I would use lamb stew meat, and keep the size under 1.5". My version is like this one: http://allrecipes.com/recipe/212487/lamb-gosht-biryani/ but without the red pepper, saffron, or milk. The pepper makes it too spicy for me, and the milk/saffron is very nice for color and a bit of flavor, but can be expensive, especially if you double or triple the recipe. Also I pre-fry the onions in ghee as outlined above, rather than adding them to the spices as in this recipe. Sorry I don't have it written down or measured. It's important to realize that on the sub-continent "lamb chops" = chopped lamb. Not always, but in this context they do. You can also use beef 1:1 in this recipe. ETA: After reading this thread, I'm leaning toward the chicken recipe for the wedding, myself. Seems much easier and delicious!

Honestly, I adjust my medication first, email my doctor as an FYI, and then get the labs if I'm still not well. I've spent quite a bit of time with a world-class endo (I have much bigger problems than thyroid alone) and he taught me to place how I feel over lab numbers every time.

:grouphug: :grouphug: :grouphug:

I think you should call your police non-emergency number and ask what the law is. Here is would not be allowed if the sidewalk is less than 20 feet from the entrance, or if you lived in multi-unit housing and it was on the property, if you live in an area designated downtown, etc.

I've never hear of Chergui but it sounds good! I ordered some samples from Olfactif and I'm hoping they come before I go see my parents next week because my mom likes perfume. I'll report back.

I'm late to the discussion. I don't wear perfume much, but when I do I stick to two: I have a tiny bottle of Chanel No 5 for very special occasions, and a larger spray bottle of Origins Ginger Essence. I mention the latter because it's light and different from a lot of other perfumes, as it really does have a bit of a ginger aroma mixed with citrus. I like perfumes with tobacco undertones but don't own any, so I might have to check out Memoirs of a Trespasser.

We don't have many books, maybe a couple hundred. We go through lots of them, but we tend to read library books, and make lots of donations to the library, and drop them off at the our Little Free Library down the street. The books in the kids rooms have no organization except the large ones are on the bottom shelves because of earthquakes. The books in our bedroom are color-coded, an idea I used to mock, but which has worked well for my brain. The homeschool room is organized using the trusty "people will be here in 10 minutes and there are books all over the floor, tables, chairs, trampoline, and counter, so let's throw them all onto the shelves and call it good" method. DS is a big fan as well and he didn't really like it. He started the series again to "cleanse his palate." :laugh: Oh wow, I'm glad you're (somewhat) okay. Arnica will help a lot. :grouphug:

And the bartender said, "You sure look round!" The tomatillo replied, "Nope, just husky."

I made 2 gallons of salsa last month, from maybe 8-10 lbs tomatillos. Roast ~2 lbs tomatillos under the broiler for 8-10 minutes after husking and rinsing. (They'll still feel a bit sticky, but less so.) Blend in food processor with 1/2 raw onion chopped into 8ths, 2-3 peppers (either spicy or not), a handful of cilantro leaves and stems, 2 cloves of garlic, and salt to taste. This tastes better as it sits and freezes well. I only thaw what I can eat in about a week. It's great on eggs and my family likes it with beans and rice in tortillas.

Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon The Dark Knight (Batman) Skyfall Star Trek (2009) Mission Impossible movies Jason Bourne movies

To tag onto Alley's post, more general advice: Get renters insurance! It's very important not just for protecting your belongings, which btw are not covered by the landlord's insurance. It can also cover you to stay elsewhere if the property is damaged and very importantly, can give you liability coverage. It's quite reasonably priced and very worth it. If you have auto insurance, check with your agent. Sometimes rates are lower if you have multiple policies with the same place.

I've never had anything like that except one world-renowned doctor who was booked for 6 months in advance. Otherwise I can often get in the same day or the next morning. Waiting more than a day for a UTI sounds bad, not just due to the discomfort, but because it can progress to a kidney infection.

Shrimp is good but doesn't keep well as it can become rubbery upon reheating. I would make it for my own enjoyment, but not for the wedding where you might have to reheat for the guests or later as leftovers.

I agree with re-thinking that. You can also see if they have any civil judgements against them for damages to previous properties. Yes, it would be better to have a paper trail.

DS is also very slow, and we would definitely spend 2-4 hours on some of the WWS 1 lessons. Not all of them, but at least one lesson each week takes that long. I had him evaluated by a neuropsychologist and she gave him a diagnosis of slow processing speed. I am thinking about having that double-checked, because I later researched the test she gave him has some flaws. Regardless, it helped to know that. It became a bit faster when I did two things: I allowed him to type instead of write, and I told him instead of doing one lesson per day, I expected him to be ready to go with Lesson 1 Monday morning of the following week. The typing thing helped I think because he likes it and he can easily modify his thoughts and errors. I'm not sure his thinking process is any faster. Saying he had to spend the weekend on catching up did cut out some of the normal kid-type delays and also caused him to work ahead on days he did finish lesson more quickly than usual. Now I don't worry about a daily allotment, and just move to the next WWS week Monday morning.

Sorry, I don't know anyone who has written down a biriyani recipe. I'll poke around online for one that looks good. Any idea of the meat? Beef, goat, lamb, chicken, and shrimp all work well. Clarification: When I said 5-6 onions for a 10 qt pot, that was a 10 qt pot of biriyani, not onions! So if you decide to make biriyani for the wedding, and you made 20 qts, you need 10-12 onions.

I would be willing to rent to people in this situation, although I would want to know the reason the credit scores are 650. Lack of credit? New to credit? Too much debt? Missed payments? That would make a difference to me. Which is not to say 650 is bad, but I'd want the details. A lot of it will have to do with the market in your area. If a landlord wants to get a property filled and the market for tenants is slow, I think you could be fine. If there's a lot of competition for places, you might lost out to someone with more consistent income, rental history, and references. Any lying about being related to the references would be a huge red flag. Just tell the truth, definitely.

Check out the amount of browned onions in the video. That's a big part of getting the taste correct. To make the onions, start by making your own ghee, a lot of it. Put 3 lbs of salted butter into a pot, and put in on medium heat. When the butter melts, turn it to low and keep checking on it for the next ~45 minutes. Once it has a golden color and a nutty smell, turn off the heat and let it cool until it's still liquid, but not hot enough to burn you. Pour it through a thin cloth into jars. The solids can be used to flavor rice as a side dish. To make the onions, slice as thinly as possible, and place in enough ghee to cover. For a 10 qt pot, I would probably use ~5-6 onions. Keep heat on medium until ghee is hot and onions are sizzling, then turn to low and check occasionally for the first 30 minutes. After that, stay nearby. Browning time is usually 30-60 minutes, depending on how juicy the onions are. They should get dark brown, but not burnt. Here's a good example. They do go too dark quickly at the end, so stay nearby. Remove with slotted spoon onto paper towels, and save the cooled onion ghee for flavoring rice, vegetables, frying eggs, etc. Most of the onions should be cooked in the biriyani, with the remainder sprinkled on top. Or if that's too fussy, cook them all in the rice. They keep well and this can be done the week before. Store in the fridge.

When someone is disappointed with how Indian food turned out, the culprit is often a lack of ghee, or a lack of browning in the spices and/or onions, or old powdered spices. Your really need all the browning for the depth. And it always takes way more spice and onions than you think it's going to take. The other nice thing about biriyani is you can make big trays and heat in the oven. Here's a captioned video of it being made in bulk. There's no recipe, but you can get an idea of the amount of spices it takes.

I would do a biriyani for the main wedding dish, for your special meal, and you can heat up roti/naan on the grill. (Buy pre-made, it's really tricky to roll these out to the right level of thickness and layers on the fly.) Add some chutneys (pre-made yourself, or bottled Patak brand) and some fried onions. The onions can be purchased in bag from Indian or Pakistani grocery, or pre-fry them in ghee. They keep well without refrigeration, but it does take about 45 minutes of cooking them on low to get the water out and turn them crispy. Also, you have to slice a lot of onions quite thin. Anther side dish that's easy and goes wonderfully with Biriyani would be yogurt mixed with chopped cucumbers and tomatoes, cumin powder, salt, and a bit of sugar.

I agree. I admit I'm just making the assumption that for this particular series, they will read it again. DS is on his third reading, and DD has read the first book twice. For a book I suspected they might read once, and which I wanted them to absorb more fully, I would probably suggest waiting. But I wouldn't tell them no.

DS finished all of them by the time he was 9 and seems no worse for wear. I don't doubt a lot of the subtleties of the teen experience were lost on him, but he did fine with the darker stuff and the deaths. DD is 8 and is somewhere in book 3 and I don't plan to stop her reading onward. I tend to agree with Judy Blume that kids mostly mentally skip over things that are beyond them. That was certainly my experience, and DH's as well.

I've eaten it savory in SE Asia and had no idea it also comes in sweet.

Good and Cheap by Leanne Brown. It's a free pdf and a great project.

If you can afford it, you might try a membership in a weight training gym for both boys. In my experience with my brother and his friends, plus the teen boys of my friends, once they want to get strong and pack on muscle they often adjust their own eating and start looking into nutrition, tracking protein, etc. Getting stronger and more muscular feels like a better motivation than losing weight, maybe? Just trying to come at it from a different angle than straight calorie restriction and managing food.