Chicken Work It Out

We interrupt your regularly scheduled blog entry for this special report:

Humans: 1

Chickens : 1/2

Not finding pre-cut chicken at the supermarket shelf or at the butcher (all they had left was duck - where did all the chickens go?), I had to buy a whole "poule" and shank it myself. I did not feel good about it, that's why it took me 15 minutes to get on with it, but it had to be done.

the battlefield

The chicken put up a good fight. I used three different knives on the leader of the resistance, but after 30 minutes of hacking and slicing I managed to cut off enough to make my coco-adobo chicken. I won, but it took a toll on me so, I gave in and had a drink after 2 days of being clean. Coke light, you are an unrelenting mistress, but I love you.

coming to a boil

H came home at 8 pm, but I thought he was early because the sun sets at 10 pm now... I fooled myself into believing he rushed home at 5:30, the promise of my cooking being as irresistible as it is. 

As usual, I did not follow the recipe to the letter (main reason for a lot of kitchen disasters attributed to me) but this time I think putting a little extra half bowl of soy sauce and using sayote instead of papaya helped.

the spoils

I knew I had no business experimenting with something I had no understanding of. But here it is. My newest accidental masterpiece. Cooked for 2 hours to create this artery-clogging caramelized gravy. I'm like the adobo savant, it's insane.

The ingredients:

1 head garlic - minced

1 onion - sliced

half a chicken - HACKED into submission

cooking oil - enough so the garlic, chicken and onion don't get burnt. i didn't measure it. i just poured it in.

2 cups thin coconut milk (second squeeze)

2 cups thick coconut milk (kakang gata) or just 1 cup mother-effing kakang gata. super thick.

1/3 cup vinegar (not more! listen to meeee! i learned the hard way!)

1/3 cup soy sauce (or to taste)

1 chayote

salt to taste

pepper to taste

Ze procedure:

1) saute garlic, onion, and chicken until the chicken is brown. take your time. 

2) pour thin coconut milk and simmer 

3) when most of the liquid has evaporated, add chayote, vinegar, soy sauce, salt and pepper

4) boil until H arrives, or for around an hour so the flavor can sink its talons really deep into the chicken

5) add the rest of the coconut milk and boil until you're finished packing your bags for the sailing trip tomorrow

Yeah, by the way, we're going sailing tomorrow. I bought a new swimsuit and beach gear. I imported my unused bottle of suntan lotion. He said it was going to be hot in the summer, but we're packing our winter clothes because right now it's 19 degrees outside and it's going to be colder out at sea.

I feel like chickening out.

Booking

H left for work this morning. I've been working on the church booklet since 11am. It is now 3pm and all I have is the cover page because I just remembered - I can't understand French.

So, this is what we have so far:

I don't know the name of the church so this will have to do for now:

Choosing fonts and resizing letters can put you in a trance pala, so it was only when he called that I realized I still hadn't eaten lunch. Rummaging through his fridge I pecked on the last inch of saucisson and swallowed what was left of the pont-l'eveque. I really have to stock his kitchen :(

I'm going to attempt to cook for him again tonight. He is the real chef of the household, but after the unfortunate excel sheet debacle of tuesday evening (a laptop's life threatened, a man's sanity questioned), I thought he deserved a treat... Granted my ginatang adobo does not burn, or explode. My attempts at domesticity are legendary, to say the least.

Ok, gotta run. There's a chicken waiting for me at Tang Frere.

Up next: Shoes Ginoo

Backblog

I can't believe it's been 5 months since I last blogged. Jeebus. I'm sorry for the backlog, I've been extremely busy, tired, anxious, sleepless, lethargic, on the edge, chillin', close to having a breakdown, obsessive, compulsive, scared shitless, drunk, swiping microphones and jumping on sofas.

In the last month I have attempted many times to write about the insane things I've been through but I never had the time. Now I have all the time I need. I am now in Paris. I MADE IT! But I still intend to fill you in on the stuff that happened between April and this happy reunion with H. I SWEAR. Really, I do.

Starting with the next log :D