rootofnewt | Tasty food, snotty baby.

My brother sent us a fabulous cookbook for the winter holidays. We've been paging through it, enjoying the incredibly descriptive chapter headings and very detailed cooking descriptions. I finally decided to make something simple that would use some of the palm vinegar I keep in the pantry: Ayam Goreng (Mien's Garlic Fried Chicken).

I had to deep fry the chicken. Messy, but oh-so-tasty. I imagine it would be fabulous with peanut oil, but we don't use that.

I no longer have a fry daddy (impossible to decontaminate from gluten and soy). I'm contemplating buying a deep fryer . . . just for chicken. On the other hand, I'm probably much healthier now that I no longer deep fry on a weekly basis.

In other news, Ronan has a double whammy: teething + head cold. I've convinced him that wiping his nose is fun by making a super impressed deal over his ginormous snot bubbles. He's now proud of the river of snot issuing forth from his cranium. I hope his brain isn't liquefying.

Back to the cookbook. There are many recipes i want to try, but they require some herbs and roots not typically found in Charlottesville. I'll have to remember to take the cookbook to NJ next month. I can buy just about anything there.