Mac n' Cheese n' Chicken too

1 tablespoon cooking oil
1lb chicken breast (two seemed right)
1 small onion, chopped
Seasoning, to taste

1 package of Kraft Dinner
2 cups of vegetables (broccoli is best, but anything works)
2 cups of water
1/4 cup sour cream

Heat oil in pan, add onions, then chicken. Season chicken as you like. Paprika recommended, but salt and pepper work if you have nothing else. Cook chicken until almost done.

Stir in two cups of water and pasta. Cover and let simmer for 10 minutes or until pasta is done. Stir in vegetables. Add sour cream and cheese mix. Stir. You may need to turn down the heat and let simmer to reduce the liquid. Tastes good as leftovers for lunch the next day.

Grilled Pork and Mango Salad

From my new favourite cookbook, Company's Coming: Simple Suppers.

1lb Pork Tenderloin
1 tsp Chili powder
1/4 cup hickory bbq sauce

8 Cups cut or torn romaine lettuce
14 oz can of sliced mangoes, chopped
1 cup thinly sliced red pepper

Sweet and Spicy Dressing
1/2 cup Italian or ranch dressing
2 tbsp Lime or orange juice
2 tbsp liquid honey
1/2 tsp chili powder

Sprinkle all sides of pork with chili powder. Cook on grill until done, turning occasionally. Brush with bbq sauce and cook for another 4 to 5 minutes. Remove to cutting board. Cover with foil and let stand for 10 minutes. Cut into slices.

Layer next 3 ingredients on 4 large plates. Top with pork.

Dressing
Combine all ingredients in bowl. Makes about 3/4 cup. Drizzle over salads.

Okay, here's my improvisations. First of all, I was only cooking for two so I halved the pork and the lettuce. For the pork I actually used two boneless pork chops and cooked them on the George Foreman. I didn't have romaine lettuce so I used iceberg. I used one fresh mango. Use two if cooking for four. I cut up half of one red pepper.

For the dressing I used the Italian and the orange juice. Lime would have been better, but I didn't have it. I made the full recipe and kept the left overs to use on my lunch salad the next day.

The meal turned out great and was quick and easy. Would have been better with a nice white wine.

Baileys + ? = yum

Went to Rob's place to hang out with him and Vince. It was a snowy evening so I felt like drinking something cozy--Baileys! Caramel Baileys to be precise. You can drink Baileys with coffee or hot chocolate, you can drink Bailey's straight on ice. You can drink it in a house with a mouse, on a train with a dame... As I sat there in Rob's big comfy leather chair with my Bailey's on ice I thought to myself, "hmm, this is good. This makes me think of a Paralyzer--Kahlua, vodka, milk, and Coke. What if you mixed Baileys with Coke? No need for milk cuz Baileys is already creamy." This is what happens when you mix Baileys and Coke.






Begin by pouring some random amount of Baileys over ice.




















Next, add some random amount of Coke (we're not supposed to measure for this blog, right?)
















Hmmm....













Yeah, the results are not pretty. It reminded me of a demonstration of how yeast works. It tasted okay (I would have added milk but I didn't see any in Rob's fridge and I didn't want to continue experimenting by adding eggnog as a substitute). The lesson learned here was, you cannot always improve upon something that tastes good already on its own.

Eggs, it's what's not for lunch

I decided on Sunday that I wanted to boil some eggs for making egg salad, adding to a chicken Caesar salad, etc. I put six eggs into a pot of boiling water and waited. I asked my mom how long I should wait and she said four minutes (if this sounds horribly off please forgive her, as I have, as she was deliriously ill and registering a .10% cough syrup level in her system). After four minutes I took one egg out and conducted the highly scientific egg doneness test of spinning it on the counter. RPMs seemed high enough so I called the eggs done.

I left them to cool until 10:30 pm that night when I retrieved one for making my sandwich. I cracked the egg on the counter while thinking of how much I really enjoy peeling the egg shell off of the cooked egg. This one was coming off rather messy though in chips, rather than the large pieces I am accustomed to. The egg itself felt weird and rubbery. While attempting to peel off one particularly difficult shard I broke the egg open and discovered that the yolk was runny. I figured that all the eggs were probably in the same state.

It was getting late, I wanted to go to bed, and I had french running through my head as a result of some cramming for my speaking test today. I did not want to boil another pot of water to attempt to re-cook the remaining five eggs. I did however really want an egg salad sandwich for lunch and quite frankly didn't have anything else to take. So I took the pot, filled it with water, put the eggs back in, and popped them in the microwave.

Now I know eggs and microwaves don't really go together well. If you're doing eggs in the mikey you usually need a special dish, a certain method. I figured that because the eggs would be floating in the bath of hot water that they would not be at risk for exploding and blowing the door off. Well I was right about that part at least.

After some time in the microwave I removed the eggs, dumped out the water and poured cold water over top. Feeling rather impatient (and that is a characteristic I will fully own up to) I decided to crack one open. Crack. Peel. BOOM!

Like the bomb diffuser who had mistakenly cut the wrong wire, I apparently removed the wrong area of shell at the wrong time, which literally resulted in me having egg on my face. And on the window. And the cupboards. Possibly the neighbour's mailbox.

I blinked a few times and thanked my lucky stars that I did not lose an eye. I think my first thoughts were "shit these are new contacts, I better not have egg embedded in them".

I examined what was left of the egg, it looked salvageable. Dumped it into a bowl. And then I decided to try another egg. This one didn't explode but it oozed a brown liquid from the centre. The yolk was burnt and it smelled horrendously. It looked like a Fear Factor challenge. I tried another egg, same thing. I cracked them all open and then tossed them. I gagged my way through making a veggie sandwich. I could not get that smell and the image of the brown ooze out of my head. I may never be able to look at another egg without feeling a wave of nausea.

So needless to say, I don't think I can move out of my mother's nest until I learn how to boil an egg without it blowing up in my face.

Next time I do something profoundly intelligent I think I'll post about that. I must redeem myself.

Originally published March 27-06 on ajillstory