Happy Boxing Day

Via The Graphics Fairy

It's Boxing Day today so I gave Scott an old box to play with. Like a little kitten, he entertained himself for hours with his box. But then he got it stuck on his head and it all kind of went downhill after that. By the way, if you've never read our blog before, you might think that Scott is the name of a little kitten. It is actually the name of my human husband. Although, I guess you can't really legally marry kittens (which would be just plain weird), so saying that he is a "human" husband might have been overkill. Anyway, even though he isn't a kitten, he still likes to play with boxes. Men can be so simple and easy to entertain at times.  

If you aren't from a Commonwealth country, you might not know what Boxing Day is. It really isn't a day to celebrate kittens, husbands and boxes. Traditionally, it is when servants and tradesmen would get a gift in a box from their employers. Nowadays, it is just another public holiday which is great as it means you get two days off of work in a row at Christmas time. We're just two unemployed vagabonds on a boat so every day is like Boxing Day to us. People also tend to hit the shops and exchange the boxes of stuff they got at Christmas for stuff they like better.

On an unrelated note, our Christmas curry yesterday was edible if I do say so myself. If you eat it on a boat, it will even taste better. Here's the recipe if you want to shake things up next year and go a little less traditional.

Christmas Curry

1 onion chopped
3 cloves of garlic minced
2 chilies sliced (we leave the seeds in to make it spicy)
1 red pepper/capsicum chopped
2 tablespoons oil (I used canola)
4 heaping tablespoons of Patak’s curry paste (or your favorite Indian curry paste)
1 can/tin chopped tomatoes
1 chicken stock concentrate
2-3 cups water (more if you need it)
1/2 cup dried red lentils
Approx. 500 grams/1 lb diced and boneless chicken breast or thigh
Lemon juice
Plain, unsweetened yogurt

Sauté the onion, garlic, chilies and red pepper/capsicum in a pan in the oil until nice and soft. Add in the curry paste and sauté for several minutes until everything smells so yummy you can’t stand it anymore. Add in the chopped tomatoes, the chicken stock concentrate and 1 cup of water. Let everything simmer away for 30 minutes to an hour depending upon how hungry and desperate you are to eat. The longer you let things simmer the better it tastes in the end. Add in the lentils and chicken and top up with enough water to make sure there is enough liquid for the lentils to grow and expand. You can add in more water as the lentils and chicken cooks away to make sure the curry sauce is a good consistency. Let it all simmer away for another 30 minutes to an hour. When you’re ready to serve, stir in some plain yogurt to make it creamy and some lemon juice to give a zing. Serve with some basmati rice. Yum.

Variation – If you live on a boat without a fridge and no ready access to the grocery store, you can leave out the chicken, lemon juice and yogurt and it will still be delicious. Just not as delicious.

Super-Duper Variation - Marinate the chicken in yogurt, curry powder and garlic for hours and hours before you start cooking. Of course you should do this in a fridge, otherwise your mom might yell at you about inviting botulism to your dinner party. But if you use this method, guaranteed to make your curry super-duper. Fridge optional. If you don't use one, don't tell your mom.

Festive Variation - If you add in some peas then it becomes super festive as it is red and green in color and will remind you of Christmas even when it is 22° Celsius outside.