OverGround: January 2009

(NOTE TO READER: it looks like a lot of words, I know, but don't worry, pictures are buried "deep" within the contents so it will aaaaall be worth it)

For those of you who know me at all, you know that I'm not one to......cook. Or at least not until more recently anyway. I was spurred to change that in myself recently by a trip to see my family in Kansas this past Thanksgiving. I teamed up with my mom and Kevin to make potatoes au gratin, deviled eggs and pumpkin pie. Now while the pumpkin pie making process is not much more than pouring and mixing, it was still the first one I ever made, and I was proud of myself. *beam* And the potatoes - shwew! Now that was a' cookin'. So I stored that little recipe nugget in my brain to take home and make for Kevin's family Thanksgiving and it was a hit! Seconds abounded! (in that people got seconds-sometimes I don't make sense)

So I got a bit of the cooking bug, but I've begun to realize how ill-equipped our kitchen was for......cooking. Not the kitchen itself, it's been equipped just fine, but rather the utensils were lacking. Like, oh I don't know...a CUTTING BOARD. And a NON-SERRATED KNIFE for, let's say....CUTTING POTATOES! All of these epiphanies came to me while I was getting preparing the potatoes au gratin for Kevin's side of the family. It was then that I realized that a serrated steak knife was simply not going to work. I wasn't making potato chips au gratin after all.

Luckily (and unluckily) we have a Tom Thumb within walking distance from our apartment. (don't worry I drove) I say luckily obviously because of the proximity, and I say unluckily because Tom Thumb is ridiculously expensive and I prefer the flagship Kroger any day, and it's still pretty close, but not close enough when your potatoes are turning brown with every passing second you're out buying all the things reasonable, cooking people already have in their homes!!!

So I stock up some and things are fine. Plus I learned about the whole "put the potatoes in water" trick. Also I learned that I should check my utensils before I begin preparing ANY meal.

All that to say, on Tuesday, our office got out a wee bit early because of the impending inclement weather, and Kevin's been on a mini-vacation of sorts so I suggest that we cook at home, where we can be cozy while the wintery arctic blast mix descends upon us. He naturally agreed. So I look in my allrecipes.com recipe box because I'm feeling in a chicken mood. They have one titled "Easy Garlic Broiled Chicken", and I like the word "easy" and so does Kevin. We also had some wild rice in the pantry so we collectively decide this is going to be our cozy night dinner of choice.

Problem 1: I don't know how to broil anything.

Now I know that I seem like a cute little fool to some of you (Annie) cooking connoisseurs, but I'm just learning. And I did go into this at LEAST knowing that when you broil something it cooks from the top burner of the oven, so I wasn't completely clueless - just to the nuances. So to fix this problem, we do two things - a) google the phrase "What is broil?" which leads us to this answer, which is helpful....then b) call my mom, who was more helpful and has broiled successfully many a time.

I should also mention that for Christmas, since we had been talking about cooking more, etc., Mom got us this amazing knife set, a cute little timer (seen later in pics) fancy tiny measuring spoons from William Sonoma (again I say FANCY!), a nice bread cutting/presentation board, cook books and most cutestly (work with me), matching personalized aprons for me and my boo. See adorable picture below:

So with Mom's insight and our determination, we set out to the store to get a baster (one of the aforementioned utensils we lack and don't know we lack it until something calls for basting), chicken thighs and soy sauce (low sodium, what what!) in one of those cute little restaurant containers and we're back in the kitchen cooking.

Oven hot! Broil on hot oven, broil on!

Controversial Kevin, always stirring the pot:

And after a quick 20 minutes of ovening, basting, turning, ovening, we get this:

And with the side dish:

And finally.......PRESENTATION!

The food was AMAZING and Kevin and I both think it might be the best chicken we've ever had!! Let's just say we'll be buying more thighs reeeeeeals soon!

Thanks Mom!

p.s. thigh is a strange word.

"Lord, in the memory of all the saints who from their labors rest, and in the joy of a new beginning, we ask you to help us work for that day when black will not be asked to get in back, when brown can stick around ... when yellow will be mellow ... when the red man can get ahead, man; and when white will embrace what is right. That all those who do justice and love mercy say Amen."

Perhaps my favorite quote of the inauguration by Joseph E. Lowery during the benediction. You can go here for an audio clip. Cute.

I've been perusing various photos online of the inauguration, and some of the best I've found come from The Boston Globe. Pictures like these make me wish I were a photographer.

Here are a few of my faves (click on them to make them super big):

We sure have a handsome administration.