Tell us what you have cooked lately (that's interesting)

Butter paneer and dal makhani tonight. The latter needed to simmer longer to get extra creamy from the lentil starch breaking down, but it was 10pm and I was hungry…

That looks damn nice, man. But it’s 1AM and I’m hungry, so there is that.

Any idea what dal makhani means? “something lentils?”

Butter lentils, yeah, or cream. I actually didn’t use much of either. The natural silkiness of the lentils is pretty nice on its own.

Your bread looks good.

I’m a big fan of Indian breads, i.e. naans, chapatis etc.

My mushroom and sausage soup was a success, everyone liked it, and it was a real heartwarmer. :D

I meant to ask you, is the fasting part of diet or for health? If the former, how well is it working for you?

Is that at me?

I see health and diet as part of the same thing!

I find fasting helps control fat in my body more than anything else, and I have the measurements over the last year to prove it!

In January, I did the whole thirty, then gained 2 kilos of fat, not muscle, in February, because of allowing heavy refined carbs and a not inconsiderable amount of booze back into my life :).

And also not bothering to exercise.

Over the last month, I have lost all that fat, and maintained the muscle.

The difference was limiting carbs to the weekend only, including booze, doing some exercise (I am pretty inconsistent here though :() and fasting every Monday without fail.

The first time I fasted I thought it was ridiculous and pointless and painful.

Now it is pretty easy.

My record is 74 hrs. Only stopped because the female dragged me into a restaurant and complained.

Thing is, it’s a good method for me because I love cooking and eating and going through fast–>kind of binge works better than being permanently a little bit hungry (aka the standard calorie restriction diet) and every Monday evening I have to be reminded to eat because I am just not hungry.

All of this writing has reminded me I need to go run now.

Toodles.

Awesome info, thanks for the detail, Bloody. And congrats on the success with getting back on track.

I need to do the same, which is why I was asking.

Once you get started, baby steps lead to bigger steps.

Getting (re)started is not easy in my experience.

Further Indian cookery tonight to carry me into a long and busy weekend of stuff.

Some gobi keema matar bhurji (just kinda slapping a name together for it at this point) was first: a dryer stir-fry of diced cauliflower, well-browned sliced mushrooms and onions, green peas, spinach, chunky tomatoes, and a fair amount of spice. Gobi = cauliflower, keema ~= mince, matar = peas, bhurji ~= this sorta dryer stir fry.

Then, some chicken tikka saag–chicken marinated in a spicy yogurt sauce then broiled till blackening, added into a rich spinach-based curry.

Plus some leftovers from last night: more of the butter paneer and the now-thickened dal makhani. It’s an intimidating plate, but someone’s got to do it.

Nice man!

I’m having a smoked chicken and cheese quesadilla. Not even in the same league as what you’re eating for dinner.

Um that sounds amazing my dude. I would very much like to go to there. And to one of BBB’s fast breaks for that matter!

I’m celebrating my birthday this weekend, which means some hard core unhealthy eating!!!

So because Armando is always posting these beautiful pics of Indian foods with homemade breads, I tried my hand today.

Kerala style coconut curry, over rice. Potato, carrot, chickpeas, peas, onion, and tomato in a slightly sweet curry sauce. With hand made roti.

They taste good, but my rolling skills are rudimentary at best. There’s about a 1/2” lip around the edge that is twice as thick. Oh well, still good

I think maybe Armando reached out psychically across the ocean today, because I had Indian for dinner.

At a restaurant though.

Mixed tandoori grill, naan bread, rice with cumin (jeera rice I think) and garlic chilli chicken.

All delicious.

The last of the Indian cooking for a little while:


Some more of that multi-veg bhurji, plus some homemade aloo-matar parathas–a spiced mix of boiled potatoes and peas stuffed inside of crispy wheat flatbreads.


And a very fancy, rich version of gajar ka halwa–a cardamom-spiced dessert made from shredded carrots and golden raisins slowly simmered in whole milk and sugar until the mixture dries out, leaving behind only rich cream and caramelizing sweetness. It takes for fucking ever to dry out, but the result is soooo much nicer than the versions where they just soak boiled carrots in sugar syrup. . .

Plus some ghee-toasted almonds, cashews, and pistachios on top for extra decadence!

I realize now I’ve never had the good version?? That sounds delicious. To be fair, most of the time when I go for that it’s as part of an Indian buffet where it makes sense to sample the desserts.

Made some pastitsio tonight along with curried corn and steamed veggies. Family approved

I made arincini.

They were well received.

Delicious and filling.

No food for 24 hrs now…:S

5 cheese mac and cheese 🧀🧀🧀

That looks great, Eric. Is that cellantani?

-xtien