Garam Masala

My recipe for Chicken Biryani from Cooking Light magazine calls for garam masala. Sigh... I checked my local super market today for garam masala; no dice. A friend of mine was heading to a gourmet market tonight so I asked her if she would check there for me; I'm keeping my fingers crossed. I love chicken biryani and I'm eager to try the recipe to see if it's similar to the chicken biryani I've eaten in restaurants. The picture that accompanies the recipe actually looks better than the restaurant version, so I'm hopeful!

I'm actually very proud of myself today! I followed through on my menu plan to put dinner in the crock pot and it was truly wonderful to come home to the smell of food cooking. I only have 2 good crock pot recipes; I have to click on over to the blog that has the 365 days worth of recipes and find a few more. They are a lifesaver on busy days! My only problem is sometimes I schedule a crock pot dinner but then I forget to put it on. As The Eldest Child would say, "major fail". Once you've passed that window of time in which you can get the crock pot going, there's no recovering. Alternate plans HAVE to be made, and that usually involves driving somewhere. :-P