Baked Chicken Tenders

I made these sweet little baked chicken tenders with a spicy Panko crumb.  After breading, I put them on a sheet pan with bell peppers, broccoli and chick peas to roast. 375 for about 30 minutes.  All atop a quick corn meal masa.  So good with little effort.

For breakfast a poached egg over black beans, tomatoes and Feta cheese.

Let's Face the Music and Dance

Black Bean Soup.  Don't underestimate the flavor punch of a great soup.  I love canned black beans but made from scratch, it's another level for sure.  A few hours and you have a few meals in a bowl. If You Need a Recipe, This is a Good One!

The thing about beans is you really need to add the flavor and don't be shy with the spices and seasonings.  Black beans love Cumin and that smoky Chipotle pepper in sauce, or use fresh jalapenos or roasted peppers.

It only happened a couple of times but my mother made these huge vats of beans for our restaurant back in Indiana and you know, she must have made hundreds over the years.  There were certain steps to getting her refried pinto beans just right and hers were always that, seasoned just right.  But once in a blue moon she forgot to salt the beans properly and let me tell you, there was nothing worse than getting that huge hot combination platter set down in front of you and digging into the beans and rice, and tasting the blandness of an unsalted pot of beans.  My mom's food was so consistently perfect that it was tragic when this happened, like time stopped in that restaurant.  I remember being shocked, like she could not mess up, it just wasn't in her.  I admired her so much for that steadiness.  People think recipes are solid, that you just follow instructions but food has variants. Love, care and consideration goes in. Sometimes the jalapenos are super hot, the tomatoes have no flavor or the avocados are not quite ripe so adjustments needed to be made.  She took it all into account and when that plate came, you never had to wonder if the rice would be amazing because it always would be.  The only danger was that at times it could all be too good, that you'd overeat to the point of total discomfort because she hit it out of the ballpark. Her famous hot sauce was sometimes so off the charts and addictive that you couldn't quit eating it even after you had your fill.  So much so that other restaurants began buying it to serve at their establishments.

I have none of that unwavering talent.  I really have to concentrate and even then I botch it up half the time.  Maybe that's how I can celebrate every good dish and mom never thought much of her art.  She wasn't even a fan of most of the foods she made.  She loved fresh lightly dressed salads on small plates. Heavy foods were not her thing. I love both which is both a blessing and a curse.

new haircut - the modern shaggy mullet. Both cute bang in the front, wild layers in the back.  A cut to showcase my diversity of lameness. 

To Show You What You Need to Live

57th Birthday

 February birthdays are good and bad. Good because you really need something to celebrate during the harsh days of winter.  Bad because the weather can be so brutal and the thought of going out is not attractive. In fact the general disposition of most people in February is grouchy.

So Alamo Drafthouse was my choice again for probably the 3rd year in a row.  Morning movie with breakfast tacos and coffee.  A short brisk walk downtown to Citypoint nice and early for an 8:30 movie, the best kind.  When your mind is sharp and aware. They were showing an animation festival and we were to get ideas for the movie we're trying to make together but are lacking motivation. 

I cleaned up in vinyl this year!  Each and every one of these is a gem.

But one of my favorite things to do is to lay in bed and read or watch stupid videos and get burgers delivered to me while in pajamas!  

 Burgers fries and a orange vanilla shake just like a dreamsicle!!!

Let it be noted that the more time passes, the less you worry about the future and the more you appreciate what is happening in the present.