Recipe Test: vegetable curry

Matt got his Food & Wine 2009 cookbook out last week for some dinner inspiration.  We tried a vegetable curry recipe contributed by Chef Vikram Sunderam from Rasika in Washington DC.

I was the sous chef, my favorite role (you’ll see my mild OCD kick in as sous chef).

I chopped green beans, carrots, ginger, garlic, onion, chili pepper, and tomatoes. Matt cut the chunks of butternut squash (not pictured). We sauteed the veggies with some oil, coconut milk, and turmeric to get the curry pictured below.  The basmati rice cooked well in our rice cooker.

The flavors were surprisingly mild–a bit too mild for my taste–but it was a nice mixture of ingredients.  Next time I will finely dice the ginger instead of julienne like the recipe called for.  It would have been nice to have the ginger flavor permeate more of the curry and not get it in large chunks.  For more kick, maybe next time we’ll add more hot pepper.  A nice dish, but we may only try making it once more.

Windy Day at Terrain

A whole year had gone by since our last trip to Terrain at Styers and the overwhelming majority decision was that that isn’t often enough. Matt and I are already planning a Day Staycation there some time this summer.

It’s a great place to take your mom.  Pretty flower arrangements…

natural surroundings…

cute plants and decorations…

funky ferns…

and lots to buy, or want to buy,

makes Mom very happy.

And we hadn’t even sat down to eat yet.  This was the open seating area in the cafe, but luckily we had procured one of the last available reservations in the greenhouse.

I couldn’t keep track of everyone’s lunches.  Mine started with an unsweetened berry tea, fabulous and refreshing. It’s hard to find unsweetened iced tea in Philly.

We ordered the tomato mozzerella sandwich to share.

Mom and Dad both ordered the leek and goat cheese omelette. Mom wanted ketchup but discovered that she didn’t need it because the dish was so moist and tasty.

My chicken salad sandwich was light but chock full of white meat chicken chunks and veggies (with capers! I love capers!).

We all had room for lemon tart at the end of our meals. Smooth, airy, sweet, and it hit the spot.

Unfortunately, it was too windy and cold that day to spend too much time outside, but we did manage to all go home with some plants and goodies.  We can’t wait to go back.