The Four Agreements
This book was heavily recommended by Joe 'Freaking' Rogan. I don't listen to his podcast or anything, but every once in a while someone I do follow will appear on his podcast and they'll share a clip, and in this case the honor went to Breaking Points. I was immediately curious, and the book also met my (very important!) under 150 pages reading criteria, so I got myself a phyiscal copy because I am tired of looking at damn screens and I swear it's making my vision go bad -- so bad that I can't see the glideslope lights on the runway proplerly and things are kinda shimmery at night under artificial lighting -- so I don't use my Kindle anymore.
Anyhow... interesting reading so far.
Anoop's Chicken Wings
If I ever had a restaurant, it would be called "Anoop's Delightful Eats" and these wings would be its signature dish and the only dish to bear my name except for the Buccatini Amatraciana which will be Anoop's Buccatini Amatraciana.
Nothing super special here -- it just tastes damn good. Damn damn damn good! I used to make it all the time when I was in Japan, but now I've refined things a bit with a few extra steps, some of which may not really do anything but some of which definitely make it better than the thing I used to make in my lonely studio apt in Shibuya's love hotel district.
- Mix up the wings with salt and tumeric
- Fry up the wings a bit to get some crispness on the wings and fond on the pan
- Remove wings and super thinly sliced onions to the oil. Fry up a bit and then add ginger garlic and tomato paste and cook a bit
- Add some crushed tomatoes which should deglaze the pan
- Add lots of spices. I just throw stuff in here. Chili powder for sure, then something Indiany -- like curry powder or garam masala or some of my burnt masala spice mix (from Bon Apetit).
- Let the spices cook a bit then readd the wings and add a bit of water and bring to a simmer and cover with the heat low and cook for a loooooooong time -- I think I did 45 minutes this time
- Take off the cover and increase the heat and let the liquid evaporate as much as possible -- it should be super dry but still with some yummy curry gunk that can be mushed into your rice
Delight your friends with Anoop's Chicken Wings.
Frenchy Fish and Green Beans
My most recent YouTube cooking obsession is French Cooking Academy, and my first thing from them is this fish shallow poached in Vermouth which is then made into an irresistible pan sauce. Also a side of Haricot Verts Almondine, which I think may just be a pretentious way of saying Green Beans with Almonds.
The fish pan sauce was so tasty and simple that I will definitely make it again... but I used Cod and I really hate Cod so I'll try some other flaky fish next time.
Mini Crack Pie
My second recreation of a Christina Tosi / Milkbar recipe (following Cinnamon Toast Cruch Cereal Milk Ice Cream which I used for my niece's Cinnamon Toast Cruch themed 1st birthday cake a while back). Crack Pie is a very buttery and sweet pie in an oatmeal cookie crust. You can really only eat a sliver and even then it needs some coffee to wash it down -- so an excellent sugary breakfast starter, but I'd go with something else for actual desert.
Instead of a full pie, I made little mini versions in my mini tart pans and they came out just fine -- literally, as I'd been thinking they'd get stuck but that wasn't a problem. (Probably because my tart pans have removable bottoms -- the bottom of the pie need some knife coaxing.)
I don't know which recipe I used, but there are a bunch out there all based off the original, which has been published. I didn't have Powdered Milk so I instead used a bit of milk and cornstarch, then I upped the cornstarch a bit more (like half a teaspoon extra) and ended up with something that set nicely even without chilling, which meant I could dig in less than an hour after baking.
Lobster Mac & Cheese
An excellent Chef John take on Lobster Mac & Cheese with a slick presentation thanks to the shell garnish. And I didn't have to kill any Lobsters with my bare hands, so bonus!
Lobster tails make for a pricy Mac & Cheese, so this is probably best left for an occasion where you need to really impress someone (someone meaning not your 11yo nephew, though he did ask for seconds which is pretty high praise).
