Has anyone else discovered the website lala.com?  We used lala.com several years ago when it was a music trading site.  Jeremy and I had probably 100 duplicate CDs or music we no longer wanted and found lala.com where you could trade CDs with other people, and get something you wanted.  Well, there are similar sites out there like this now, but lala no longer provides this service.

Lala.com is now a music streaming site, but it’s different than others I’ve seen.  You can use it several different ways, once you have an account set up, you can listen to most songs one time for free, some songs they only let you listen to a 30 second sample.  After that, you can purchase the right to stream that song from lala.com anytime you want, usually for 10 cents.  That means if you’re interested in an album but not sure if  you want it or want the whole thing or not sure if it’s something you’re really going to like, you can listen to that entire album for about $1.00 depending on how many songs are on it.  And, you can listen to it as many times as you want online from any computer.

You can also use their Music Mover to detect what MP3s you already own on your computer. This allows you to stream these songs that you already own from any computer as well. Now, I can listen to the songs I’ve loaded on lala, on my laptop, or if I’m in the basement where we have another computer I can listen to it down there, Jeremy can also log in and listen to the music at work.

I will admit, we don’t buy too many albums lately, but I really like having a physical CD in my hand, I like looking at the music liner with pictures, and the words for the music. I am still trying to get used to owning music that I don’t have a physical CD for, but this site is helping convince me.

Apple just bought lala.com and I’m hoping they don’t change it too much, or if they do change it they allow me to stream my music through our Apple Airport Express, which is hooked up to the speakers in our living room!

Here’s what Jake and I have been listening to today – She & Him – Zooey Deschanel and M. Ward’s band.   Enjoy!  (I think you can listen to this without registering for 5 days, and then you are required to register – which is free).

I lived in Dallas for about 4 years before I moved to Colorado, and while I was there working as a consultant, I had my first experience with Indian food. I was working on a Saturday and my boss at the time took me to eat out as a way to thank me for working after hours. We went to an Indian food buffet, which are usually not very spicy since buffet food has to please the masses. Well for some reason this buffet was extremely spicy, and of course I felt obligated to eat a lot, since my boss was paying for the meal. Maybe my taste buds are more used to spicy food now, or maybe that particular buffet really was incredibly spicy, but needless to say, my first experience was not a happy one and I felt more like I was being punished than rewarded.

When I first started dating Jeremy, he loved Indian food, and after a lot of convincing I decided to give it another try. He had me order mild Chicken Tikka Masala which is about as Americanized as you can go with Indian food and we had a side of Vegetable Pakora to go with it – basically deep fried vegetables and onion rings. I was shocked to discover that I actually enjoyed this Indian food and wanted to eat more of it. Well, we now live about 1 mile from a really good little Indian food restaurant and ordered food all of the time from it up until a few months ago. And, I’ve branched out too, trying spicier and less American style Indian, and pretty much like it all now.

Now that I’ve been diagnosed with celiac disease we’ve pretty much stopped eating out. I’ve tried eating out at a few places since my diagnosis but apparently am just very sensitive, so for the most part we have just been eating at home. Consequently, we have not had Indian food in some time, and I’ve really been craving it!

Jeremy ran across these gluten-free sauces in our grocery store a few weeks ago and we’ve already had them for dinner several times now. They are made by Seeds of Change, are all organic, and the company promotes organic farming efforts. These sauces are also very easy and handy. We’ve tried two flavors, the Madras and the Jalfrezi, they are both tomato and pepper based and pretty similar tasting, but the Madras is spicier and the Jalfrezi has coconut in it.  Jake even liked his broccoli and cauliflower in the Jalfrezi sauce.

Quick and Easy Vegetarian Indian
2 cups of cooked brown basmati rice
1 cup broccoli
1 cup cauliflower
1 cup potatoes
1 bunch spinach
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 can Seeds of Change Indian Simmer Sauce

Cut your broccoli, cauliflower and potatoes into bite sized pieces. Set up a steamer with a couple of inches of water in it and bring to a boil. Add your potatoes to the steamer basket and steam for about 10 minutes, add the broccoli and cauliflower and steam for about 5 more minutes or until they are soft enough for your liking. In the meantime, add about 2 tablespoons of olive oil to a pan and heat on the stove top over medium heat for a few minutes. Add the spinach and stir around, then cover. Cook for 2-3 minutes and remove from heat. Add the steamed vegetables to the spinach and add the jar of simmer sauce. Serve over cooked brown basmati rice.