Anyone know...

[jan_andrea]

What's the difference between saag paneer and palak paneer? Both are spinach with paneer cheese, so it's probably a spicing difference, but I'm curious. I ask because we had lunch at the local Indian place this afternoon -- I've lived here for 10 years now, and hadn't made it there before, and finally said, fuck it, I'm tired of waiting for other people to be in the mood to go; I'm out and about, and the kids will eat stuff there, so I went. When we ate at this great Indian place in Baltimore with Kristen, she introduced us to palak paneer, and it was fantastic. I looked for it on the "Taste of India" menu, but they didn't have it; instead, they had saag paneer. Probably my Western philistine-ism, but I couldn't tell the difference.

Kids were great for the whole outing. We have our "bike house" back, so it's much easier to get around town. Bank, then post office, then local copy shop to get a quote on my sling-wearing directions (50 copies for $20 -- seems steep, even though they're two double-sided pages), and then we were hungry. Usually we go to the great pizza place, but we'd been on Wednesday already, and all Stephen eats there are cinnamon knots (bread coated with butter and cinnamon -- delicious, but not very healthy!). I'd been wanting to get to the Indian place for ages, so we went there. Stephen ate 2 plates full of basmati rice and some nan bread, and Sophie shared my saag paneer and rice. They were wonderfully behaved. Rode down to the park, where both kids had fun running around for 75 minutes, then it started getting crowded with older kids. (What's the allure of the playground to 14-year-olds, honestly?)

And now we're home, and Sophie is napping in my bed, again, hurray! She seems to wake up on the hour, looking for boobie, but if I nurse her, she sleeps again for another 45-60 minutes. Yay! I'm on the Shiny! New! Laptop! downstairs while Stephen watches Clifford. Must get to the new Clifford exhibit at the Children's musem of Boston. I was hoping to get to Boston this weekend, because I just finished "The Fortune of War" by Patrick O'Brian, wherein our heroes (of "Master and Commander") are taken prisoners of war on the Consititution, which is now docked in Boston. I've been dying to see it in person. However, it looks like it's going to be rainy and yucky all weekend. Pooh. Maybe we'll see a movie or something instead.

Comments

[webhill.livejournal.com]

saag paneer and palak paneer are often used interchangeably; technically, saag or paneer means spinach, and whichever one doesn't mean spinach means, like, mustard greens, or some other kind of greens, or a mixture of those with spinach, but I get them confused :)

[k425.livejournal.com]

Paneer is the cheese. The greens is palak or saag; the words would, I guess, come from different regions of India or refer to different greens. Saag is definitely spinach.

[webhill.livejournal.com]

duh. I meant palak or saag, not paneer or sag. paneer is of course the cheese. The words saag and palak do refer to different greens - saag is spinach (if you say so) and palak can be spinach mixed with other greens or just the other greens (I happened to watch a TV show about this once :))

[jan-andrea.livejournal.com]

Thanks very much! I liked them both, so will happily eat either one, no matter what it's called. Will certainly revisit the Indian place, too. Yum!

bike house

[indigobeej.livejournal.com]

I'm so glad that you are using the bike trailer again - good exercise for you and probably a lot of fun for the kids. How do the kids like the 2 free items in the backyard? Thanks for posting - I love to read about what you and the kids are doing.
mum

Re: bike house

[jan-andrea.livejournal.com]

Stephen is pleased as punch by the "playground" in the backyard, though Sophie got bored with them after about 5 minutes, much to my surprise. I plan to look for some kind of larger particle size sand substitute; David doesn't want to deal with the mess of sand, but I want them to be able to play in the boat thing with something sandlike. The trailer certainly is good exercise, at least coming back up the hill! Going downhill is quick, easy, and effortless :)

Added a friend

[craftacular.livejournal.com]

Hello, I followed the link from your no sew baby sling directions. After reading about you, I added your immediately to my friends list.

I think my lj is friends only, I'd be happy to add you back.

We are getting a mini dachshund in 2-3 weeks and I need something to carry her around in. The slings I have for my own babes are WAY too big. Since she will be about 3 lbs when I get here, I am trying to figure out how to make a 'mini sling'.

Also, though I have a sewing machine, it is possessed (ie: I lost the manual and cant figure out the proper tension so it goes all hooey).

Re: Added a friend

[jan-andrea.livejournal.com]

How is it "too big" -- are you having trouble making it tight enough (padding in the way?) or is it too deep? You could make one between 10-20" wide, which might be better, or actually do a pouch instead of a sling. I think that the BabySpace Adjustable Pouch might be the way to go; it's pretty simple to sew, and combines the benefits of a sling with the pocket of the pouch.