This, will not last forever.
I know for sure that at some point, not only will William not want to kiss his 'little' brother, "Squeaky," he won't want to kiss me either. I'm fully prepared to drop him off a block away from school, but I don't think I'm ready to no longer hear "Daddy!" screamed at the top of his lungs when he hears me walk through our front gate.
Ever.
I can't believe that I'm about to quote an Oprah Show, this will no doubt please my wife and give my 'CFO' at work more fodder, but here it goes... I remember seeing one about your body language when you come home. What's the first thing your kids see when you walk through that door?
It just stuck with me.
I try to remember that when I'm pulling up to our home. It's even harder when it's that 30 minutes before the guests arrive and you're trying to check things off of your list and make sure that you still have 5 minutes, no 2 minutes to shower, and is your face too scratchy cause you might need to shave too, so make that 1 minute.
I'm getting all flustered just typing that! I always say that the secret to a great dinner party is to have the drinks ready to go before the guests arrive, and if they happen to enjoy one and a half or three before the first course rolls out, they're gonna L O V E everything you're servin' up!
We're heading back to Tucson in a week and a half and I'm cooking for an open house at my mother in law's and I was thinking Chicken Wings might be fun! I think that nothing beats the original Buffalo Wing, but you know me... you gotta try something different right?
Coat 3 lbs of chicken wings with a jar of Harissa. Bag 'em and throw it in your fridge overnight. The next day take 4 Shallots, a tsp of chinese 5 spice, a tbsp paprika, 2 tbsps olive oil, 1tsp fresh rosemary, 1 tsp sugar and 1tsp salt and blend it until smooth. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.
Remove the wings from your fridge, and add the paste to your bag. Smush it all up until the wings are well coated. I line a half sheet with tin foil and place an oiled rack on top of the foil and the wings on top of that, but you could just bake e in a brownie dish if you wanted to keep the fuss to a minium.
Bake those wings until they're done and you could make a peanut dipping sauce for 'em if you wanted to...
If anyone has a recipe for making those kisses last a little longer, I'm open to suggestions.
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Hi, Michael! (and Sara, William, and Little Buddha Gavin!)
ReplyDeleteI'm sorry I didn't get to see you all when you were in Tucson recently, and I'm very sorry I didn't get a chance to eat the wonderful tacos you made for Barbara's party. This website gives me a clue as to the level of food knowledge/interest/creativity going on at your house! And I loved your observation, Michael (okay, and Oprah) about minding your body language when you walk in your door. I wish my father had had the same self-awareness--mainly I remember him lunging for the pitcher of martinis. So that's my motion-picture memory of his homecomings--a shame. Sounds like yours are more joyful.
And I plan to try the chicken wing recipe--if I can find real wings, not "drumettes." (What part of a chicken is THAT?)
Take care, y'all--
Susan
I watched that Oprah show, too--and my wife was also quite happy! Great post--thanks for sharing.
ReplyDeleteSusan,
ReplyDeleteI thought the "drumettes" were the girl band version of The Chipmunks?
Weird.
My other favorite sauce is the original. I use 1 part red rooster hot sauce to one part earth's balance "margarine" and celery seeds (about a tsp per dozen wings)
We made these the other night I deep fried them with a little salt and pepper and then sauced to order, I had a teriyaki sauce, a "smokin'" hot sauce (smoked paprika, chipotle tabasco, and alder smoked sea salt), and of course, the original with celery seeds.
You could caramelize the shallots in the olive oil with salt and pepper, and then blend all other ingredients with about a 1/4 to a 1/3 the amount of Harissa to final product in a food processor if you wanted to offer up that as an option as well!
Sorry you couldn't make it that Monday!
-m :)