bawk

was this

stealing food will tucker you out!

yesterday i caught her pulling a chain of sausage links out of the pan and dragging them across the stove; nibbling on a piece of fried chicken; licking gravy out of the pan; and my personal favorite, drinking discarded frying oil out of the bowl i dump it into to cool before i throw it away. did i mention she has a nearly full bowl of food?

as a general rule, i try to listen to my cravings. i don’t mean the “oh my god i would sell myself for a donut” kind of cravings; i mean the “if i don’t get a steak in the next 24 hours i might waste away kind.” the “i must have mushrooms and spinach right effing now” kind of cravings. i figure there’s something in those things that my body needs, so I will do my best to satisfy those needs.

Lately I have been craving fried chicken. Now, those of you who know me know that i will pretty much eat fried chicken at any meal. Like carnitas tacos, fried chicken is one of those things that i can’t really ever get enough of. Prepared correctly, it is not greasy and heavy; instead, if is crispy crust surrounded perfectly cooked tender and juicy meat. the crust should seal in the juices and so the meat within is literally steamed.

I’ve been fighting this craving, because let’s face it, fried chicken is not going ot be considered health food any time soon, and I assume that, like the donut “need” or those times that i would trade the dog for a snickers bar, that the craving will pass. It does, most of the time, once i think about the frying and the mess and the inevitable accoutrements that i will have to prepare (because, really? if you’re not going to make mashed potatoes, why bother?) and i abandon the idea. but it always comes back to me. so last night I gave in and made a mess o’chicken, mashed taters and gravy, and for healthiness, threw a pile of brussels sprouts into the oven to roast. the trick is that i also finish the chicken in the oven. it is perfectly cooked, and i don’t have to wash down my kitchen walls after. I use a mix of whole wheat and regular flour; the whole wheat flour adds a little depth of flavor that AP flour just doesn’t have. Don’t be afraid of the cayenne–the amount that ends up on the chicken is so small, it doesn’t add heat, but again, a little bit of depth to the overall flavor.

Sayra’s Fried Chicken

Oil
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup whole wheat flour
2 tablespoons salt
1 tablespoon black pepper
1 teaspoon smoked paprika
1/2 teaspoon cayenne
1 3- or 4-pound chicken, cut into 8 pieces, rinsed, patted dry

Heat the oven to 375F. Place a wire rack on a sheet pan. Heat 1 inch of oil in a heavy skillet (cast iron is best) over medium-high heat until shimmering. Meanwhile, mix the next 5 ingredients in a zip-top plastic bag. Seal and shake the bag to mix. Add the chicken, a couple of pieces at a time, seal the bag, and shake to coat. Add the coated chicken pieces to the oil as they come out of the flour (shake off excess flour) and fry about 6 minutes on each side, until golden brown. Place the chicken as it browns on the rack. When all of the chicken is browned, place in the oven and bake until cooked through, 25-30 minutes.

Remove from the oven and let stand as you plate up your mashers and gravy. (Of course you’ve made gravy, right? No? Well…)

Gravy!

Pour off all but about 2 tablespoons oil from the chicken pan. To the remaining oil add chicken coating flour, whisking until a wet paste has formed. You can let this stand until the chicken comes out of the oven. Then, over medium heat, whisk in milk until a smooth gravy has formed. You will probably need about 2 cups. Keep whisking, and season with salt and pepper (though remember, the flour was seasoned first, so taste and season carefully). Reduce the heat to medium-low and cook, whisking, until there is no more raw flour taste, about 2 minutes.

i’ve sort of abandoned this here blog. i’m trying to figure out how ot make it more about cooking and less about my life, but my aversion to writing about food has made that kinda difficult. also the looking for work thing has taken up some of my time. and to that end, i’ve just gotten a big job that will take me through the end of the year, so you should prolly expect to hear even less from me on this site. so, yeah.

i lost my job last week. so that’s fun.

i’m wavering between excited (new opportunities!) and terrified (being homeless!)… but I’m trying to fill my time with things I love to do (besides Tetris and obsessively checking Twitter–neither of those are very lucrative as far as I know). I will be starting an Etsy store a soon as I have a little money to buy ingredients to make batches of things to photograph (and some of you may be on the receiving end as far as those first batches are concerned); I’ve got a couple of freelance gigs happening, and I have this incredibly supportive network that has seemed to rally around me from the moment I first shared this news last week.

so expect some new (and i’m hoping exciting) things from me in the near future! and there is a good chance they will involve butter.

that twitter’s my blog now

from a friend of a friend:

Good evening, lots of friends and relatives have been asking me (as an Alaskan) what I think of Sarah Palin, our Governor, and new choice for McCain as a VP candidate. Here it goes: This pick floored me. Sarah Palin is a nice person. I’ve met her, I’ve even talked to her for a few minutes at a principal’s conference a couple of years ago. She has lots going for her superficially. She speaks from the heart, like a spitfire mother; she can even be sort of funny sometimes. She is quite beautiful; athletic, and has that radiant glow of someone who actually spends time doing things outside. Unlike many politicians, she has lived a “real life” and done things that few living and working in DC could ever do….like dipnettin’ fish, shootin’ stuff and eating it out on the tundra, and havin’ 5 kids. Personally, I’d never vote for her. She has an extremely simple view of the world. I don’t even think she has ever been abroad. As governor she has repeatedly shown us that she is unable to grasp the demands of leadership. She is very prone to cronyism of the worst kind. Every cabinet level political appointment she has made she has over-ridden suggestions of our state advisory boards, and instead promoted those who had granted her direct political favors. Not that other politicians don’t do this, they do, but most of them are able to balance their appointments to ensure that at least a few people with real skill and experience are running big state agencies. She also has been unable to pay attention to her Alaskan constituency. Personally, I’ve written several of our previous gov’s and been asked to comment publicly on education policy. All the previous gov’s have always acknowledged that contribution, criticism or comment; sometimes by direct reply, or at least by that of a staff member. Palin’s office has been a zone of silence. Not I, nor one person I know commenting has ever gotten any sort of reply. Her claim of running an open or transparent government is totally false; the public simply has no role in her administration. Her previous claim to fame was being mayor of Wasilla, a growing town about 40 minutes from Anchorage of about 15,000 people. Wasilla is a hellhole, even by Alaskan standards, where there are plenty of hellhole towns and villages. Wasilla is an ugly place that shows a complete absence of planning, design, or sense of public vision. Gov’t agencies and services are completely overrun in this town; things are so bad that they can’t even track their population or build schools in the right place, because most parts of the town don’t require building permits, so the only clue about where people are settling are utility receipts. Imagine trying to be an emergency responder in this kind of place: Houses don’t just catch on fire in Wasilla, they burn to the ground, because by the time the fire department has figured out which road to take (no signs) or whose house it is (no directory), the place is done for. Palin was mayor this town for at least 2 terms before being elected gov. a year and a half ago. Her moral sense is simplistic and not inclusive. She is the sort of person who is used to using their “faith” to divide and isolate minority groups of human beings instead of uniting them. To her credit as Gov. she has kept out of this arena pretty well, but when in comfortable company (i.e. the Matanuska Valley Republican Women’s Club), she lets her moral cat out of the bag. I will do what I can to ensure her defeat and that of her running mate as well. Please share this information with those who can use it well.
Cheers, Pete

happy birthday jon!!!

my brother’s birthday is today. he is my favorite brother (my only brother, mwa ha) and i wish that i could hang out with him and his awesome and hilarious family more often.

here is a crown (king for a day!) and a beer for you.

love, your seester.

i hope it is awesome.

mangy!