Sunday, October 1, 2023

Three Beautiful Things 09-30-2023: Idaho/EWU and College Football Memories, Baking Muffins, A New Method for Cooking Curry

1. I realized (once again?) today that I have not fully lost interest in college football! Stu and his two sons and his brother traveled to Cheney this afternoon to watch EWU host Idaho, and I cared! Not only that, Christy drove back to Kellogg today from her mountain cabin retreat in northeast Oregon and she listened to the game on the radio, making her drive go by much more swiftly. I was also aware of several Facebook friends in attendance at Roos Field. 

Stu sent me a couple of pictures from the stadium. I kept an eye on the score -- Idaho prevailed 44-36 -- and I enjoyed feeling some of the excitement I used to experience going to the Kibbie Dome or Joe Albi Stadium with Dad to watch the Vandals and also remembered the great fun I had over forty years ago watching the Oregon Ducks play in the pre-expanded Autzen Stadium.

On Saturday afternoons, Dad used to watch national college football broadcasts on tv with a radio nearby and listen to Bob Curtis doing the play by play for Idaho. I watched and listened, too, and welcomed memories of those Saturdays today -- I went so far as imagining Bob Curtis (RIP) back on the mic today, broadcasting this afternoon's game from Cheney! 

2. I might have mentioned this before, but here I go again. Debbie's mornings, as she readies herself to go to work, go much easier and smoother if she can grab a muffin or two to eat before or as she leaves.

She asked me to bake a batch of Morning Glory muffins.

I most happily did that today.

These muffins have a lot of ingredients ranging from grated zucchini to coconut flakes to applesauce to a can of crushed pineapple -- and more.

So I simultaneously put everything I needed on a kitchen counter and took inventory, knowing I'd need to go to Yoke's and purchase what we didn't have.

I had a great time combining all the ingredients, dropping batter into paper muffin wrappers, and baking about twenty muffins.

Debbie and I each ate one and, glory be to muffins,

THEY WORKED! 

3. I cleared off the counter of muffin baking stuff and shifted gears.

I had decided yesterday that for our Saturday dinner I wanted to cook chicken drumsticks in a yellow Thai curry sauce; I would be fixing a curry dish using a method that was new to me.

I started by browning the drumsticks, about four minutes to a side, in Mom's seventy year old cast iron Dutch oven.

I set the chicken on a plate and poured the garlic and ginger I'd minced and the red pepper slices and white onion pieces I'd cut into the chicken fat.

I cooked all this for a couple minutes or so and then stirred in about a tablespoon and a half of yellow Thai curry paste. 

While the curry paste cooked with the other ingredients, I mixed coconut milk, soy sauce, fish sauce, and brown sugar in a bowl and before long slowly added it to the paste and vegetables.

I stirred it, let it cook a short while, and then put the chicken drumsticks back in the Dutch oven where they swam in the curry sauce.

The oven was pre-heated and I put the chicken and sauce in the oven for about 25 minutes and while the chicken cooked I made a batch of jasmine rice. 

I'd never put curry sauce with meat in the oven before and to my relief and, then, to Debbie's and my great pleasure, the chicken was fully cooked, the sauce was rich and complex, just spicy enough, and delicious, and we agreed.

It worked! 

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