hafoc | Short Subjects

Food

I did something stupid a couple months ago; I bought a Presto "Kitchen Kettle" thinking it was a slow cooker. I was wrong.

But it was about the best twenty bucks I ever wasted. Frightfully useful thing, it is. It simmers, stews, roasts, it's nonstick inside and out, it completely contains all mess, and when you're done with it you can pull the control unit off and put it in the dishwasher.

The other night I cooked some chicken in it, in the following manner:

8 boneless skinless chicken thighs
About two average-sized onions
Three average-sized potatoes
Four sweet bell peppers (I bought a four pack with two green one yellow, one red, because it's prettier)
12 oz. fresh mushrooms
Poultry seasoning
Salt and pepper
Good Seasons Italian Dressing Mix
Worchestershire Sauce

I peeled and sliced the onions and tossed them in the kettle, set at about 325 degrees, in some olive oil. While the onions were browning I peeled the potatoes, sliced them, wrapped them in platic wrap and put them in the microwave for about 6 minutes.

Dusted the chicken, both sides, with poultry seasoning, salt, and fresh-ground pepper. Put them in the bottom of the kettle, pushing the now soft onions aside so they made good contact with the heat. Covered the kettle.

Seeded and sliced the peppers. Turned the chicken over to brown the other side, took the sliced peppers and tossed them in on top. About this time the potatoes were done, so I tossed them in next. Washed the mushrooms and put them in last. Sprinkled the Good Seasons on top and shot it with several dashes of the Worchestershire.

I left the whole mess cooking at about 300 until the chicken was done. The result was.. pretty blasted OK, in my opinion.

If I'd had some red wine I might have used it instead of some or all of the seasonings I did use. I bet that would have been pretty good too.

And then I served it up, and put the kettle in the dishwasher. Neat!

Local News

Last night the TV news talked about an undersheriff from a neighboring county, who is feeling rather poorly today.

Please remember that the HIGH temperature here yesterday was in the ten to twenty degree f range, OK? Not exactly weather when you go to the beach. So when the undersheriff got a complaint about a middle-aged man wandering around outside naked, he should have been a bit... concerned.

He responded to the call, but before he could get out of his prowl car the naked man attacked him, breaking a couple of the officer's bones and inflicting other injuries in the process.

And... now, wait for it... the TV announcer said, solemnly,

"The suspect is under psychological observation."

Ya think?

Lake Effect

Lake effect is weird. Today it cleared, as colder air pushed into the area. But it kept snowing out of a clear sky. If you looked up, you saw blue. If you looked toward the horizon, it looked gray with snow drifting down.

By quitting time the air had dried up. There was no visible snow any more. But there must have been some invisible snow, because in the nearly-clear western sky we had a brilliant rainbow.

And when a small cloud drifted by "above" the sun, its downward edges glowed neon pink, while its upper edges glowed electric blue-green.

Neon skies!