Sontoo's Wings

Well good morning all!

It's Friday, two days before the wife heads off to Ottawa for Forensic Ident Training. The boys and I are not looking forward to it. It's going to be difficult; difficult for mommy to be away from the boys and difficult for daddy to go through a month without backup. But we'll survive.

Sonwun starts swimming lessons Monday and I think he's looking forward to it. I'm a little concerned that he thinks he'll be spending time on the waterslide at the pool. But he keeps talking about taking swimming lessons so that he can go down the waterslide all by himself, without floaties. I'm not sure he completely understands, but I sincerely hope he enjoys the lessons.

So, recipe time. No Stay-at-home-Dad blog would be complete without one now and again. Today's recipe is Mom's Chinese Chicken Wings (aka Sontoo's Favourite Wings). I love these things and they are great hot or cold. I prefer them hot, but if you're going on a picnic, make a double batch and eat half for supper the night before and save half for the picnic.

You will need:

Half cup Soy Sauce

Quarter cup lightly packed brown sugar.

Tablespoon or so grated ginger.

Three cloves garlic, crushed.

Tablespoon or so Lime Juice

Large Ziploc bag

2-3 pounds chicken wings, separated.

(The measurements listed above are estimates. I rarely use tablespoons and teaspoons and such. I just kinda throw the stuff in until it looks right to me.)

Combine first five ingredients in the large Ziploc. Give it a little shake to mix it all up. Add the wings. If you need a little more soy sauce, feel free to add it at this point. Squeeze all the air out of the Ziploc and seal it. Put it in the fridge for a minimum of four hours - best if you do this in the morning for supper - seven or eight hours before cooking. Flip the bag occasionally to make sure all the little wingies get an equal share of the marinade.

About an hour before supper, take a baking sheet and cover it in aluminum foil. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Put the baking sheet in the oven for a few minutes to let it get hot and then take it out and spray it down with cooking spray. Lay out the chicken wings in a single layer, skin side down where possible. Put it back in the oven and cook for 25 minutes.

Then take 'em out. Reset the oven to 425. Flip all of the wings over and put 'em back in the oven for another 20 minutes or so. Then take 'em out, put 'em on a plate and you're ready to go. Yummy!

Sontoo loves them!

Oh, and my cooking tip for the day:

Keep your fresh ginger root in the freezer in a Ziploc. It's easy to grate frozen (which is how I use it 99 per cent of the time) and will keep for a long, long time.

Enjoy! And wish me luck in the coming month. I will need it.

A Light in the Darkness

So it's been just shy of three weeks in the Hub of the North. And overall, I gotta tell you, it hasn't been great.

I have been disappointed at just about every turn. Take the kids to the playground: find it covered in broken beer and sherry bottles. Found a nicer one today, less glass, more graffiti and some minor drug paraphernalia.

Go to Canadian Tire to buy a lawnmower: find the worst collection of disinterested, lazy and, well, I'll say it, stupid people in red shirts that I have ever encountered. Fifteen or so of them wandering the cramped aisles with vacant looks on their faces, desperately trying to avoid eye contact and a possible question about merchandise, and one of them trying to keep up with the six people in line at the cash register.

Go to Walmart. And those of you who know me, know how it pains me to say that. But I did, because I still needed a lawnmower. And there, I found the folks that were rejected for employment at Canadian Tire.

Went to a Chinese restaurant - and I don't mean to insult all restaurants when I use that word in reference to this place. Worst I have ever been to - Wong's. If you ever get to Thompson, avoid it. Just bad. Not much else to say. Okay, I'll say a little more. It's pretty hard to screw up sweet and sour chicken balls. At least I used to think so.

Been to Tim Horton's a couple of times. If you go at 5 a.m., you can get your coffee fairly quickly. Go at other times and you're gridlocked at the drive-through. Don't bother going inside.

But there have also been a couple of bright spots . . . yeah, two that I can think of. Went to the Staples in town. Was greeted when I walked in by a clean, friendly, intelligent person. Didn't have to wander the aisles endlessly looking for help. It was there, it was offered and it was good. I think I'll be going there, just to hang out on rainy days.

And then there was last night. Finally decided to check out the Riverview Restaurant just outside of town. Before leaving, I looked for a review on line. Found one. Guy said it was the best restaurant in Thompson. I've been to several restaurants in Thompson and I'll tell you the competition is not fierce. But we had a few RCMP recommendations as well, so what the heck? Couldn't be much worse than Wong's.

The outside, I'll tell you, didn't look like much - kind of like a converted house on the banks of the Burntwood River. The obligatory mural painted on the outside. But inside, once you get past the reception area, was cozy, warm and clean. The waitress was smiling, friendly and even offered suggestions from the rather extensive menu.

And the food was fantastic, by any standard. We didn't even scratch the menu's surface, ordering the pan-fried dumplings to start (fantastic!), followed by sweet and sour sesame chicken, barbecued pork lo mein noodles and kung pao beef. All of it was awesome and I have eaten at some nice Chinese food places in Niagara and Toronto.

I can't wait to get back and try more of the vast selection which, by the way, includes a full page of sushi selections.

So yes, there is some light in the darkness, some sweet in the sour and some flavour in the Thompson food.