Sunday, February 08, 2015

Some things with pics

 Maya received a guitar from my mother for Christmas.  This is her first attempt at holding it.  Apparently she has not watched enough rock music being played.
 Susan is out of town this entire past week.  Seemed like a good reason to throw a clothes folding party.
 New seat bag for the Moonlander.  Revelate Ermine.  Smaller, lighter and more simple than my big one.  I hope to leave it on the bike and use it all year unless I need the bigger volume of my Viscacha.
 The girls have done great at helping out around the house while Susan is away.  Maya found out that her hat can function as a disco ball.
 She has a lot of homework.
 We did a night walk with Mazy and played boot hockey with a rock on Bluff Creek.  
 Mazy is a creative relaxer.
 Maya decided yesterday that she wanted to have some glasses as a fashion item.  She used her own money and bought them in the Eden Prairie mall at Claires.  She is aware that they are gigantic but  said she wanted them to be like a female character she likes from the movie Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs.

I am very proud of my girls.  This morning they told me to stay out of the kitchen and made breakfast by themselves.  And Maya is still wearing the glasses.  

Saturday, January 24, 2015

Chicken feet food adventure

Made up a recipe for chicken feet that I am happy with.
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Found some good looking chicken feet at the Lakewinds co op and started the cook by cutting their nails.  
I have had chicken feet a few times before and they always kind of grossed me out.   I suspected the soggy texture they had was to blame for my inability to appreciate them.  I have a personal food rule however and that is that if over a million people in the world like some food item there is no reason why I shouldn't find a way to appreciate it.  
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I also got to use a knife I recently purchased from an old Hmong guy who makes them at one of the Hmong malls in St. Paul.  I love how he made it out of repurposed materials.  All about function rather than form.  
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Pressure cooked them for 30 minutes.  
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After the pressure cook I put three different sauces on them.  A hoisin sauce, a Zatarains Blackened seasoning and butter sauce and a sauce I made up with what is in the pic (honey, Sriracha, fish sauce and sesame oil).  This last one was the best by far.   I put a little off of equal parts of each ingredient with a little more hot sauce and a little less fish sauce.  
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Mazy our dog enjoyed the process of me rubbing the three sauces on the pressure cooked feet.
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Onto my large egg cooked direct at about 450 until browned up a bit.   Then onto the plate.  The texture was much more to my liking.  Crispy parts mixed with soft connective tissue, collagen and fatty parts all in a tasty sauce.  I really enjoyed these chicken feet and will definitely be making them again.    
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