9 posts tagged “food”

I bought a little chicken from my local butcher, which prides itself on local, grass-fed meats, which are without fail expensive and delicious. They also have the best eggs I've ever eaten. A bold sign outside declares "New England Can Feed Itself", and despite the freezing temperatures and how tired I am of turnips and kale, I almost believe them.

Given this fierce local/organic approach to their wares, I should have expected what happened. When I got home with a little chicken marked - get this - "Buddhist Style". And indeed, little chicken looks heart-meltingly serene: its little feet were tucked underneath it in a perfect lotus pose, and its head, still very much attached, bent prayerfully to one side. Hello, little chicken! (Typically, they ask me if I want it butchered, but I think they forgot and I assumed.)

I'm not quite sure what to do with it. Do I confess that I am a sissy and take it the mile walk back to the butcher, and make them lop off its extremities? Or man up (as it were) and butcher the thing myself? It brings back memories of my dad saying the reason he never eats chicken is watching his mother kill one by catching it and breaking its neck. My husband certainly doesn't want to play Barber of Tremont Street.

I'm not sure if this will turn me back into a vegetarian, or teach me to finally Get Over It, that my delicious roast bird ones had a face and feet. The rest of the world would surely sigh in impatience that I would even be thinking twice about this.

I think I'll call her Marie Antoinette. The beheading is scheduled for 5pm this evening.

all in a pretty row

Thanksgiving is one of my very favorite holidays. I nearly always have at least two Thanksgivings to attend, one of which is typically cooking for large groups of my friends, with a good percentage of vegetarians. Cooking a traditionally meat-heavy holiday for discerning veggies is always a challenge, but one I enjoy: it involves a lot of side dishes, and there's more meat for the rest of us.

A good balance in a mixed herbivore/omnivore crowd is usually 50/50 meats and non-meats, because there's always one or two vegetarians who break after the 3rd glass of gluwein.

I have a bunch of things bookedmarked at del.icio.us, including the now-famous butternut squash lasagne. I find having a main course style dish for vegetarians and meat-eaters alike gives it the all-important inclusiveness.

I'm trying my hand at pecan pie this year for the first time - I've never been much of a baker since it's too precise for me, but it's worth a shot!

Do you have favorites, non-meaty or otherwise? (I'm sure this will be a QOTD this week, but...)

Which I do. Mostly. Brown rice, wheat pitas, lots of fresh fruit and veggies, tra la.

And then there is Oven Fried Chicken.
(roughly translated from Southern Living)

Mix up in a bowl some panko bread crumbs and crappy powdered parmesan, add some herbs and salt and pepper. This is your breading.

Melt anywhere from 1/2-a full stick of butter, depending on how many you're feeding. Add a bunch of minced garlic and a dollop of dijon mustard. This is your binding. Also, yum.

Take chicken pieces (breast, thigh, whatever is on sale) and make into nugget size.

Dip in garlic butter, roll in parm/bread crumbs, pour leftover butter on the top, bake at 375 until yummy. About 20 minutes did for very flat chicken bits.

Updated to add a photo:. If you look, there is a piece missing from the middle. I had to make sure it wasn't poison before I photographed it. If only I could add a scent/taste to Vox posts.

Heart attack

Well, then, go outside and find the damn thing yourself.

After searching for a Stitch-N-Bitch type thing around here to see if someone would teach me more than one kniting stitch, I found the South End Farmer's Market.  Loads of little handbags covered in robots and skulls, jewelry made of paintings in actual galleries, wallets with evacuation plans, and oh, the darling things that were there! But I can't go shopping for food and come home with a bunch of beads. (Yet.) Instead, I got lemon verbena honey, heirloom tomatoes, fresh corn and a basket of blueberries all for about $8. I wore my favorite Mule shirt which was a big hit, so expect to see some Boston orders soon. And then they have this:

indie craft smackdown

punk rock farmer's market

It was all the best things about the Laney Flea, but with no dust and italian ice instead of snow-cones. (No elotes, though.)

what does one do with the leftovers of a roasted chicken? Bearing in mind it is warm weather here on the East Coast, and I'll be damned if I'm turning on the oven again after roasting said chicken.

I've got an easter potluck-style brunch to attend tomorrow, and I should make something. I'm a decent hand in the kitchen and ready to make something delightfully graze-able.

any ideas?

"not to worry...chicken curry!"

My college housemate's mom, Miss Kavita, used to say "not to worry, chicken curry!" when anyone was

a. sick
b. sad
c. plain old hungry.

I am C.

I prefer my curry super-hot and more soupy, just with the basics and naan to soak up the extra.

(she also used to say she was allowed to have McDonald's burgers, because it had the karma ground out of it. Ah, the South, corrupting morals since 1776.)

They said it was their specialty - salt and pepper crab - so of course we had to get it. Salt and pepper squid is one of the things I always get when eating Chinese (best at China First on Clement.)

And having grown up eating crab all summer, every summer, and fried things year round, I figured I couldn't go wrong.

It arrived, and  Jenny and I looked at it, and said "must be soft shell!" because it was fried on the outside of the shell. And soft shell crab is also one of my favorites. So in I chomped.

It was hard shell, a dungeness crab to be exact.

Since we had all sorts of nice diners around us watching for my reaction, I carefully chewed my bite and swallowed, and then looked at the crab cracker implements on the table, and it all made sense.

salt & pepper crab