Nicki's Lair

I'm supposed to come up with a couple of Indian cuisine specials by Tuesday and I know next to nothing about Indian cooking. One of the pub's owners requested gobi Manchurian -- battered cauliflower with "spicy Manchurian sauce" -- which sounds doable. I think I'll serve that as an appetizer, so now I need a soup and an entree. The entree should be vegetarian, or something that can easily be served in a vegetarian and, say, a chicken version.

So hey, friends, would anyone be willing to help me with links or ideas? I would love you forever! Also, I offer up cooking advice and/or recipes for American, American-vegetarian, and Mexican cuisine as a trade (or just because).

Anybody know of a free program for making/editing animated gifs? Limited-time-free-trials would also be fine. What's not fine is the Bannershop "free trial" the sticks a whole new frame with a hideous stripe across the middle 30% of the icon at the end. "Watermark," my ass.

(Icon, such as it is, is by me and is up for grabs to anyone with the capacity to remove that last frame.)

ETA: GIMP did the trick! Yay! Thanks opalgirl28 !

Further ETA: green_maia , I don't know your feelings on animated gifs, but if they don't drive you mad, you're welcome to snag this one. I'm working on some other Hamlet icons, too.