Buffalo Wings, Teriyaki Wings, a Giveaway and Happy Moments

Bear with me.  

I'm going to throw a lot of stuff at you before we get to the wing recipe.  

It all started early this morning with a few happy, happy, happy moments, one right after the other within  a span of about 5 minutes.

 I was picking up a prescription at the pharmacy.  As I was leaving, one of the pharmacists was just coming in and he stopped me to ask how everyone in my family was doing and as we were talking the store loudspeaker started playing a Bee Gees song.  It brought the biggest smile to my face and both of us started laughing and I said, "I can't help it, whenever I hear the Bee Gees it makes me feel like I did way back then!" and he said, "You mean back in your Saturday Night Fever Days?" and we both laughed.

I was still smiling when I was sitting at the traffic light, waiting to exit the parking lot.  I looked over at the very old, vintage car that was sitting in the lane next to me and noticed the elderly lady driving the car, gripping her steering wheel tightly.  A steering wheel that was covered with a plush, fluffy, bright pink steering wheel cover.  I had to stifle a laugh, because I didn't want the woman to think that I was laughing at her, but I was thinking to myself that when I'm eighty I hope that I have a fluffy, pink steering wheel cover in my vintage car.  But make my vintage car a Ferrari, okay?

Then the light changed.   I turned out of the parking lot and a couple of blocks later found myself waiting at another traffic light.  Staring at the back of the minivan in front of me, I noticed a sticker on the back with the profile of a beautiful, long-coated dog.  I decided that it was probably either a Newfoundland or a Great Pyrenees.  As I pondered which of these gorgeous breeds it could be, a movement in the back window of the minivan caught my eye.  There in the window, staring right at me, was an English Bulldog, in all his smushed-face glory, complete with an immense underbite with his bottom teeth jutting out.  I started laughing again, thinking how odd it is that the sticker on the car has a beautiful Newfie or Great Pyrenees but the dog in the car is actually a bulldog.  And the dog continued to stare at me, as if to say, "Yeah, and I'll bet your husband once had a picture of Farrah Fawcett or Bo Derek on his wall. But just like the sticker on this car, that picture on his wall didn't mean anything, did it?  Because he ended up with you instead, right?"  Which only made me laugh more.

My good mood continued throughout the morning (I know that I am really in a good mood when I'm still smiling as I vacuum and do laundry).  As I sat down to blog about chicken wings, I thought to myself that it has been a really long time since my last giveaway.

So I gathered up a bunch of fall-themed kitchen toys from Williams-Sonoma for you!

 The winner will receive everything you see in this picture.  A set of pumpkin and gourd candles, Halloween cookie cutters, a pumpkin spatula, a pumpkin pocket pie mold, and a set of fall-themed piecrust cutters.

I also bought a set of the candles for myself.   Here they are on my fall mantel.

Cookie cutters in the shape of a ghost, haunted house, bat, pumpkin and witch's hat, and a pumpkin spatula.

Turkey, pumpkin, leaf and acorn piecrust cutters, and a pumpkin-shaped pocket pie mold.

To win the giveaway, all you have to do is 1. be a follower of this blog and 2. leave a comment on this post. Comment about anything you like, anything from your favorite Bee Gees song to Let's Go Red Sox or anything in between!! 

The winner will be drawn via random.org on Friday, October 4 and contacted via their blog comment email address.

This giveaway is only open to U.S. residents, and it is sponsored by me--believe me, Williams-Sonoma has no idea who I am.

Update: The giveaway is closed.  The winner has been emailed-- and the winner is:  Heather, from Vintage Grey.  I have been following Heather's blog with its lovely crafts and creations for a long time, her handiwork is amazing!  Congratulations, Heather!

Okay, onto today's recipe.  I do not eat chicken wings.  I'm happy to eat white-meat chicken, but I don't do wings.  Mr. Terrific loves them, however.  And now it's football season.  And I spend a lot of time making appetizers on Sundays before we watch the Patriots.  These wings are part of football Sundays.  Partly because they are good football food, but also because it's best to make these on a day when I am spending a lot of time cooking, because of the refrigeration and the wait involved after the wings are steamed.  If you have the time, I recommend using this steam-then-roast method!

I don't fry the wings.  I figure there are enough calories in the sauces, why pile on more grease by frying?  So I steam them, and then I refrigerate them and when they are cold again I roast them.  Roasting the steamed-then-refrigerated wings makes the skin crispy which then holds in the moisture from the steaming.  I think.  I can't say for sure because like I said, I don't eat wings.

So I asked for Mr. Terrific's honest opinion.  I told him, don't spare my feelings, be brutally honest with me!!  I only blog about recipes that I think are really awesome, the last thing I want is for someone to make a recipe off of my blog and say "EEEWWWWW."

And he said, he really likes the texture.  They are crispy on the outside, but very moist on the inside.  Sounds like a good wing to me!

Roasted Boiled Potatoes

I opted to save myself the trouble of planting a vegetable garden this year.  The past few years have yielded very few vegetables that weren't sampled first by the backyard critters.  After all this time of thinking that the neighborhood population of bunnies and squirrels was increasing, I was really surprised by the scarcity of the furry creatures this year.  No garden to lure them into my yard meant fewer nuisances  adorable bunnies and pests  beautiful squirrels hanging around.

I'm just grateful that the li'l varmints don't bother with the flowers that I've planted.  I can easily pick up locally grown produce at the farmers market every week, but there is no bouquet of beautiful flowers anywhere that could ever give me the amount of happiness that I feel every time I look at a vase of flowers that I cut from my own yard.

And speaking of furry creatures--

Clyde is a year old!!

I can't believe how quickly his first year went by.

Here he is when we brought him home last November.

And here is a picture I took yesterday, on his birthday.

And there have been lots of playful moments in between.

It's getting harder and harder to remember a time when he was smaller than Gus!

Maybe someday we'll convince him that he's not a lap dog.

Roasted Garlic, and White Chili

I very rarely cook alone.  My trusty sidekicks are usually nearby.

Clyde is usually to my left.

And Gus is usually directly behind me.

Gus is usually sitting at attention.  Clyde is usually lying down.

If they could speak, I imagine they would say something like this:

Gus:        

I am READY.  I've got this COVERED.  You drop something, I am ON IT.  Don't worry, I may even catch it before it hits the floor, before you even know you've dropped it.

Clyde:       

Dude!  Chillax!  

It's a different story when he's out playing in the yard.  Clyde always

 comes to life when there's room to run around.  Yee-haw!

 Or........

maybe not.  He's not one to pass up an opportunity to relax and chill.

Today's recipe, White Chili, requires a bit of prep work in advance.  I went through my blog archive, and I can't believe I've made it this far into blogging without posting a recipe that uses roasted garlic!  Since you will need roasted garlic for this chili, I'll also give you those simple instructions so you can roast your garlic ahead of time.  

Apple Tart

This apple tart recipe takes minimal time and is easy to prepare.  If you can peel and slice apples, you can make this!  Let it bake while you eat dinner and when you are done with your meal you will have a warm apple dessert waiting for you!