besubversive | A little of this, a little of that.

I loved the Chicken Tikka from Tandoor India the other night. So much, in fact, that I decided to make my own. This is the recipe I found online:

1 pint of live natural yogurt
1 Tablespoon cumin powder
1 Tablespoon garam massala
1 Teaspoon Coriander powder
1 Teaspoon Turmeric powder
1 Teaspoon chilli powder
Juice of 1 lemon
8 cloves garlic - crushed
1 inch grated ginger
Red food colouring
4 Chicken Breasts Cubed

Mix the spices, colouring, lemon juice, ginger and garlic into a paste with a little water and stir in well with the yogurt to make a tandoori marinade. Marinate the chicken in the marinade for 2-60 hours. Preheat the oven to its highest heat for at least 20 minutes. Shake off excess marinade and place chicken pieces on skewers on a wire rack in the oven. Cook for 15-20 minutes and check to see if the chicken is cooked by piercing the thickest piece with a skewer. If the juices run clear, it's cooked. Serve with a wedge of lemon.

It's in the fridge right now, marinating until tomorrow and I can't even tell you how excited I am to get home and cook it after work and various errands. Seriously, it was so cheap to make, not counting the spices, which I won't have to buy everytime I make this. Mmm, yogurt and spices. Reminds me of the description on Tandoor India's menu for some item or another: "Mildy spiced meat cooked in mild spices." I bet it's mildly spicy.

- I got new glasses. I had to take back the ones I picked up last week; they were just too narrow for my head, like kid's glasses. These new ones are the same shape as the old, but they're in a color called "brown smoke," which is really sort of a clear pinkish-brownish-orangish. They are cute, of course.

- One of the little boys in today's class said "Oh, shit!" during kitchen playtime. Another little boy danced and sang a song about "the Boogie Woogie" in front of the mirror, with a plastic pizza cutter as a microphone. Another little one was playing with an old phone and I asked him to order some pizza for us. He picked up the receiver and yelled, "Hi, pizza!" I WISH it were that easy!

- I talked to my best friend after a long while of no communication. Oh, Elliott, my favorite muffin.

- Didn't feel up to the YMCA today, so I walked to the grocery store, bought some milk, and walked back instead. Then I did a few handfuls of crunches. Oooh, the gradual return of muscles! Hello, old friends!

- I think I would like to treat myself to a box of 120 Crayola crayons and a few really awesome coloring books for my birthday. Although new tattoos definitely win out if I can afford them.

Also, my mom is an incredible person and I know that more and more all the time.