Fry, part the first

Dig this. I decided I was going to fry the hell out of stuff for a few days. I started with the obvious.

Chicken. Chicken thighs to be exakt. I like thighs.

I cut the chicken parts into pieces parts, cutting against the grain (some people don't think this is necessary, I think they should fuck off). Tossed the parts up with some salt, then marinated in a mix of miso paste and sake.

The vegetable oil was heated to about 340 degrees. When the parts were done swimming in marinade for a bit, they got dipped in soy sauce and dusted with corn starch (you could use potato starch, which will get a more typically Asian fry, but I didn't do that because I didn't). Then the frying commenced. Three to five minutes per part.

The accompanying zucchini rings are just zucchini cored and sliced into rings and fried for the briefest time. Just to get them tender.

The results were really tender and had damn good taste. I didn't even bother with sauce, though I wouldn't stop you if you went that route.

The Moon and Jupiter

Go look. Jupiter will be bright as hell and right next to the moon. By the end of the month, Venus will be in conjunction and you'll see all three snuggled up.

That really bright object near the moon tonight is Jupiter. Venus, which is even brighter as seen from Earth than Jupiter, will be climbing up toward Jupiter all month, reaching conjunction on 11/30 or 12/1 depending on where you are. Right now, Venus is near the horizon but will be close to Jupiter toward the end of the month.

Hopefully you were looking up for some earthshine on Halloween as well.

This is nice consolation for a bright moon during the mid-November Leonids this year.

Halloween-time!

On tap for the rugrats that are brave enough to ring my doorbell: Reese's Peanut Butter Cups, Kit Kat, Hersey's plain, Butterfinger Crisps, Gummy Bears, Spree, Sweetarts, Sweetart Chews.

There is an awesome combo bag of Spree, Sweetart, Sweetart Chews and Bit-O-Honey. I removed all of the Bit-O-Honey. I don't want any chilluns gettin' hurt on the Bit-O-Honey, ya know?

Here's a few family shots:

Some Kind of Soup

Recipe from NY Times via Slashfood

NY Times link.

They call it a Provençal Potato “Bouillabaisse”, or a “poor man’s bouillabaisse.” Given that one of the ingredients is "a generous pinch of saffron threads," I'm not sure that it's a poor man's anything. Unless, of course, this is the political version of a poor man which means you probably make a paltry $121,000 a year or some shite. Poor bastard.

Anywho, it still rocks the pots with piles of onion, leek, potato, tomato and such. Really doesn't take much effort, but looks good and tastes good. If you go so far as to do the poached egg finish, you will impress some ham-handed kitchen noob and anyone that really likes eggs.

I'm happy to say that it might even be better on heating the next day (though, obviously, not the poached egg bit, which is best freshly poached). Served with some really good bread from the local fella down the street.

Roxanne

Greatest thing on the Interzone today. A walk through of the 1984 Roxanne battles. Throw on your adidas track suit, polish your chains, crank up the boom box and follow along here.

If you have no clue what I'm on about, shame on you. It's never too late to learn.

Polls say what?

The Chicago Tribune did a poll to find out what the IL Governor's approval rating was. They came up with an approval rating of 13%. The poll also determined that 8% of respondents think Blago lived up to his promise to end corruption. There were 500 participants in the survey. Without getting deep into stats and polling issues, we are left to consider that roughly 65 people of those 500 taking the survey approve of Blagojevich. Ten percent of participants want him reelected.

Who the fuck are you people?

This isn't even a partisan issue. Pay attention.

Maybe we can just assume those people are getting something out of it. Wink, wink.

Diwali - Find a place to do it

Festival of Light and all that jazz. No better reason to go experience something.

Suggestions for Chicagoans here and here.

I'm pretty sure something will be happening near Devon Ave. Just park a few blocks away and walk or cab over there.

I like this fellow's description of his Devon Ave experience. Read it all, it reeks of Devon. Here's an excerpt:

I knew we were on Devon Avenue even before I had had a chance to read the
road sign. I knew when I saw the festive store signs, in everything from Arabic
to Gujrati lettering, advertising everything from halal meat to electronics to
luggage to fish. I knew when I saw the colorful stores with hot pink sarees,
neon yellow salwaars and bright purple skirts. I knew when I saw the familiar
throng of people in pyjamas and prayer hats strolling down the street. I knew
when I saw the paan shop and little groups of people idling around outside the
store on a weekday. I knew right then I was in Mera Hindustan. Ahem. That is,
Little India. Or Litte Pakistan. Or Little Bangladesh.

On a side note, I'm pretty sure this add doesn't say what it meant to.