Fryin' Time

I love chicken wings. Who doesn't? But I don't eat chicken wings on a regular basis. For one thing, they're too expensive at restaurants. Good God, this is a part of the chicken that used to practically be a throw-away scrap, or maybe a source of soup stock at best. But some dude in New York cooks up some chicken wings with some hot sauce, and the next thing you know, wings are more expensive than legs and thighs, and everybody's crazy about them, including me.

What's a guy to do? Well, I could make wings at home.

Frying wings, like in a deep fryer, is best, from a taste standpoint. Not having a deep fryer, I've used a big frying pan, but it's so messy that it's a discouraging option. You can bake the wings, but the skin comes out a little too rubbery and greasy. I grilled some wings once, and that wasn't bad, but the skin still didn't crisp up as much as I wanted.

I'd put baking as third choice. Grilling as second choice, and frying as the undisputed winner.

When we were in North Carolina this summer, my parents have a Fry Daddy, a very popular little deep fryer. I fried some chicken wings for my birthday meal, coated them with my favorite sauce (Frank's RedHot...I'm a purist), and they were borderline perfect. The only thing missing was some butter mixed with the sauce to give it a little extra cling. Those wings were so good that it made me want to buy a deep fryer...

As football season kicked off a few weeks ago, I got the urge once again to make my own perfect wings. Restaurant wings, in addition to being expensive, are hit-and-miss. Some places have good wings, some places have average wings, and some are just plain weak. When I've tried wings at restaurants, they're sometimes too dry, too fatty, not saucy enough, too small, you name it. Maybe I'm just too discriminating. I can live with that.

For some reason, Alex wanted onion rings with his birthday meal. Cristina and I love onion rings, but we eat them, oh, I dunno, once a year maybe? But when he said onion rings, I thought to myself, "hmm, that would be another reason to buy a deep fryer. I could get him some crappy, too sweet, onion rings from Sonic...or I could make some REAL onion rings at home. And chicken wings. And hush puppies..."

So I bought a deep fryer. The place I went to didn't have the Fry Daddy, but I got another model by the same company. A little bigger, but not too big that it takes up too much room for the 353 days of the year that I don't use it.

I bought the biggest sweet onion I could find, some onion ring mix, and we made onion rings.

Alex, fighting through the tears, to help with the onion rings.

We thought these looked like a trumpet, the way they stuck together.

And they were delicious. They were devoured as soon as they came out of the fryer and cooled off enough to eat.

I fried some chicken wings too, and they were, dare I say, perfect (I used butter in the sauce).

Now I'm ready to try my own hush puppies.

And one day, in honor of Steve, I might even deep fry a Mars bar. Stay tuned.

The Real Thing...hecho en Meh-hee-co!

If you've read my Costa Rica journals or blog, you know that one of my favorite things about Costa Rica is that you can still get Coca-Cola in glass bottles. It just tastes better. Beer drinkers know that beer tastes best out of glass, and it's the same thing with soda.

Soda made with real sugar instead of high fructose corn syrup tastes better too. It just does. But it's really hard to find soda made with real sugar, since 90% of the soda on the U.S. market is owned by two companies. Sure you can get specialty sodas made with cane sugar. I've done that occasionally. But they're expensive. And sometimes the flavors are kind of fruity. I don't want orange creamsicle soda, even if it is made with real sugar.

I'm not a big soda drinker, by the way. Sure, I drank more than anyone ever should when I worked at a movie theater. But now, other than the occasional Coke at the movies or at a party, I stick to water or tea.

But that doesn't mean I don't love a good, cold Coke in a glass bottle.

One of the advantages of living 4 hours from Mexico is that you can buy Mexican Coke here in Phoenix. Glass bottle. Real cane sugar. It's not cheap, but it's not that much more than buying a Coke from a machine. Maybe you can get Mexican Coke anywhere in the country. I don't know. But I don't recall seeing it in Florida.

As a splurge for this football season, I bought a case of Mexican Coca-Cola today. I'll ice a couple down each Saturday and partake while I watch the Gators. I don't drink alcohol, so I don't feel too bad about this relatively mild indulgence.

Coke...es la cosa verdadera!

Alex's Birthday

Last Saturday was Alex's birthday. Since we've been in Arizona, birthday celebrations have been a bit more low-key, partly because of the heat (we're all born in the summer) and partly because our back yard is so small. Under those conditions, it's hard to have a bunch of kids over for parties like we did in Florida.

So for Alex's 8th birthday, he invited a friend over, Andy. Andy is one of Alex's best friends at school, but until now we've been unable to get them together for a playdate. So it was a special treat for Alex to get to spend the day with Andy.

It's our tradition that on someone's birthday, they get to pick whatever they want for their birthday meal. We decided to make lunch the big meal of the day. Alex wanted Papa John's pizza.


After lunch, I took the kids to Jeepers, an indoor playground kind of place that has carnival-type rides. I took Alex there last year for his birthday, and he wanted to go there again this year. They have little trains, a merry-go-round, bumper cars, and various other rides that go round and make you dizzy.



Best part is it's all indoors! Even though it's getting a little cooler as we head into September, it's still too hot to do stuff outside comfortably.

When we got home, Cristina had baked some birthday brownies and made Alex his own birthday candle.


The day was finished off with Cristina and Alex taking Andy home. And I watched the Gators beat Miami, which hasn't happened since the mid-80's!

The next day, we took Alex to Brilliant Sky and let him pick out a birthday gift. He chose an aquarium-like thing in which you raise "Aquasaurs," little shrimp-like fish. Kind of like Sea Monkeys, but different. And we also got him a Klutz book that teaches you how to fold up a dollar bill into cool shapes, like a ring, or a bow-tie.

Journey to Perfection

High school/college years: ramen noodles...you know, the 18 cent per pack kind, were a main staple in my diet. They're quick. They're tasty. They're relatively filling. They served their purpose well.

Married-with-kids years: the instant ramen all but disappeared from the pantry, although the occasional time I made them for an emergency lunch got my son addicted to them. Soon, he was able to make them himself, and it was one of his life's greatest pleasures, right up there with getting his shoes muddy and fighting with his sisters.

About 5 years ago: I heard an NPR story about ramen noodle restaurants in Japan, and how hugely popular they are. Apparently they are the Japanese equivalent of hamburger places here. There's one on every corner, they're cheap, and everybody loves them. But these are real ramen noodles, not your crappy 18 cent grocery store variety. Hmm. Interesting. I file the story away into the recesses of my brain for future retrieval.

Within the past year: My friend Dom lives in LA. He's married to a Chinese woman named L (her name is Lucinda, but her nickname is L). They like all kinds of food, but, as he shares on a blog post, he's really been into ramen noodles lately. The real kind. Hmm. Interesting.

Dom posts a link to a website that shows how to make a simple miso soup. He claims that something like this, with some ramen noodles, is becoming his favorite meal.

Last week: Dom's mom is visiting them in LA. They take her to their favorite ramen restaurant. As Dom describes the menu in his blog, the NPR story resurfaces in my mind. This time, I am prompted to action. I will make real ramen noodle soup. It will be healthy and excellent. And I will become a god in my son's eyes.

Step 1: find some real ramen noodles. Fresh. Not the fried and dehydrated little bricks of toxicity. The real thing. Cris calls me one day from a huge Chinese grocery store. I tell her to get some real ramen noodles. The clerk shows her the refrigerated case with about 100 different types. We're in business.

The noodles sat in the fridge for several days while I contemplated the next step.

I finally found the link to that miso soup tutorial. I sent Cris to the store to get the ingredients. She didn't go to the Chinese place, though, she went to Sunflower, a health store. She got miso paste, tofu, green onions, and dried seaweed in rectangles, like for sushi. But she didn't get dashi, a soup base made with kelp and fish. She got some kind of fish sauce. Hmm. I would have to improvise.

I decided to use some other seaweed that we had. It was stringy, almost noodle-like. Using chicken broth instead of dashi, I make my first batch of miso ramen soup.



It was pretty. It was fresh. And I'm sure it was healthy. Alex liked the noodles. Bella liked the tofu. And even though we all ate a bowlful...it just wasn't that great. The seaweed was too hair-like and the chicken broth just tasted weird with the miso.

Everyone started out pretty positive, but when it came time for another bowl, or to make lunches for the next day, no one wanted more. First attempt: failure. Not a complete disaster, but still a failure.

I shared my struggles with Dom via email. He was supportive, but didn't offer any concrete advice. I wasn't ready to give up, but I was at a roadblock.

Then, today, a box came in the mail from LA. When I saw who it was addressed from, I asked Cristina "What would Dom be sending us?" I opened it up...


Seaweed, sesame, dried green onions, chili powder, two packages of dashi...

...and some cookie-type things called Moomin biscuits!

What a friend!

This weekend...attempt #2! I will cook ramen noodle soup!

Stay tuned...

Alex knits at school, so here's a video of the best of both worlds!

The Six Steps

When Sofia was young and had weaned, about 3 or 4, I would lay down with her every night till she fell asleep. Sometimes she would have a hard time settling down and falling asleep. I told her it's actually very easy to fall asleep if you just do certain things. I came up with 5 things, to be exact. If you did all 5, you were sure to fall asleep pretty quickly. Pretty soon, she would ask for me to say the Five Steps when she was trying to fall asleep. Eventually, she added a sixth step. The sixth step didn't seem to make as much sense, because you technically don't do it until you've fallen asleep. But she was adamant about adding it. And she always said it with such comfort and joy that I knew it was an important step to her. So it stuck. Even today, I still say it the same way she used to say it.

Anyway, Bella is now at that age, and she often asks for the Six Steps when she's trying to fall asleep. They're nothing revolutionary, but here they are. If you have trouble falling asleep, feel free to try them:

Step 1: Close your eyes.

Step 2: Be very still.

Step 3: Be very quiet.

Step 4: Take deep breaths.

Step 5: Think happy thoughts.

Step 6: is to DREEEAAMM...

Pic of the Day

I'm trying to stay on a roll and post more frequently. I'll keep today's short and post a picture that I thought was funny.

Back to work

Tuesday. I'm back at work. I got almost everything done on my list over the weekend (didn't get to the mail baskets) and even got something that wasn't on my list: a cold. I must have gotten it from Mary's blog. That's what happens when you don't wash your hands after reading someone else's blog.

Oh, I thought of 2 more things that needed to be on my list: wash the dog and cut my hair. The dog got washed, but my hair didn't get cut. Hey, that's till 10 things done from a list of 12. Not bad.

By the way, the Gators won 56 to 10, I got 4 new books for my classroom library, the Turkish food was good, but not as good as last time, and Hamlet 2 was funny. And I did get popcorn and Coke, even after the all-you-can-eat Turkish food. Sometimes you just gotta say "why not."

We got the twin bed out of our room yesterday (that should have been on my list too!) and Bella seemed fine with the idea of now permanently sharing a room with Alex. Although she still came into our bed at 2 am...complaining of hunger! Good thing we keep a supply of cereal by our bed.

I didn't sleep well last night, due to my stuffy nose (and perhaps a 4-year-old in my bed crunching Kashi) so I feel pretty crappy at work today. Just gotta make it through 2 more periods then I can go home and chill. I'm hoping I'll sleep better tonight.