rivka | My plate runneth over.

Lots of good food happening in the last day or two.

curiousangel and I went to the Purple Orchid last night and had their notorious cream of crab soup, followed by some decent but forgettable sushi and a truly glorious mango creme brulee.

(I can never have creme brulee without wishing I had one of those little torches. It's not even my favorite dessert - although the mango version was delicious - but having the torch would be so cool.)

This afternoon I took

minnaleigh around to look at apartments in Gaithersburg. On the way back we stopped at Niwano Hana, a sushi bar that

therealjae had found in Zagat's. (I Googled for "Niwano Hana" to see if I could link to a review, only to find that it appears to be owned by the Unification Church. Huh.) They had some really fun, imaginative rolls - for example, the "dynamite roll," with spicy tuna, salmon, yellowtail, and something else, was rolled into narrow cylinders and dusted with red pepper, with a sprout for the "fuse." Unfortunately, we didn't see the "greenpeace roll" on the list of specials until after we'd ordered. It had, of all things, kiwi, cream cheese, and tuna. We were really curious, but when we tried to order it afterwards the waitress refused to put the order in, claiming that they were already closed.

(We considered going to Jeepers, because their slogan - "Food, fun, and a monkey!" - simultaneously terrified and intrigued us. We spent a lot of time trying to figure out just how monkeys might figure into their service. I still think it's a great concept. As someone named Newsgoat says,

"Food, fun, and a monkey!" Talk about marketing genius! You can go anywhere for food, or fun, or some combination of the two. But, throw in a monkey, and now you've got something! It makes me wonder how many years they struggled, only offering food and fun, until someone with some business sense thought, "...And a monkey!" And, all of a sudden, they're living the American dream...

Also, Jeepers had something called the "Tiny Rhino Diner," which was hard to resist. But we weren't sorry that we had sushi instead.)

Now I'm home.

wcg and

curiousangel are both napping. I've got a chicken roasting in the oven, stuffed with two lemon quarters, six large peeled cloves of garlic, and four sprigs of rosemary. I don't think I've ever cooked a whole chicken before - I'm usually just cooking for two people, and besides, whole chickens are so animal-shaped - so I'm not sure how much flavor will be imparted by the seasonings. I'm planning to make a pan sauce with the juices and a little white wine. It smells soooo good.

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I have one of those little torches (http://www.surprise.com/hobbies/from_scratch/kitchen_torch.cfm). I *love* it :):).

If you just put them to sit inside, some, but not all that much. Better would have been to rub the garlic and rosemary into the skin, prick the skin all over with a fork, and after about fifteen minutes cooking squeeze the lemon juice over it. And lime is even better... and it cooks faster without stuffing. But it'll be fine the way it is, and the garlic will be delicious to eat. I hope the sauce goes well.

It turned out well enough. The rosemary flavor came through to the chicken strongly, the lemon and garlic more subtly. Next time I'll try rubbing them into the skin as well.

Another thing I've done (with chicken pieces, mostly split breast halves) is mixing seasonings into a sort of a paste, lifting the edge of the skin, and spreading the paste underneath. A mixture of grated fresh ginger, minced garlic, and lime or lemon juice works very well for that. Mmmm.

A whole chicken for two people works really, really well.

redbird and I usually get one of the honkin' big 6-7 pound roasters and make four or five meals out of it, thus:

First meal, the chicken and its stuffing. It's worthwhile making stuffing - I usually use the Joy of Cooking's rice dressing. I tried making gravy out of the pan drippings once, but found I like plain pan drippings better than gravy.
Second meal, cold leftover chicken with whatever raw veggies are handy. Third (and maybe fourth), any of a number of recipes involving leftover chicken. Chicken curry's my favorite, though chicken pilaf is a strong runner-up. Various freeform chicken salads are also good.
Finally there's chicken soup. This always is wonderful, and always makes lots more than two people could possibly eat at one meal. We freeze the extra. Having frozen homemade chicken stock around is a Good Thing. It's better than canned chicken broth in any recipe that calls for chicken broth. Furthermore, if you're sick you can thaw out a pint and have real chicken soup - none of that premade, sugared/salted/MSGed nonsense - which is often the best remedy for what ails you.
Finally, at any stage of this whole process it's possible to get experimental. Mad Science is your friend, especially if you've got a moderately new chicken carcass and a variety of unexpected ingredients on hand. You don't even have to wait for a lightning storm unless you want to try General Phrank's Charred Chicken.

Mmmm. Purpleorchidcreamofcrabsouuuuuuuup.

-J

They put a lot less sherry in it than we did. :-)

whole chickens are so animal-shaped

Less so than monkeys, I bet.

Oh yum on the food!! Drool even, Mango creme brulee. Surprizingly enough, I have one of those little torches right here on the desk. I did not pay a Williams-Sonoma price for it, but it is right here with my ecclectic mixture of things -- the recipe books, the thermocouple thermometer for adjusting ovens, the UV light, the assorted multimeters, scopes, Mercedes parts, radio tubes, PDAs and accessories, bits of buss bar and a a stuffed animal or two. No, really! But I am pretty sure there I do not have a monkey in the room. Not sure where I would put it unless I bolted it into the big rack cabinet in the corner. I am fairly sure it would be and unhappy monkey there, particularly if it grabbed hold of the high voltage section of the radio gear that is already living in that rack. :-)

Oh, the whole chickens. They are *supposed* to be animal shaped. *giggle*
We usually use several times the amount garlic, but we re-use the garlic
in related dishes along with the drained stock.

What's a buss bar?

And I agree...not-animal-shaped chicken is a scary thing. McD's piecesparts!

"Food, fun, and a monkey!"

I wanna go!

I'm not sure how much flavor will be imparted by the seasonings.

I second both suggestions that have already been made - rub the skin with the flavourings, and also incorporate some into a stuffing. Breadcrumbs, rice, cous cous and sausagemeat all make good bases. It's a good idea to make enough to stuff both the neck end and the body cavity - it imparts more flavour and means you may have left-over stuffing, which can be good fried for breakfast the next morning, or added to sandwiches.

...that you were spared a brush with sushi-heresy!

Unfortunately, we didn't see the "greenpeace roll" on the list of specials until after we'd ordered. It had, of all things, kiwi, cream cheese, and tuna. We were really curious, but when we tried to order it afterwards the waitress refused to put the order in, claiming that they were already closed.

I mean, really. Not just cream cheese, but

[Error: Irreparable invalid markup ('<kiwi</i>') in entry. Owner must fix manually. Raw contents below.]

...that you were spared a brush with sushi-heresy!

<cite>Unfortunately, we didn't see the "greenpeace roll" on the list of specials until after we'd ordered. It had, of all things, kiwi, cream cheese, and tuna. We were really curious, but when we tried to order it afterwards the waitress refused to put the order in, claiming that they were already closed.</cite>

I mean, really. Not just cream cheese, but <i><kiwi</i>. Gack.

My plate runneth over.

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Thank goodness...