Old McDonald Had a Farm

So remember when I mentioned that Hales came to visit me in SLO and was going to post about it on her blog? Well that slacker finally did, and here it is (just kidding about the slacker part!....a real slacker would just steal a post from her friend's blog so she wouldn't have to write about it herself....)!  The only thing I can find fault with is the fact that she left out the parts about the naked kid running around on the beach in Presidio and the fact that I thought it would be a great idea to go out in Union Square wearing 4 inch heels (San Fran = hilliest city in America.  Alaina = an idiot.  Operation "walk to Union Square" = epic fail and resulted in a cab ride back home).

I trust that "Part 2: Adventures in SLO" will be along shortly ;)

In other news, remember that secret mission that was a massive failure last Saturday?  Well, I'll give you a hint: I've been talking about it for a while and this has definitely been a dream long in the making.  A dream woven together from the fantasies of a little girl trapped in a 25 year old college professor's body.  A dream above all dreams (cue dramatic music)....

Allow your mind to wander, and picture the following scenario, if you will:

A majestic white, noble beast.  Tall, graceful, with strong legs and a heart of gold.  Bold.  Beautiful.  A new bond formed between noble steed and rider.  A lifelong partnership is born and is celebrated by galloping across hills of green!

Of course, I'm sure that your mind immediately pictured this:










(oh yeah, that's right!  This is intentional white space added to move the picture down lower so you can't scroll ahead and ruin the surprise for yourself! boo-yah!)

Meet Belle, my new gaited mule!!!!  That's right.  I finally got a big white ass :)

Now, while she's not quite the majestic, noble steed that you ride across rainbows on, I'm super stoked about her.  I've been looking for a gaited mule for quite a while now, and they are slim pickins out here on the west coast.  Then I found this girl....the result of a mammoth jack and a Spotted Saddle Horse mare!  She's over 16 hands tall, 6 years old, and not started under saddle....... let the adventure begin!

For right now, I'm still on crutches (turns out there was a fracture in my ankle after all....), so Belle will be a contribution to Cal Poly's colt starting class.  I think a little mule-wranglin' will be a good character building experience for these kids.

Ta ta for now,
Alaina (the owner of a gaited mule....finally!) :)

Beef/Chicken/Veggie Tikka Masala

I love food.  And I love to cook (when I have the time).  And when I don't have the time, I especially love crock pot recipes!  Combine a crock pot with my current obsession, Indian food, and I'm in love!

Indian cuisine is some of the most versatile and diverse in the world, as each region of India has its own specialties and characteristic dishes, using a wide variety of cooking techniques, ingredients, and flavors. So you can basically never run out of new recipes to try!

I have always loved to go eat at Indian restaurants, but I would always choose conservative and "safe" menu items and rarely ventured off my "safe list," despite my love of spicy food.

A few months back, I was browsing in Barnes and Noble, and came across an "The Greatest Ever Indian Cookbook" in the super discounted section.  As I flipped through the book, I had four primary thoughts:

"I absolutely love Shalamar (a restaurant in SLO), but it is so expensive to eat out all the time, and I always have a giant food baby when I leave, which is not conducive to my workouts."


"This doesn't look that difficult.....and there are all kinds of neat ideas in here!"


"I bet I can substitute ingredients to make these healthier!"


"YOU CAN MAKE A LOT OF THIS STUFF IN A CROCK POT!!"


Book purchased.  And Indian food is all I have eaten for the last two months.  OK, that may be an exaggeration, but my house totally smells like curry most of the time.

Two of the most common Indian dishes enjoyed in the USA are tikka (a mix of Indian spices generally served with a tomato-based marinade on meat or veggies) and masala (a mix of standard Indian spices generally served with yoghurt based dishes) dishes.  Tikka and masala are great "beginner" Indian dishes, as you can make them mild, medium, or spicy, and they can be made with chicken, beef, or tofu/veggies and served with rice and naan (an Indian flat bread).

Combine the two, and you have a delicious recipe that you can easily make in a crock pot!

This recipe is my own, but has been adapted from my cookbook and various online resources.  Don't panic when you look at the long list of spices.  I bet you have most of them in your pantry, except garam masala (unless you make Indian food frequently!).  You can get this at any grocery store that has an "ethnic foods" section.

You can also make this recipe with chicken, using 2-3 large chicken breasts (boneless, skinless, fat trimmed off), or tofu or your favorite veggies.  If using tofu or veggies, skip the long marinating step and the crock pot, and just combine each step in a sauce pan on the stove top and cook long enough for things to come together!

Beef Tikka Masala (slow cooker, lean version)


Ingredients:
Beef Tikka:
1 cup plain fat-free yogurt
1 tbsp lemon juice
2 tsp cumin
1/4 - 1 tsp cayenne pepper (depending on how spicy you like it)
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp pepper
1 tsp salt
1-2 lbs cubed lean beef

Masala:
1 28 oz can diced, no salt added, tomatoes
1 can 5.5 oz tomato paste
1 tbsp ginger (or about two inches of fresh grated ginger)
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 onion, diced
1 tbsp garam masala
1 tbsp tikka paste (or mild curry paste, which is sometimes easier to find, and also add a tbsp of lemon juice)
1 tsp cumin
1 tsp chili powder
1 tsp dried coriander

(set aside):
1/2 tsp cumin
1/2 tsp chili powder
1/2 tsp garam masala
pinch of salt
1/2 cup fat-free evaporated milk
2 tbsp fresh cilantro, chopped

Create the beef tikka by combining all ingredients except the beef chunks into the bottom of a large container.  Add the beef and coat it completely with the marinade, cover, and place in the fridge for at least an hour (but I prefer to let set overnight).  (sorry there are no pictures of this step;  I marinated beef a while ago and ended up not using it, so I froze it.  That is the giant central mass that you see in the crock pot in the pictures below!).

Remove the beef from the container and put in the crock pot.

Add the masala ingredients to the crock pot,

and stir to combine.  Cook on low heat for 4-6 hours.

Right before you eat, I like to add the last bit of ingredients.  The little bit of extra spice really gives the whole thing a nice crisp flavor, and the evaporated milk takes the place of cream, giving a soft, smooth texture to the whole dish (look at the yumminess!  And the steam coming off makes you almost able to smell it....ahhhhh....)

Serve on top of jasmine rice with a side of naan for a fantastic Indian experience right in your own kitchen!

Happy eating!
Alaina

Food for thought:
Surfing dolphins can brighten anyone's day!
Go Wolfpack!!

The Non-Luck of the Irish

Did you now that Parsons (my last name, in case I have any unknown blog stalkers out there) is an Irish name?  i.e. I have an Irish heritage on my dad's side of the family.  Which, in my humble opinion, should qualify me for a little bit of luck (particularly surrounding a specific holiday that occurs on March 17th each year).  However, this has been a bit of unlucky week for me.

I just had a super lucky and fun start to the month, with one of my best friends Hales (or "Lauren," as she prefers to go by) coming to visit me for almost a whole week.  Hales said that she would write about our adventure on her own blog, and since my camera battery died shortly into the week, I figured I'd just wait for her post, then link it here for you to read about our adventures :) (way to be an extremely lazy blogger, eh?  ha).  However, here is a teaser pic of us in San Francisco to prove that it really happened:

After Hales left, I had to give all my finals and enjoy a week of end-of-the-quarter paperwork (I swear, I'll never get used to the quarter system!).  

On Weds of this week, I decided that I needed to get out of my office and enjoy the sunshine by helping Fletcher, one of my student managers, move some yearlings to their new pasture.  We decided to take 4 of them at a time, which, in hindsight, was probably not the best idea.  Since we were moving them to a new area of the ranch, they were a little spooky.  Throw in an impromptu flock of ducks, and the result is bolting horses that drag you across the gravel and step on you as you are trying to let go of them.  

So I rolled my ankle pretty badly in the incident.  I had the foresight to remove my boot before my ankle started to swell too much so that the ER wouldn't have to cut it off (horse people:  never underestimate the ability of the ER staff to want to cut off your very expensive boots!  I think it gives them secret pleasure, because it always seems to be their remedy for everything!).  After a while of debating whether or not my foot always looked that crooked on my leg, I decided an X-ray probably wouldn't be a bad idea.  

The good news is that nothing is broken!  The bad news is.....that nothing is broken.  Which means that things are sprained.  Pretty significantly.  So I have been on crutches for the week (still not even close to weight bearing) and have an appointment with an orthopedist on Monday for a follow up since this is what my ankle looked like today still (I think it looks hilarious, by the way....like an elephant leg or something!):

Before "the incident,"  I had made plans to travel north on Saturday (today) for a secret mission.  It's secret because I don't want to reveal the purpose of this mission until it is successfully completed.  However, today was a major failure.

I will tell you this:  the mission involved a horse trailer and our Cal Poly farm truck (an F-350 flatbed crew cab).  Now would also be a great time to mention that this truck JUST got back from the shop LAST WEEK for transmission issues.  

The day started out fine.  Angie (one of my students) went on this quest with me (since I am on crutches still). We should have known this would be a failure from the start.  Angie accidentally ate moldy bread and freaked out thinking she was going to die, it rained cats and dogs (literally so strong that I couldn't see 3 feet in front of the truck) for about 30 minutes straight, and a highway patrol car watched me fly by him and followed me for about 20 miles (thank goodness for State of CA plates!).

So it was no surprise when the truck all of a sudden decided that it could no longer move forward while we were climbing a low grade in the middle of Mexican farm country.  Seriously, in the middle of the hills.  With tumbleweeds (they exist!!) and not a soul in sight.  Oh boy.

Fortunately, it chose to die right at a pull-out area, so we were safe from traffic and out of the way.  At this point, we are about 2 hours north of SLO/Cal Poly.  So we arrange for another truck to come get us and the horse trailer, and I call around trying to find a tow truck company in the area that speaks semi-English (not joking).  

Once our rescue plan was established, Angie and I realize that the tow company can't come get us now....we would be stuck on the side of the road with just a horse trailer for two hours.  So I brush up on my Spanglish and tell them to wait until we call them.

Three hours later our ride finally arrives (due to some errors on our part in giving directions....whoops...).  Thank goodness Angie had her computer with her!  I finally got to watch the movie "A-Team."  Stellar.

While unhooking and rehooking the trailer, I am trying to convey to the Spanish-speaking tow company where we are located, which is difficult, since I didn't know where we were exactly.  Now would be a great time to point out that if you got a call from me on Saturday afternoon and did not answer your phone, I am slightly ill with you.  I think I seriously called about 15 people in a row with NO ANSWERS trying to find someone near a computer to help us figure out where the heck we were on the map.  Thank the Good Lord for Sarah Elzinga and her ability to answer the phone :)  

Needless to say, the tow truck company didn't understand me, and we had to wait about another hour for them.  Once they arrived, they did not speak ONE WORD of English.  So trying to convey that we were not following them to the shop and that the university-owned vehicle was NOT to be worked on at all this weekend took some time (and possibly a drawing in the sand with a stick.....).

We did end up safe at home (9 hours after our departure....), and I learned a few things this week:

1.  When horses are bolting, just let go of them.  They are, after all, bigger than you.

2.  I hate ducks.

3.  I forgot how awesome Percoset is.

4.  Crutches give you an excellent excuse to go home early from work to watch some NCAA basketball tourney action.

5.  Forget my 2012 bucket list item #6 "Become fluent in Italian."  I am officially changing this to "become functional in Spanish," because I swear you have to know this language to survive on the central coast of CA.

Hasta luego amigos!

Alaina

Food for thought:

Leave an encouraging (and anonymous) post-it note for someone this week (maybe on the bathroom mirror at work, or in a coworkers mailbox!)

Pray for the family of this Cal Poly student, found dead yesterday

Lehigh > Duke

What do you know about the history of St. Patrick's Day?