Cooking for Wednesday’s pre-ChiCon party is coming along nicely, I think. Focusing on Sri Lankan stuff for now, since the American food will be mostly just throw it on the grill and/or order.
Kevin helped me tonight with mixing up fluff, chopping cashews, peeling beets and matchsticking them, so it was reasonably low effort knocking out four more dishes, even after coming home from teaching at 7 (it helped that I had seasoned onions ready in the fridge for the curries). Made the mango fluff, the cashew & cranberry milk toffee, the curried beets, and the cashew curry.
Big triumph of the night was figuring out why my last several batches of milk toffee had tried to burn — I kept thinking it was because I’d switched pots, but no — it’s that my Wolf range runs hotter than a normal range, and I’d forgotten that I need to adjust my recipe for that (from medium-high to medium, and from medium to medium-low). SO nice not having to worry about it burning this time!
*****
Menu planning, for the curious. It’s like prepping for Thanksgiving, but more so. 
Currently have 95 Yes RSVP’d, with another 23 Maybe. I expect some will drop out due to travel complications, tiredness, etc., but still should be a good-sized shindig. Of course, Amma regularly threw birthday parties for something like 150-200 Sri Lankan diaspora folks, so I have a ways to go still…
Thank goodness the weather is looking pretty perfect for Wed — we should be able to be mostly outdoors. Otherwise, my house would be bursting a bit at the seams!
*****
SRI LANKAN COOKING
– pick up some appetizers from Indian store (Darius Vinesar, I may send you on this errand on Wed; I’ll order in advance)
– beef curry — DONE
– pork curry — DONE
– shrimp curry — DONE
– lamb curry (mild) — DONE
– deviled potatoes — DONE
– carrot curry — DONE
– coconut sambol — DONE
– cashew curry — DONE
– curried beets — DONE
– naan — BOUGHT
– mango fluff — DONE
– milk toffee — DONE (except for cutting)
COOK TUESDAY:
– lentil curry
– kaliya curry (eggplant, potato, and plantain)
– jackfruit & chickpea curry
– cabbage varai
MAYBE COOK?
– green mango salad
– vatallappam
– passionfruit marshmallows
– coconut rock
MAKE WEDNESDAY:
– kale sambol
– saffron, sultana, and cashew rice (use vegan butter)
– tropical fruit salad
– mango-passionfruit punch
FOR GRILL:
– Sri Lankan eggplant & mushroom skewers (use vegan mayo and yogurt)
– Sri Lankan bell pepper and ripe jackfruit skewers
– Sri Lankan grilled chicken kabobs
– hot dogs, hamburgers, sausages
– corn with elotes fixings
– pineapple & mango skewers with chili, salt, and lime
– potato salad
– watermelon if it’s hot
– pies
Tuesday night: move frozen curries to fridge; get ice bags for chest freezer
WEDNESDAY: Order Chicago-style pizza
