Kebabs

Here's another delicious meal to make. I had these kebabs at my mom's house when we were in Mpls a couple of weeks ago. I dreamed about them for a couple of days and now have just made them for the third time since the Minnesota trip. Actually, this third time they have not actually been prepared, they are marinating. The recipe suggest an hour or so-- if you do that they'll be great. But if you give them 24-48 hours. Wowie.

These are called "Chicken Brochettes in the Style of Fez" and the recipe is from the weekly Splendid Table email from NPR.

You will need: flat metal or bamboo skewers

Advance preparation: 30 minutes to 1 hour for marinating the kebabs

* 1-1/2 pounds skinless, boneless chicken thighs or breasts, cut into 1 x 1 x 1/2 inch pieces
* 3 tablespoons finely chopped fresh mint
* 3 tablespoons finely chopped fresh cilantro
* 3 tablespoons finely chopped flat-leaf parsley, or more mint or cilantro (I use more mint/cilantro since parley is like a fake herb)
* 1-1/2 teaspoons coarse salt (kosher or sea)
* 1 teaspoon ground cumin
* 1 teaspoon ground turmeric
* 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
* 2 tablespoons vegetable oil

1. Rinse the chicken under cold running water, then blot it dry with paper towels. I usually forget this step, but will admit it is a best-practice. Place the chicken in a large nonreactive mixing bowl. Add 2 tablespoons each of the mint, cilantro, and parsley and the salt, cumin, turmeric, and pepper, and stir to mix. Stir in the oil. Let the chicken marinate in the refrigerator, covered, for 30 minutes to 1 hour. (or 2 days if you're thinking ahead of time)

2. Thread the chicken through the thin side onto skewers so that the flat side of the chicken will be exposed to the fire.

3. Set up the grill for direct grilling and preheat it to high.

4. When ready to cook, brush and oil the grill grate (I don't do this, my chicken sticks). Arrange the chicken brochettes on the hot grate and grill them until golden brown and cooked through, 4 to 6 minutes per side.

I would suggest serving them with tzatziki, I like this recipe and Israeli couscous. Because I love Israeli couscous so much more than regular couscous.

The kebabs and tzatziki are also great things to make a lot of and eat over several days. You can even conserve some uncooked chicken to continue marinating and have delicious dinners for days

Snowflake

On the way to BWI last week, I boarded my flight from PHX to Cincinnati. When I got to my seat, I was supposed to have the window but this older couple had sat themselves in the window and the aisle with a bag in between them. I have had terrible luck lately on airplanes and had my seat taken by other more frequently than it should. I don't really care, so long as I don't get stuck in the middle when I'm supposed to have an end. But even then I don't make a big deal about it, just silently brood most of the flight. Anyway, I got to the seat and gave them my best midwestern grin, "Hi, sorry, I'm here, too." They remarked they didn't mind sharing so long as they had such a jolly companion. As Erica asked upon the retelling of the story, how did they know you were jolly? A good question.
I sat on the aisle, they asked me questions. They were from Snowflake, AZ and as the conversation went on, I realized, they were Mormon. Now, I don't like to think of myself as someone immediately creeped out by someone because of their religion, but apparently I am (maybe helped by questions from strangers like, "so, are you GOING to get married?"). Overall, they were perfectly nice and kind of like a satisfaction of my earlier strong interest/obsession with Mormonism. They at one point asked if I knew anything about Mormonism... an honest answer would be I wrote a lengthy research paper in college on the sensationalistic anti-mormon polygamy literature of the 19th century, I am almost done with Under the Banner of Heaven and if I have met a fallen Mormon after a couple of drinks over the past 10 years, it usually ends with me poking them in the chest and getting way too excited. But I said, "yes, a little."
Snowflake, as you will now know if you clicked on that link is a Mormon town in Arizona named for Mr. Snow and Mr. Flake. The husband of this couple is a Flake. Through our conversation, I learned they were headed to Nauvoo to see their daughter and grandchildren in a religious pageant that I deduced was in honor of Pioneer Day. They were carrying with them a family tree with accountings of which ancestors had been saved. Holy crap, this was like super Mormons. It was basically like some really bizarre dream come true. And way more entertaining than my seatmate from BWI to Atlanta on the return who forced me to feign sleep most of the way after she said (in a completely and inappropriately loud voice) "PHOENIX! WELL THAT MUST BE A WHOLE DIFFERENT... EXPERIENCE." After a full-day of little sleep and hangover recovery, I had no idea what this meant and I didn't want to explore. So I said, "well, actually, I don't live in Phoenix, I have a two-hour drive ahead of me when I get there" and closed my eyes. Oh, modern air travel.

Flauren 2k10

Wedding #4 of the summer was Fletcher and Lauren's in Luray, Va, in the Shenandoah valley. I skipped town Thursday morning and made it to Baltimore Thursday night where I had mediocre Mexican food with decidedly non-mediocre company. We high-tailed it (well, after having breakfast with the groom from wedding #3 and taking our time) out to Virginia Friday and spent the afternoon tasting Virginia wines and drinking shandys by the pool of the Days Inn. It was approximately 97-102 degrees all weekend, just for context.
Anyway, the wedding and all affiliated festivities were excellent. It was great to spend time with old friends and even meet some new friends (how is that for a novel concept, huh, Sarah?) The wedding itself was gorgeous and there was a lot of crying involved, wedding #4 takes the prize for most tears jerked. And then after some delicious dinner, quickly and appropriately devolved into a hot, sweaty, drunken dance-party mess. I mean "mess" in the good way.

May I present a pictorial representation of the transition from beautiful and classy to aforementioned mess:







I loved it. And somehow Lauren managed to still look awesome at the end of the night, good work!

Recuerdo

This is a small story about this ring. My dad's dad (who died when my dad was 23, long before I was born) gave it to my grandma when they were dating. Then my dad gave it to my mom as an engagement ring. Then my mom gave it to me, a number of years ago. I wore it regularly and then one day- pop- hit it against a wall or something while it was on my hand and took a chunk out of the moonstone. And then it sat in my mom's jewelery box for probably 10 years. When I was home weekend before last, I took it back and brought it into a jeweler here. The size of the stone was slightly irregular and so on, but I picked it up today. It looks lovely, it's back on my finger, all polished and looks better than I've ever seen it since it came to me after 60+ years of... love . The jeweler was confused that it was an engagement ring, "well, I've never seen a moonstone for an engagement before" but admired it's art deco style. I love it. I'm so glad to have it back and to have a little piece of grandma (and my parents) on my finger.

House Woes

You know how homeowners are always like, "oh! groan! owning is a house is such a pain and so expensive!" And how potential homebuyers are like "renting is such a waste of money! how bad could it be?" I am transitioning from the latter to the former, quite quickly with the below-pictured jacking up of the kitchen/bedroom area of the house to replace all the rotted wood underneath in the addition that the former owners seem to have completed themselves. "I hope you guys got a good deal on this place," says handyman Jim. Jim, I am less and less convinced of that with every $1,000 we pay you....

Hopi Festival, 3rd of July, Museum of Northern AZ