Yesterday, we had family over to eat “chicken vindaloo”:http://www.stardel.com/cao/archives/recipe_chicken_vindaloo.htm and play “Settlers of Catan.”:http://www.universityofcatan.com/soc-games/ckofce.html I was dubious when Jack volunteered me to make Chicken Vindaloo. One, it is a lot of work. Two, I wasn’t sure people would like it, since it is highly seasoned. After a little discussion, Jack volunteered
to make the paste, which is most of the work. After making it Friday night, he mentioned that the recipe should add two hours to the preparation time of 20 minutes. As a nice bonus, I woke up to a clean kitchen. Generally, when Jack cooks, it looks as though he managed to find and use every pot and pan we possess. (I just recently learned the difference between pans and pots. Pans have one handle. Pots have two.)
With the paste already prepared, it was fairly straightforward making the chicken vindaloo itself. Our adult guests raved about it. We even considered trying to force it down my nephew (13) and his friend, who had brought chicken nuggets to eat, but as one guest said, why not save it for those of us who really like it?
I mainly cooked, and watched the others play Settlers. This is not a good game for me, because I invariably seem to get stuck in a poor position within a half hour, and these games can run upwards of two hours. Without a chance of winning, I become very bored. I am better at a game like Bridge, where at least the individual hands remain interesting, even if one is losing the rubber.