Garlic Rosemary Roast Chicken

Another good use of rosemary, after cornmeal rosemary cake, if you have too much at home.

Plus, the oven does all but 10 minutes of the work.

(serves 4, 1 whole chicken)
Ingredients:
1 2-lb whole chicken (giblets and neck removed)
1 tbsp olive or vegetable oil
5 tbsp finely chopped fresh rosemary
8 cloves garlic, minced
1 tsp salt
2 tsp unsalted butter, soften
Kitchen twine
Salt and pepper to taste
1 lemon

Directions:
Heat oven to 400F. Lightly coat a roasting pan with oil.

Combine rosemary, garlic, salt and butter in a bowl.

Starting at the neck cavity, gently loose skin from breasts and drumsticks. Spread rosemary mixture evenly under skin.

Tuck wing tips under back of chicken, tie ends of drumsticks together with twine.

Season with additional salt and pepper to taste.

Place breast side up in pan. Roast, basting twice with pan juices, until a meat thermometer inserted into thickest part of thigh reads 175F, about 1 3/4 hrs.

Let stand 10 mins before carving. Squeeze lemon juice on top and serve.

To Ethan (Little Octopus)

Dear Ethan:

You've turned into a little octopus over the past weeks. You've grown another dozen of arms which facilitate you to grasp everything you want anytime anywhere. You love to shake and bang things against your head. But, you have to be very careful when you are at grandma's. She's such a collector who has unlimited everything in her house. Some of them may be a real hazard to you. Like those never-been-used massage jacknobbers on the coffee table which your grandpa mistook for paper-weights, they may look like toys, but they are not, and they can really hurt your little head.

Your new ability does give me frustration, not to mention embarrassment. One time when we were in a restaurant, I was holding you with my right arm, while my left arm had to choose between keeping your right hand off the hot tea on the table and keeping your left hand off my boob. I chose the former. Yes, I was sexually harassed in public for a whole 5 minutes.

Yesterday, you started to put your hands into good use finally. When I was feeding you with a bottle, I tried to put your right hand onto the big handle of the bottle. When I thought you would probably let go of the handle and pat the bottle as usual instead, you put your left hand onto another handle. And right there, you were tightly holding the bottle with your two hands feeding yourself. Oh, my heart exploded into millions pieces.

Love,
Mommy

Broiled Buffalo Wings

I don't have a deep fryer at home. The thought of buying one have come across my mind occasionally for the past few years, especially the moment when I saw it's being used on Food Network. It doesn't take up much space, it has a sleek design, the non-stick parts make cleanup a breeze. And most importantly, the fried food tastes so much better than pan-fried food.

However, I still can't figure out what to do with the large amount of used oil. I find it really a waste to consume so much oil to just make a plate of fries, maybe half dozen of donuts, maybe some calamari.....The delicious taste of fried food just can't overcome my guilt of not being able to fully use a full can of oil.

So, over these years, I've been using my oven to create the "artificial" fried food to satisfy my cravings.

(makes around 20 chicken winglets)
Ingredients:
20 chicken winglets
3 tbsp butter, melted
4 tbsp tobasco
1 tbsp paprika
1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp freshly ground black pepper

Directions:
Make the marinade by mixing together the melted butter, hot pepper sauce, paprika, cayenne pepper, salt and black pepper. Reserve 2 tbsp for coating after the wings come out of the oven.

Marinade the wings with the remaining marinade at room temperature for half an hour.

Drain the marinade off the wings. Place wings on the rack of a broiler pan. Broil on the top shelf in the oven for 15 mins, until wings are no longer pink. Remove from oven and baste with reserved marinade.

Serve hot with blue cheese dip.

Linguine with White Wine Clam Sauce

Yes, my friends, I do still cook!!!!

I've been asked if I'm too busy with taking care of my son to cook. Of course not. We still need to eat. We still need to eat healthy, eat tasty, eat happy.

A couple weeks ago, my husband's niece dug some really fresh and meaty giant clams from Victoria. Having been off from eating seafood for a long time (thanks for the pregnancy and breastfeeding), I went crazy with this pasta dish. I think both me and my husband had consumed at least 5 dozens in total.

Phe, please go again soon. I couldn't have enough.

(serves 4, for my case, it serves 2)
Ingredients:
5 dozens clams
1/2 cup olive oil
5 garlic cloves, sliced
2 small shallot, sliced
1/4 tsp dried thyme
1/4 tsp dried basil
1/4 red pepper flakes
3/4 cup white wine
1 cup Italian parsley, chopped
1/2 pound linguine

Directions:
Clean and scrub the slams. Discard any open ones.

In a large stockpot, heat olive oil over low heat, sautee garlic and shallot until fragrant.

Turn up the heat to medium-high, add clams and wine. Cover the pan and steam the clams until they open, about 3 -5 mins. Shake the pan occasionally to help them cook.

Check the clams. Discard those unopened ones. Remove the clams to a side dish, cover to stay warm.

Add the herbs and reduce the wine by 1/3. When reduced, stir in the parsley and remove from the heat.

Meanwhile, cook linguine in a large pot of boiling salted water until al dente. Drain the pasta, then toss the pasta with the sauce.

Divide the pasta between individual dinner plates. Arrange the clams around each plate and serve with an additional fresh parsley on top for garnish.

To Ethan (8 Months)

Dear Ethan:

You are 8 months old today. That means you are going to be able to walk, so I don't need to carry you around like I'm doing biceps exercise all day long. And you will be able to tell me what you want, so I don't need to stress out myself to figure it out when you cry. Maybe you will start making friends, so you can hangout with your buddies when mommy wants to take a nap......Nah, I know you are gonna wake me up "Stop dreaming! I'm not gonna do all these until I'm 12!"

This month, you've learned to sit up straight by yourself without tilting at all. You pick up toy A, rattle a little bit, put it down; then grasp toy B, bang it against the mat, let it go; hold toy C......you keep doing it until the cycle is done. Then I'd shuffle the toys order a little bit to see if you'd do it all once again. Sometimes you do, but most of time, you start getting bored. At that point, you want to do something else, and your favorite is to exhaust mommy - cry to get me to hold you.

You are still not yet mobile though. You aren't crawling or rolling across the floor. You are getting better in term of being put on your tummy. You don't start crying right away like you used to. But you are not moving forward nor backward. Sometimes you'd try to reach a toy by stretching your arm. But, if it's beyond your reach, you just lie there sucking your figures like,"I'm a baby, everything should be delivered to me. Why would I waste my energy to crawl and get it myself?!" Well, when I should worry if you are developing too slowly, I actually find it pretty relieved. At least I don't have to keep my eyes on you just in case you move yourself to bang your head against the wall.

You start to enjoy playing hide-and-seek now. When I hide myself, you lean forward and turn your head to seek me out. Your round little face is filled with curiosity, your big eyes are rolling around like your brain is functioning 999999999 megahertz. Ethan, that's the most adorable expression I've ever seen. When you see me magically return, your bright little eyes turn brighter. Then comes a big giggle!!!

A couple months ago, when a toy suddenly out of your sight, you didn't care much. This month, you've realized that things don't just disappear. You've learned to look for your missing toys and your missing mom. You know that even though I'm not in your sight, I'm still somewhere, somewhere not with you. You feel upset and start crying when you see me leave you alone in the crib while I walk out your room. Ethan, I'm glad that you've learned what they called "object permanence" which is a big new cognitive skill. When you understand that what's gone is not gone forever, your missing mommy will always come back to you.

You said your first word this month, which was "dada". My friend asked me if that broke my heart that it's not "mama". I said not at all because you basically say it to everything/everyone - the guy out there mowing our lawn, your dirty diaper, your big teddy bear, Giada de Laurentiis on TV......you just never stop "dada-ing". But not only your dad, even myself, really enjoy hearing your sweet "dada" though it might not actually refer to anything. You start to pay attention when I'm talking to you, you gaze at my moving lips with your big round eyes. Sometimes you even reach your hand to my mouth like you are asking me, "I want to talk like you too, how do you do that?" Ethan, you do actually utter quite a lot of different sounds these days. I'm sure you will be able to talk to mommy about what you think, feel, want, see and hear. Mommy can't wait too!

Ethan, you are so lucky to have a couple of buddy babies to grow up with in the neighborhood. You kids were born within a few weeks or months. Last Sunday was the second time that you played with another Ethan (Ethan M.) living next to us in the backyard. You probably haven't seen too much of a little creature the same size as you, you acted abnormally calm. You kept checking out Ethan M. wondering why there's another human being in the world who is being held and entertained when it should only be your privilege. Both of you locked eyes into each other, remained silent, then you took the first step by reaching your hand to Ethan M.'s head, Ethan M. tried to touch your cheek with his fingers, you patted his shoulder, he grasped your leg......all these in slow motions like practicing Taichi. We the parents were so fascinated witnessing the whole "Ethan VS Ethan" episode. Ethan, you probably don't understand friendship now. And maybe you'd have a little brother or sister to play with in the future. But at some point in your life, you do need friends who can share with you something that you don't want to tell your nagging parents. I"m so grateful that you have a chance to interact with your peers in such young age.

Summer weather is surprisingly nice this year which frequents our after-lunch walk. These two weeks, you seem to recognize the sound of "walk walk". Every time I say "Let's go walk walk" when I'm getting you prepared, you are so excited that you pose a big smile, giggle, sometimes you even wave and kick your arms and legs so rigorously like you are being released from a prison. Our usual route takes us to walk past an elementary school where sometimes the students would run around or hang out on the campus lawn. Over the past few days, when we passed by the school, you straightened up yourself from the back of the stroller trying to get yourself a better view to see the kids playing there. You seemed pretty interested. Ethan, you will be going to school very soon where you will be able to learn and make lots of friends. I hope you enjoy it.

Love,

Mommy

P.S. I somehow like you wearing this fisherman hat......you look like a girl with it.