My dear friend Aubrey (oh hey girl) gave me either the best present or the most dangerous present for my birthday - a pizza stone! I’ve had it one week and have used it 3 times. A strong case could be made for a future gym membership. In the meantime, let’s examine the evidence. Exhibit A:
Exhibit C:
BRB, going to the gym.
Just kidding, I’m still here.
If buffalo wings are on the menu, I’m going to order them. My love for buffalo wings started in college when I went to an Archie Moore’s and reluctantly tried their wings. At the time, my tolerance for spicy food was so low that I referred to Slim Jims as “fire sticks.” (note: I also love Slims Jims and your judgment doesn’t bother me) I powered through the pain (tears, snot and all) of eating these wings and now I’m hooked, mail ordering the sauce to be shipped across the country. I have no shame.
And now I’m even making wings at home. 3 pounds of chicken that I butchered myself! The wings aren’t necessarily sold with the parts separated, so I chopped through something that made a weird sound (hey, I’m no chicken expert) to separate the drumstick thing from the wing thing. Science! I got tired of doing that after a while so I did leave some of them intact. After seasoning with salt and pepper, they cooked at 400 degrees for 45 minutes. My Archie Moore’s sauce hadn’t come in the mail yet, so I melted some butter into Frank’s hot sauce and called it a day.
The end result was pret-ty, pret-ty good. I served them with celery sticks (the best ratio of celery sticks to wings is 1:1) blue cheese and ranch dressing. What about carrot sticks, you ask? Do I want those with my chicken wings? Well, since I am not a rabbit, no I do not.
Since everyone else is talking about it, I’ll say it too: summer is ending and fall is coming. Maybe it’s because I live in California, but that’s not such a bad thing. In fact, for us in Northern California it usually means we can expect some nice weather. It also means baseball playoffs, Halloween and all the best food holidays are coming, but not just yet. Not until we have these beautiful and bright veggie kebabs grilled to perfection with all the colors of summer packed on a stick. 
Makes 12 kebabs, 1 of each: zucchini, yellow squash, red onion, bell peppers (red, yellow and green) and button mushrooms cut into 1 inch pieces and arrange on wooden skewers that were soaked in water for at least 30 minutes. Season with salt and pepper and drizzle with olive oil before placing on the grill. Cook for 10-15 minutes or until squash is tender, brushing with more olive oil if needed.
I now know where the name Bisquick comes from. “Bis-cuits, quick!” -Someone.
These biscuits are fluffy and have a lot of flavor packed in with so few ingredients. They are also easy to throw together as a perfect accompaniment to a pasta dinner.
Makes 8 biscuits: 2 cups of Bisquick, 1 cup grated cheddar cheese, 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder, 2/3 cup milk. Mix ingredients together and plop spoonfuls of batter on a cookie sheet with parchment paper. Bake at 400 for 10 minutes. While baking, melt 2 tablespoons of butter with 1/4 teaspoon of garlic salt. When the biscuits are out of the oven, brush the butter mixture on top, and sprinkle dried oregano over the biscuits. 
Garlic salt, by the way, makes my desert island list of ingredients that I could use everyday on everything. I’ve regressed to a small child often eating pasta with only butter and garlic salt instead of pasta sauce like the other adults do. Whatever. It’s so good.
I first ate vodka pasta sauce in college, and not just because vodka was a staple of my freshmen diet, but it was one of the actually good foods served in our cafeteria, thanks Sodexo! I found this blogger‘s vodka sauce recipe under the most viewed photos on FoodGawker, a website that insists on rejecting my submissions because of the humble nature of the iPhone photos. A recipe submission with a picture for worms in dirt, and I mean actual dirt, would be accepted if it was taken with an expensive camera. They’ll even post recipes not written in English, because who needs substance when something is that pretty? Obviously I’m not at all bitter.
On to the sauce! After tenderizing the onions and garlic in olive oil and salt and pepper, I finally got to drink, I mean add the vodka. I used Hangar One, a really awesome vodka.
After the clear concoction reduced by half, I stirred in 1/4 cup of homemade chicken broth, fire roasted tomatoes and cayenne pepper for a little kick. If you own a blender, (that’s nice) blend the sauce until smooth, returning to the pan and stir in heavy cream. I used my mini food processor and grinded/chopped the sauce in small batches. The sauce turns slightly pink after adding the heavy cream, but the flavor is dynamite!
