NOLA

The Bhaiyas' thoughts and prayers go out to the victims and families of those affected by Hurricane Katrina. We encourage everyone to give some money to help in the relief efforts. Use the link below to make a quick donation online.

MIA

To all you people who missed me (read: zero), sorry I've been M.I.A. for the last month. I want to use work as an excuse, but really its laziness. Let me just say, at 5:03pm on a Friday afternoon when it's sunny and 81 outside, work is NOT the place to be. Luckily, I am rollin outta here soon, swinging by Harris Teeter to pick up some free range chicken, heading home and cracking a bottle of $4 cabernet savigonon, and taking it from there. T.G.I.F.

The Real Lame World

I finally took The Bhat's advice and tuned into the Real World. I'm a terrible TV watcher since 1) I have ADD and can't pay attention for half an hour and 2) I always forget when shows are on. But last night after forgetting to watch the 2005 WSOP premier, I did catch the Real World.

Just my luck that the one episode I actually watch is devoted to the fat, desperate chick. I saw the hot blond from Wisconsin for about 30 seconds, and maybe 45 seconds of the Peruvian chick. But I got to waste my time watching the fatty obsess over a bouncer who actually gave her the time of day because he wanted a quick bang, before going back to his real girlfriend. All in all, Real World was a snoozer, I'll go back to reading Craigslists Rants & Raves, thank you.

Mmmmm... chicken. Organic Free-range chicken....

As most of you know, my eating habits have transformed many times over the years. I was raised vegetarian, but at about 16 my great bhaiya The Bhat introduced me to McDonald's Quarter Pounders with cheese and Chicken McNuggets. Ohh those wonderful, fake meat yet so tasty, little nuggets of "chicken". McDonalds' BBQ sauce is to die for too. Anyhow, I eventually became a Chicken and Beef lover, and in the process developed an expertise in cooking pan-seared ribeye steaks, chicken parmagiana, and chicken souvlakis.

Then something happened about a year ago when I decided to be a compassionate, psuedo vegetarian and began limiting myself to eating only organic, free-range meat. Not sure why this came about, but hey, it works for me. A few months ago, I was perusing the meat case at my favorite grocery store, Harris Teeter, and came across the jackpot - Organic, Free-range chicken breasts by Smart Chicken. Mind you they're about 3 times the price of regular chicken, at $7.99/lb. The first thing I made with them was baked Dijon Parmesan Chicken, which was off the hook. The chicken was especially moist and tender, something you don't get with the $2 bulk chicken from Giant (thou that's a great deal). Then Nima and I made some Pan-fried Buffalo Chicken Strips, which were again fantastic.

I continued to make weekly visits to HT so I could have chicken once or twice a week. About 3 weeks ago when I was making my weekly HT Organic Chicken Breast run, I discovered the gold mine of organic free-range chicken - WINGS. Thank you Harris Teeter! I haven't had wings for months, and I always said Wings and Sushi were the hardest things for me to give up since I went organic.

Well, the wings are back baby. The first thing I did was pick up 2 lbs of wings at $3/lb, and then went off to the internet to find a great homemade wing recipe, since I've never done it before. I ended up finding a couple good recipes online including a sweet blog, the Hot Sauce Blog. It turns out, making wings from scratch is easy, and your wings come out exactly the way you want them. We ended up flour-coating and deep-frying them, and then soaking them in a hot sauce of vinegar, melted butter, and Frank's Red Hot Wing sauce. Again, the Smart Chicken proved to be extra juicy and tender, which combined with a crispy fried skin resulted in the perfect chicken wing.




Going to town on some homemade, organic, free-range, chicken wings. Mmm mmm good.

Shameless plug for American Heart Association

So, I'll be participating in the American Heart Association Heart Walk this October in Baltimore, MD, as part of Team Amin. We're walking to step out and help fight heart disease and stroke. Our goal as a team is to raise $2000, meaning about $150 individually. If you'd like to contribute - and any amount helps even if its as little as $5 - please click on the link to donate.

Also, leave a comment if you'd like to join Team Amin on the heart walk. We'd love to have you on the team!

Hachin Back In Town!

This bhaiya is happy to have The Hachin Guy in town this week. Its good to be home Sac, right?

Need Help Emptying Keg

I have a dilema on my hands. I have a few brews left in my keg of Freckeled Rooster Ale (homebrewed clone of Old Speckled Hen), and I need help emptying the keg so I can fill it up with the recently-brewed Belgian Abbey Ale in preperation for Bhaiya Bash 2005. So basically, if you want some brew come over and we can hang out in the hot, sweltering confines of my apartment, coolin off with homebrew. If there are no takers, I will be pretty darn banged up tonight, drinking by myself, probably throwing in Old School or Monsoon Wedding at some point, followed up by IMing or talking to Saci V and/or the Bhat.