Cactus Poriyal

As you know, I bought some Cactus (or is it Cacti?) from the farmer's market on Saturday. I was amused by the prickly little thing and decided....hey, why not try cooking it? Needless to say, I got quite a few thorns stuck on my fingers. I had no idea how to clean or cut it. Thankfully, I had the Internet to show me how! Thanks Internet!

Growing up, I never understood why my mom and aunts would "Indianize" everything. Let me explain. For Thanksgiving, they would make 'masala turkey'..enough said. Well, it looks like I'm following in their footsteps because I Indianized the cactus. ;) I made Cactus Poriyal. For those of you not familiar with this, poriyal is a South Indian vegetable side dish. We cook veggies using mustard seeds, onion, cumin, coconut, turmeric powder, red chili, etc.

So, here it is people...Cactus Poriyal. :)


Thorny Cactus


The Cactus after it was cleaned..it looks like it was cleaned by a 5 year old. I had to wear gloves and use a paring knife.

Cut cactus

Cooking the cactus

Tada!!

The Cactus was quite slimy, like Okra. The more it cooked, the less slimy it became. I was surprised by the taste. It tasted sour and lemony, which I happen to like. My husband on the other hand, didn't care for it too much. He doesn't fancy sour things too much.

Will I make this again? Probably not. Only because my husband didn't care for it and I'd rather save all this work for making something he loved. I am happy to try something new, fun and different though. :)

p.s. Later on this week, I will show you what I made with the Banana Peppers from the farmer's market.

Farmer's Market Association

On Saturday, I went to the Farmer's Market with some friends. I've been wanting to go for some time now but could never wake up early enough on Saturday mornings to go. Folks have told me that if you're going to the farmer's market, go early because that's when they have the best produce. Also, many farmer's markets close by Noon. Well, I found one in Houston that's open until 5 p.m. on Saturdays...and I didn't get there until Noon!

It's called the Farmer's Market Association. It's an open air farmer's market with lots of different vendors. They had tomatoes, onions, bell peppers, chilies, cactus, bananas, apples, oranges, guavas, pomegranate, peaches, peas, cucumber, squash, pumpkin, zucchini, green beans, methi leaves, cilantro, yuca, sweet potatoes, red potatoes, peanuts, cinnamon, and so much more! Plus, you can bargain! It's every Indian's dream. ;)

Here are some pictures I took just for you. :) The sights and smells reminded me of the open markets in India. It was an exhilarating, nostalgic experience.


I had to take this picture. It reminded me of Jack Fruit in India. ;)


Fruits and veggies galore!


These tomatoes have my name written all over them!

Reminded me of the mini bananas in India.

I wish I bought the cabbage...my husband loves them!

I had a $20 bill and thought...man, I wish I had more cash on me. You will be AMAZED how much $20 in a farmer's market will get you! I got some peppers, cactus (yeah, I know..cool, right?), potatoes, apples, oranges, cliantro, methi leaves, avocados, tomatillos and limes. Guess how much I spent?? LESS than $10!! When I came home, I told my husband that we're going to go vegetarian this week! ;) (We better, especially after the meat fest at Fogo last week).

I also told him that I can't wait to go back! He said...sweetheart, we can go every week if you'd like...sweet man. I'm sure he was thinking...imagine how much we can save on our grocery bill! ;)
p.s. Stay tuned for my next post...I'll show you what I did with the cactus.

Husband's birthday post...a.k.a...a post about food!

My sweetheart's birthday was on Monday, October 19th. We had a wonderful weekend celebration. My parents and brother came on Friday, October 16th. We spent the whole weekend together and it was glorious! For lunch on Saturday, we all went to a wonderful Greek place called Niko Niko's. Then, we had my husband's birthday dinner at home on Saturday. We all went to church on Sunday and my parents took us out to Cheesecake Factory, again, for my husband's birthday. I know everything sounds like it revolves around food in Houston...well, it does. That's what Houston is famous for...good food. ;)

On Monday, I took my sweetie to Fogo De Chao. If you've never been, it's a Brazilian Churrascaria. At close to $50 a head, you want to make sure you go on an empty stomach. As soon as they seat you, they bring out piping hot cheese popovers, crispy polenta, fried plantains and mashed potatoes to your table. Then, you help yourself to their beautiful salad bar, full of fresh veggies and cheese. They have asparagus, sun dried tomatoes, artichoke hearts, hearts of palm, smoked salmon, rice and beans, swiss cheese, parmesan cheese, tabouli, etc. Each person is given a coaster which is red on one side and green on the other. If you want meat, you turn it to the green side. If you're done having meat or want to have a break, you turn it to the red side.

When it's green, gaucho chefs come to your table and give you your choice of meat. They have filet mignon, rack of lamb, garlic beef, leg of lamb, chicken legs, sausage, parmesan pork, ribs, and much more. The assault of meat in your face is quite unforgettable. Our personal favorite was the rack of lamb. We would go back just for that. They also give you a complementary dessert if it's your birthday. We chose their papaya cream....highly recommend it! However, I just don't see how people dine there so frequently. After we ate, my husband goes, ok, no more red meat for the next month! Haha!

The funniest part of the night was meeting and talking to our server. He was a very animated man and you can tell he loves living life! This past year, he dropped a whopping 50 pounds! He did this by running 12 miles a week and get this....cutting out red meat and alcohol! How's that for irony?! I figured, if he dropped so much weight, in spite of working at Fogo, anybody can!

Oh, and if you want to know about what I ended up giving my husband, it was the practical gift of cash. :) After shopping for days, I just decided to give him cash....on one condition. That he spends it on HIMSELF. Not on me, not on groceries, not on fixing the car...but on himself.

I hope he had a wonderful weekend. Honey, I love you more than you will ever know. I am so blessed to be married to you!

God knows our hearts.

I will eventually give you an update on my husband's birthday weekend and the mice situation. Right now, I just want to write about what's going on in my heart. I'm not going to get into too many details here but let's just say I've been burdened the past few days.

It may be PMS, thyroid, hormones, something else or just me but needless to say, I've been on an emotional roller coaster all week. I'm trying to attack my emotions by spending time with the Lord, because that's the only real way I know how. I'm not one of those people who can hide their emotions well. What you see is what you get. I haven't really admitted this but I've been feeling like a failure, especially as a wife.

Yesterday, a couple things happened which totally made my day! Let me start out by saying that 'words of affirmation' is my strongest love language, followed closely by 'quality time'. God must totally know this. My husband's primary love language is 'acts of service'. If you don't know what I'm talking about, pick up the book "The 5 love languages" by Dr. Gary Chapman...great read.

Yesterday, I got a call from an older gentleman named Ernest, who's one of our customers. I don't even remember what he called about but at the end of the call, he said: "You are the first person who has helped me, all day. You totally made my day young lady". Mind you, most of the time, I deal with complaints and disputes over the phone. So, to hear a customer actually thank me, for anything, is a big deal. There was something about the way he said it...you could hear the sincerity in his voice. Mr. Ernest, thank you. You totally made my day.

I've been praying for more wisdom because I genuinely feel like I lack this. So many times, I'll say and do things foolishly, only to regret them 10 seconds later. It's a bad habit I know I need to break. Not just for the sake of myself but for the sake of my family, particularly my husband and our marriage. Last night, before I went to bed, my sweet Shankari Chitthi shared an encouraging word with me on Facebook. She said: "I know your heart Kannae, and I sense the Lord saying that "He is so pleased with you." I was like, what??! Honestly God?? I haven't done very much that is pleasing to you lately. I had a hard time believing it but I received that word by faith in Jesus' name! She doesn't even know this but after she wrote those words, something just lifted. I had tears in my eyes and the burden just lifted.

So, Shankari Chitthi, thank you. You have NO idea how much that meant to me. You have no idea how much YOU mean to me. I love you so much. Above all, Lord, I love you so much. Thank you for giving me grace, even when I don't deserve it.

Outwit, Outplay, Outsmart

We woke up this morning, hoping to find mice in our traps but alas, we found nothing. I slept lightly all night, just waiting to hear snaps. I thought I heard one, but it was probably just wishful thinking. Although, we found that one of the traps was empty. The mouse cleverly ate all the chocolate leading to the trap and the chocolate on the trap. We must not be very good mouse trappers.

Per my friends' suggestions, I'm going to buy some peanut butter. I know we're dealing with a very smart mouse. There may even be more than one mouse. We don't know. What's the best way to deal with a smart mouse? Yup, outsmart them. I'll probably buy some crazy glue and put it on top of the peanut butter too. The battle is on baby!

Can't sleep

It's 1:36 a.m. right now and I just can't get to bed. It was another busy day, but a great day. Among other things, the maintenance guy came over with more mouse traps today. We have strategically placed 4 snap traps and 2 glue traps all over our kitchen and living room. My sweet friends Cat and Grace were kind enough to give me great mouse trapping advice. Thanks guys! I knew I can count on you!

We didn't have any peanut butter but we did have some 3 Musketeer bars. My sweet husband put trails of chocolate by each trap. Now, I am just sitting here waiting. I know that if I turned the lights off and went to sleep, the mouse/mice will come out. I'm usually not a wuss when it comes to these things but since we live in a 767 sqft. apartment, I can hear everything that goes on in each room.

I am going to pray and make myself go to bed now. Hopefully, we'll be hearing the mouse traps snapping tonight. Hey, a girl can hope right?

Gross

As mentioned in my previous post, we're having mouse/mice issues.

This past weekend, while I cooked, my husband cleaned the apartment. It was totally spotless. Not to brag or anything but our apartment management has even asked if they can show our apartment to future residents. Point is, it's relatively clean. I definitely didn't think it was attractive to a mouse. Of course, I was wrong.

This morning, my husband woke up to find a mouse had eaten through a large brown paper bag to get to a mini 3 Musketeers bar! Is that crazy or what?? I cleaned our kitchen counters and stove top last night and put every drop of food away before I went to bed. This brown paper bag I speak of was in our living room. It had a random assortment of things in it. We totally forgot that the 3 Musketeers bar was in there.

Last night, I couldn't sleep much thinking about the mouse. So far, it has shown itself in our kitchen, our washer/dryer closet and the living room. We have never seen it but it has definitely left us "evidence" each time. One day, I found a white spot in our dark brown leather recliner. Upon further inspection, it looked like something bit a hole on our recliner and the white stuffing was sticking out. I'm almost 100% positive it was the mouse, although my husband is not so sure.

The maintenance guy has come to check it out and laid 3 traps with cheese. Still, no luck. What concerns me is that we have no clue where it's coming from. My biggest concern now is that my family is visiting this weekend and someone will be sleeping in the living room. Scary thought. After some research, I've found that the best way to get rid of a mouse is to borrow a cat. We have several friends who would let us do that but our apartment is a pet free community.

Has anyone ever had issues with mice before? Any suggestions?