A Big Purple Bruise

Hey, I wasn't the only one who got knocked the eff out this weekend. How awesome was it to see Brett Favre getting steamrolled in slow motion by a 300-lb lineman after throwing an incomplete pass?

To those of us who don't drink the purple Kool-Aid, sick to death of all the fawning and slurping of Favre that the national media does every year, tired of all the should-I-come-back attention-whoring that ESPN happily enables, there was nothing more enjoyable than watching the 'old gunslinger' getting his ass kicked and then--as a bonus to fans of all 31 other NFL teams--throwing that pick deep in Saints territory at the end of regulation. I'm sure that all of Packer Nation spent the evening burping up the taste of delicious beer, brats, and slow-roasted schadenfreude. The Pack may not be going to the Super Bowl, but then, neither is the purple Judas. And he choked away his opportunity in the most satisfying and delightful way. Plus he got his ass kicked, so that defeat was just full of Win!

Unsurprisingly, immediately after the game, while the confetti was still falling from the rafters of the Super Dome, the morons on ESPN had to devote five minutes of discussion as to whether or not Favre would come back next year. Let me speak for EVERYONE outside of Bristol Connecticut and the twin cities when I say WE DON'T F*CKING CARE! Seriously dorks, the Saints are in the Super Bowl! Did y'all miss that little nugget of info while you were circle-jerking to the realization that you've got another dead horse to beat for the rest of the off-season?

On the other hand, the Saints were damn lucky to win that game, and I think they know it. Any time a team has five frickin' turnovers and you still need to take it to overtime to beat them, well friends, you just dodged a huge landmine and should be thanking your lucky stars (and a few refs, too, from what I saw). That certainly wasn't the jaw-to-the-curb head-stomping that it should've been, but then, nobody ever wins the Big One without catching a few lucky breaks, either.

I spent the day watching the games from the comfort of my couch here at the Batch Pad, eschewing the temptation to hang with the crazies at the local sports book. I invited a few people over, but Falcon Rob had to work, and one of my other buddies called off at the last minute, so it was just me and AC.

As far as our in-game munchin' spree was concerned, the original plan was to order a pizza or two and supplement it with some home-made hot wings. But the wings turned out so damn good that we skipped the pizza altogether.

Y'all remember that Lisa Lisa the One I Adore up in Brownachussetts sent me that deep fryer for Christmas? Well, I finally had the chance to break it out and use it. I had a big bag of frozen wings that I'd thawed out on Saturday, and a couple of hours before kickoff, I laid them out on paper towels to pull the excess moisture away from the meat. While that was going on, I mixed up a bowl of seasoned flour, using stuff like garlic powder, white and black pepper, a little salt, and paprika to spice it up.

Once the raw wings were sufficiently sweated out, I put them in a Pyrex mixing bowl with the flour, snapped on the lid, and gave it a shake-shake-shake like it was a huge poultry martini. Then the whole thing went back in the fridge for an hour (a little secret I learned that keeps the seasoning stuck to the meat, instead of coming off and floating to the top of the deep fryer like a bunch of golden-brown lily pads in a pond of boiling oil).

Cooking was a snap--just twelve minutes in the fryer--and they came out perfectly. I had a bottle of Frank's Red Hot Wing Sauce to pour over the wings, and after making sure they were all coated in spicy red goodness, they were ready to eat. And they turned out damn good. Between the two of us, we ended up making several batches and went through the entire bag of wings.

Now that I've used the deep fryer, I'm looking forward to using it again. I have some frozen hash brown patties I can use at breakfast, but the other day when I was at the store, I picked up some hushpuppy mix, too. Once AC heard about that, he put in a request for catfish nuggets. So we'll see where this culinary adventure leads.

On the other hand, as much as I enjoyed the wings, I'm currently obsessing over getting a new wok and trying out a bunch of Thai and Chinese recipes. I've got several Asian cookbooks that I've been browsing through lately, and a few recipes have piqued my imagination. And I've been slowly stocking up on the Asian ingredients lately, too. Last trip to the grocery store, I picked up some Chinese five-spice, cornstarch, sesame oil, ground turmeric, hoisin sauce,and even a new Santoku knife, all in preparation for a chance to go stir-crazy. Basically, I have everything I need except for the wok, so once that little hurdle is cleared I'll be unlocking the mysteries of the Orient by way of my kitchen, or at least munching on some nice fresh veggies that aren't used as a pizza topping.

That's all I've got for today. After a full night's sleep, I'm free to goof off all day, but then my work week starts up again tonight. Y'all have a good one.

Mikey