I've been an absentee blogger of late, because we just moved into a new home. My last home for a long, long time. It's beautiful, and it's ours, and I woke up again this morning -- our 9th morning in this place - thinking surely it'll be time to check out soon and get back to reality.
It will come as no surprise to those who know me that the kitchen was a huge selling point. This doesn't make me special; anyone who likes to cook, or eat, really, is probably looking for a nice kitchen when they're home-hunting. I just never thought I'd end up with one. Certainly not now.
I'll post some 'after' photos soon - the countertops are still much too cluttered and we're awaiting a few key pieces that will surely sparkle in their new home.
This 'before' photo from my iPhone captures only half of the kitchen -- and not even the better half. The other side had a huge hole in it now filled with our newly acquired bottom-freezer platinum fridge.
This kitchen doesn't feel like mine yet. It's so pretty, so thoughtfully designed, and it makes me feel so ridiculously fortunate.
On our third night, we threw together a salad in this kitchen to accompany the Moontower and a Big-Medium with Spinach (now delivering to our new 'hood!) that we ordered for our first dinner guests. It was a memorable meal spent mostly on the deck. Lovely, but I longed to be in the kitchen some more.
I got my wish the next night.
It was a Friday, and we were standing around (the kitchen, of course), trying not to think about the weekend ahead, the still-full boxes we'd need to tackle and the considerable amount of homestuffs we still had to go back and get at the old house.
We did a damn fine job in denial and focused on the task at hand: what we were going to have for dinner. Going out was quickly ruled out. I wanted to be home; I wanted to be in our new kitchen.
Mike suggested we make some chicken wings, and ten minutes later we were headed to the grocery store with our list.
Our first real meal in this very real kitchen that really belongs to us was better than we could've imagined. (And imagination you'll need to go with these photos, also taken on the iPhone because we couldn't find the camera.)
Mike and I are huge fans of the Liberty Bar on Austin's east side. We're particularly fond of the East Side Kings food trailer parked in the back, so hip and popular even Anthony Bourdain had to hit it up while he was in town earlier this year. And it's within that trailer that one of our favorite foods - one of the best foods known to man, really - is cooked fresh and hot and brought to you on the back deck: Thai Chicken Karaage.
Chicken Karaage is Japan's version of fried chicken, and it blows KFC right out of the water, er, oil.
Jodi shared a recipe with us a few months ago for karaage, and I remember that evening having the following conversation: "Did you get Jodi's email?" "Yeah. I looked at the recipe, and there's something wrong. It can't be that easy." "Seriously. It can't be that easy."
People, this stuff was easy. Step 1: Toss chicken pieces (in our case, chicken wings) in cornstarch. Step 2: Fry it.
Ta-da! You've got chicken karaage.
Now, you can dress it up with a sprinkle of fish sauces, some fresh cilantro, pickled onions, jalapenos ... the possibilities are endless. Mike found a wing sauce receipe somewhere on the interwebz, akin to the East Side Kings flavors, and it was lovely. A bit of canola oil, sesame oil, soy sauce, lime juice, sugar and fresh cilantro. We threw in a splash of fish sauce for good measure. Because this wasn't the kind of sauce that would be harmed in any way by the addition of some fish sauce.
What we got from this easy fried chicken and this easy sauce was a taste explosion that rivaled East Side Kings. We hardly talked between the 'ooohing' and 'aaahing,' but most of the conversation went something like this: "I can't believe this shit." "Seriously. This is some great shit." "We never have to leave the house again." "Seriously."
So try this at home. Seriously.
We're not big fryers. In fact, that was my first time to ever fry a meal in my own home; I think it was Mike's second. You won't want to eat this every day, but when you do, pair it with something light. We ate this with a spinach salad drizzled with a bit of canola, sesame oil and soy sauce and a squeeze of lime to complement the chicken.
I can't say enough about this stuff. When you're in the mood for crispy, tangy, sweet, crunchy, spicy, hot, and otherworldly -- this will do in a pinch. Literally.
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