Fried Chicken and Sour Grapes

Well, it's happened, the Senate has a Democrat majority. Allan gracefully conceded rather than drag it out and risk all the bad publicity that an investigation of just how crooked of game he played would uncover. There are still a few house seats contested. Mean Jean Schmidt is still trying to hold on to her seat, claiming victory with a slim lead and 22,000 votes still to be counted and I think there will be a dirty tricks investigation in Florida. Katherine Harris has sailed off into oblivion. I was rather hoping she would give us one more show stopping performance. It would be kind to only say that her political career is toast...perhaps, though, she will write a "tell all" book? I can't wait.
Meanwhile we are stuck with a lame duck congress with an impatient President counting down the clock as his special super powers wane. How much damage can he do in the ttime allotted to him and his discredited cronies? Plenty!
WLook for a rush to have Bolton confirmed for the UN appointment which the Pres snuck through temporarily when Congress was on vacation...Ditto with Gates, damaged goods who will just be more of the same...a undercover version of Rumsfeld.
Today on the White House steps, the entire cabinet was assembled in a show of "solidarity". A real rogues gallery, Cheney suddenly looking much older than I remembered him, holing up at his lodge for the election and drinking a case of Jack Daniels always leaves him rough at the edges. Look at these guys, and Condi. Do you think for a minute they have any inclination to relinquish a shard of power? These are people who have convinced themselves that they and they alone are qualified to run America. They got us into this mess and they are the only ones who can get us out!
This has been going on for a long time, Cheney and Negroponte were buddies back in the Iran Contra days, setting up Columbian drug deals to buy arms for the Somoza dictatorship in Nicaragua. 50,000 dead Nicaraguans in that fiasco. Ironically, Daniel Ortega was re elected president of Nicaragua inspite of the fact that they dragged Oliver North out of retirement to go down and threaten the voters to do the right thing! Gates was the CIA point man on that deal also. He fed misinformation to Congress ands didn't he get sacked over it? He's Back!
This new congress has got to show backbone when it gets into power and fight hard to prove that the executive branch has usurped power and reclaim the constitution for the American people! The Patriot Act has to be shown what it is in reality and dismantled. Can they do it? Will the noise machine that has taklen over the minds of America let them?
These are all painful questions and realities. After the giddy unreality of the last few days wears off, we have to face the harsh reality of undoing what these thugs have done in the last few years. We have to fix a ruined economy. We have to restore Americas honor by stopping the torture practices, rejoining other nations in respecting international law and treaties. We have to stop forcefully medding in other nations affairs to enrich Oil Companies......we have to become sane.
Boy, all this ranting makes me hungry!
I still want to celebrate this historic and joyful event we have just lived through!
It's time for Fried Chicken!



I just happen to have the very best fried chicken recipe ever devised by the mind of man. This was the recipe from Big Johns Fried Chicken on West 116th Street in Harlem. It was a joint that was open for a few hours every day and only did carry out. I think it closed in the late 60's, but the recipe lived on in the catering business of Big Johns daughter, Cleo. Cleo became a famous caterer doing pretty upscale soul food and southern cuisine in NYC. I've been making this for years and I call it Cleo's Daddy's Fried Chicken.
It's pretty simple, just get some chicken parts. Please leave the skin on for me.
Put the chicken in a big bowl or a sealable palstic bag.
Add a big soupspoon of mustard. You know how I feel about mustard, I use good hot Dijon, but I'm sure Big John used good old American yellow.
Add a tablespoon of sugar.
Grate, actually liquify a small onion. I use the small part of the grater.
Cover with milk and mix everything together and let the chicken sit in the milk for at least 6 hours in the fridge.
Get a big frying pan hot and put in some oil. Dredge the chicken pieces in flour and let them get golden brown in the oil. Then put them on a baking pan and finish them in a 350 degree oven for a half hour.
This makes them super crispy and most of the oil bakes out!
I guarantee the best fried chicken youu ever ate, that's what everyone has been telling me for almost 30 years!