August Adventure

Originally uploaded by brianc9.

In some exciting news, Aaron and I were selected to participate in the Backpacker Magazine project to help map the Continental Divide Trail. We were assigned a remote section of the trail on the Idaho/Montana border and are hiking 60 rugged miles of the trail. The goal at the end of the project is to produce an interactive map of the entire trail by using the GPS waypoints taken, digital photos, and other recordings of the 200+ (6-member) teams spread out across the 3,000 mile trail. This map will greatly help out recreationalists of all types and the larger hiking community (especially thru-hikers!). Until we can hike the whole thing end-to-end, at least we can at least contribute some sweat and sore muscles to help out with this exciting project and make some friends along the way!

Possibly the best green mush ever!

Palak paneer curry
Originally uploaded by yadavop.

When I was a little girl and my parents took me out for Indian, I always got the "green mush", which to this day I love passionately. Commonly known as "saag paneer" or "palak paneer", this is an Indian dish made with spinach, curry, and homemade cheese.

Recently in Minneapolis, for the School for Scanning training I stumbled upon a nice little Indian restaurant called Bombay Bistro and even though I was alone, I sat down and had dinner. What a lucky decision, since I think I may have found the best saag paneer I have ever had. I also ordered a glass of Shiraz, garlic naan bread, and some basmati rice. I finshed it all and loved it!

You can see this photo of the dish that I am blogging from Flickr...it looks similar to the one I had at Bombay Bistro. In my quest for yummy Indian food, I have even made my own homeade paneer (cheese) to make saag paneer at home. It worked out remarkably well, but alas I haven't had to time to recreate it.

if you've never tried this dish, here's what you should do: find a local favorite Indian restaurant, go to the lunch buffet (usually saag paneer is on the lunch buffet) and try it! When ordered as an entree you can often get them to make it spicier if you like it hot, as I do. Naan goes prefectly with it, as does rice. Enjoy!