Stormy Night Lentils – Tuvar Ki Dal

Hurricane Sandy is blowing, blistering and making her way through New York. I have been winking, ok, closing my eyes through all the new since friday and listening to things getting bad to worse. Once upon a time, one could ignore weather warnings and it would go away. Things were not quite so precise a few years back and maybe this is my version of memory, the weatherman always seemed to exagerate and at the end of things it all worked out much better.

Well, in the concept of, “times they are a changing!” the predictions have been getting better. So all of this hooply about the hurricane will indeed result in something. I have the mixed blessing of being at home with the kids tomorrow.  Another day to argue with the husband. I have just gotten some bad news from home, and while much like the storm I have taken it in my stride, it has left me rather irritated.  I am not sure how to handle yet another death, other than just to accept that life happens.

Through the midst of everything, we were back at soccer and the kids actually did very well at their respective games. Deepta’s game offered me an interesting insight into the lack of sportsmanship. Her team was winning, and I was rather surprised at how vocal the oposition coach was at expressing his disappointment. It is unfortunate at some levels that we take winning so seriously in our culture. I  have to confess, that this tends to foster a culture where values are compromised at the cost of the need to win. I can see this with some people in this election and am just troubled by the whole process.

Folks, I have grown up being taught to have a killer instict and to win, but not at the cost of forsaking core values. I do think that it is ok to have a marriage of both. Anyhow, to keep things in perspective, I have spent a lot of time cooking. Not sure what that will do for me if we are completely out of electricity. Tonight was out family dinner night, I kept things simple by cooking chicken and some very basic lentils. The lentils were simple and soft, they did have an interesting touch with the addition of finely chopped dill.

The tomatoes in dish are the late season tomatoes, that will probably tide me through one more week. If you are skeptical about using them, I will suggest that you give these lentils a try. They are soft and comforting and make a simple and flavorful meal along side a side of steamed basmati rice.

I am still trying to get a hold of MIL, looks like I might have to postpone that for tommorow.