Adventures while Cooking For My Wife

 Yesterday afternoon when we began thinking about supper plans, I quickly volunteered to cook for my lovely wife (yes, as you can tell, we are still in the newlywed-honeymoon phase). I do not have a lot of recipes that I know by heart but there are a few dishes that I would cook for myself when I was living as a bachelor the last two years and one of those is stir-fry. 

We had some chicken breasts in the freezer that I had been dying to thaw out and use and some bell peppers and onions just lying there looking bored in the fridge, so I felt compelled to give them some activity.  Earlier in the day I thought about picking up some Worcestershire sauce to add some flavor to the mix but I forgot and it was too late by the time I started cooking.

We had a pack of 8 chicken breasts in the freezer we had picked up last week and when I got them out of the freezer, they were one hard slab of chicken meat. I tried everything I could to separate 2 breasts from the other 6 but they were not having any of that. I ran them under hot water for a few minutes, put them in the microwave, got out a large butcher knife to saw through but all to no avail. So I grabbed a wooden spatula and used it as a pick and hit it with my fist to pry it open. Still nothing. So I went to my toolbox and grabbed my hammer and began whacking the back of the spatula as if I was splitting logs in my back yard. Still nothing. Well, I did manage to chip the wooden spatula. Oops.

Eventually, after more time in the microwave, they let finally let go and I was able to cut them up and add them to my vegetable mix. We received a rice cooker as a wedding gift so we decided to give it a try. The rice didn't turn out too great but it was edible. We also had a side of steamed vegetables that we prepared and just threw on top and mixed it in with the chicken, rice, peppers and onions. I poured some Texas Pete in while it was still simmering for some flavor and spice along with some black pepper.  

It turned out pretty well and we ate it out of bowls with our chopsticks to help with our homesickness and needing to fill the hole in our hearts (and stomachs) for Asian cuisine.