Someone, please, invent low-carb rice!

But first, how difficult can it be to buy a rack of lamb without people questioning your judgement and financial status?! I understand and appreciate the good-heartedness of people just trying to offer advice, but, really, I'm fine with my meat choices thanks.

"Have you tried that before?" the lady behind me in the cashier line-up asked. A decent enough question. "Yes, I have, a few times" I replied. "Is it cheaper than Safeway's" she pondered, peering closely at the label. This I couldn't answer, as I haven't really shopped for meat at that supermarket lately. "It's just that I don't like paying too much for things" she continued. "Oh, I don't mind occasionally if the quality is good", I mistakenly added. Between her disdainful look and the cashier then questioning exactly what part of the supermarket I bought it from, I was getting a little cross. "It's just that there's not much meat on that for $14", the cashier opined, "Do you think it's worth it?" this was greeted with encouraging nods from the financial police behind.

Honestly, I feel like taking the curry I prepared to the supermarket tonight and saying 'look, there's plenty of meat and it serves 4!' Please just give me my lamb already!

I made a curry from a book tonight. It was very rich with chili powder and cumin, fragrant with saffron and rosewater and extremely oily from butter, ghee and yogurt. It tasted a bit like a Mr Kipling cake. Neil always notices the use of rosewater, in that he doesn't exactly approve and the layer of orange oil on top was another no-no. So, not the most successful curry I have tried. The recipe called for lime juice, saffron and rosewater to be added at the end to balance the flavours between sour, sweet and floral, but I think my hand may have been too liberal with the rosewater, creating a curry just on the edge of tasting like a dessert. It's strange because I've made the same curry before and it was incredible. It just goes to show how complex curry is and how important it is to create the correct balance for a subtle and well-flavoured dish.

The offending lamb

I made 'cauliflower rice' to go with this, dearly missing the basmati I'm very fond of with it's sweet aroma and fluffy texture. Cauliflower just ain't gonna do it! Plus, what an absolute pain to make. Grating the cauliflower which gets everywhere, squeezing out as much water as possible, which inevitably leads to the paper towel breaking because you cheaped out and bought a not very strong one, which results in the 'rice' going down the sink and then frying it, pretending it's rice, adding all the little elements to make you believe....but it never works. There's always some moisture left which results in it being wet and limp and the texture just doesn't do it. It's not really a valuable substitute and sometimes I really feel like quitting this whole low carb nonsense. But, when I notice my jeans are falling down and I can look in a mirror without horror, I'm spurred on to make cauliflower rice for another day.


Grating the cauliflower













Oh, stop pretending!