indian food

last night m was telling bean what a perfect excuse she has to never, never have to help clean up after dinner -- she is an amazing cook, and she often makes us multi-course gourmet meals. for example, last night:



















vegetable samosas, dal fritters, homemade garlic pickle, homemade coconut chutney, potato, cauliflower and green bean curry, and tomato rice (not pictured). all entirely made by bean from a cookbook i've had for years, fresh flavours of india. as you can tell by the spelling of "flavours," it's a british cookbook and uses mysteriously metric british measurements, which is why i've spent hours reading it and looking at the pictures but have never actually cooked anything from it myself. my dad brought it back for me from a trip he took to england several years ago. anyway, bean cracked it open a few weeks ago, and she's been bravely translating measurements, buying ingredients like fenugreek seeds and chana dal, and cooking up a storm.

everything was delicious:
























also not pictured are the rootbeer float cupcakes she made from my sweet vegan. unbelievable -- yes, they taste like rootbeer, and yes, they're scrumptious.