Happy Birthday America

Yesterday was my favorite holiday of the year, the Fourth of July. I love Independence Day!! All the other holidays through out the year are way too commerical or just don't matter. Valentines Day sucks, New Years Day  I mean come on is that even a real holiday and Christmas, it's now owned by the retailers. The Fourth of July has everything you could ever want. People (friends and family) usually get together have a BBQ and watch fireworks all while celebrating this great country of ours. I usually watch what ever the History Channel has on about the USA until Noel makes me turn it off and help clean for the party, in past years we have walked the Freedom Trail but this year was just too hot for everyone else to come with me. Noel and I have lived in Beacon Hill for two years and our roof has an excellent view of the Charles river and the Boston POPS Fireworks Spectacular. We go up to the roof with a radio and get to listen to the POPS and watch the fireworks with out having to be in the middle of the craziness. This being the last year we have this view, we knew we had to have a party. Most people would have a BBQ, but we don't even have a cement slab to be able to set up a grill and setting one up on the roof is illegal in the City of Boston. A few years ago for Christmas Noel got me a deep fryer, so instead of having a BBQ we had a Fry party.

We came up with a killer menu. Fried Zucchini fries, sweet potato chips, mango pineapple salsa and fried chicken wings. First we came up with the dry rubs for the chicken wings. We had this same party last year and people really liked out Old Bay chicken wings so we had to remake those this year. I put about a dozen wings in a large zip lock and poured in about a cup maybe cup and half of old bay and made sure each wing was covered. My other batch (about a dozen) I used ginger powder, garlic powder, white and pink pepper, fresh thyme and rosemary. We let both of these sit over night in the fridge. The Zucchini fries were easy, I cut them into one and half inch long by half inch sticks. I then cover them in egg and tossed them in bread crumbs and fried them for about three minutes and seasoned them with sea salt. Next Noel made the sweet potato chips. She made these because she wanted to make zucchini chips but I had already cut them into fries. First careful with the mandolin she sliced the potato into real thin slices then she put them in the fryer for until they were browned on both sides. The only problem is she put them all in together so they didn't cook evenly, took a long time to make and eventually burned. They were good until the cooled down then they just tasted burned, next time we'll try a handful at a time. As for the chicken wings about a hour before I made them I stuck them in the freezer. I then cooked four at a time for eight minutes at the top temperature that my fryer goes to. The salsa I made early in the morning. I cut up two mangoes, a regular mango and a champagne mango, a whole pineapple, half a habanero pepper (careful these are HOT!!!), two cloves garlic, a shallot, two tablespoons fresh minced ginger, the juice from a lime and cilantro. I made early in the day so all the flavors would have time to mingle together, I should have made the day before but I forgot to buy a lime and cilantro. The wings came out awesome, unfortunaly for Erin our friend I didn't think about dipping sauce. I remember I had bought a sauce from Russo's a week before, a roasted peach whiskey sauce from Stonewall Kitchen, they make amazing sauces that I have used in the past. Next time I'll make my own dipping sauce so my friends will have more choices for their wings.

Since yesterday was Independence Day I wanted to drink only American beverages. So instead of wine, yes I know there is wine made in the states, I drank Bourbon. I love Bourbon, its my favorite type of whiskey. I had a bottle of Wathen's open. Wathen's is a wonderful single barrel bourbon that is aged about seven years, the distiller goes around a few months before seven years and samples each barrel, when he thinks the barrel is ready it's ready. He also hand signs each bottle with his name, the barrel number and the bottle number. This is the eighth generation of distillers and they just keep getting it right. At 94 proof its not the strongest of bourbons but it's up there, it has a smooth oak, caramel and some dark fruit flavors. It goes fantastic with a nice cigar. So what makes bourbon? Some people claim it has to be from bourbon county, which is false. Bourbon must be at least 51% corn ( that is why it is the sweetest of the whiskeys), it also must be aged at least two years in new white oak barrels that have been charred, also nothing can be added to the bourbon when bottling to enhance flavor, sweetness, or alter color. I like my bourbon with a few rocks ( that is bar lingo for ice) but it's also great neat ( bar lingo for no ice or water). I told one of my accounts about a year ago that I was going to go home put a few rocks in a glass and have some of the Wathen's. He looked at me straight faced and asked if I was going to wear a dress while drinking the bourbon. Some people think it's wimpy to put ice/water in whiskey, I say drink it the way you like it!! Just don't tell him I put ice in mine please.