delicious samosas, horrid photo

well, since i'm about to eat this ridiculously tasty treat, i figured i'd photograph it for posterity... however, my computer sucks photography-wise. it just wasn't meant to go there, for quality, i mean.

anyway, i made samosas this weekend for a party, and decided to recreate the magic last night for m. and i to indulge in for ourselves. (plus I had leftover ingredients...).

Anyway, here's my wanky samosa recipe directions. I tend to eyeball it a lot, but I'll try my best:

fillo dough (keep refrigerated until ready to use)
1 cup peas (I used frozen organic ones)
1 carrot, chopped finely
2 small potatoes, boiled until soft
1/2 onion (or more, depending on how onion-y you like it)
1 section of garlic, minced (is it a clove?)
1 cup chopped cilantro
a little fresh ginger, chopped
juice of half of a lime
spices to dash in: paprika, cumin, pepper, salt, curry, cinnamon

boil the potatoes until soft, meanwhile sauté the onions and garlic on a medium heat (add some water to not burn the garlic). add the carrots, peas, cilantro, and ginger. add the potatoes. put into a bowl, and let cool while you ready your "fillo dough filling station."

pre-heat oven to 425.
put some olive oil in a bowl, and ready a brush, or a teaspoon (I use the back of the spoon to spread the olive oil onto the fillo dough). ready a nonstick baking pan, or grease.
open the fillo dough package, and select two sheets together. (you can cut them in half, length wise, or fold in half to get the right size. I'm definitely not an expert, it's just my way of getting that really delicate fillo dough to stay together).
Put a tablespoons-worth of filling on one end, then fold the dough back and forth, into a triangle. (like folding a flag for all you boyscouts out there). seal the end with some olive oil.
put on the pan, and repeat with the rest of the filling.

bake the samosas for 15 minutes, or until brown.
then eat.

quote of the day, y'all

At a BU Q&A with Susan Sarandon last week, this question was posed:

Is Sarah Palin a feminist?

I don’t understand how anyone can claim that she’s a feminist. Is it because she’s cute and feisty and spunky? Is it because she carries a gun and shoots animals from a helicopter? That’s not feminism — that’s the worst aspect of violent male behavior. I think she completely compromises the idea of feminism. And I think it’s a cheap shot to compare her to Hillary Clinton. They don’t have anything in common.

I mean, when you get a woman in government, you want the right woman. You don’t want just any vagina!

travel imminent...

by mfc

crossing my fingers that our turkey day travel plans aren't going to mimic this movie (classic, though it may be). although, now that I think about it, we will probably take the T, get on the plane, and be picked up in a car. well then, i guess it's inevitable! all we need is steve martin, and there'll be no stopping us.

anyway, i know it's a long way off, but we've already booked that flight, and are definitely heading to portugal in january, but except for a hostel booking, that's it. we did listen to a bit of portuguese last night, and i have to say, it's easy to hear how daunting the language can seem.

read this. since no one else is covering it

thank god for k.p. (and boom boom, i guess). at least she's covering the gas-crisis-that-wasn't. check it out. and report back.

oh snap, lindsay.

Ro.Lo. Like the candy.
Apparently, (since I'm not really in the know, but she intrigues me so I read this stuff) Lindsay Lohan wanted to stump for Barack Obama, but was turned down with a polite ''thanks, but no thanks,'' according to the Chicago Sun-Times.

She offered to host events for younger voters, but the Obama's people said uh uh. Frankly, it seems she's gotten a lot more into politics since she claimed her minority status. now it's not all fun and games, huh lindsay? well, actually, it probably is more fun... and unfortunately more games, considering women. well, some women.

And riding right onto the baby train, big news, of course, Lohan wants to get preggers and raise the baby with Samantha Ronson, according to British newspaper The News of The World. way to rock it, l-lo.

p.s. Here's a parting smack — that Lohan ''is not exactly the kind of high-profile star who would be a positive for us," an Obama team member said.

p.p.s. i'll stop now. i promise i'll be back to other things in the next post. or maybe not! time to join the paparazzi bandwagon, right?

rockport, ma. sept 13

halibut point, cape ann, ma. photo by d.

if you're coming from ohio, and worried about leaving your brethren back home, don't worry — rockport is chock full of ohioans (including a few of us, by birth... oddly enough). we saw the license plates first, followed by the natty dress rocked by ohio retirees (trust me, i can say this, because i know).

so, the nat-ster, m., and our friend, d., took a road trip up to halibut point state park, with a stop at a little cove along 127. the quarry at halibut looked really, really, familiar, but that could have just been a coincidence. then, we headed to rockport, to check out motif #1, eat lunch, and enjoy the lovely, non-walmarty commerce of bearksin neck. and eat ice cream.

rockport is a mere hop, skip, and a jump from boston, up route 1, and it's on the commuter rail line, so if we want to go back (which we do) and take our bikes (which we do), we can — without worrying about parking.

reflections

dumplings. dumplings. by m.
this was a weekend to point to and say, 'ha! there is such a thing as true, continuous happiness. so there.' in the midst of work, and getting ready for m's photography show (which is amazing!), i think we were walking around in a stupor. but, the opening on friday was fabulous — friends coming from out of town, enjoying each other's company — and the weekend just flowed from there, with nat and our friend from nashville heading to rockport, missing the ridiculous rain somehow, sailing on sunday, and another jaunt to chinatown with henry and sofy. love.

sun sun market, by m.

ode to the t

by m.
it's been more than a year now since we moved from the mecca of motorists, (otherwise known as the midwest), to boston... and i still love the T. i heard from all the other bostonites that after 6 mos. i'd be done with the crowded, rank-aired, delayed, 'another-train-is-behind-us' hoopla, but i'm not. and it tisn't just because of gas prices, or the stress of the commute, or that i get home in the same amount of time regardless of the weather (hello snowstorm of december '07! 20 minutes! in my pj's while everyone else is still in their cars for another four hours!)... it's actually because riding in the car hurts my ass. i must have had a callous or something from my early years driving every. where. but, heading to rockport this past weekend gave me butt burn, and a crick in my back.

so anyway, thanks, T, for saving me bodily pain. even if you are annoying sometimes.