This was amazing...

And terribly cute as well. On New Year's Day, I spent the evening with three of my favorite people, including this one: dear sweet Ruby Day.

I don't know that it gets any cuter than this.

Mike has been eager to try his hand at a Thai Curry, and while I did not understand his hesitation at first, after reading from the official Thai Curry cookbook, I realized what an undertaking this was. I believe we ground, minced and pounded a dozen ingredients until we formed the curry paste, seen here in its raw form on the left. Once pounded, we fried the curry in coconut cream over low heat for about ten minutes until the flavors we best liked began to waft from the pan.

In the meantime, we poached an entire chicken in coconut milk, then drained the stock and pulled the chicken from the skin and bones by hand. Using fresh coconut milk, we combined the curry paste, kaffir lime leafs, Thai basil and the chicken, and cooked the resulting curry until the milk reduced, fortifying the flavoring from the curry paste. Served with Jasmine rice and a bit of the Thai basil, this was an excellent dish with a fair amount of flavor. If you think French cooking is impressive, try a Thai curry.