canada day success
remember a few weeks ago when i was talking about lyric tattoos...
and i mentioned that my friend had a totally sweet neil young tattoo?
well, here it is!
and she wrote a really touching story about the making of this tattoo on the blog ink is ink is ink.
check it out here
anyways... a 5am wake up call for me this morning.
my husband called it "punishment for not doing my homework a week ago"
i call it - mean husband.
so i got up bright and fucking early and started my work... done by 7am.
du-oh.
see, i told him that i could sleep in until 8 and still get it done before i have to be at school at noon.
he is a mean mean man.
and he really believes that i should be running on his sleep schedule.
nice thought... but he is dead to the world by 9pm... i rarely fall asleep before 3am.
last night i passed out around 10pm, but then woke up from 3:30-4:30am... and then up at 5am with the alarm. now that sucks.
i've determined that i do my best sleeping between 7am and 11am.
especially when i'm rocking my sleep mask. it's amazing what a difference that makes.
today i have to make a presentation to the "local review board" to stay in my program.
yes, there ARE a lot of hoops to jump through for this, thanks for noticing.
the gist of this is that i have to make a presentation for about 20 minutes in front of this panel and if they deem me worthy, then i continue on and start the seminars on monday.
i'm not worried.
they almost never fail people at this point... and i've got a solid business plan and a business that's already up and running... so it would be totally ridiculous if they didn't put me through.
but i'm not looking forward to presenting this... i don't love presentations. i mean, i've done enough of them, i'm not nervous... i just don't really enjoy them.
so, after today, i have 4 more weeks of classes, monday - friday until the end of july... and then that's it. i "graduate".
i'm obligated to go to some sort of networking thing once a month and file a report on how my business is going monthly for the rest of my year of receiving benefits... and that's all.
good stuff.
alright... moving on to the recipe portion of today's blog.
last night i made a canadian feast...
two beer can chickens - one with achiote and the other with an italian style rub
baby local new potatoes in butter and parsley
baby local carrots in butter with a little nutmeg
local asparagus grilled with olive oil and montreal steak spice.
everything was yummy to the max.
i took a picture of the chickens raw, but forgot to take more pictures.
the one on the left has a rub made of olive oil, rosemary, garlic, chilis, basil, thyme & oregano.
the one on the right is achiote mixed with lime juice and a little olive oil.
both were totally delicious when they were done.
beer can chickens are one of my favourite recipes... you do a spice rub with whatever fancies you... even pepper and sea salt would be fine...
and then you sit it on a half can of beer, i also stuff some other goodies inside, like quarter lemons and cloves of garlic.
put it on the bbq on indirect heat for an hour to an hour 20. keep the temp inside the bbq around 350.
check them by wiggling the joints or with a meat thermometer (to 165 minimum) and then take them off and let them rest tented in tin foil for 10-15 minutes before cutting.
i can not stress the resting part enough.
you MUST rest ALL meat after you cook it.
it makes a massive difference...
no rest = the juices run out allover your plate and leave you with dry meat.
rest = all the juices go back into the meat where they are supposed to and give you a juicy delicious product.
not resting meat is the biggest mistake a cook can make. and the fastest way to wreck a fine cut of meat.
the potatoes were those lovely tiny baby guys that can be boiled whole and popped into your mouth with one bite.
i par-boiled them in water with several sprigs of fresh mint. it adds a lovely subtle complexity to an otherwise simple dish.
after boiling, i tossed them in melted butter with oodles of cracked black pepper, sea salt and chopped fresh parsley.
then i packaged them into 2 tin foil packs and set them aside for later...
carrots were done in a similar fashion... i boiled them for 3 minutes in the potato water just because i wanted them to cook quickly on the bbq later.
then i shocked them in cold water to stop the cooking process and packed them in tin foil with a dab of butter and a sprinkle of nutmeg, pepper and salt.
asparagus get my favourite treatment... a rub down with a bit of olive oil and a sprinkle of montreal steak spice. and onto the bbq safe grill pan.
after the chickens came off to rest, i slapped my 2 packs of potatoes, my carrots and my asparagus onto the bbq on medium-low heat.
you have to turn the asparagus a few times, they can burn fast... but when they are cooked with a nice little char on them, all the other veg will be done too.
and the chicken should be thoroughly rested.
meal success.
and i mentioned that my friend had a totally sweet neil young tattoo?
well, here it is!
and she wrote a really touching story about the making of this tattoo on the blog ink is ink is ink.
check it out here
anyways... a 5am wake up call for me this morning.
my husband called it "punishment for not doing my homework a week ago"
i call it - mean husband.
so i got up bright and fucking early and started my work... done by 7am.
du-oh.
see, i told him that i could sleep in until 8 and still get it done before i have to be at school at noon.
he is a mean mean man.
and he really believes that i should be running on his sleep schedule.
nice thought... but he is dead to the world by 9pm... i rarely fall asleep before 3am.
last night i passed out around 10pm, but then woke up from 3:30-4:30am... and then up at 5am with the alarm. now that sucks.
i've determined that i do my best sleeping between 7am and 11am.
especially when i'm rocking my sleep mask. it's amazing what a difference that makes.
today i have to make a presentation to the "local review board" to stay in my program.
yes, there ARE a lot of hoops to jump through for this, thanks for noticing.
the gist of this is that i have to make a presentation for about 20 minutes in front of this panel and if they deem me worthy, then i continue on and start the seminars on monday.
i'm not worried.
they almost never fail people at this point... and i've got a solid business plan and a business that's already up and running... so it would be totally ridiculous if they didn't put me through.
but i'm not looking forward to presenting this... i don't love presentations. i mean, i've done enough of them, i'm not nervous... i just don't really enjoy them.
so, after today, i have 4 more weeks of classes, monday - friday until the end of july... and then that's it. i "graduate".
i'm obligated to go to some sort of networking thing once a month and file a report on how my business is going monthly for the rest of my year of receiving benefits... and that's all.
good stuff.
alright... moving on to the recipe portion of today's blog.
last night i made a canadian feast...
two beer can chickens - one with achiote and the other with an italian style rub
baby local new potatoes in butter and parsley
baby local carrots in butter with a little nutmeg
local asparagus grilled with olive oil and montreal steak spice.
everything was yummy to the max.
i took a picture of the chickens raw, but forgot to take more pictures.
the one on the left has a rub made of olive oil, rosemary, garlic, chilis, basil, thyme & oregano.
the one on the right is achiote mixed with lime juice and a little olive oil.
both were totally delicious when they were done.
beer can chickens are one of my favourite recipes... you do a spice rub with whatever fancies you... even pepper and sea salt would be fine...
and then you sit it on a half can of beer, i also stuff some other goodies inside, like quarter lemons and cloves of garlic.
put it on the bbq on indirect heat for an hour to an hour 20. keep the temp inside the bbq around 350.
check them by wiggling the joints or with a meat thermometer (to 165 minimum) and then take them off and let them rest tented in tin foil for 10-15 minutes before cutting.
i can not stress the resting part enough.
you MUST rest ALL meat after you cook it.
it makes a massive difference...
no rest = the juices run out allover your plate and leave you with dry meat.
rest = all the juices go back into the meat where they are supposed to and give you a juicy delicious product.
not resting meat is the biggest mistake a cook can make. and the fastest way to wreck a fine cut of meat.
the potatoes were those lovely tiny baby guys that can be boiled whole and popped into your mouth with one bite.
i par-boiled them in water with several sprigs of fresh mint. it adds a lovely subtle complexity to an otherwise simple dish.
after boiling, i tossed them in melted butter with oodles of cracked black pepper, sea salt and chopped fresh parsley.
then i packaged them into 2 tin foil packs and set them aside for later...
carrots were done in a similar fashion... i boiled them for 3 minutes in the potato water just because i wanted them to cook quickly on the bbq later.
then i shocked them in cold water to stop the cooking process and packed them in tin foil with a dab of butter and a sprinkle of nutmeg, pepper and salt.
asparagus get my favourite treatment... a rub down with a bit of olive oil and a sprinkle of montreal steak spice. and onto the bbq safe grill pan.
after the chickens came off to rest, i slapped my 2 packs of potatoes, my carrots and my asparagus onto the bbq on medium-low heat.
you have to turn the asparagus a few times, they can burn fast... but when they are cooked with a nice little char on them, all the other veg will be done too.
and the chicken should be thoroughly rested.
meal success.
Posted by vancityrockgirl at 7/2/2009 8:42 AM 
Categories: canadiana,work and being an adult,Cooking and Recipes,general good times
Categories: canadiana,work and being an adult,Cooking and Recipes,general good times
Seeing those chickens makes me think of two things. 1) Mr Bean. 2) Delicious, delicious chicken eatins.
Bravo! I say, Bravisimo!