Wings

I love chicken wings. For all the lovely euro-cuisines, nothing makes me more giddy than a big pile of crunchy juicy buffalo style chicken wings.

Tonight I went to Buffalo Wild Wings, not my first choice, since they tend to over sauce their wings. However, these wings totally satisfied my craving. This morning, Emeril had a whole show on wings on as a repeat. Not fair. Only last night the husband threw in my face the face that he went to wings. Something had to happen, so following rehearsal we decided to go to Wing Zone in Milwaukee, which frequently has a dancing chicken on the roadside corner promoting. It's supposed to be fantastic. However, they have no place to sit, so the party was transfered to BW3.

When I'm at home, chicken wings are a treat. I make them for special occasions due to their fried status. Sometimes I'll so a blend of dry spices and cook them in the oven. But when I fry them, that's when the fun comes in.

A couple of years ago I bought the husband a fryer as an xmas present. Since then we use it sparingly, for specialty items, like this bitty chick. I fry my chicken wings, or drummets unflowered till golden brown at 350-375 for no more than 10-12 minutes. Remember never to leave your fryer unattended!!!

For the "Buffalo" sauce, I have kind of developed my own recipe. Depending on the amount of wings I melt 1/2 to 1 stick of butter, add in 1-2 Tbs of sriracha sauce, or more! Then I add a few Tbs of white vinegar and actually some Emeril seasoning. If you don't have that you can do chili powder, paprika, garlic and onion powder. Actually one of the more fun parts about making homemade wings is experimenting with flavors.

Anyway let the butter cool slightly till it's thick enough then toss the wings in it and remove them after coating so they stay crunchy.

There's no substitute for a great chicken wing! And frying stuff is just downright fun. Make some for your favorite Sunday sports game and try out different flavor combos! Regardless, they are fried and spicy and full of lovely goodness.

Dinner not to be repeated (read at your own risk.)

I thought I'd share what you should not eat for dinner. I have a little cold, which is at the stage where you don't want to do anything except lay in bed. This definitely means not cooking.

I knew I had to eat something healthy, since we have a concert in a few days, so I started pulling things out of my pint-sized fridge. I had picked up a chicken breast and my bag of kale from a friend's much larger fridge/freezer. Noticing that my tiny tomatoes were about to be completely ruined, I picked out the ones that I could salvage and quartered them. The I recalled how a friend said she loved cottage cheese with them, and having some threw in the tomatoes, eating as I prepped the kale. I thought this was smart and healthy, it was like a little appetizer.

Sauteed red onion, garlic and chili flake in olive oil. Added blanched kale and a little white wine vinegar. Presto! Yummy. Kale.

These two separate dishes, however, DO NOT go well together. I realized after almost finishing my absurd amount of cottage cheese and tomatoes that I didn't want the chicken breast I had been thawing. That was sad, as the appetizer quickly became the accompaniment for sauteed kale. UGH. Just writing about it makes me feel gross.

Anyway, don't ever eat these two things in the same sitting. You won't be happy, no matter how much you think it doesn't make a difference.