Excitement Abounds

So I have been asked by mi madre to take her shopping tomorrow since she is currently unable to drive due to surgery.  Unbeknownst to her, prior to my arrival at her home, I am going to make a pitstop for donuts.

But not any donuts.  Noooo……I am finally going to the donut shoppe I have heard so much about.  Ye Olde Fractured Prune. It’s been about a year since I first heard of them and for a while, they were near the top of my to-visit list…..but then I got sidetracked by the whole “getting married” thing and then the moving thing and then the holidays and then of course there was the breakdown in all coherent thought processes when I decided it would be a BRILLIANT idea for me to quit my job (of eight years) without having anything else lined up so while all that was going on, there really wasn’t any room for thinking about donuts.

But about two weeks ago, something, I can’t remember what, reminded me of this place, and I pulled up the website and did some drooling and have been trying to find a time to stop in and try a donut for myself.  I actually lingered outside their door last Friday, sorely tempted, but I had the kids with me and my ten year old son has a real sensitivity to sugar so we have to limit his intake and I somehow thought he might object if me and his sisters had donuts and he didn’t get any.

But tomorrow!  No kids!  And I’m going to be in Columbia!  So hello donuts!!!

Tonight I took a brief detour from my road to 100 beers and tried a new libation created by Alice, Barmaid Extraordinaire at Jack’s restaurant.  She made up a very tasty raspberry mojito with fresh raspberries.  Very yum.  Do try this at home.  And, because it was all chunky with fruit, it was kinda like a meal too.  Bonus!

Speaking of meals.  A report on the peach-jalepeno chicken from last night.  It LOOKED beautiful and it tasted….well, like chicken.  But the sauce, although very tasty on its own, added no flavor to the finished dish.

Next time, I’m going to do it differently.  The sauce was simply two heaping tablespoons on peach preserves, warmed in the mic which I then added about half of a diced jalepeno.  The flavor was perfect – just enough heat to make it interesting.  Then, I browned the chicken in butter and olive oil, butterflied it to cook the center and then spread the sauce over and around which made it all beautiful and glistening.  ‘Cept the chicken was all the way cooked through so I finished it in the mic (something Jack convinced me was okay.  I’d always been violently opposed to cooking meat in the microwave but he said in the restaurant kitchen, they do it all the time.  As long as you start the chicken on the grill, you can finish it in the mic without it getting rubbery.  Cool)

The only change I’m going to make next time will be to make sure I save enough sauce to serve on top of the chicken once it’s done.  Then it will be beautiful AND tasty.

Okay, I’m off to dream of donuts.  Ta!