Culinary Adventures with Camilla

Earlier this week, D asked, "Mom, can you help me and J- make butter chicken on Wednesday night after robotics? It's for our chemistry class." Sure thing.  Because they were getting to our house late and needed to be fed also, I asked if I could prep some of the dish ahead of time. They didn't argue. This was last night... So, after we cleared the table of our pasta and salad dishes, they got to work. It was amusing to listen to them while they cooked and wrote up their project paper, reporting which chemical processes they were witnessing. I heard them excitedly talking about the Maillard reaction, evaporation, reduction, and more. This is exactly the type of learning that I adore. No busy work. No worksheets. No rote memorization. This kind of learning solidifies the concepts in their minds...and it's delicious! I really hope the other kids appreciate the dish. Ingredients hopefully this will serve 30 as a tasting serving 4 pounds organi...

One of my good friends makes amazing butter chicken. Really outstanding. It's sort of legendary in our circle of friends.  D will come home, gushing that his friend - her son - brought butter chicken for lunch. In the lunchroom, her butter chicken holds the highest value. And K leverages it well in their mid-day food bartering. "I think you need to give me one more strawberry since it is butter chicken." She even brought some over last year on April 26th which is Jake's birthday and he opted for that instead of the dinner I had planned. No worries...I have thick skin. And, over the years, all of us have asked for her recipe. She finally assented and printed out copies for us in June. It has taken me this long to actually make it. I bought the chicken this weekend, but time got away from me. Then, yesterday, I swore that I wasn't going to turn on the stove - it was 95 degrees in Monterey - but the boys insisted. This is my version with slight ...