Fried Chicken and Nice People on the Internet

So the intrepid party crashers at Wonkette pointed this out yesterday....

Obama's new website, Change.gov, is apparently full of smart people with manners.

See, they have this Open Government forum, where the Transition Team, between crime fighting and planet saving, ask questions directly to YOU the American Public. It's exciting! The latest hard hitting debate focuses on how the current economic crisis is affecting YOU the American Public. And supposedly they want YOU the American Public to be honest, and really feel engaged here.

But the biggest shocker here is how FUCKING reasonable and nice and articulate all the comments are. FOR INSTANCE, here is a random response to someone else's comment. Posted by "Ted_Ryfiak", which is obviously his real name. I love the Obama administration if only for bringing last names back to the internet. Now granted, this is not the most erudite of the comments, but I love it.

"Pretty good - I made the following suggestions to someone a couple weeks ago.
If GM fails – US bails them out – gets controlling interest – puts Toyota managers in charge of all of GM - profits pay off bailout.
If Chrysler fails - US bails them out – gets controlling interest – puts Volkswagen managers in charge of all of Chrysler - profits pay off bailout.
If Ford fails – US bails them out – gets controlling interest – puts Honda managers in charge of all of Ford - profits pay off bailout."

Now if that had been posted anywhere else, it would have read something like this:

"Fuck the Big 3, They should pull a Saget and start sucking cockz for their crack"

And that's in its most optimistic form.

ALSO you can apply at the website for a job in the Obama Administration!

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Now, let's talk about what you really want to know, which is what Jay and I made for Thai night yesterday! Inspired by Chez Pim, we tried our hand at Thai Fried Chicken. And as always, it was awesome. Jay made the marinade before I got there, with lots of garlic, cilantro, oyster and fish sauce. I've decided fish sauce makes everything better. I'm going to try making fish sauce lollipops, pancakes, cookies...







We dredged the chicken in rice flour, then deep fried it, which resulted in those tasty turd looking things you see above. They were so awesomely genuinely flavorful, but unfortunately I think our heat was a little too low because they got a little greasy soft. Also, we used skinless chicken, and I don't know on what planet I thought I could get "shatteringly crispy" without skin. Dumbass.



We then fried some green beans, almonds, eggs, and rice together, with a large dose of chili sauce...



And then tried and failed miserably at presentation...



But it was SOOOO good. Seriously, Jay and I are the masters of cooking with garlic and cilantro. I should probably start growing my own cilantro for as much of it as we use.

Next week, I've been ordered to create something out of this fruit.



Then we sat down to a nice relaxing night of Picket Fences. The End.

Thai fried chicken, or, the crispiest fried chicken ever (from Chez Pim)

8-10 pieces of chicken, drumsticks or thighs, or both (a little over 2lbs or 1kg)
4-6 cloves of garlic, peeled
about 1 tbsp of chopped cilantro roots (or just the bottom part of the stalks)
about 1/2 tbsp ground black pepper
1 tsp kosher or (large-grained) sea salt (If all you have is fine salt, skip it.)
3tbsp oyster sauce
1/4 cup fish sauce
Enough canola oil or other high-temp oil to fill about 2-inch from the bottom of your cast iron pan (or a deep frying pan)

In a mortar or a small food processor, pound or chop the garlic, cilantro roots, kosher salt into a rough paste. Transfer the paste into a large bowl, add the oyster sauce and fish sauce and stir to mix well. Rinse and dry the chicken pieces thoroughly, then place them into the bowl. With your hands, toss and rub the chicken pieces all over with the marinate mixture. Cover the bowl with plastic and let marinade in the fridge for at least 3 hours.

When you are ready to cook the chicken, place your pan over medium-low heat, fill it with enough oil (I used Canola) to cover about 2inches from the bottom of the pan, or about half way up the side. Let the oil come up to frying temperature, about 360F or 180C. Meanwhile, put about 2 cups of rice flour into a large plate (a pyrex pie plate works very well for this.) When the oil is ready, take the chicken pieces, one at a time, drop it into the flour plate and coat well with the rice flour. Shake each piece once or twice to remove excess flour and place them, gently, into the hot oil. Cook the chickens until brown and crisp all around