinach is wilted, transfer everything to a blender and blend it all up! It will be a beautiful/terrifying green color (depending on your perspective)
• Probably your tofu is done being fried.  Put the spinach blend back into its pan, and add the tofu.  Mix it all around, make sure it's thoroughly heated.  And you're done!
• What about that rice?  Using the pan you'd had the tofu in (I hate having extra dishes to do), heat some more oil and toss some raw peanuts in. 
• Once they're roasty, add cumin seeds and mustard seeds (cover the pan with a lid till the mustard seeds are done popping)
• Stir in turmeric (not too much, less than a teaspoon) and a couple tablespoons of lemon juice.  
• Now turn off the heat, and slowly mix in your cooked rice (make sure it's not too sticky-together - you want individual grains).  Make sure it's thoroughly mixed, so your rice takes on the yellow color of the turmeric.  If you have some fresh cilantro, get that chopped up and sprinkled on top.  (I was out of it tonight, unfortunately.)
• Tada!  You just made lemon rice to go with your saag paneer!

Here's a photo of our leftovers.  It would've looked prettier on a plate, but that didn't occur to me until I'd already spooned it into the tupperware, and I've already established how I feel about extra dishes being used.  Anyway, here it is:

Again, I cannot stress enough how tasty I found this meal.  My boyfriend and I just went crazy over its yumminess.

P.S. I realize I didn't remember to include very many (if any) measurements.  Don't sweat it.  When in doubt, use a teaspoon or two for the spices (except the cayenne pepper).  Use a nice big bag of spinach. Don't worry over it too much.  It's hard to make these things taste bad together.  They're just too intrinsically tasty.

The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake

I began reading The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake by Aimee Bender a few days ago.  (I bought it at my local Borders on "store-closing" sale - heartbreaking! I love that Borders!)  It's about Rose Edelstein, a young girl who suddenly realizes that when she eats she can taste the emotions of the people who made the food.  I thought it might be a little too deliberately whimsical, but it's actually played very straight and realistic, if that makes sense.  Imagine being a kid and being able to taste the dissatisfaction your mother feels about her marriage.  Rough stuff. 

As a bonus to me, Rose's older brother and his best friend are really into physics.  I enjoy reading about their problems and projects, though I was certainly never as motivated as them to do extra work!

American Voyeur

Just finished American Voyeur by Benoit Denizet-Lewis.  Denizet-Lewis describes himself as a combination sociologist and journalist.  The book is a compilation of stories he's had published elsewhere in the last ten years, and all of them are in-depth looks at a particular subculture or aspect of our culture.  One piece is about the young married gay men in Massachusetts, right after gay marriage was legalized.  Another is about dry fraternities.  A particularly heart-breaking piece is about two teen brothers who both killed themselves.

Some of them were not too interesting to me (one about young extreme athletes getting sponsorships) but most of them were super interesting.  He gets his subjects to really open up to him, really let him into their world, and it's fascinating.  I wish some of them went on longer, were even more in-depth, but I realize most of these were originally written for magazines and therefore would only be so long.

Denizet-Lewis, for the record, was the first person to write about Down Low culture, black "straight" men sleeping with other men.  

Should you read it?  I don't think I would've bothered to buy it, but I borrowed it from a friend and definitely enjoyed it.  So if you happen upon a copy, open it up!

Also, I still haven't gotten back to any more H.P. Lovecraft.  I'm too scared.

Some outfits

I thought I'd post some pictures of outfits I've worn recently, for fun.  I'm still using lookbook, trying not to be distracted by wondering what random strangers think about my clothes, and mostly succeeding.  It is fun to have a place to post outfits, and to look at other people's clothes.

Apparently I really like that black and gray Urban Outfitters belt...

Lovecraft

I started a book of H.P. Lovecraft short stories a couple nights ago.  Here's the thing about Lovecraft: his stories are really scary! Seriously, seriously scary! I somehow didn't expect it, even though I know he's known for being such a great horror writer. 

I read "The Rats in the Walls" right before I went to sleep, or rather right before I intended to go to sleep.  It's about an American man who decides to go to Britain and live in the house his ancestors had.  The man is older, and his son died in WWI, and since he can afford it, he wants to completely redo the house to look as it did in the past (although with modern conveniences).  His family, the de la Poers, had apparently frightened the townspeople quite a bit in the past, as people seem to think his last name implicates him in the hinted-at crimes of ancestors living hundreds of years ago.  Despite the rumors that terrible things happened in the house, he has the renovations finished and moves in.

So far, fine.  I read that bit earlier.  Then, nighttime, I start up again.  And he's just one night in the house when his cats start acting weird.  Acting like they see something.  And then the man himself can see it.  The walls are moving, as if filled with hundreds of rats all running in the same direction.  He can hear them, too.  They seem to be moving towards his cellar...

I don't want to spoil it.  I'll leave you with my reaction upon finishing the story, which was basically "well, shoot.  Now I'm terrified.  Not going to sleep right now..."

Books

A short note: I finished Things I've Been Silent About, and I also read Take The Cannoli by Sarah Vowell.  I read Sarah Vowell's book in a day.  It was a collection of short pieces from NPR and other places.  She's funny and insightful.  I recommend it.

Physics

Two things physics-related:

1. Today is Pi Day!  Pi is 3.14159.... so March 14th, aka 3/14, is the day to celebrate (particularly at 1:59 pm).  In Europe they must not have a Pi Day, since they write the day first, then the month.  I have some pie in my kitchen that I contemplated eating to celebrate, but have decided not to. Perhaps I should measure it instead.

2. I am on the front page of Northern Illinois University's (my alma mater) physics department website!  In their "News and Highlights" section, I'm noted for having some short stories published this year.  It's a pretty cool thing, and not why I would've guessed I'd appear on there when I was a student.
NIU's Physics Department

Azar Nafisi

I'm reading Things I've Been Silent About by Azar Nafisi.  She's the author of Reading Lolita in Tehran, a book I enjoyed the first third of but then lost interest in.  This new (to me) book is a sort of memoir, focusing particularly on her mother and father.  The culture and politics of Iran bleed into the story, but are not front-and-center.  It's so far quite engaging.

I'm looking forward to re-reading Persepolis, a graphic novel memoir by Marjane Satrapi which is also about growing up in Iran.  I read it a few years ago and loved it.  (I also loved the animated film based on it, though seeing some of the events on the movie screen instead of the page made them even more heartbreaking.)  I recommend it highly.

Shopping

The current habit of me and my friends is for them to play New Super Mario Bros Wii while I watch and read Dutch fashion blogs (I'm usually too tired from work to want to play).  Now when I hear the familiar Mario music, I start to think about clothes. 

Probably as a direct result of this habit, I've been buying a lot of clothes.  Over the last week I bought:

1. A maroon vintage late-seventies blouse

2. A pink vintage 1980s dress

3. Blue Converse low-tops

4. A Donna Morgan dress (I'd never heard of her. Got this at TJ Maxx for $40, then read online that it retails for about $180. Yay!)

5. An octopus necklace (This one is en route to me from the Netherlands. I found it for sale on one of the blogs I've been reading. Doesn't the octopus look menacing? Not enough jewelry is menacing.)

6. A pair of silver and maroon fake-cameo earrings.

7. A 1960s red and gold and black velvet dress that makes me look like I should host a variety show.

8. An AWESOME pink Eileen Fisher sweater-jacket. I got it at a sample sale. Apparently it will be manufactured in black, but never in pink. So mine is extra awesome.