This recipe is adapted from the most recent Gourmet magazine issue (June 2009). I personally think that the name “Peach-Lacquered” comes from the way these wings are cooked–you have to continually tend to them and coat them for about 20-25 minutes. But, I’d say they were pretty worth it.

• 3 garlic cloves, minced
• 1 (1-1/2-inch) piece peeled ginger, minced
• 1/3 c. peach or apricot preserves or jam
• 1/6 c. soy sauce
• 1 tbsp. water
• 1/8 tsp. chili powder
• 1/8 tsp. rooster sauce
• 1-1/2~2 lb chicken wings, tips removed if desired

Preheat broiler (I rec’ first half of cooking on high and second half on low heat). Add preserves, soy sauce, water, chili powder, and rooster sauce to the ginger/garlic mixture and combine. Pulse a few times in blender if mixture is too chunky. Line the bottom and sides of a large 4-sided sheet pan with foil and lightly oil foil OR lightly oil (read: spray with light cooking oil) a disposable aluminum foil pan. Pat wings dry and put in sheet pan. Season with 1/3 tsp salt. Pour sauce over wings and toss to coat, then spread in 1 layer.

Broil wings 4 to 6 inches from heat 5 minutes, then turn over and baste with sauce from pan. Continue to broil, rotating pan and turning and basting 3 more times, until chicken is cooked through and browned in spots, 20 to 25 minutes.

The ideal side dish to this would probably be a light, dill-laden potato salad, but we started making ours too late to serve with this dish. If making potato salad, either make earlier in the day or the day before (or buy it!). We instead ate it with some delicious sweet corn-on-the-cob (boiled for about 10 minutes), though a light salad, fries, or a pasta salad would work as well.

http://www.gingerpeople.com

I bought this packet of chews yesterday for $1.99 at World Market. They had a whole display of ginger-themed items and I’ve got to admit that the real initial draw to these was the interesting mascot. It’s a knob of ginger chewing ginger chews. He’s cure, but it just seems wrong to me.

It only took me reading the back of this and surrounding Ginger People packages and finding out that these chews will not only give you a jolt of energy, but that they’ll also sooth any turbulent tummies.

The first one I ate was interesting. I wasn’t prepared for the snappiness of the ginger, and I had to chew and chew to get them down while an explosion was going on in my mouth. The second one I had (as I’m writing this) was much better. Smooth yet chewy, the bitter coffee melds into the sugary spicy sweetness of the ginger and just tastes amazing. The best thing about these little snacks is the fact that they’re travel friendly! They’re individually wrapped and just the right size.

Ginger Chews come in Original, Apple, and Peanut flavor as well. They can be found at local Whole Foods and World Markets, but you can also order them online. I look forward to trying their other treats, and also bought a small pack of “Travelers Chews” for my soon-to-be-starting-college little sister.

This dish was actually too flavorful for me. There were strong flavors throughout that seemed to compete with each other, rather than play off of each other and complement the dish as a whole. The pork was definitely the best part, and I think would taste great (better?) on it’s own. Salty, Sweet, Fishy, and Spicy.

This makes two servings, but depending on your portion size, two people could share one dish.

• 1 pound pork shoulder or loin
• 1/2 package of rice vermicelli
• 1/2 head of butter lettuce, torn into small pieces
• ~1/4-1/2 bunch of mint, tor

For the marinade:

• 4 cloves of garlic, minced
• 2.5 tablespoons fish sauce
• 2 tablespoons sugar
• 1/4 tsp ground black pepper

For the nuoc cham (sauce):

• 1/8 cup sugar
• Juice of 1/2 lemon (~1 tbsp lemon juice)
• 1/6 cup fish sauce
• 1/4 cup water
• 1 clove of garlic, minced
• 1/2 carrot, thinly sliced or julienned
• 1/2 to 1 teaspoons chili paste or rooster sauce

Place pork in the freezer until it firms slightly, 45 to 60 minutes. Remove the pork from the freezer, thinly slice and place in a large ziploc bag. In a small bowl, mix the ingredients for the marinade. Pour marinade into the bag with the pork and seal, removing as much air as possible. Place in the refrigerator and allow to marinate for one hour to overnight. In a small bowl, mix the ingredients for the sauce. Place in the refrigerator until ready to use.

Right before grilling, bring a large pot of water to a rolling boil. Add the vermicelli noodles and cook until tender, about 2 to 4 minutes (4 minutes is too long!). Drain the noodles and rinse with cold water to stop the cooking process, set aside. Remove the pork from the fridge. Grill or cook in wok (whichever you prefer) until cooked through. To assemble, place noodles in bowl or on a plate, then top with the grilled pork, lettuce and mint. Drizzle with the sauce and enjoy!

We’re closing in on the finishing touches on our apartment (even though we moved in November). We’ve painted the walls, got the furniture, and even the dishes. I think it’s safe to say that the only remaining things we need are for the bedroom. I’d like to get a nice new linen set (probably the RISP set from Ikea with a both a 2 and 1 comforter or a 3+1 set).

Last trip included a new bookcase (BILLY, $34.99). I had originally wanted the smaller one that was half the size, but once I went to the showroom and saw that the one double the size (pictured to the left) was only $10 more and would use our 10-foot ceilings more effectively, I was convinced. The assembly was very quick and easy. The only problem is that the bookcase teeter-totters a little bit, so I did reluctantly have to anchor into the wall. The good thing is you can’t see the top of the bookcase so you can’t see the anchoring device! Another bad thing is that this bookcase doesn’t sit flush against the walls because our stupid apartment has thick molding along the bottom of the walls and strip of wood to “line” the hard wood floors. The bookcase holds my books, magazines, and other things quite nicely. I also like how the boxes fit perfectly! These boxes are from Ikea (LINGO) and were $4.99 for a pack of two. They were from a previous Ikea trip and had been hanging out underneath our side tables and hidden in our wardrobe previously holding un-reachable books sideways! One is empty now (don’t worry, soon to be filled), and one has computer accessories in it. The bottom shelf holds my extra toiletries that I don’t use that often (We don’t have a medicine cabinet in our bathroom). If I need to, I can move this bin back underneath the sink to where it used to be, but for now it has a nice little home. The top shelf will hold linens once I do laundry.

Other purchases were a set of SNÄLL glasses in a nice turquoise color ($5.99 for 6). I liked the squiggly ones better than the flower printed ones, but strangely only 2 lined glasses come in a set, the remaining 4 are flower printed. Also, PLASTIS ice tray ($1.99), TRIPP storage tins ($2.99 for 3), another IKEA 365+ vegetable knife ($4.99), PRICKIG microwave cover to replace the one Dan accidentally melted ($1.99), a larger, 11″ SKÄNKA frying pan ($14.99), and a set of DRÄLLA bendable chopping boards ($1.99 for 2).

We had originally been planning to get a shower curtain and new pillows for our couch at Ikea, but we received a CB2 catalog in the mail and decided to order from there instead. CB2 is a company that is related to Crate & Barrel, but is more modern and serves a younger crowd. We bought 2 azure multistripe pillows (23″!) and I convinced Danny to let us also get a little cute elephant accent pillow. I thought the elephant pillow would tie together the red LACK tables, wall color, and couch with the pillows nicely. We also got a nice monterey shower curtain for our bathroom. We currently only have a liner in our bathroom with no curtain. We’ve been having trouble finding a shower curtain that looked nice and also matched our weird peach tiled bathroom walls. We both liked the grey in this curtain as well as the bright blue and green to tie the whole apartment together.

I recently purchased these two wrapping papers. The top one is from Paper Cult, a new store in Tysons Corner mall that not only has a cute window design, but stocks international magazines, books, and papers like this Russian Doll one. I thought of my sister immediately when I saw it and I like the silver detailing. ($4.50 per sheet)

The bottom one is from Paperchase, a company in the UK but their items are sold here through Border’s. I have a weak spot for owls. I purchased a pencil, gift bag, and wrapping paper from Borders. I had originally planned to somehow use the wrapping paper as decoupage or as a counter-top/desk liner, but after decoupaging some pails failed, I realized that I would just scan the paper in, use it as a wallpaper for a while and be done with it. I wrapped my boyfriend’s birthday presents in it.

Paperchase also makes recipe books. I purchased one for about $8 from Borders and have diligently writing recipes in it, well the recipes that “pass the test” and deserve to be hand-written into a book.