A Weekend Quiet and Full
The weekend was both quiet and full. Friday evening we headed over to Teri and Brian's house with plans to go across the street to the Roots Walk. Thunder and lightning accompanied us over to Urbana though, so we stayed at their place and nibbled delightful food with even more delightful company. Only later did I find out they had relocated much of the Roots Walk to the Anita Purves Nature Center....oh well. I couldn't regret missing it as we had such a good time. Saturday I had lunch with my beloved friend Boo. She is one of my dearest friends but we don't manage to just sit down and talk like this very often....so that AND a bloody mary....pretty damned nice. The rest of the day just seemed to follow its own drum. We had planned to go to a friend's crawfish boil but the day kind of disintegrated....as they are wont to do. I was sorry to miss it...hopefully I still get invited next year!
Sunday the beautiful Enright family came over for a visit. Baby Hank....oh good God in heaven is he adorable...and he SMELLED so sweet! The boys love Mary very much. They hung out for awhile and then I told them they were welcome to stay but if they wanted to go they were excused. The two of them stayed put in their chairs the whole time and hugged her when she left. It touched my heart. Those boys have such good and true hearts.
Baby Owen and Baby Hank....
Owen and Ernie went off to scavenge and Owen came home with a stylish old radio and a Star Wars pillow. I read some trashy novels and stared at the yard a lot. Leo did his Leo stuff. Later, Ernie and I just hung out in the yard kind reading and chatting every so often. Eventually we made our way inside. For dinner I made some crispy baked chicken wings with a Japanese dipping sauce. The sauce didn't blow me away as much as I thought but the chicken wings simply baked were as crispy as any fried ones I've ever had....and you know me...I'm all about the crisp! I saw this recipe in various spots online; I believe it is from a Cook's Illustrated book but I can't swear to it.
Crispy Baked Chicken Wings
3 1/2 lbs chicken wings
2 tablespoons baking powder
3/4 kosher salt
Adjust oven racks to upper-middle and lower-middle positions and preheat to 250°F. Set a wire rack into an rimmed baking sheet. Pat the wings dry and toss with baking powder and salt. Arrange the wings, skin side up on baking rack which is set on baking sheet. I forgot to spray or oil the rack so ours stuck a bit but not too bad.
Bake on the lower rack for 30 minutes at 250 degrees and then move the wings to the upper rack. Increase the temperature to 425°F and roast until golden brown and crispy, 40-50 minutes. Rotate the sheet halfway through baking. Let sit a few minutes and then toss with sauce.
We nibbled our food and watched the end of Mad Men. Eh. Owen made a batch of chocolate chip cookies and they made for a delightful treat as I crawled into bed to read. I hated to think about Monday coming but I can't complain, can't complain....