Who's lucky, niao? ;)

I think it's become obvious to everyone who works NOCS with me that I've been bitten by the crafting bug-- practically every break I have, I'm working on any of the multiple projects that I've chosen to (somewhat) commit myself to. My most recent one is this little kitty, who is lounging in my hubby's favorite "office chair":



The design is almost directly out of the book that started this whole crafting craze in my life (and a major reason why I shouldn't wander into bookstores alone), Stray Sock Sewing, by Dan Ta, which has a catchy little kitty cat on the cover page that I'm sure someone can figure out how to make after building up some major doll-crafting XP over time:



I won't post directions on how to make the doll here, but I will show you the basic supplies I used (minus a needle and a nifty little pen that writes on fabric and "disappears" after a day or two or a simple washing).



As you can plainly see, it doesn't take much to make this cute little doll. ;)

Some closeups of the kitty cat... starting with the front...



...and then the caboose. ;)



Isn't it cute? Don't tell my middle sister yet, but I really made it as a housewarming gift for her (she just moved into a new apartment). Shhhhh! :D

Peanut Butter Dark Chocolate Chunk Cookies =)

My husband and I admit to having (dessert-based) weaknesses to quite a number of common things, two of them being peanut butter and dark chocolate. One morning after work, I found a pleasant (spammish) surprise in my e-mail inbox: the Martha Stewart Cookie of the Day was a recipe for peanut butter chocolate chunk cookies. :D

I decided to try making these with (of course) dark chocolate chunks (instead of semisweet), and they were DELICIOUS! Unfortunately, our oven is super-quirky, so it took a couple of guesses of heat/time combinations to figure out what works best for our kitchen... Here's the (ever-so-slightly) modified recipe:

Peanut Butter Dark Chocolate Chunk Cookies

Ingredients (for 36-ish)

1.5 cups all-purpose flour (spooned and leveled)

1 teaspoon baking soda
1 cup peanut butter (smooth or chunky)

4 tablespoons (0.5 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature
0.5 cup packed dark-brown sugar
0.5 cup granulated sugar

2 large eggs
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

8 ounces dark (or semisweet, if you wish) chocolate, smashed into chunks

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. In a bowl, whisk together flour and baking soda; set aside.
3. In a large bowl, using an electric mixer, beat peanut butter, butter, and sugars until light and fluffy.
4. Add eggs and vanilla, and beat until smooth. With mixer on low, gradually add flour mixture, beating just until combined.
5. Stir in chocolate chunks.

6. Drop dough by heaping tablespoons, 1 inch apart, onto two large baking sheets.

7. Bake until golden, 13 to 15 minutes, rotating sheets halfway through.
8. Transfer cookies to wire racks to cool.

Finished product:

Don't the big, random globs of chocolate chunks look nom-tastic?

Chicken Jalfrezi... slightly modified ^_-

While trying to find something a little exotic to cook for dinner (we had burgers with the guys last night), I finally decided to make something I found awhile back on Allrecipes that didn't require much traveling (outside of Carmel Valley, which practically has as un-ethnic a variety of stores as you can imagine) in order get a satisfactory amount of the ingredients necessary for creating the meal: Chicken Jalfrezi. Because I'm not altogether familiar with how to get the basic ingredients needed for Pakistani food, I'm not much of a judge on how close my version of the recipe comes to the original, and I have no idea how to get my hands on ghee, which appears to be a very important part of South Asian cooking... however, someday I hope to become more familiar with the South Asian happenings of San Diego so I can explore that region's cuisine more thoroughly (especially in my kitchen).

Chicken Jalfrezi

Ingredients

2 tablespoons vegetable oil

2 cloves garlic
1 onion

1.5 lbs boneless, skinless chicken thighs (cut in half)

3 teaspoons ground turmeric
1 teaspoon chili powder
1.5 teaspoons salt

1 (14.5 ounce) can peeled and diced tomatoes

2 tablespoons ghee (clarified butter)
3 teaspoons ground cumin
3 teaspoons ground coriander
2 tablespoons grated fresh ginger root
1/2 cup chopped cilantro leaves

Note: Instead of ghee, I ended up using creamy butter... which always seems to work out, flavor-wise, to the un-discerning (aka "ignorant") tongue's taste buds.



Directions

1. Heat the oil in a large deep skillet over medium-high heat.
2. Add onions and garlic, and cook for about 2 minutes.
3. Add the chicken, and season with turmeric, chili powder and salt.
4. Fry gently, scraping the bottom of the pan frequently and turning the chicken.

5. Pour in the tomatoes with their juice, cover the pan, and simmer over medium heat for 20 minutes.
6. Uncover, and simmer for another 10 minutes to let the excess liquid evaporate.

7. Add the ghee, cumin, ground coriander, ginger and cilantro, and simmer for another 5 to 7 minutes.
8. Serve the chicken pieces with sauce spooned over the top.



Additional Notes

Some good accompanying starches are basmati rice, chapati, or naan. My husband loves the naan you can buy Trader Joe's, so we usually eat it with that.

Additionally, many of the reviewers on Allrecipes noted that the traditional way of cooking this dish is by letting all of the spices cook in the oil FIRST. This is the only way I've tried cooking it, and the taste of the spices is very strong (which I like)... I haven't tried it in the order listed above.

Lastly, I added cayenne pepper to this recipe to give it a little "kick" (I *looooooooooove* spicy food). ;)