Chicken curry and a movie.

The temperature Gods have decided to ramp up the temperature.  It was a balmy 104 degrees yesterday.  P and I did something we have not done since the last week of June in 2008. We went to a movie, just the two of us. We went to see Ted, and had a blast with the sophomoric humor. Even better, unbeknown to us, on Tuesdays movies are $5.  No, we did not leave SS in the van, nor did we dispatch her to another theater to watch a kid movie. Since she enjoyed herself so much at Kid Kastle in Laughlin, I googled for a similar place in this area. I found Kids Park, and it was nearby the theater we were to attend.  This place does not have as much stimulation as Kid Kastle, no video games, no arcade games, no bouncy house, and no movie theater.  KP is more about engaging the children in learning activities, a bonus to us. They have weekly themes, and this week is under the sea. SS really scored with that one.

We went out to lunch, to make sure we dropped off SS with a full tummy, then headed to KP. SS could not be bothered to say goodbye to us, let alone look at the phone for a picture. When we returned, she was dressed as a fireman, and had the most blissful look.  Need to get her a fireman costume.  The price is very reasonable, and there are so many learning activities for the kids.

Before leaving home, I left chicken curry cooking in the slow cooker. I have been following Lisa's blog since shortly before they brought their daughter home from China.  She is an amazing cook, and posts a lot of her recipes and photos. I have admired them for years, but never had the guts to try them out.  It's pretty much like watching the Food Channel so much, but again not venturing into coking myself. Maybe it has something to do with my lack of culinary skills. She recently posted recipes for chicken curry, and Thai cucumber salad. We love Thai food, and upon reading her recipe I realized that it did not require anything more than mincing and blending. That's the recipe for me.

One thing I like about Lisa's recipes is that she cooks to entertain or to freeze. She always ends up with leftovers.  Since P is having major anxiety over our not yet full garage freezer, I decided to give it a try.  Her recipes usually involve a lot of ingredients, and not the type that we keep in our cupboards. I am ashamed to say that I have never cooked with palm sugar, , turmeric, or Kaffir lime leaves.  P asked if I needed help and I said no. He then looked at the recipe and realized I did not know what the hell I was talking about. He gathered all the ingredients, and arranged them for me in the order I needed them. Had he not done that, we would have missed our movie. Who knew that mincing a vast amount of onions and garlic would be so time consuming?

We returned home to the wonderful smell of curry, and the result did not disappoint. It does have enough kick that it is not suitable for SS. I still had half of my lunch pork bánh mì, I loaded it with half an avocado, and SS was in pork and avocado bliss. She also had a healthy portion of white rice, a sure thing with SS. My salad did not look as good as Lisa's, probably because I left the seeds in the cucumber, but it was delicious. P gave it two thumbs up, so I will be making it again. We now have six portions in the freezer. I think a couple more cooking batches and we will have a full freezer. 

See the odd "ingredient" in the back? My iPad is the most important part of the process, because I no longer have to strain and squint to read recipes off my iPhone.