Three Beautiful Things 04-29-2023: Preparing Baked Beans, A New Way to Prepare Wings, Monk and the Billionaire

 1. I devoted myself to a day of fun in the kitchen. I started by frying chopped bacon in a Dutch oven, topping the bacon bits with navy beans, chopped onion, and a mixture of molasses, ground mustard, and black pepper. I baked these beans for about four hours with the oven's temperature at 250 degrees, the last 45 minutes uncovered.

Debbie and I sampled the beans and declared them Family Dinner worthy for our Sunday supper.

2. For dinner, I decided to prepare chicken wings in way I never had before. I covered a baking sheet with foil and put a wire rack on top. I rinsed off a package of party wings, patted them dry, and put them in a gallon zip lock bag with baking powder and salt. I shook the bag until the chicken pieces were coated and then put the chicken on the rack and baked the pieces for about 40 minutes or so at 250 degrees on a lower rack in the oven.

I removed the chicken, put it on a higher rack, and increased the oven temperature to 425 degrees. 

I baked the chicken until they were golden and somewhat crispy.

While the chicken baked, I made a sweet and spicy Thai wing sauce by combining brown sugar, fresh squeezed lime juice, sesame oil, minced garlic, and pepper flakes and bringing it all to a simmer for about five minutes. I added fish sauce to this mixture, poured the sauce in a large bowl, and when the chicken wings were baked and had rested for about five minutes, I combined them with the sauce, tossed them until the pieces were coated, and our main course was ready.

I had left over sauce and Debbie heated up some leftover basmati rice in the sauce and she made a vinaigrette to pour over a green salad. 

3. As we relaxed after dinner, it seemed the perfect next move was to watch an episode of Monk. Monk works to get to the bottom of why a Bill Gates like billionaire tried to mug a couple and got himself shot and killed. One of the things I loved about this episode was its strong Sharona subplot and another side story involving a guy the newspapers called "Fraidy Cop". This episode had it all: tension, surprises, deft comic moments, and a pulling together of disparate plot details.