When I began blogging over 2 years ago, I had something like this blog in mind where I would report on the progress of any given project I had going. I suppose in some ways this blog has met that goal. After all, you did get to hear me whine about graduate school until I finished a few weeks ago. Now you get to hear me whine about not having much to do until I get a job. Well, job hunting is a project. I’m just not making very good progress so far. Sure I work hard at it but it’s competitive out there! I am making a great deal of progress cleaning out files and book shelves. However, my office is messier than ever as the project progresses. I should take before and after pictures.
On the subject of July 4, Lorianne from Hoarded Ordinaries posed this very interesting question: What is the price or cost of freedom? My knee jerk reaction is that of the little girl’s in her post: freedom is free. Or at least it should be. Tyranny, on the other hand, is expensive. And getting out from under tyranny is even more expensive, which I suppose some moron would argue that that is the price of freedom. I disagree. Freedom should be free and no one should have to pay to escape tyranny. This argument is closed in my opinion so don’t try to convince me that I’m wrong.
How was your July 4? We had a quiet one. In fact it was too quiet. I felt rather isolated from my family members. Dave’s parents are on vacation in Canada. I don’t live close enough to attend the annual family barbeque at my cousin’s house. I wanted the annual family barbeque to be at my house this year but we haven’t moved yet. I had hoped that we’d be settled into our new place in Washington by now but the job market has prevented us from doing that so far. Maybe Labor Day…
Still, I managed to put together a very nice barbeque for ourselves. I tried a recipe for marinated chicken I found in Sunset magazine some time ago. It’s a Portugese/African fusion marinade consisting of 1 c. fresh lemon juice, 3/4 c. olive oil, 1/4 c. chopped garlic, 2 TBSP hot chili peppers (hence the name Chicken piri piri), 1 tsp. ground cumin, 1 tsp. dried thyme and oregano each. The recipe calls for 2 cut up chickens but I just used one and obviously had plenty of marinade when I took out the chicken (marinade at least 4 hours). I’m not sure it would’ve been enough marinade for 2 chickens though. Anyway, our kettle barbeque isn’t big enough for two chickens.
After you light the charcoal, wrap cobs of corn in foil and put them toward the outside edge of the grill while the charcoal flares up. Let the chicken drain before putting it on the grill but reserve the marinade. After the coals have burned down sufficiently spread them in the thin layer the put the chicken on the grill and close the lid. Watch for flare ups and spray with a squirt bottle (or gun) if necessary. We didn’t have that problem after an initial flare up — the chicken didn’t get burned. Turn the chicken over after about 20 minutes then place fresh asparagus directly on the grill or make a packet of foil and put that on. Meanwhile, heat up the reserved marinade in a sauce pan and let it boil gently for a while to kill any chicken bacteria. Then add a cube of butter and let it melt. Keep warm. When the chicken is done (no pink — cut to test) serve with the vegetables and put the heated marinade on everything. Enjoy! It is the best grilled chicken I’ve ever eaten. It would still be good without the peppers if you’re sensitive to spicy foods because the lemon flavor really comes through. Yum, the thought is making my mouth water and I haven’t even had breakfast yet!