Well my blog has finally hit the inactive status, so I figured it was time I graced these parts and post my latest dinner project. I finished my finals on Friday and finally have some time to goof off. It had been so long since I had cooked that on Monday I made a terrible stir fry with tofu, red pepper, and baby bok choy. I will spare you the pictures. But tonight I think I redeemed myself. I made "Crispy" Duck with Chardonnay Braised Asian Pears, Roasted Artichokes and Hoisin Butter.

It has been ages since I cooked something worth writing about. It was nice to be able to enjoy a day off finally. So I know the picture is full of brown but my plating skills and photography skills are equally in need of improvement.

So anyway for the "recipe". I marinated the duck in soy sauce, mirin, sesame oil, ginger, garlic and Chinese five spice. I pan seared it and finished it in the oven. Its a major pain in the ass to make duck crispy. I took the advice of a few chefs and scored the skin before I seared it. It was crispier this time, but it still isn't exactly how I want it. For the pears I just diced and sauteed them. Then deglazed the pan with a generous amount of chardonnay. The artichoke idea I stole from the web. I just simply cut the top and sprinkled a little bit of lemon juice, olive oil and shoved a garlic clove in the center and roasted it for an hour and a half. I made the hoisin butter by taking some of the rendered duck fat and sauteed some shallots and deglazed them with white wine and chicken stock and reduced it till it could "coat the back of a spoon". I strained it and whisked in butter under low heat. Here are the results.

Today has been such a hassle. I went to move my car last night and noticed somebody punched a hole in my window. They didn't take my stereo or CD's so I figured it was just some moron vandalizing things randomly. So I called the Buffalo Police, but they told me I had to call 911? Does this really qualify as an emergency? Anyway I didn't think anything was stolen till I talked to the glass guy this morning. He told me to make sure my inspection sticker wasn't taken. Well I went and checked and sure enough the inspection sticker was half ripped off. So now I get the pleasure of going to several different places to get this remedied. After talking to all of these people today(cops, mechanics, and DMV workers) this is really common these days. I guess someone was really desperate to get a sticker. I mean it took me three tries to get the car inspected last month and cost several hundred dollars. I really wish NY State would make the inspection stickers crumble to unusable bits when they are removed and it may end up stopping this crap. Well either that or get rid of the new emissions requirements on vehicles. But I'm sure neither of these things will do much.

ps I was kidding about more cameras

Instead of comparing buffalonians plight to that of the jews, Buffalo Rising has managed to capture a photo of our black mayor chomping down on some chicken. Now this may be an appropriate picture had it been a story about the chicken wing festival or who Byron Brown's favorite wing joint is in town. But of course the article is about who will be appointed to the NY State Senate seat. I am having a hard time taking anything I read in this publication/website seriously anymore.

This is really creepy.