Tag Archives: summer

Jul28

Getting to know Martha’s Vineyard

Posted on July 28, 2016 by athaidek

First weekend in MV…my backyard!

If there’s one thing I would recommend before spending 3 months in a new place, it’s to truly understand where in the world you are actually going before you get there. By this I mean, let’s say you’re spending time on an island, maybe figure out that there’s no way to get there other than boat before you arrive.

I can say that in my starry-eyed, butter-desiring quest for adventure, I literally thought I’d be skipping over a bridge with my suitcase in hand, singing Fraulein Maria style of course, straight from the plane in Boston to MV,

In reality, Martha’s Vineyard is quite a secluded island, which is 2 hours by bus plus 45 minutes by ferry if you come from Boston. There’s an airport on the island which actually has good flight deals locally, but for the most part, you’re getting here by boat. While it can be frustrating since I’m used to jumping in the car to get somewhere, it’s a pretty cool feeling to arrive to the island on a boat, seeing all the sailboats out in the Vineyard Haven harbor at their moorings (new word I learned, such an island girl right?) and getting welcomed by the beautiful shingled houses lining the shore.

The people here love the distance from “real America,” deciding to forego stoplights and street lamps for roundabouts and really dark, bumpy roads at night. I have to say, the lack of streetlights in most areas can be pretty scary for getting home at night, but the stars out here are absolutely incredible. It’s interesting to live in a vacation town, where most activity happens 2 months out of the year. When I ask the locals about being here in the off-season, they all really love the slow pace, picking up new hobbies, driving with no traffic, and appreciating the wildlife around them. I’m leaving here in September, but I often wonder if I would be “good” at relaxing in the quiet of the off-season island, or if it would be lonely.

When I arrived mid-June, I was surprised to find out that June isn’t even high season for MV. In the south, Memorial Day sparks the beginning of summer, but up here, kids don’t even get out of school until end of June. Just as an example, when Spencer and his dad came to visit in the later half of June, the BEST ice cream place wasn’t even open yet!!! How can this even be a place to vacation without its best post-beach treat place open!?

Adjusting to my new schedule wasn’t terribly difficult, but I did have some growing pains adjusting to a much more physical job. Waking up early for the 6:30 am clock-in was not too hard, but biking to work when you have no upper body strength IS in fact incredibly difficult at 6 am. One strange thing I haven’t gotten used to is observing ALL THE PEOPLE out and about at the RIPE hour of 6:15 am. Weekday or weekend, whenever I bike to work, the parking spots are full in front of Mocha Motts, our coffee place, and people are strolling around Main street. A) I get that waking up early on vacation is nice, but really, 6 am? and B) one more time, SIX AM??

When I don’t get a ride to work, biking or walking is my main mode of transportation. I wind through this little back road, sometimes waiting for a wild turkey to cross the road, and trying to get my body to wake up to bake! It took probably a month or so for my back and my arms to be able to lift our big mixer bowl full of pie dough and transfer to mixing bowls. I’m still working on not throwing out my back picking up the large sacks of flour!!

The day I really knew this experience instilled real change in me happened two days ago. For all of you people out there who have had to deal with me asking waiters if they have almond or soy milk when ordering coffee or granola/oatmeal when out to eat, I’m sorry. Since I’ve been working at Pie Chicks, I’ve been using our extra whole milk in my coffee or in my granola as a mid-morning (lol midmorning is like 8 am at a bakery) snack. The other day, I remembered to bring my almond milk in to work, and within tasting my first bite of granola with almond milk, I knew the baker in me was fully formed (potentially exaggerating here a bit). I’m here to say that whole milk is best milk. To all of you out there thinking “are you kidding me that’s like drinking heavy cream”, hate to break it to you babe, but you.are.wrong. You need to come out to the Vineyard, buy some Pie Chick’s granola and pour a healthy serving of whole milk over the top.

I’m off to go pick flowers at Morning Glory farm, hit up Net Result to get fresh seafood for my dinner tonight, and clean the house!! #dayoff

Here’s a few more snapshots in the meantime!

Another view of Taste the Vineyard….we were strategically placed right behind a cutie serving amazzinnnggg ceviche samples. Sooo good. I’ve never seen so much Vineyard Vines clothing in my life!! We served our Salted Toffee and Chocolate chip cookies, along with Blueberry, Apple Peach, Strawberry Rhubarb and Gluten Free pies 🙂

A meal of epic proportions…Spencer and Mr. Mitchell came to visit and we had a feast at Seafood Shanty in Edgartown. It was absolutely necessary to have two lobster rolls and an entire fried seafood platter. Keep in mind we had Backdoor donuts after this…

West chop is approximately 2 miles from my house. How pretty is this view? There is this tennis club/summer camp/country club looking thing at the lookout, and I think I once interrupted a wedding while biking through here in my bathing suit

Hello road to work! This is the woodsy gnome-filled (just kidding) road to the kitchen!

Some pretty views of the outside of my church. It’s no coincidence that it’s within walking distance of my house! (Grandma, another reason you should be reading my blog….I AM going to Mass up here 🙂 )

Mornings I love. A slice of pie and a cup of coffee, whilst watching the Food Network

Jul26

Beetsmesumma on the Vineyard

Posted on July 26, 2016 by athaidek

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Hello from Martha’s Vineyard, summer babes! I’m currently donning a bright yellow rain slicker, waiting for the sailboat captain to get to the right spot for our lobster fishing adventure today. Just kidding, that’s just how I imagined my Martha’s Vineyard experience before coming up here.

So, why am I 1,000 miles from home on an island off the coast of Massachusetts? To bake ALL the pies, scones, cookies, and granola for 3 months straight, obviously! I wanted to do it all day everyday to learn more about baking and get to know the scoop on working/owning a kitchen. I’m a little delayed in telling you about this because I had to make sure I had some good experiences to share. Here I am, almost 6 weeks into my summer adventure, having the time of my life.

I live in a house with three other women, right on the lagoon where we have a motley crew of animal friends. Looking out my back window, I can observe a swan family, several ducks, an occasional deer, our two cats, and our 14 year old dog Bubba. The most frequented family to our yard is a group of WILD TURKEYS. YES, TURKEYS. The other day, I came home with my bike and almost ran into the lil turkey chicas darting around our yard!! It’s so bizarre walking down the road and confronting a large turkey. Takes geese crossing to a whole new level.

I’m working at this amazing wholesale bakery called (cue fun girly The Cranberries or Sara Evans song) ….”Pie Chicks.” There’s seven chicks this summer. Our days start at 6:30 am on a normal day, usually to the sounds of John Mayer or Bruce Springsteen Spotify playlists. If you visit Martha’s Vineyard, you can find our pies at local grocery stores, farm stands, restaurants, and the West Tisbury farmers market. Every day, I’m in there, baking and doing a whooollleee lot of cleaning.

This island is incredibly gorgeous, and much more rural than I anticipated. In addition to sandy beaches and calm waters, there are many farms to explore, artisans to get to know, and hiking trails. My house has a CSA share at a farm where you can pick your own flowers !!!!

There’s so many things I have to tell you about this place and adventure and all the people and swanlings and pies.

I’ll start with a few snapshots. Last week, one of my tasks at work was to walk around with a frozen piece of key lime pie on a popsicle stick, eating it in the sun while trying to figure out how long someone could walk around outside before it would melt. #workworkworkworkwork ?!? I also was able to visit the West Tisbury farmers market a few weeks ago and I’m still wondering why in the world I did not buy a lassi from Mermaid Farm. We’ve been getting all sorts of fresh fruits delivered for our fresh fruit tarts with lemon pastry cream. One of the most fun parts of the day is watching these things come together, as our pastry chefs slice up plums, nectarines, strawberries, or peaches and carefully make pretty spirals on the gorgeous tarts.

Okay, with that glimpse in mind, here are some pics of MV!!!

Here is a pic of the little swanling who lives somewhere near the lagoon? He used to come through our backyard a lot but maybe we scared him off Any thoughts on what his/her name should be?

On my first week, I got to work this event called Taste the Vineyard and we set up our pies all cute like this !!

Welcome to Chez Pie Chicks! It’s actually a commercial kitchen in a residential neighborhood. Kinda cool. I think there’s also some sort of camp nearby because as I was walking to work one day I think I saw an archery range. During the day, you can smell fancy butter, bubbling fruit pies , and the sinful smells of oats, chocolate, and brown sugar wafting from our doors.

Here’s our sweet shed. You can find me in here lifting big boxes of frozen fruit, attempting to carry big A bags of flour over to the kitchen, or playing tetris with boxes of scones and cookie dough in our freezer trying to get them all to fit.

And here’s my stylish bike that my awesome boss found me for the summer! It’s a little cruiser and it has ventured all the way out to West Tis and even Edgartown on my leisurely days off.

Now for the pieeeee

Below is the lighthouse out at west chop…so pretty! Can I live here and be in a Wes Anderson movie?

Edgartown on the 4th of July! This isn’t what all of MV looks like, but this is what I thought the whole island would be like before I got here.

Last, this is the beach closest to my house. It’s great to bike to after work for a lil walk or just a nice view.

Off to bed , tomorrow we bake some more!!

Jun24

Herby-garlicky fried chicken

Posted on June 24, 2016 by athaidek

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My first time making fried chicken. In the same way that people celebrate daughter’s first dance recital, graduations, sweet sixteens, and passing your drivers license tests, I feel like celebrating for my first fried chicken attempt. I’m thinking I should get a Colonel Sanders style sticker and a hug from Paula Deen.

I mostly feel accomplished because in true Katie-cooking-style, the production of this chicken started a week in advance, with me subtly mentioning “fried chicken on Sunday” to my boyfriend Spencer. TBH it was a conversation elongator where I thought about chicken and word vomited the preposterous idea of trying fried chicken for the first time for a crowd on Memorial Day weekend. I should really know my lesson by now that if I’ve skimmed a topic relating to food, someone is going to call me out on it if I don’t actually get around to making it.

Sunday rolls around and no preparations are in order, so I’m thinking I’m putting this adventure off for another time. Both Spencer and myself have moved into different houses, don’t know where anything is, and now we’re set on making fried chicken. It’s in these circumstances you realize that if you forget about the crowd and focus on the dish, things MAY ACTUALLY come together. Well, I wouldn’t say that’s always the case, but in this situation, the results were pretty good.

Before I know it, I’m driving back to St Charles where, of course, I’ve left the most random of kitchen accessories that happen to be needed for our recipe, large marinating plastic bags. In the rush of an unpacking afternoon, Spence was able to brine the chicken for ~3-4 hours before I took over the cooking. I tell you all this because if you’re not intimidated by the behind the scenes work to a barbeque or dinner party, maybe you’ll be more inclined to try something new for friends.

I think there’s a few camps when it comes to entertaining – on the one hand, if you try something new for a crowd, you’re overwhelmed by trying to master the recipe and entertain at the same time, but oftentimes in my case, the trying-something-new is part of the fun of the night. Somehow, it-all-comes-together-at-the-last-minute is the name of the game, like the orchestra started playing a little too early and the curtain guy is reeling up the curtain while the characters are still getting positioned on stage.

In this case, I started my part while Andrew and William were already working their magic with some delicious avocado mac ‘n’ cheese and a blackberry strawberry kale salad. With little kitchen space, the three of us managed a meal of epic proportions without any major accidents, burned food, or overcookery of sorts.

I saw this recipe on an amazing episode of the Barefoot Contessa where Ina invites Tyler Florence over. In one afternoon (yes this timeframe amazes me as well), Ina and Tyler make a wedding cake sized birthday cake, homemade fried chicken, and take a leisurely visit to the local Hamptons farm.

In the case that you watch this episode, I’ll give you a sense for what you actually might be able to accomplish based on my timeline . I’d say you may want to just focus on this fried chicken, as we had to take a bit of time brining the chicken, then prepping the chicken, then returning to the store to buy more oil for frying. I’m not sure when they made this birthday cake but luckily it came together in one afternoon! Whew, to be Ina!

Here’s a few things that differed in our rendition of this meal. 1) Lenzie and Trent brought those amazing fake-cakey cookies with the themed frosting instead of having cake, 2) We kept to their use of bone-in chicken except for the breasts which Spencer deboned , 3) there was no visit to the local farm and 4) instead of having Tyler Florence help guide the cooking process, I had 3 twenty-something guys and 2 parents all pitch in!

I’m hoping you’re not intimidated by Ina’s spotless white kitchen, always-plentiful bowl of silver spoons, and lively-never-droopy blue hydrangeas. Make this for your friends and family and watch their episode at the bottom of this post if you have 1.99 to spare 🙂

Here’s a little snap of our cooking adventure featuring the crew: Andrew, William & Robin; the last few seconds continues with our MDW braves game visit…we ate fried chicken before we went so its all relevant right??

Tyler Florence’s Fried Chicken, adapted very slightly, serves 8-9 comfortably with a few leftovers

2 3-4 lb whole chickens, breasts de-boned, all other pieces bone in (thighs + drumsticks + wings)

3 cups all purpose flour

2 TBS garlic powder

2 TBS onion powder

2 TBS sweet paprika (can use regular if you run out of sweet)

2 tsp cayenne pepper (Adjust here if you’re partial to less spicy)

4 cups (1 quart) buttermilk

2 TBS sriracha or other hot sauce you like

peanut oil or vegetable oil for frying (we used a mixture of both since I ran out of peanut oil…make sure to buy one of the big jugs at the store)

1/2 head garlic, smashed, husks still on (this is for frying dont worry about the husks)

1/4 bunch fresh sage

1/4 bunch fresh thyme

4 big sprigs of fresh rosemary

fresh black pepper and kosher salt

2 lemons, cut into wedges, for serving

A few hours in advance, or the night before, set up your chicken to brine. We used a big tupperware, but you can use a large bowl. Cover the chicken with water 1-inch above chicken. Sprinkle 1 TBS kosher salt for every quart of water you’ve added. Cover with aluminum foil and refrigerate at least two hours, preferably overnight. This is what’s going to make the chicken really tender.
When you’re ready to start cooking, take your chicken out of the fridge and let it come to room temperature while you prep the frying ingredients. In a shallow platter or deep tupperware in my case, mix together your flour, dry spices, and season with salt and pepper. We learned that you don’t need to add too much salt here, because your chicken already has a good bit of salt absorbed from the brining process.
Pour oil into a heavy bottomed pot / Dutch oven, about 2/3 of the way full. Put your whole herbs and garlic directly into the cold oil . As these heat up, don’t worry about them burning, these whole spices are what will flavor your oil. Clip on your candy thermometer, ensuring that the bottoms of it isn’t touching the bottom of the pan. Heat stove to medium high heat, and start prepping your station as the oil heats to 350-375.
Meanwhile, set your chicken to the far left, setting a plate next to the brine mixture where you want to dry the chicken before putting it into the buttermilk. Next set a shallow dish with your buttermilk and sriracha next to the chicken. Set flour mixture to the right of that, closest to the stove.
Heat the oven to about 150,or whatever is its lowest setting. I wanted to do this to keep the chicken warm while other batches were still trying. **if your chicken is still a bit cold when you start frying, you may need a quick bake after frying to finish cooking your chicken. A few reviewers from Tyler’s original recipe noted this. Our chicken was at room temp so we didn’t have this issue and we only used the oven for warming.
Set a sheet pan or 9×13 dish in the oven where you can set chicken after frying to keep warm
As your oil heats up, start dredging process with a batch of two pieces. The first step is to dry the brined chicken off with paper towels. You need to do this to make sure the coating sticks properly. Next dip chicken pieces in buttermilk mixture, shake gently to remove any excess, and dredge in flour mixture. Press gently in flour to make sure you get all the crevices covered, then flip to the other side. You can leave chicken in this mixture before frying.
Once oil is hot, gently place two pieces in the oil with tongs. Let chicken fry for 12 minutes per batch, moving around about halfway through to make sure nobody is stuck on the bottom of the pot.
While you wait for one batch to fry, start prepping 2-3 more pieces. Also have at least 3 onlookers observe and ooh and aah over frying oil cauldron. Make yourself a yummy cocktail or mocktail
After 12 minutes, use a meat thermometer to check for doneness if you have one. Chicken should be at 155 when it comes out, but will cook off a bit more than that after you take it off. Thank you Julie Mitchell for checking temp for me since we didn’t have a thermometer!!
place done pieces in the oven covering with aluminum foil while you move on to the next batch
After all the chicken is done, place on a plate and garnish with your fried herbs. Squeeze a few lemon wedges to taste and place a few other wedges on the side to garnish . Serve to hungry friends, and smile big after you savor each bite. 😀

Sep7

Dinner in the Mediterranean: Chicken Shawarma, Spiced Rice, Israeli salads

Posted on September 7, 2015 by athaidek

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My college friends and I are all approaching our twenty-fifth year this year, and I find this dinner party an appropriate step-up to be a half-century old. I love entertaining and am always on the hunt for a good themed dinner or party, so any excuse to serve slow-cooked meat is on my radar. My roommates and I moved in together earlier this summer and wanted to bring our old and new friends together to get to know each other better, make new friends, and have any excuse to talk all things girl talk. Thanks lovely ladies for making this a special evening and for the delicious sides!! Our friend Caroline made green goddess hummus, Julia made a quinoa tabbouleh salad, Kate brought an amazing Israeli salad, Wesley brought yummy wine, Jess brought traditional hummus, Kelly made the beautiful settings along with contributing delicious wine. All my roommate Kelley and I had to do was make veggies, rice, and chicken.

Before I get into the recipe, let’s talk life lately. I recently went on a wonderful retreat with a church near me. A thoroughly reflective experience, the retreat also offered an old-fashioned “compact disc” for us to listen to the songs featured on the retreat. There’s one song in particular that has stuck with me called “Beauty for Ashes” by Chris Mclarney (listen!).

Now I’m in the camp that likes catchy songs and sometimes I don’t pay attention to all the words, so for about two weeks, there was this one verse that I kept glazing over. I kept thinking he was saying “you turned my morning into dancing,” and thought, wow, what a great pick me up for a hard day. YES, God, you turn my mornings into a dance through life. You get up and get to work harnessing the gifts God gave you to invest in the world around you. I thought that was such a beautiful metaphor.

So, as it turns out, he’s saying “you turned my MOURNING into dancing.” Equally as beautiful, but definitely a completely different meaning. What do you think, mourning or morning? Ramona Quimby had some similar experiences growing up – did you guys reach Ramona Quimby, Age 8? Ramona thought that in the national anthem, it said “by the dawnzer’s lee light” instead of “by the dawn’s early light.” She proceeded to ask her mother to turn on the “dawnzer,” and her mom had to explain that dawnzer is actually not another name for a lamp!! Sometimes we’ve all got a little Amelia Bedelia or Ramona in us, right?

As I’ve been dancing through mornings the past couple weeks, I’ve also been reminiscing on this wonderful dinner party! I think this is a great dish for you to try entertaining with because it’s pretty hands off when you want to start prepping and saying hi and pouring drinks. The gist is: marinate chicken, bake chicken, chop into pieces right before serving, garnish with lemon/herbs. I ended up adding rice on the side but you could easily just do store-bought pita bread.

Mediterranean as a theme (and rather vague) is quite easy for your guests to bring items as well. For those who don’t want/know how to cook, ask to pick up a bag of pita chips or hummus and a bottle or two of wine. For those who want to get a bit more involved, a few people made some Israeli type salads. These consist of chopped tomatoes, cucumbers, red onion, and sometimes a bit of quinoa, lemon and chopped fresh herbs. This chicken recipe was recommended to me from my friend Jessica who had it with her lunch club in medical school. Thanks so much for the recipe Jess and thanks for making some delicious hummus 🙂

Oven-roased Chicken Shawarma, from the New York Times

serves 4-6 (I doubled the recipe)

2 lemons, juiced
½ cup plus 1 tablespoon olive oil
6 cloves garlic, peeled, smashed and minced
1 teaspoon kosher salt
2 teaspoons freshly ground black pepper
2 teaspoons ground cumin
2 teaspoons paprika
½ teaspoon turmeric
A pinch ground cinnamon
Red-pepper flakes, to taste
2 pounds boneless, skinless chicken thighs
1 large red onion, peeled and quartered
2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley

Marinate chicken in the morning: Whisk lemon juice, 1/2 cup olive oil, gahhhlic, salt, pepper, cumin, paprika, turmeric, cinnamon and pinch of red pepper flakes together in a large bowl. Put chicken in freezer bags and pour the marinade over the chicken in the bags. Press as much air out of the bags as you can, seal, and swish the marinade all around the chicken to make sure it’s distributed evenly.
Put the bags on a plate in your refrigerator at least an hour and up to 12.
When you’re ready to cook, take the chicken out of the refrigerator about 30 mins – 1 hr before ready to cook to bring the chicken to room temperature. Preheat oven to 425 and take a break from doing your hair to grease a large rimmed baking sheet or 9×13 pan with a bit of olive oil.
Add quartered onion to the marinate in the bags and swish around again. Remove chicken and onion onto the sheet pan, spread out, and bake for 30-40 minutes. At this point your guests are here, you’re pouring wine, chatting over One Direction, and ready to EAT!
Once the chicken is ready, take out of the oven, let rest for 2 minutes and cut into thin strips. Serve alongside lemon slices and top with parsley. Bon appetit!

Spiced rice (the recipe calls it aromatic, to me that sounds like a spa)

1.5 cups white rice (I used jasmine, I don’t really think it matters what kind you use except for the timing)
3 cups water
10 cardamom pods
2 cinnamon sticks, broken in half
6 whole cloves

salt according to the rice package instructions

Boil water and rice together in a large saucepan. Add salt, cardamom, cinnamon, and cloves.
Once boiling, turn heat down so the mixture is at a slight simmer and cover. Cook according to package timing.
Once cooked, fluff rice and take out cinnamon sticks, whole cloves, and cardamom pods.
Serve on the side of chicken!

Set up one table with all your dishes and set another table with flowers, candles and plates. If you’re in need of some healthy dinnertime conversation, hit up my friends Julia and Kate they are the queens of witty questions 😉

Aug17

Homeland roots: Grilled Butter Chicken, Okra Masala, Dal and Coconut Rice

Posted on August 17, 2015 by athaidek

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What’s preventing you from trying something new? Do you ever think about the movement in your body that physically prevents you from doing new things? Like, what is that invisible switch that I swear exists in everyone’s throat which prevents men and women, young and old people from saying that which they want to say but are afraid to evoke? What kind of magic do you have to conjure to turn that switch off and stand up for yourself or for something you want or to take a risk??

Well I’m really just trying to get you riled up for my first attempt at Indian food. Let me tie these two things together. I’m half Indian – what that means is that for more than two years in elementary school I had a cop out costume of wearing either a sheet as a sari or one of the Indian dresses my dad or relative brought back from India along with a Magic-markered henna tattoo on my hand and a bindi. What it means is that I grew up wishing my mom would make Uncle Ben’s rice when I tasted this new buttery sensation at school one day after only eating basmati rice with every dish (yes, gumbo, chili, you name it, it was basmati). What it means is that my racial ambiguity let me get away with telling my kindergarten teacher that I spoke Spanish (at least until parent-teacher conference). What it means is that I grew up learning to taste spicy, rich, curry-ful foods and had a pickle on the table most nights at dinner.

And NOW, what it means is that I was so spoiled growing up eating Indian prepared by mostly my dad or grandma, that I am so scared of ruining those memories by messing it up. So maybe this isn’t a huge thing for me to try new, but at its core what it means is I’m treading new territory. One of the worst things about starting something new is how daunting it is to think that it might take you a while to master it, right?

I’m here to tell you that these three recipes are good places for you to start with basic Indian recipes. The biggest step is making sure you can get the right spices and not being worried that your entire kitchen is going to smell like curry for a day or so.

My dear friend Kate is the one who encouraged us to make this meal as she LOVES Indian food and is a great friend to experiment with. Take these recipes on with your family member, someone you go on adventures with, or impress your co-workers with your attempt at a new cuisine. I was blessed to have my sister and two of my close girl friends cook with me for a lovely Sunday night dinner partay.

Lentil Dal – from the NY Times, serves 4 -6

1 cup brown lentils, rinsed

1 small onion, roughly cut up

2 garlic cloves, cut in half

1 bay leaf

4 cups water

2 TBS oil

1/2 tsp cumin

1/2 tsp chili powder

1/2 tsp turmeric

2 tsp curry powder

salt

yogurt and cilantro to top

Make sure to start this recipe first, lentils take a while to cook! Combine the lentils, onion, garlic, bay leaf, and water in a medium saucepan. Bring to a boil, reduce the heat, cover and simmer 30 minutes. Add salt to taste (under-salt slightly because you will be reducing the liquid), and continue to simmer for another 15 minutes, until the lentils are falling apart tender and fragrant. Remove the onion and garlic and discard.
Heat the oil in a large, heavy nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Add the spices and stir as they sizzle for about 30 seconds, until very fragrant. Add the lentil with their liquid and cook, stirring and mashing with the back of a wooden spoon, until the mixture thickens, like refried beans. You may need to add some more water. Add salt to taste, once the mixture has reduced to the desired consistency.

Grilled Butter chicken thighs, halved from this recipe – serves 4

1/2 onion, quartered

1.5 garlic cloves, chopped roughly

1.5 inch piece of ginger, chopped roughly

1 tsp coriander

1 tsp cumin

1 tsp paprika (smoked or sweet is fine)

1 tsp turmeric

1/2 tsp chili powder

1/2 tsp cinnamon

1/2 lemon, juiced

1/2 tomato or 1/2 tin cherry tomatoes (I forgot these so just used half a tomato)

1 cup Greek or plain yogurt (make sure it has at least some fat content…you need the fat for flavor)

1 tsp salt

2 TBS melted butter

4 large bone-in skin-on chicken thighs

A few hours before cooking (at least 1 hour and up to 6), puree all the marinade ingredients (all ingredients except the chicken) in a food processor or blender until smooth.
Put your chicken thighs in a large freezer bag or large bowl and pour marinade over. Ensure that the marinade covers all the chicken pieces and place in the fridge to marinate.
About an hour before cooking the chicken, take out of the fridge so it comes to room temperature. Preheat the oven to 350.

4. Place chicken with marinade in a large baking dish and bake for around 20 minutes. During this time start to get your okra cooking. At the ten minute mark, light up the grill to med/high heat. You really need to be cooking on your friend’s porch – one which has a beautiful banana pepper plant, an OVERFLOWING mint plant, basil, as well as bell peppers.

5. After 20 minutes in the oven, take the chicken out of the oven and place each piece on the grill, shaking off the marinade.

6. Grill for about 7 minutes on each side, then put chicken on a clean plate and let rest for a few minutes.

Okra (Bhindi) Masala from Veg recipes of India

12 oz frozen cut okra (look in the frozen veggies section of your local grocery store)

2 medium tomatoes, chopped

1 medium onion, chopped

1/2 TBS minced ginger mixed together with 2-3 cloves of garlic minced to make a paste

1 tsp coriander

1/2 tsp curry powder

1/2 tsp turmeric

1/4 tsp chili powder

1/2 tsp garam masala (they sell it at Kroger I promise!)

salt

oil

Heat a tablespoon of veg or olive oil in a large skillet until medium-hot. Add the frozen okra and cook for around 4-7 minutes until the okra is green and just cooked (can be a little undercooked you will put it back in the pan later). Place okra in a small bowl and add a little more oil to the pan.
Add onions on med/high heat until they become soft and translucent.
Add your ginger-garlic paste for another minute.
Add tomatoes (don’t worry it will be liquidy) for a few minutes until the tomatoes break down and start to caramelize with the onions.

5. Add spices and salt until they cover all the ingredients. Make sure to add a good bit of salt here.

6. Add the okra back into the saute and let mix with the spices for a few minutes.

Last but not least, Coconut Rice!

Following the instructions on the rice bag, boil 1 part rice with 2 parts liquid – only substitute a little over half the liquid with coconut milk. Add a pinch of salt and reduce heat to simmering. Cover until rice is done. You may want to add in some coconut milk at the very end for extra flavor.

Serve everything together with lots of fresh cilantro, lemon slices, and yogurt to top! Have your favorite (and only) sister over to enjoy with you!