Posted on

Brining Poultry

I am happy to report that our Thanksgiving feast for two turned out magnificently! Anyone who tells you that brining is useless CLEARLY has not brined! OMG the chicken was the best chicken I’ve ever had, hands down. Here’s my brine recipe (I’m sure it would be just as good for turkey but you’ll have to scale the volume up, of course) and how I cooked the chicken:

7# roaster chicken
5 cups water
5 cups apple cider vinegar
1/3 cup kosher salt (NOT table salt!)
3/4 cup dark brown sugar
2Tbl mixed peppercorns
4-5 bay leaves

Warm up the brine until the salt/sugar has melted. Cool it down to room temp before putting on the bird. I used a (too big) brining bag. Rinse your bird and put into a brining bag or vessel of some sort. Weigh it down if it floats. Let it brine for 4-8 hours in the fridge. Any longer and it’ll make the meat too salty. I brined this chicken for 4 hours. A turkey would need at least 8 hrs due to its size.

Pull out the bird for at least 30 mins before cooking to get the chill off. Remove from brine, rinse and pat dry.

I don’t put stuffing in the bird because it increases cooking time and therefore will make your bird too done. What I do is put the giblets back in the cavity along with lemons, rosemary, garlic and peppercorns. I also make a paste of garlic, salt, pepper, rosemary, lemon zest and olive oil to put under the skin. A final touch is to put olive oil on the outside of the bird and season with S/P.

I roasted at 400ºF for about 30 mins, then turned down to 350F and tented with foil for about 2-2.5 hrs more. I use a thermometer to check that it’s 170F or more. Once you hit that, you’re done. The official recipe for chicken is 25 mins per pound of bird at 350F, but mine was a bit quicker due to the 400F start. Use a thermometer.

The chicken turned out succulent, flavourful and downright awesome. It was tangy and citrusy and perfectly seasoned. The only photos I have are semi-crappy from my iPod:

Chicken is on the back left, brussels sprouts back right, green bean casserole front right, boiling potatoes front left.

Clockwise from top right: chicken, sausage dressing, green bean casserole, sauteed brussels sprouts and smashed potatoes.

Everything was totally delicious and I’m glad I didn’t bother with the chocolate lava cakes! NO WAY we could have eaten them! I’m going to make them today instead. Since I’m a horrible baker, it’ll be interesting to see if they turn out.

Posted on

March of Time

Just ran across an obituary for a friend I ran around with in college. She died last year and I missed it completely. She was only 53. I’ve sent a FB message to her sister in the hope that she might tell me what happened to my friend. Sucks.

This has put me in a morbid mood, naturally. I don’t normally think about death much, I just try to live my life the best I can and not worry about it. But days like this when it’s shoved in my face, well, days like this I brood.

I’m 47. While I have a broad skillset and a couple of degrees, I still feel that I’ve accomplished little. I have a lot riding on this move of ours. What if it doesn’t pan out? It’s true, life is what happens while you’re making other plans. All I know is I’ve got to REALLY do something severe to get out of this mile deep rut.

If I died tomorrow, what would I leave behind? Umm. Some websites? This blog, certainly. It’s all electronic. I mean, I’ve got stuff, too, but this blog is really the essence of me. I’ve ranted. I’ve complained. I’ve celebrated. I’ve tried very hard to document what my life has been here.

I have to tell my parents that we are planning to move to AZ. They are old and infirm. They won’t do anything to save themselves. I can’t help them, but I still feel guilty about moving so far away. I’m sure my brother will have a conniption. Or not. It’s hard to tell with any of them. They have so much disdain for me, I can’t imagine it getting any worse. It’s not like they ever contact me, so I don’t see much difference between my being 200 miles away or 2000. But still.

I’m trying so hard to not hinge all my hopes on this move. But, hell, what else do I have? I’m done here. The house is gone, I’m sick of this ghetto ass town, I’m very, very bored. I want very much to have something to get up for in the morning. Learning a new town, getting a p/t job, setting up a new house and all of that is very appealing.

Of course I worry about my elderly cats. I think the plan of renting an RV to make the trek is a good one. They won’t like it, but it is easier on them than flying. Last time I moved (about 3 miles) my elderly cat Dickens didn’t make it. So, I’m anxious about DJ (15) and Missy (12-15). They are in good health, but I still worry.

I’m probably more anxious about all this than I’ve ever been about anything. When I moved down here, I was 23 years old! I had no fear! But this time, I’m older and wiser and have much trepidation. I’m giving up a VERY comfortable life (that is killing me) for complete and utter chaos (which will save me? I hope?).

Blah, I don’t even know what I’m rambling about. All I know is that I’m getting old enough to start seeing friends die and I’ve got fewer days ahead than behind. It’s scary, but it also makes me more determined to DO SOMETHING before I die.

Allons-y!

Posted on

Angela’s Broccoli Rabe (rapini)

Broccoli rabe – pronounced rob – (raab, rapini) is an odd vegetable. It is bitter like kale, but sort of has a broccoli taste as well. You can also find Broccolini™ a trademarked hybrid of broccoli and chard, which is similar. We tried it for the first time at home and loved it! Here is the recipe to make a delicious side dish!

2 bunches broccoli rabe (it cooks down A LOT)
1 medium onion, frenched
3 cloves garlic, minced
butter
olive oil
salt
pepper
2 Tbl grated parmesan (reggiano is best!)

First, bring a big pot of water to the boil and add a liberal amount of salt. While the water is coming to temp, rinse the rabe, remove woody stems and cut into 2″ pieces. Blanch the rabe in the boiling salted water for about a minute, then strain into a colander and rinse with cold water.

In a large skillet, put in about 1Tbl of olive oil and 2Tbl of butter over medium flame. When the butter is melted, add onions and garlic. Sweat the veg (watch the heat and reduce if they are starting to brown, you want translucent, not brown) until limp. Add in the broccoli rabe and turn up the heat a bit. Don’t burn your onions/garlic. Saute until rabe starts to cook down, getting soft. Salt and pepper to taste. Easy on the salt since you’re adding a couple of tablespoons of parmesan NOW.

An excellent side to beef and potatoes!

Posted on

American Politics and Other Follies

First off, Americans are notoriously uneducated when it comes to politics. Most don’t even know about third parties and most don’t even know who they are voting for at all. It’s a sad state that this country is in, my friends.

Politics in America have been increasingly encroached upon by religion. This is a disturbing fact and it’s one that can lead this country to ruin. If you’ll read some history, you’ll notice the influence of religion leading to the downfall of many empires. The Roman empire is a notable one. It astonishes me that a country founded upon separation of church and state has ended up almost as much a theocracy as any country in the Middle East. There’s a very detailed book about this: American Theocracy by Phillips. It’s a dry read with lots of statistics, but an eye opener nonetheless.

While we’re on the subject of reading, another book I’d HIGHLY recommend is Reckless Endangerment by Morgenson, et. al. This book is a detailed account of just how we ended up getting screwed by our own government, who allowed the greed of banking and Wall Street to run rampant. You Democrats out there who seem to think that the whole of all evil is rooted in the Republican party need to understand that it was Bill Clinton and his cronies who allowed this to happen in the first place. ALL the events that came down in 2008 and brought us to the brink of destruction as a country go back to the Clinton days.

If Americans would READ and educate themselves, perhaps our government could be held accountable, but as it is, the politicians know that by bringing in religion and class warfare they can keep stupid Americans distracted and do as they please. Continue reading “American Politics and Other Follies”

Posted on

AOL 2.0

It saddens me that Facebook has become AOL 2.0. People never leave there. I’ve watched my blog stats erode horribly since FB has taken over the goddam internet.

I am a Twitter girl, I admit it. I tend to hang out more on Twitter than anywhere else. I like the immediacy of it and the massive amounts of information that flows in the stream. It’s perfect for news junkies like me.

It pains me that the various social sites have pretty much ruined blogging as we know it. If I don’t cross post to FB that I made a BLOG post, it will quite literally never get read. I has a sad about that. Truly.

I would leave FB altogether if not for the pages I run and the sad fact that no one would ever read this blog if I didn’t link to it from there. ;_;

Having a FB page has become more important than a website these days – so FB would have you believe. I just have to disagree. While YES, FB is free and has billions of eyeballs, I still think a site is better if you actually want people to FIND you via search. Site + FB + Twitter = good coverage, IMO. For ALL of these, you gotta work it! Especially FB and Twitter.

As for the other social sites begging for eyeballs and time, here’s my take on them:

Google Plus: I tried, I really did. If they made it work BOTH WAYS so I could post TO it as well as FROM it, it would be relevant to me. But since G+ expects you to drop everything and use it exclusively. Well, NO. Just NO.

Pinterest: I just don’t see the point. It’s been said that Pinterest is for FB people who can’t read. I would have to agree. I tend to post articles and stuff, not just a picture. Not for me.

Formspring: The Ask Me Anything site. It was interesting for about 10 minutes. Again, I just don’t see the point.

Instagram: Hipster hangout. ‘Nuff said.

Tumblr: I think this is trying to give more of a blog feel. Don’t need it, I’ve GOT a blog. Redundant.

iMood: An OLDIE but a goodie. I’ve used iMood since my very first blog back in 1998. It’s silly and I love it. Very old skool.

Twitpic: I use this to post pix on Twitter. Twitter is going to “phase out” (read: fuck over) all third party apps soon, so I guess twitpic will be going away. I may keep using it anyway. I’ve got a lot of pix over there!

LiveJournal: Still crosspost to it and still read several feeds there. I still have a soft spot for LJ, despite the huge number of truly fucked up people there. :)

MySpace: MyWho? Ha! Rumour has it that MS is trying to relaunch as a music hub rather than the sad excuse for social media it became. I deleted that profile long ago. I hope it works out as a music hub, tho. We need one.

And my take on other online resources that we use:

WordPress: I love using WP for my blog. I also love that you can get a FREE BLOG over at wordpress.com if you don’t want to mess with software, etc.

Etsy: Where my little handmade earring shop (Boneless Cat Designs) is hosted. I like Etsy for the most part. I hope they don’t let it become overrun with commercial people and screw up the handmade vibe.

Spreadshirt: Our comics T Shirts provider. They do good work, although not particularly cheaply. We don’t do enough volume to order shirts in bulk, so the print on demand availability of SS is perfect for us.

Storenvy: Where the rest of our comics shwag is located. Ease of use and FREE are the keys to Storenvy. If we were bigger, we’d do something else, but for small biz, Storenvy totally rocks!

I realise that the FB people probably didn’t even read to the end of this post. It’s long and it talks about stuff other than Facebook, after all. Facebook is the new AOL. And it’s a shame that so many people really don’t even know what they are missing! It’s a big internet, people. Why not leave the safety of FB and explore? FB really is NOT the internet. I promise.