a sale of boneless chicken thighs inspired me to try making tikka masala again. this time instead of cooking the chicken in a pan, i'd broil the pieces in an oven instead. i went to market basket in the early afternoon to collect my ingredients. after returning home i cut up the thighs into smaller pieces and marinated everything in a cup of yogurt with the rest of the leftover tikka masala marinade sauce, about a quarter jar.

i was still missing one key piece of equipment: a cooling rack. i have cooling racks, but they have a non-stick coating that don't seem to be oven-safe, at least not at high temperatures. so i decided to get one from one of the crafts stores using a 50% off coupon.

i went to the fresh pond ac moore first, cutting through danehy park. the back of the park, hidden from view from the main streets, is a nature reserve of sorts. i've visited this area at least once before, but it seems a lot more lush than i remembered it. it'd be worth revisiting for nature photo opps. anyway, at ac moore they did have all metal cooling racks (even though a search on their website brought up nothing): half size which would fit my trays and a larger 15x20" size which wouldn't fit. the larger rack seemed to be designed for their 15x21" mega baking tray. in the end i decided to get the larger rack, figuring the larger space was better at the expense of an awkward tray placement.

i cut back through danehy park but took a detour to the cafe first before swinging home.

earlier i swept all the broken acorn pieces off of the backyard deck. this must be the work of squirrels, because otherwise the acorns would fall whole instead of in pieces. the worst part is when bits of acorn get stuck in between the wooden boards; no way to remove them except to pry each bit out manually. squirrels have also been digging in my money plant and mint; maybe it's time to bring them inside.

i started on my tikka masala recipe at 7pm. it still took a while to finish - 1-1/2 hours - but slightly faster than last time. most of it was waiting around for things to simmer and broil. i stacked the oversized cooling rack on top of a foil-covered tray and placed the marinated chicken. into the oven they went, broiled at 7 minutes. i quickly found out that using an oversized cooling rack on top of a tray is a bad arrangement, as i had a hard time getting it out of the oven. at some point i'll get the mega baking sheet which would be a better fit. some of the chicken had some charring which looked nice. the smaller cuts also meant they cooked faster, but they seemed a little dry, less tender than when i pan-seared the chicken last time.

i made the tikka masala curry sauce following the same instructions as before. while the tomato puree was reducing with the chopped onion-garlic-ginger-slices, i went about making some coriander chutney. originally i planned on just buying it from the indian grocery store, but they didn't look very fresh, and i figured it'd be easy just to make them on my own. into the small food processor i added some mint leaves, a cup of cilantro, 2 tbsp of yogurt, 1/2 tsp salt, 1/2 sugar, 1/2 tsp of fennel seeds, and a tbsp of lemon juice. i should've backed off on the yogurt, as it made everything too watery. also it didn't seem like the cilantro was chopping at first, but i mixed it longer before it started reducing into tiny bits. the chutney tasted okay - cilanto and mint and sourness from the lemon juice - but it was too runny. maybe next time use more cilantro.

i didn't eat until 8:45pm. i drizzled the chutney over the rice. later i mixed the rice with the curry, which was kind of a mistake because the tikka masala overwhelmed the other flavors and i couldn't taste the chutney anymore, except occasionally i'd bite into a fennel seed. i also had some naan bread which really made it into an entire meal.

i've been on an ebay spending spree the past few days, buying no less than from 14 different sellers. everything from canvas luggage straps, to LED string lights and accessories, to micro switches and MOSFETs. not a lot of money mind you, a few cents here, a dollar there. the most expensive thing i bought was a 12V 2A DC power supply for $2.77. i also won a few bids, $1.28 for 1m of white LED neon light, 74¢ winning bid for 1m of non-waterproof RGB string lights.

antonio brown is a neverending source of drama: his former trainer had filed a civil suit in court accusing him of rape. yeah, it could just be a money grab, but he'd known this woman since college so she wasn't just some random person. plus the amount she's asking for isn't a lot given how much money brown makes, just $75k. the only thing suspicious is she filed it in civil court instead of criminal court. doesn't mean he didn't rape her, but maybe she felt she had a better chance of getting a conviction in civil court. so who knows what will happen to antonio now. will he even get to play a game for the patriots?