My mother grew up amongst farmers. When you're a farmer, you ARE the electrician, plumber, carpenter, gardener and, many times, the veterinarian. If you could hold it together with a piece of baling wire, you might get another season's use out of it. If a piece of farm equipment finally died beyond fixing, you scavenged all the parts to fix its replacement. If you didn't grow it (or aren't friends with someone who did), you didn't usually eat it. And so it has gone since the first Garden, I'm sure. My father, for his part, was famous for keeping every scrap of lumber, old doors, panes of window glass, and other construction items, and passed on this "DIY" gene to his children. I can vividly remember helping him hammer out nails to reuse for minor projects, such as the play kitchen he made for my sister and me out of old cabinets and an old radiator cover, all repainted cleverly to resemble real appliances.
My husband's folks, although city dwellers, were equally frugal and resourceful. The elderly "grandpa" who lived downstairs, affectionately nicknamed "Poppy" and adopted by my husband and his siblings, had a workshop in the basement of the house where we now live. When we moved in, the place was full of all kinds of lamp bases, a Cadillac front end, coils of wire, cans of nails and other oddments that might be useful for fixing things. My mother-in-law was also a woman who was not afraid to try her hand at home fix-it projects. And when Ruth fixed things, she aimed for permanence. When we moved into the house, we found a great number of things fastened to last for eternity: phone cords superglued into phone jacks; windows puttied, plastic-covered and taped shut (to save on energy costs); and a plethora of items nailed into place. Mommy's favorite nails were more like railroad spikes.I must say, though, she was an independent woman, and I can imagine her driving that last nail into a reluctant carpet or floor tile, stating, "Well, that oughta do it."
So we found ourselves today pondering an impending winter storm and our year-old snow blower, which, alas, was wintered with some gas still in the tank, and wouldn't start this season. My husband loves a good fix-it project (when I shop at Home Depot, he often emerges from an aisle to stand in front of me, with a puppy dog look, clutching a piece of power equipment to his bosom like a young child with a toy. I can rarely resist...). So he headed off to purchase Gum-Out, starter fluid, new spark plugs, oil and gasoline. Changing the spark plug led to cleaning the carburetor which led to an almost-running snowblower. Alas, even the most avid fixer reaches the point where professional help is needed. Good thing we have a shovel and salt.
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This spicy chicken dish will warm up your insides on a cold, wintry day. You can adjust the spiciness by decreasing the red pepper flakes, if you wish. I served this with a salad of mixed greens to counteract the zestiness of the meat.
Serves 4
1/4 c teriyaki sauce
2 T red wine vinegar
1 1/2 T canola oil, divided
1 tsp sesame oil
2 T honey
2 tsp crushed red pepper flakes
1 tsp minced garlic (1-2 cloves)
1 lb boneless chicken breast tenders
1 tsp cornstarch
In a small mixing bowl, combine the teriyaki sauce, wine vinegar, 1/2 T of canola oil, sesame oil, honey, red pepper and garlic; mix well. Add chicken; stir to coat. Set to one side to marinate for 20 minutes.
In a wok or large skillet, heat the remaining canola oil over high heat. Add the chicken tenders, reserving the remaining marinade. Cook over high heat, turning frequently, until cooked through and browned on all sides.
Add cornstarch to reserved marinade; stir well. Add marinade mixture to skillet, stirring until thickened. Remove from heat.
Serve with soba noodles and a mixed green salad.
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