She's Got Style, She's Got Grace, She's A Winner

www.bhg.com/recipe/chicken/slow-cooker-coq-au-vin/

Coq Au Vin.  Just saying the name I get nervous and figure I'll screw the recipe up.  But this was a slow cooker recipe and those are usually dumbed down and so much easier to digest.  It's all about layering the ingredients.  I didn't have the time on this day to allow several hours of cooking so I actually did this in my heavy pot in the oven.

Same difference really.  Coat and brown the chicken, add the onions, garlic, mushrooms, carrots and if you don't have the wine then like me, you'll use stock.  To better mock the deep wine flavor, I added beef stock with Worcestershire sauce and lemon.

This was great and felt special.  I made a little dill lemon yogurt dressing for the steamed broccoli.  Hey Mexican's can be classy too!  Mexican-Americans that is, or whatever the heck it is that I am.  How can you relate to a hyphened title?  Its not natural.  However, you do need the divide.  I'm not full blown 100% Mexican like Anchorman 2. I'm the watered down, can't speaky Spanish type of Mexican that gets rash with too much sun and the kind who grew up in the Midwest.  The kind whose parents aren't from Mexico but some of their parents were.  I'm more like the song.  As a matter of fact they really did call my mom Chella and she really does have a son in law named Jeff!  You can't make that stuff up!

But other than that, I always felt like my mom was from sort of old money type family.  She never went to college and barely finished school but she seemed to have this incredible air of sophistication about her.  And you always felt like you should act properly in front of her or you'd feel like a shmuck.  I always hoped some of that rubbed off on me, but I'm not sure it did.  I did learn to give a real pointed evil eye that seems to really work though, even on tough New York bullies.  She was really good at that look.  Sometimes I knew she was giving it even when I wasn't facing her.  She also doles out one liners that rival Alexis Carrington.  At 90 she can give a read upon waking.  'Is that what you're wearing?'  She's so amazing and I love her so much.  I wish she were sitting next to me right now.

This dish is in honor of my mom and all her grace.