delishulous orange chicken

warning: for better and for worse, this is not manchu wok's sticky, breaded, and deep-fried orange chicken!


i made a ridiculously delicious chicken dish last night and it's definitely worth sharing, particularly if you're trying to address these two key concerns:

1) will the chicken be cooked through? will it be dry?
i love preparing chicken in a slowcooker because i rarely have to worry about this.

2) will this hurt my stomach?
i live with people who can't handle a lot of "tasty" things: heat, exotic spices, onions, or excessively acidic ingredients can irritate the stomach or me hard to digest. it's been a challenge for me to find ways to make things that are healthy and tasty for them.

to solve this problem, we often rely on my favourite cut of chicken: the thighs. not only are they tasty but in this recipe they release a lot of moisture as they cook. in other words, they provide a delectable base for their own sauce. and, even though this dish has orange juice in it, the acid doesn't seem to survive the cooking process.

so, without further ado, i present a meal that feels bland to the tummy but yummy to the tongue!

the stuff:
- chicken thighs - boneless, skinless
- orange juice
- orange marmalade + sesame oil
- soy sauce + your favourite spice combo (i used garlic & herbs)
- flour + butter

the steps:
1) combine marmalade and sesame oil and slather onto the chicken.
2) place the meat into your slowcooker and add orange juice about two-thirds of the the way up the meat.
3) add a splash of soy sauce and a healthy pinch of your spices, then turn the slowcooker on high.
4) around the 2 hour mark, turn the slowcooker to low.
5) make a roux out of equal parts butter and flour. add liquid from the slowcooker to the roux, one ladle-full at a time, and combine well.
6) return thickened juices to the slowcooker and stir.
7) at this point i also added (frozen and defrosted) asparagus to the chicken, but you can use another vegetable (carrots would nice, i think!) or skip this entirely. if you're using fresh produce, think about adding it around the 1.5 hour mark so it has time to soften and soak up the juices. (let's call that step 3b.)

orangeyness is a very subjective thing, and you should figure out how much tang works for you. without too much figuring, the sauce came out sweet but not cloying and the chicken was hearty when served alongside some roasted zucchini and orange peppers (drizzled with sesame oil).

so yum! i need to start taking pictures again!

regisdream?

isn't it a little sad that unless you're getting married it's not normal to register for gifts? maybe if i'm still not married by the time i become a lawyer and have my first real "permanent home," i'll just have an "i'm a grown-up" party and register for that. like a "housewarming plus."

here are some of the kitcheny things i would put on my registry. i was inspired to write this list down while reading "back issues" of alison's blog. she mentioned the first item a while ago. without further ado, my kitchen dreams:

gadgets and tools:
- oil mister (instead of using pam, you fill the spray bottle with your preferred oil)
- mandoline (for pretty slices)
- good spatulas (safe for good pots/pans, won't leech/melt into the food. yay!)
- pepper mill
- food mill (mashed potatoes made any other way are just wrong for me)

cookware:
- pots with glass lids with adjustable vents and a steamer insert
- dutch oven
- tart pan (with the separate bottom, so you can remove the tart/pie from the pan easily)
- springform pan (vital, no?)
- pizza stone

appliances:
- slowcookers in large and small
- rice cooker
- food processor
- high quality immersion blender (i figure if i have this and the above, i don't need a blender)
- obviously, a kitchenaid tilt-head stand mixer, without which no woman is complete

other:
- a sign that says "i only have a house because it came with the kitchen"
- a real fireplace in the kitchen - i know i can't register for that, but it's my dream. sigh.

options

a friend of a friend, on facebook: pro-choice has ALWAYS been code for pro-abortion. They use those words to make what is absolutely horrifically murder, a more palatable swallow.

me: friendofafriend, respectfully, along with being unfair and untrue, your statement is quite offensive.

the right of a mother to make medical decisions about her own body and that of her unborn child, in consultation with a doctor, is much more complicated than you make it seem.

while i don't advocate abortion, i'm humble enough to admit that i can't possibly imagine the painful burden of hearing that my baby will suffer tremendously if carried to term. or of being a pregnant fifteen-year-old living in a broken, abusive home. or being diagnosed with cancer the same month i find out i'm pregnant.

that's why i'm pro-choice.

if we were sitting across from each other over coffee right now, could you honestly tell me to my face that you suspect i'm just a really big fan of murder?

way too many abortions happen every day. demonizing people like me won't actually solve that devastating problem.

on telepathy and dumplings

i have a new friend and one of the things we like doing is being psychic.

said i on january 24th: hey, do you have plans not this tuesday but the one after? bonus points if you can figure out why i'm asking.
said he: you're not going to believe this, but i was totally going to suggest watching that movie, too!

so, on february 2nd, i brought over "groundhog day." before we watched the movie, though, we headed out to the grocery store to get what we needed to make pork and leek dumplings. see, he'd hilariously suggested that we cook something with "ground hog." i had amusingly joked that the store would be sold out of minced pork because everyone would be doing the same thing that day.

and it was!

or maybe it just doesn't carry it? anyway, in order to mimic the tasty concoctions of the working class foodies (see video below), we bought plain pork sausages (and de-sausaged them), leeks, green onions, ginger, and wonton wrappers. we combined the meat with soy sauce and the veggies, loaded the goods into the wrappers (carefully but not super neatly!), and then boiled them for 8-10 minutes.



we dipped our delectable little parcels into a vinegar-soy-ginger-green onion sauce. and sighed and self-congratulated and went back for more. and watched bill murray repeat the same day over and over again.



and you know what? it was a day worth repeating.

can't believe the news today

apart from a brief mention of my disappointment with the possibility that our military might have enabled afghani authorities to torture suspected terrorists (read: random people), i haven't talked a lot about international affairs lately.  i want to take a minute to mention what happened on friday.

on 29 january 2010, around 9:45 est, the supreme court of canada handed down its ruling on the omar khadr case. this young man has been held by american authorities since he was fifteen. he is canadian-born, but was taken to afghanistan by his father at the age of 11. four years later, in 2002, during a skirmish with american forces in afghanistan, he was shot and then allegedly threw a hand grenade, killing an american soldier. (that soldier had medical training, so this is often reported as the murder of an american medic.)

since he has been in guantanamo, khadr has been tortured. the canadian government, under both the liberals and the conservatives, has been mostly silent on the matter. they did go and interrogate him early on, while he was victim to the "frequent flyer" program - being shifted from room to room every few hours so that you can't actually sleep. ever. so, when canada was involved, it tacitly endorsed the treatment he was receiving.

given the fact that he has been held for seven years *without trial*, it should come as no surprise that there has been a movement to seek khadr's repatriation. his lawyers are, of course, part of that movement. intervening in the case on his behalf were:

amnesty international, human rights watch, the university of toronto faculty of law, international human rights program, david asper centre for constitutional rights, canadian coalition for the rights of children, justice for children and youth, british columbia civil liberties association, criminal lawyers' association, canadian bar association, lawyers without borders canada, barreau du quebec, group d'etude en droits et libertes de la faculte de droit de l'universite laval, canadian civil liberties association, and national council for the protection of canadians abroad.

all bleeding hearts? i think not.

the issue is complicated: does a fifteen-year-old qualify as a child soldier when war hasn't been declared and when he's not wearing a uniform? will khadr face trial if he is repatriated? is it within the scc's jurisdiction to intervene in "foreign affairs"?

on friday, the supreme court of canada held that khadr's charge against the canadian government was sound:

"Canada actively participated in a process contrary to its international human rights obligations and contributed to K’s ongoing detention so as to deprive him of his right to liberty and security of the person, guaranteed by s. 7 of the Charter, not in accordance with the principles of fundamental justice...There is a sufficient connection between the government’s participation in the illegal process and the deprivation of K’s liberty and security of the person.  While the U.S. is the primary source of the deprivation, it is reasonable to infer from the uncontradicted evidence before the Court that the statements taken by Canadian officials are contributing to K’s continued detention.  The deprivation of K’s right to liberty and security of the person is not in accordance with the principles of fundamental justice.  The interrogation of a youth detained without access to counsel, to elicit statements about serious criminal charges while knowing that the youth had been subjected to sleep deprivation and while knowing that the fruits of the interrogations would be shared with the prosecutors, offends the most basic Canadian standards about the treatment of detained youth suspects."

(the full decision can be found here! i urge you to read it!)

i have seen several troubling things happen in my country over the last few years. our prime minister pretends to be "tough on crime" and does what he can to take away judges' discretion. for instance, he advocated for minimum sentences in child molestation cases. when some people (i.e. the bloc quebecois) disagreed with him, he used *government funds* to paint them as pedophile sympathizers. never mind that lots of legal authorities have problems with the whole idea of minimum sentences!

harper has also undermined judges' discretion by introducing "truth in sentencing" legislation. judges would no longer be permitted to give (up to) 2-for-1 credit for time already served while awaiting trial. this is time that *alleged* criminals spend in *crowded, unsanitary* conditions, while they are *presumed innocent.* one of the functions of the 2-for-1 credit is to create a powerful disincentive for prosecutorial stalling. it helps ensure a speedy(ish) trial - a right guaranteed to all those charged under canadian law.

but, no.

also, maybe the state has the right to seek out your internet browsing history without a warrant.

also, maybe csis can tap your lawyer's phones and monitor your calls.

also, we may or may not have been involved in the torture of afghanis... but it doesn't really matter.

i don't recognize us anymore! when g.w. bush was re-elected, i was agog. if we let the same thing happen, i will actually weep. but i feel like this shouldn't have to wait until an election, you know? somehow, we have to care enough about justice today.

only... how?

(photo from theglobeandmail.com)

hodgepodge

as a result of a solar conspiracy of unprecedented proportions, it looked like it was fifteen degrees outside today! it was somehow easier to put up with the crazy wind and the minus five because... well, isn't blue the best colour for a sky? i asks ya!

i submitted a draft of my thesis last night and, though it wasn't everything i'd hoped it would be, i'm reasonably happy with its progress. it'll be super by the end of the month, and i look forward to defending it in march. i even have shoes to wear for the defense! :-D

it's been a while since i've talked about my cooking adventures, and there have been two notable ones: first, i made clementine cookies that pretty much rocked my world. they were based on sydney's lemon sugar cookies and made the entire kitchen smell like satsuma. these will certainly be repeated! the same week, i baked some berry muffins with oatmeal, cherry yogurt, and orange juice in them. while they tasted like a good morning, the blackberries were a little seedy and made some bites a little awkward. i think i'll stick with bluebreeze and raspbreeze in the future.

in other news, i'm seriously considering playing the euphonium once in a while. when no one is at home, bien sur.

finally, do yourself a favour: cook up some minced pork, rent the bill murray classic, and make your groundhog day a special one. i know i will!