Here a fry, there a fry

Hello, Bubble-ohs! How about this beautiful weather? Makes me want to sit on the patio of a Mexican restaurant.

Which leads me to... No real segue...

So, I made this Thai-style stir fry and it was reeeeeally good. I've made quite a few stir fry sauces but this one in particular gets high ranks. I used chicken thighs instead of white meat. (I tend to prefer dark for more flavor.) I also forgot to put in the cilantro and couldn't find fish sauce at my local cruddy Kroger so I have no idea what I was missing there. But the light coconut milk was a revelation. I've never cooked with it before.

Ain't it purdy? Although blurry

It was even better the next day.

This will tell you how much I enjoyed it... I had 2 days of leftovers for lunch. And was sad I didn't have a third day of it.

If you're feeling stir fryish, I highly recommend it.

Thai-Style Stir-Fried Chicken

INGREDIENTS

• 1/4 cup rice vinegar
• 2 tablespoons brown sugar
• 2 tablespoons fresh lime juice $
• 2 teaspoons red curry paste
• 1/8 teaspoon crushed red pepper
• 1 pound skinless, boneless chicken breast, cut into bite-sized pieces $
• 1 1/2 tablespoons vegetable oil, divided
• 1 cup chopped onion $
• 1 cup chopped carrot $
• 1 (8-ounce) package presliced mushrooms
• 1/2 cup light coconut milk
• 1 tablespoon fish sauce
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup fresh bean sprouts
• 1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro 

DIRECTIONS

1. Combine rice vinegar, brown sugar, lime juice, red curry paste, and crushed red pepper in a large zip-top plastic bag. Add chicken; seal and marinate in refrigerator 15 minutes, turning once.
2. Remove chicken from the bag, reserving marinade. Heat 1 tablespoon oil in a large nonstick skillet or wok over medium-high heat. Add chicken; stir-fry 4 minutes. Remove chicken from pan; keep warm. Add remaining 1 1/2 teaspoons oil to pan. Add onion and carrot; stir-fry 2 minutes. Add mushrooms; stir-fry 3 minutes. Add reserved marinade, scraping pan to loosen browned bits. Add coconut milk and fish sauce; bring to a boil. Reduce heat, and simmer 1 minute. Stir in chicken and salt; cook 1 minute. Top with sprouts and cilantro.

 But on to the main event...

WINGS! AND A FRYER!

Yes, that does merit me yelling at you.

Hubs & I with some friends are going to have a tent at the 10th Annual Southern Festival of Hot Wings here in Memphis! Hence buying the fryer.

I'm very excited* about it.
AND all proceeds from the festival go to Ronald McDonald House.

* I've made a promise to myself (and myself's pants) that the fryer is only to be used for good - not evil. As in, as much as I'd like it, I'm not going see how many things I can fry. (Did you know you can fry Coke?)

We hosted the second practice last Saturday. (I missed the first one due to being out of town.) And, if I do say so myself, it went pretty well. We're still working on The Perfect Winning Wing Recipe. But everything we made was edible and most were downright tasty. (Before people came over, I had a sinking feeling that everything was going to be awful. Or that the fryer wouldn't work right. Both turned out fine.)

The sauces I made:

• Tequila Lime
• Korean
• Apricot Jalapeno & Raspberry Jalapeno
• Moroccan

With combinations of breaded and not. A couple of folks made other sauces too and it was a great day.

Double basket fryer ain't playin' around

How can you not want to eat that?!
Unless you don't eat meat... Then, well, you know...

I watched The Help recently and I've been wanting some of Minnie's fried chicken. This almost - almost - scratched that itch.

More to come on the wings. Practice #3 is this weekend! And not at our house. Thank goodness. I love hosting but was doing dishes for days. For some reason, I felt the compulsion to try to use every bowl we own. Eating is way more fun than cleaning.