Apologies

As you may have noticed, I have neglected writing anything over the holiday break.  Since it would take a while to catch up with all of the back posts, I decided just to restart from today.  I'll give you a brief recap of important things that have happened in the last couple weeks.

Christmas was hectic, but I made the pork with cranberry dish that I posted a couple months back, it turned out very nicely despite a malfunctioning meat thermometer that tricked me into taking the pork out early.  I jumped into a frozen lake, cut my legs up when I fell chest deep into a mountain of razor snow, and lost feeling in my feet for about two days.  Cibo Matto is awful and one of the worst five eating experiences of my whole life (the guy who fills up the water was amazing though).  The bar Roof is cool looking but I think the Cougars and Sugar Daddys need to coordinate their schedules so they all don't end up there at the same time.  Fish Tuesday continues to be a resounding success.

I went out last night to the Westwood Tap in Schaumburg and Nick ordered buffalo wings, and ever since then I have been craving them for some reason.  Tonight I had to make some.  I headed down the block to my local Jewel to pick up a few simple items to try my hand at buffalo wings; however, I ran into trouble when Jewel management decided not to stock up over the holiday weekend.  It looked as if someone had robbed the place.  Beaten, but not defeated, I drove to the Dominick's on Thorndale; however, this too had apparently been robbed by the New Years Weekend Chicken Thief.  He apparently forgot a big bag of frozen party wings, so I grabbed that before he came back.  Frozen meat usually isn't something I like to buy, but a craving is a craving, so I caved in.

The wings were cooked very well, but I feel like I should have made the sauce more spicy.  I like to bake my wings because I hate greasy food, but you could also deep fry them (and they would be more crisp).  Here is the recipe that I used.

Buffalo Wings (serves 3-4)
32 assorted chicken wings/drumettes
1/2 cup Frank's Hot Sauce
1 stick unsalted butter
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 tbsp white vinegar
Tobasco sauce
1 tbsp brown mustard
kosher salt
pepper

1.  Preheat oven to 450
2.  Lay out the chicken on a large baking sheet and lightly salt and pepper both sides of each piece of chicken.  Put the skin side of each piece up.  Let it rest while the oven comes up to temperature.
3.  Put in the oven for 35 minutes, there is no need to flip them.
4.  When there is 15 minutes left on the timer, begin making the sauce.
5.  In a small sauce pan melt the butter over medium heat.  When melted, add the garlic, a pinch of salt, and a little pepper.  Cook for 3-4 minutes.
6.  Pour in the hot sauce, vinegar, and Tobasco (adjust to desired spiciness level) and return to a boil.  Cook for 4-5 minutes.
7.  Remove from heat and vigorously whisk in the mustard.  You will barely taste it, but it will prevent the sauce from separating.
8.  The chicken should be finished when the sauce is completed.  Put a small amount of sauce in the bottom of a large bowl and put half the chicken on top.  Pour some more sauce onto the chicken and put the rest of the chicken in the bowl.  Pour most of the rest of the sauce over the chicken (save some for dipping).  Toss the bowl around to coat all of the chicken.
9.  Serve with ranch or bleu cheese dressing and some celery.  Be sure to have something to drink if you make it too hot!