A week ago, we got lucky at Safe*way and got a good deal on fresh chickens. 2 roasters for about $4.00 – we had to stock up on some for stock, chicken curry and Mike’s pan roasted chicken.

Seeing that I wasn’t feeling so good, Mike was sort of forced to cook us some dinner instead of going to Ipanema for the Seattle Food Blogger’s meetup. I dug up a recipe that I had saved from the NYTimes (recipe in extended entry) and another chicken casserole recipe from Saveur Jan/Feb 05 issue.

The result was an absolutely tender chicken, savory pan sauce, crispy tater tots and steamed green beans & peas with a pad of butter. The pan sauce had shallots, madeira, mustard, egg yolk, and capers. The final touch was crumbled bacon.

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“For they could not love you
But still your love was true…”
- Don Mclean

Cafe Terrace at Night 1888 – Vincent Van Gogh

I’m still here. Just a little drained, from work and a few other things going on with my life. It’s still a little too early to talk about them. But unlike what some of you were guessing about in the previous post, it’s not about a baby. Still, it’s exciting.

I hope to get back into the kitchen soon.

Meanwhile – a big hooray for Jamie Oliver.

I got me one of these wireless headsets to use on my iMac while talking on Skype as well as for my cellphone. Mike is allowed to borrow it, since he likes to pace and keep his hands free for working in the kitchen while talking on the phone.

You have seen several renditions of chili here on this blog, all made by Mike. Today he tried out a different style “mess of red”, using yet another AB recipe. We don’t own a pressure cooker as the recipe calls for but instead he used our trusty All-Clad stockpot and slow-cooked it in the oven. The meat was so tender and the flavors were so well-married.

There are no beans in this chili but it is thickened by the tortilla chips. The end result is a rich stew with cubes of tender meat. Need I say more?

The chiles we used

Nice big bowl of chili

From chiles, came chili powder and then came chili

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My mum would be proud to see that I made one of her specialties last night. Although she typically steams the pork with black fungus and lily buds, without black bean sauce, Mike had specially requested for this other dish. So I thought that combining the ingredients would make a pretty yummy dish. I was right. This goes really well with steamed Jasmine rice and was so quick to prepare.

Lily buds are used in Chinese cooking and are believed to be good for cleansing your blood. They are commonly used in hot & sour soup and lor hon zai (mixed vegetarian dish). They have a rather earthy flavor and a nice crunchy (tsui) texture.

Remember the post I where I shared about school lunches all over the world? I have always been a firm believer in good nutrition from a young age, exposing them to all sorts of flavors and tastes that don’t come out of a processed package. I also think that all food groups should be covered in a meal.

Photo from JamieOliver.net

What Jamie Oliver is doing for the school dinner system in his country is a wonderful cause. I’ve signed the petition even though I don’t live in the UK because I believe that this is a cause that should be pursued all over the world and it has to start somewhere.

You can do your part:

• If you are a parent and pack your kids’ lunches, think food groups.

• If you are an influential chef (like Jamie), consider a cause to help improve school lunches.
• If you have a blog, share this in a post.
• If you don’t have a blog, tell everyone you know about this good cause.

After watching a previous Good Eats episode, “Pork Fiction“, Mike embarked on his own rib quest.

The resulting ribs were lip-smackin’, finger-lickin’ and momma-slappin’ [*] good.

First, there was the rub to make

Then, some rubbin’ action

** No momma’s were actually slapped before, during and after the making of these ribs.
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Without saying too much to cloud this already rainy day, this quote by Lori Carson on her journal does it for me:

I had the privilege of knowing someone who’s met Lori. And I think “smitten” is the best word to describe how she left him that day.

Lazy me didn’t make puff pastry from scratch for these carmelized palmiers. I used Pepperidge Farm’s puff pastry sheets, some cardamom sugar, cinnamon, some egg and out came these cute delicious palmiers.

A good recipe here.