Friday night Curry feast!

I LOVE CURRY!!

As you can tell, I am mad about the stuff, I crave it all the time, I can't go a week without having one, hence my expanding waistline....

 I was very virtuous back in  May, in preperation for my wedding. I planned my wedding over two years, but bought a dress that was 4 sizes too small for me , determined not to be a fat bride!  but never lost an ounce in those two years, because of my love of food, and aversion to excersise.With only 8 weeks to go, my dress was no where near to fitting , I needed to lose at least 2 stone, so enthusiasically embarked upon a liqiuid only diet, it was just 3 shakes a day, amounting to a mere 400 calories a day, starvation level bascically... with litres of water, well I did it, I lost 2 stone in 5 weeks, it was painful... very painful, but I still carried on baking for my children, and cooking lovely home cooked meals, I just used to take in the smell...,

 However, I still gained sooo much pleasure from baking, during those long weeks ,I just love doing it, and my children  love eating it, they  go to the cake tin when they return home from school, what surpise awaits in there today? There were 3 different cakes on Tuesday to choose from, my eldest son said " you have too much time on your hands"!  bloody cheek! I could spend my very little spare time catching up with my oil painting, but I am addicted to baking! If there is no cake in the house which is a rarity these days, they soon complain,  NO CAKE!! , what have you been doing all day   I'm not mad keen on the sweet stuff myself, i'm more of a savoury gal, cheese, and bread is a major downfall, and spicy stuff, and wine! good job too or I would be twice the size...although I am partial to chocolate brownies, and chocolate in any form in small doses;)

All in all ,I have been  a very busy bee in the kitchen this week, I made my first batch of vegetable soup, great to have in freezer, when you want a quick and easy meal.  Always making Fruitcake, hubby's fave, banana cake( because I always have bananas that are going off, and can't throw food away)they are staples in this house , delicious chocolate brownies, they went down a treat! Recipe from fellow blogger:) Big batch of  Chutney yesterday,  and all these curries, which have taken about three days in all, as I make a base gravy, one day, which I use in all my curries ( they do this in restaurants), it's what gives it its really authentic taste, I will blog this recipe another day, or if requested, then marinating of  meats, then pre cooking stages, gives the meat more flavour, then final day today of cooking it all last stages, with Pilau rice and  Onion bajhees. My house is going to smell nice for days...

What has been even more wonderful about cooking all of this stuff, is that I have had peace and quiet to do so, as my little daughter started nursery at the school she will be going to, full time next September, so I have 5 mornings a week (9-12) FREE!!, it is bliss I can tell you! Even though its a little sad she 's growing up so fast...

Anyway, the reason i'm blogging this, is that it's going to be my last feast of curry for a while, as I am endeavouring yet again to get in shape, in time for Xmas, as have gained all the weight I lost back in May.

I must try and walk more too, it's about the only form of excersise I can bear, aside from swimming which I love! I am very lazy!

Anyway hope these pics get you drooling! I am going to  really enjoy this tonight, knowing that I cooked it all myself, followed by a  few glasses of white wine, nice  music, and chat, with my lovely hubby. Perfect start to the weekend :)                                           


                                     


Beef Madras



Tandoori Chicken and Onion Bajhees




Bombay Aloo

 

                                





Pilau Rice

Chicken Korma



Have a lovely weekend all! Thanks for looking at my blog!

                       
 Things to make you cheery, on gloomy days ......
                                            

                           I'm finding it quite hard to be enthusiatic, and motivated, with all this cold, gloomy weather, takes a big effort to step outside my front door, as I go everywhere on foot as don't drive, it's not so much the cold, I hate the RAIN!!  So I have been baking a lot and I mean a lot!, as well as doing lots of crafts with my little girl, to keep her occupied, we especially liked making the paper lanterns, and the puppet theatre and finger puppets, with nanas help, why is the glue so crap with these sets? had to buy stronger stuff, even now there  body parts keep falling off :\

Can't wait for the spring, we have had a few teasing days where you can smell it in the air, I am itching to get out there and start tidying my garden, my lovely tulips are poking out from the soil in the big pot they are in, they were stunning last year, and brightened up the otherwise drab decking in the spring, Shame they don't carry on flowering through to May, as i'm getting married and would have loved them in my bouquet, but have decided on roses, peonies, and lots of gorgeous dark green foliage.

I need to brutally lop my Eucaylptus tree, its grown four times the size since we planted last spring, and is swaying all over the place, i have to keep tying it to the fence. I have lost lots of plants because of the harsh winter conditions we have had, still I managed to bring some in to the conservatory, in the autumn and they are doing well. Am looking foward to strolling round local gardening centre on Sundays in the spring, summer, growing some  tomatoes ( my man insists on this even, if he's not that good at it-we try try again!) and  I want to try peppers,this year, and lots of  fresh herbs again, yummy!

Well back to wedding plans, can't belive its only 11 weeks to go, lots of fine tuning now, but as my other half keeps reminding me 'the journey is all part of it! ' Ive been planning it for two years now! My main worry is trying to squeeze into my dress, yikes!!

Thing that have cheered me up this past fortnight:

Watching my eldest  son play his first school concert, he is learning to play bass guitar, he was a star! I was brimming with pride:)

Finding a lovely little lunchbox for madam,to take to playgroup,  she feels all grown up now,and  stays the whole session, which means 2 and half hours of blissful freedom, to do what I wish... We love Hello Kitty!

And a lovely orange windmill chosen by little S  at our garden centre. 

Lovely lillies,for my table, I prefer them when some are shut, they look more elegant, can't stand the fragrance though, reminds me of TCP!

Some proper cake tins, fed up with storing cake in old sweetie tins, and these mugs, I love animal prints, thought the colours are really bright and cheery!

My man has layed some stunning dark laminate flooring on top of our original floorboards, they were all oddly cut, broken and bumpy and kept chipping, and  old nails kept snagging all our socks! they looked so scruffy, they now look fab! still look like wood, so that has cheered me up! Still lots of projects to be getting on with though..never enough time..

As you can gather from my Blog page title, im a bit of a fan of the film The Wizard of Oz, have been ever since childhood, and adore Judy Garland... Well the other day I snapped this rainbow from my front door, and have been thinking about the film, and wanting to curl up with my daughter, get cosy on the couch, and watch for the first time, which is just what we did at the weekend...with breakfast im bed made by my lovely man, watching it with her me so emotional, i'm sooo sentimental! She didn't even flinch at the witch, the tin man, or the Lion, all of which sent me into a screamimg fit, hiding behind my grandparents couch, when I was little. She has now watched it about 6 times , and is singing 'We off to see the Wizard......Love it!

I got my little S some little shoes that are very similar to the Ruby slippers except they are pink and glittery, she loves them and thinks they are magical...When i was pregnant I bought a Dorothy doll from the US, its like Barbie, has the gingham dress etc, but I will save it for when she is older, I bought it for me really ;)

Anyway, my daughter is off to her Nanas for the afternoon, so I best get on with painting a commission i'm working on...

Talking of gloomy days, the sun is shining now!!

Happy days, there's no place home! Jenny xx