more "Our Deportment" and a recipe of sorts

[derien]

All the stuff about calling cards aside, this book does have some very good points.  It points out that conversation is the primary venue in which people form an opinion of us, and suggests, therefore, that we cultivate an interest in every topic of interest to society, and a good memory. 

I have the worst memory ever.  And very little interest in what the outside world is doing.  eor reads the news and can talk about it intelligently; I tend to listen and immediately forget. 

The book suggests that one write down a summarization of lectures one hears, or events that happened during the day, just to poke the memory.  Sooo... journalizing is supposed to help me actually get a better memory.  It hasn't worked, yet.  Of course I really don't try to write down everything that happened to me during the day.  It would take far too much time, and space.  Basically, though, if I want a better memory, I have to work my brain like any other muscle. ;)  Meaning, I have to take the time to actually do it.  Every day.  Even if all you people on my friends list are bored silly by it. ;)  Well, perhaps I'll try to lock a lot of my entries so you won't have to read them. 

So, let me start here.  I made a marvelous (I think) chicken soup, today.  Although Eor called it chicken mush, and wouldn't try it, so I have no outside corroboration on it's taste.  All I wanted was chicken and garlic and salt, because, you know, that's what you want when you're home sick.  It didn't quite satisfy the exact desire, but it was good.  I started with the lamb curry recipe on eor's recipe page, but made modifications as I went along.  I don't know how well I can regurgitate this, though, as I did it sort of on the fly. 

4 chicken breasts, chopped small
2 - 3 Tablespoons of oil (olive worked well)
8 large cloves of garlic, chopped fine
2 inch ginger root, chopped fine
1 teaspoon ground fenugreek 
2 teaspoon ground roast cumin seed
a tiny pinch of ground clove
1/4 teaspoon black peppercorns
1 teaspoon ground coriander
1 teaspoon ground red chilli
1 teaspoon ground turmeric
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon (?)
1/4 teaspoon salt
1" x 1.5" x 1.25" chunk of tamarind
2 cups pre-cooked rice (??)
1 small can green beans
1 small can corn

Starting with mostly frozen chicken breasts, trim the fat, cut it small, and set it aside in a bowl.
Heat water and make tea of the tamarind, stirring it and breaking it up. 
Brown the garlic and ginger on a medium heat.
Toss in all the rest of the spices, stir them and get the oily.  (? = I'm honestly not sure about the cinnamon.  I have no idea if I put in 1/4 t, a whole t, or none at all.  Probably it would be a very bad idea to put in more than 1/4t, though.)
Add the chicken and fry until it looks fairly cooked.
Add enough water to cover it, and let it simmer for 20 minutes.
Toss in the rice, corn and green beans.  (?? = I'm sorry I'm not sure on how much rice, either.  I had the rice already cooked, in the rice cooker, and I just used all I had.)
Tip the tamarind tea into the pot, leaving the pulp at the bottom of the cup. (Or if your smart you might have a strainer handy to pour it through.)
You may have to add a little more water in order to mix this all effectively and get it the consistency you want, but at this point it's just allowing it to get as hot as you want it - everything should be well cooked. 
Eat about 1/6th of this mush and put the rest in bowls in the freezer for later. ;)