Rain, Fire, Ashes and Aloo

And good morning!  And the winner of the second test between Sri Lanka and the West Indies is The Rain.  The fifth day got rained out, resulting in a draw.
 

Windies captain, visibly upset by the turn in the weather.

I've been checking the weather reports for days 4 and 5 of the Ashes, and it looks like the Rain might win again.  I hope for Australia's sake that the rain holds off; that team is on fire right now and it's a flame I don't want doused! 

Mike Hussey and Brad Haddin during their 307 run partnership yesterday.  Boo Ya!

 Rock on, Australia! 

And here's some more Ashes stuff:  Yesterday, M. Hussey and Brad Haddin continued to smack England around with their big runs.  I'm really happy for Australia, because not that long ago they lost their mojo to Sri Lanka.  I was sure England was going to eat them up, especially Graham Swann who allegedly dines on wickets.  The score so far is 260 and 19/0 England vs. 481 big'uns Australia.  Who are you rooting for?

Ricky Ponting has got his eyes on the prize

Now, for food today, I'm not going to post a new recipe because I'm swamped with housework.  I'm going to talk about aloo, which is urdu for potato.  

A few days ago I posted a recipe for qeema...please see the post "The Queen, Kamran Akmal, and Qeema"...and my good friend reminded me that I forgot the potatoes!  Egads!  What kind of a cook am I?  So, when you're making Qeema, after you've added the ground beef and water, add 3 or 4 potatoes that are cut in 6 or 8.  The potatoes add yet another dimension to the qeema, and make this dish especially nice for the winter.  So give Aloo Qeema a try, and I know you'll enjoy it.  So to my friend, thanks, I owe you one for pointing that out!

Another note about potatoes.  There are many varieties out there; when you're making stewed dishes such as salans or qeemas, do not use baking potatoes.  These are the really large ones that have a rough skin.  They'll completely dissolve into mush.  I find that potatoes with a reddish skin or a blue-ish skin add lots of flavour yet keep their shape.  I like to keep the skin on the aloo when I make salans, but my husband hates it.  I believe that most people in Pakistan prefer the potatoes to be peeled.  However, I'll leave that up to you.   

And here's a small theory lesson:  Never let food snobs lecture you  on what's good and what isn't.  A good dish is a dish YOU like, period.   Never let some nitwit tell you differently!

Have a good one today, Happy Eating, and Happy Ashes and Happy Cricket!