A feast

It was cool outside but very comfortable. I wore linen trousers, a camisole and a floaty gauze top that my mother-in-law gave me (and it gets a ton of compliments). There were birds in the background that were louder than the traffic noise. The smell of cut grass and the beginnings of flowering trees. Insects skirted around the air, buzzing away, but not yet bothering us. And the smoke of the tandoor wafted past us...

Yes, it was the first use of the tandoor of the season. What is a tandoor? Well...here's the wiki definition:
A tandoor is a cylindrical clay oven used in Punjab region, northern India and Pakistan in which food is cooked over a hot charcoal fire. Temperatures in a tandoor can approach 480°C (900°F). It is common for tandoor ovens to remain lit for long periods of time to maintain the high cooking temperature. It is used for cooking certain types of Indian and Pakistani food, such as tandoori chicken and bread varieties like tandoori roti and naan. (The word tandoori is the adjective form.) The tandoor is currently a very important fixture in many Indian restaurants around the world. Food cooked in a tandoor retains all the juices and taste inside and hence is considered very healthy[citation needed]. Many people have installed a tandoor in their homes for making bread and kababs. Some modern day tandoors use electricity or gas instead of charcoal.

The tandoor that my in-laws have is both self-made and purchased. They went to Southall and bought the cylinder clay part that would be the basis of the tandoor. They then took a metal garbage pail and used clay at the bottom as a base. In went the clay cylinder. They then surrounded it with a variety of materials that hardened. And there you have it.

Last night they didn't have any coals, so we used wood to build the flame and ash. It got amazingly hot. We cook some kebabs of chicken and onion. The chicken had been marinated in a spicy masala. YUM! We also had a few lamb things, the name which escapes me - but the mixture of chopped lamb, chilis and spice were wrapped around a metal pole and placed within the tandoor until cooked. And then finally, we had roti. So good! The meal just went on and on...and it was so healthy and lovely. I can't wait to have more!

It made for a wonderful & lazy Sunday afternoon.