July 10-11
In my last post I spelled Mojo, moho, and I am not sure which one is correct. My spellcheck told me it was with an H, so that must be wrong. If you know, tell me, because I would like to write about it without sounding like an ihiot.
Couple of things, then on to the recipe.
First of all, I played my first softball game in about 1.5 months. Although the season started about 5 weeks ago, here's what happened: forfeit, Bonnaroo, forfeit, 10 year wedding anniversary, work. This past Thursday was my first chance to get out there and get a bit of much needed exercise. . . with a three beer warmup. I am playing for the Florida Book Store Wyrms (medieval, isn't it?) and have been playing on and off for about 15 years. When I first started, I was the lead off hitter due to my speed (cough) and played first base. Now, oh so many years later, I am generally the 3-4 hitter, and playing shortstop. Not a bad progression for a 40 year old.
When I was younger, I dove all over the park. I would head first slide into first base, dive for foul balls well out of reach and stretch singles into doubles. I found within the last two years, that to a certain extent, I still do these things. Except now I find sliding into first base to be stupid, I don't dive for foul balls - I trip, and I'm usually out by a country mile at second. You start to realize your limitations as you get older, yet that does not take out the competitive spirit, and as long as I am playing, I'm going to go balls to the wall. . . well, balls to the warning track.
In this last game, I did go 3 for 5 with a triple, double and single. I made a diving play at shortstop and caught one over my right shoulder. Now this all sounds like I am tooting my Vuvuzela, but if you saw me the next morning, you wouldn't have been even remotely impressed. My right leg looks like an episode of MASH; I have scabs over scabs on my knee from diving, and there are parts of my leg that will never see hair again. My left shoulder is sore from landing on it, and for some reason, my right earlobe fell off. OK, exaggerating. Let's just say, I felt like I aged 20 years.
I still consider myself a good player, not great, good. As anyone will tell you, I am a pretty lazy guy. I like my house, my couch, my sports and sometimes I pray for rain. But what keeps me out there are the people, not the pain. Mike, Kyle, Jen, Simon, Jim, etc, you know who are. I will gladly accept all of the aches, pains, scabs, blood, and strange guttural noises I make when I wake up, for that beer before and after with my teammates. Sound sappy? Well, it is, and that's just fine. I will have more softball stuff on this blog when and if I can move my fingers.
Tonight (yes, tonight) I made mojo chicken with steamed asparagus and crusty bread. Now normally, I would grill this recipe. However, since the heat index said "Hades" on the weather channel, I decided to roast it in the oven (please refer to lazy in previous paragraph). I took four good sized chicken thighs with skin and trimmed all of the excess fat off. I took a gallon plastic bag and threw them in there with a whole bottle of Publix Mojo sauce. I stuck that in the fridge for about an hour, although longer would have been better.
While that was marinating, I trimmed a pound of asparagus and placed it in my bamboo steamer. If you don't have one of these, they are awesome and cheap. All you need is a pan with water, and you place the veggie in the steamer and turn on the burner, usually at medium low. Slow and low, that is the tempo (sorry). Every once in awhile, I would poke the asparagus with a fork to check doneness. They may not like that, but that's their problem. Once the fork goes midway through the thickest part, its done. I season it with lemon, salt and pepper.
The chicken takes about 45-50 minutes in a 350 degree oven, so with about 10 minutes left I start the burner for the asparagus. Throw some tasty bread in the toaster oven while the chicken rests (its been a tough day) under some tin foil and you have a pretty good meal.
Tomorrow I am going with my wife to Bradenton to watch her compete in a flat track roller derby contest. I will tell you how it went.
Until then, I bid thee "see you later."
Saturday, July 10, 2010
MoHo, Softball and Pain
July 10-11
In my last post I spelled Mojo, moho, and I am not sure which one is correct. My spellcheck told me it was with an H, so that must be wrong. If you know, tell me, because I would like to write about it without sounding like an ihiot.
Couple of things, then on to the recipe.
First of all, I played my first softball game in about 1.5 months. Although the season started about 5 weeks ago, here's what happened: forfeit, Bonnaroo, forfeit, 10 year wedding anniversary, work. This past Thursday was my first chance to get out there and get a bit of much needed exercise. . . with a three beer warmup. I am playing for the Florida Book Store Wyrms (medieval, isn't it?) and have been playing on and off for about 15 years. When I first started, I was the lead off hitter due to my speed (cough) and played first base. Now, oh so many years later, I am generally the 3-4 hitter, and playing shortstop. Not a bad progression for a 40 year old.
When I was younger, I dove all over the park. I would head first slide into first base, dive for foul balls well out of reach and stretch singles into doubles. I found within the last two years, that to a certain extent, I still do these things. Except now I find sliding into first base to be stupid, I don't dive for foul balls - I trip, and I'm usually out by a country mile at second. You start to realize your limitations as you get older, yet that does not take out the competitive spirit, and as long as I am playing, I'm going to go balls to the wall. . . well, balls to the warning track.
In this last game, I did go 3 for 5 with a triple, double and single. I made a diving play at shortstop and caught one over my right shoulder. Now this all sounds like I am tooting my Vuvuzela, but if you saw me the next morning, you wouldn't have been even remotely impressed. My right leg looks like an episode of MASH; I have scabs over scabs on my knee from diving, and there are parts of my leg that will never see hair again. My left shoulder is sore from landing on it, and for some reason, my right earlobe fell off. OK, exaggerating. Let's just say, I felt like I aged 20 years.
I still consider myself a good player, not great, good. As anyone will tell you, I am a pretty lazy guy. I like my house, my couch, my sports and sometimes I pray for rain. But what keeps me out there are the people, not the pain. Mike, Kyle, Jen, Simon, Jim, etc, you know who are. I will gladly accept all of the aches, pains, scabs, blood, and strange guttural noises I make when I wake up, for that beer before and after with my teammates. Sound sappy? Well, it is, and that's just fine. I will have more softball stuff on this blog when and if I can move my fingers.
Tonight (yes, tonight) I made mojo chicken with steamed asparagus and crusty bread. Now normally, I would grill this recipe. However, since the heat index said "Hades" on the weather channel, I decided to roast it in the oven (please refer to lazy in previous paragraph). I took four good sized chicken thighs with skin and trimmed all of the excess fat off. I took a gallon plastic bag and threw them in there with a whole bottle of Publix Mojo sauce. I stuck that in the fridge for about an hour, although longer would have been better.
While that was marinating, I trimmed a pound of asparagus and placed it in my bamboo steamer. If you don't have one of these, they are awesome and cheap. All you need is a pan with water, and you place the veggie in the steamer and turn on the burner, usually at medium low. Slow and low, that is the tempo (sorry). Every once in awhile, I would poke the asparagus with a fork to check doneness. They may not like that, but that's their problem. Once the fork goes midway through the thickest part, its done. I season it with lemon, salt and pepper.
The chicken takes about 45-50 minutes in a 350 degree oven, so with about 10 minutes left I start the burner for the asparagus. Throw some tasty bread in the toaster oven while the chicken rests (its been a tough day) under some tin foil and you have a pretty good meal.
Tomorrow I am going with my wife to Bradenton to watch her compete in a flat track roller derby contest. I will tell you how it went.
Until then, I bid thee "see you later."
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I used Publix Mojo last night on some chicken and added cayenne pepper and chili powder and then just mixed it all with rice and veggies after I cooked the chicken. It was good, I love Mojo. I'm sure you can come up with something much better than that but I just wanted to share my love for Publix Mojo as well!!
ReplyDeleteActually that sounds really good. I like the combination of cayenne and chili powder. What veggies did you use?
ReplyDeleteWhite corn, green pepper, and yellow onion. I was trying to make fried rice - kind of similar to steamers with the heat. But ultimately I ended up just burning the rice to the bottom of the pan and then pouring all the leftover spicy Mojo sauce on top so my mushy rice and veggies would have flavor. Sometimes I go through these kicks where I want really spicy food and just end up throwing all the hot spices I have together. I need to invest in a heap of hot peppers and make some type of puree or something delicious.
ReplyDeleteGet a rice cooker. They are relatively cheap, and you dont have to worry about what happens to the rice while you are working on the protein. You can also monitor your "spice" level, and not worry about whether the rice is burning. You can also create a sauce on a side saucepan. I gave up trying to cook rice in a saucepan a long time ago. Just a thought
ReplyDeleteI have a rice cooker, it was six bucks at Walgreens on Christmas day. I was taking rice I already made and trying to fry it up like stir fried rice. I think my problem is trying to do it in a regular pan rather than a fancy wok.
ReplyDeleteI do love throwing rice in the cooker and adding a bunch of saffron, that's my favorite. Nandy was asking me today how I just throw stuff together without measuring anything and that it was weird. I told her I think of how I want the food to taste and throw together what I think will make that flavor. I made sweet potato/red potato soup tonight and just threw in a bunch of spices. I ended up using too much cayenne pepper, but it is still good and a bit spicy.
I always measure, not because it is right, but because I am a bit anal about it. I am always amazed at how chefs just throw stuff in without measuring, but I guess thats how you end up on the food network.
ReplyDelete