Indian Cooking; among other delicious things

Eggplant and Tomato Dish

My wife Rachel works with a fabulous home chef/foodie. She has been cooking for many years and first learned in Italy. Having heard so much about her and food she has brought in to work, I was excited to finally meet her at a 4th of July BBQ. She brought a pork tenderloin marinated in garlic, olive oil, sage and butter. As I was the self-appointed Grillmaster for the evening, she asked me to grill the tenderloins. I was a little nervous. What if I disappointed her? This was a lot to live up to.

That evening we enjoyed burgers, brats, wings, her fabulous pork tenderloin and a wonderful fireworks show. She must have seem my enthusiasm for cooking as the next week she told Rachel that we should all get together soon for a balsamic flank steak on the grill. I immediately e-mailed her and set up a time. Last month we went to her home and enjoyed the balsamic flank, grilled tomatoes, and her son's "hot hot habanero wings." As soon as we arrived she said, "Come on Jeff, we are headed to the grill."

That evening must have also gone well since in her reply to my "thank you" e-mail, she said that we should get together soon for indian cooking. I immediately offered our home and set up a time. This past Saturday we got together and cooked. The dishes included:

Eggplant and Tomato
Chicken Coriander
Spicy Basmati
Cucumber Raita
Lentils

Chicken Coriander

It was delicious and I am sure the neighbors can still smell the garlic and spice aroma flowing out of our home.

In my "thank you" e-mail to her yesterday she said that we need to get together again soon to cook "tarragon chicken fricassee that is great with braised vegetables." I have already sent her our open dates for the next 2 months.

This has been a fabulous experience and I look forward to learning much more from her. She is wonderful.

Happy Eating.