Monday, October 25, 2010

Cookin' It Up Like Domestic Ladies

I don't think it was ever a good idea to give some young college girls loads of chicken. Especially if they have no clue how to cook it, prepare it, or how to handle the fact that it is completely coated with fat and has bones in it. I mean, look at that face of mine! It kind of scared us!

The vacationers from last week came to our door with a gigantic load of some serious chicken--as opposed to the chicken that clowns around--and we graciously accepted it. Any food is loved food in our apartment. Along with this massive...thing of chicken, we were given cheese, ground beef and potatoes. Immediately, I used some of the ground beef because I adore beef and I'm not a money tree; besides that, I really don't appreciate chicken like the rest of the world. But, I had nothing to worry about, since my housemates were quick to use the free American cheese on whatever they could. I found out later that many of them aren't too keen on beef, so it looks like it's all mine! There is quite a bit, so I'm ecstatic to try it in instant ramen to make the meal stick for a little longer.

Anyhow, as a household, we decided to cook much of this chicken Sunday night. We didn't know how, we didn't know when...but we were going to grab--or more like slowly pick up the raw stuff with our finger tips--and we were going to cook it and devour it. Before the event, I was just a little bit against chicken, but I think the process has put me off of chicken for awhile. Spontaneously, we decided we should cook the potatoes too, since there was quite a bit and we should have something with our chicken. Immediately, I volunteered to make mashed potatoes, remembering moments where I had watched my mom make the beloved stuff. I could do it, it didn't seem that hard. Sometimes, I had even done bits of the preparation at home! I can peel, I can chop, I can boil and I can use an electric mixer. I was most certainly prepared to poke the boiled potato chunks to test their softness. Yep, I had volunteered myself for something easily done, nor did any of my other housemates know how to make mashed potatoes. I even had garlic salt if I wanted to transform them into something...garlicky.

As I went about my tater prep, my buddy was stuck tearing the fat off the pieces of chicken. Why, yes, it was very gross-looking. I felt sorry for her, but I also looked at her with a newly discovered awe. Look at her, doing the job that no one else will but seems so necessary amongst those who are anti-animal fat! My hero. On the other side of the table was my other buddy, learning that she liked to squeeze the juice out of limes. I don't know what we were going to use the lime juice for, but we told her to make it if somebody wanted some on their chicken...I guess. I think she really found a great hobby for her. Her future husband will ask what's for dinner and she'll reply, "Lime juice! And lemon juice! And orange juice! And any other citrus fruit juice I can squeeze out of the fruit!"

As we prepared our various areas within our apartment, two very noble, brave housemates were trying to accomplish the task of grilling chicken. If it was a pretty nice grill, then they'd be pretty good at that whole grilling thing. But, alas, why should it be that easy? Nay, it was a grill that required coal and manual lighting. Yes, they had to light it...and keep it lit. The latter was the hardest part of the gig at first, but I know not of their struggles after the initial preparation of the grill.

Back to the kitchen, lime-juice-buddy was wondering about crispy chicken. How would we accomplish this feat? "You can use corn flakes." fat-tearing-buddy explains. Sadly, we didn't have cornflakes. Instead, we find ourselves dipping the chicken in egg and then into crisped rice. Yes, we were most definitely improvising. It's a good thing we didn't have any guys over, or else I think they would find us kind of ridiculous in our cooking techniques. Anyway, we put the rice-chicken in the oven and hoped for the best, telling ourselves that it was free chicken. Still, I don't think that put my heart to rest at what we had thrown away later on.

Now, we shall return to my wonderful endeavor of mashed potatoes. It was like a breath of fresh air, those potatoes. They were the only thing I knew--and not just because my father was instant messaging me on skype to help me out. I've actually seen all the steps of making mashed potatoes and I knew what they were supposed to look like. Besides, I just had to watch them boil and poke them every now then. When they were finally soft enough, I poured out the excess water and mixed them with my magic electric mixer. Of course, I added a little bit of milk and butter to make it creamy and then some salt for flavor. Wallah! Beauty in it's finest form of food. Alright, so they weren't beautiful, but they were a great sight for hungry tummies.

As for the chicken, the rice-chicken turned out, but the blood was still in the meat, sitting in the center. Apparently, we're supposed to soak the bloody stuff in salt water to get the blood out. I lost any small appetite for chicken and I didn't eat any of it. My fat-tearing-buddy did and she said that it was pretty good! I suppose I will never know... I'll stick to my beef.

After all our experimental fun and joking, we were faced with the awful truth: cooking makes messes. I groaned, but I think some of the others ignored it. We rinsed off a few things before we watched a double feature of "Corpse Bride" and "Practical Magic" to bring in that Halloween spirit. What an experience, what an endeavor!

1 comment:

  1. I seriously love this post! I like how you described your roommates and the whole cooking thing sounded like quite the adventure. The potatoes did look great, good job with that! I agree too that chicken is a lot of work. We're usually beef people here too.

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