Bourbon Chicken (Sans The Bourbon)

What!? Bourbon chicken without bourbon? Why on earth would someone do that??

I'll tell you why. It's because in Massachusetts you can't buy liquor in the grocery store. I miss the Fry's by my house in Phoenix where the parking lot was big, the food was cheap, and you didn't have to go to a whole separate store just to buy a bottle of wine to go with dinner. But I digress. When it comes down to it I simply don't drink bourbon and don't intend to buy a bottle of something only a small portion of which I need for one meal. Furthermore, I don't believe I've ever actually eaten bourbon chicken, so I wouldn't know the difference.

Anyway, today Josh and I had some time to go to the grocery store. Josh forewent some of the social events the law school was putting on this afternoon in favor of accompanying me to the store and spending time with me tonight, which I appreciated. This morning he got to go on the Sam Adams brewery tour (which I originally planned to tag along to--when it came down to it I just wanted to sleep in for once this week), and later in the afternoon some friends he met recently came over to our apartment for some board games. We played Acquire, "a game of savvy planning and corporate conquest," which was fun and which I almost won (Josh's corporate conquest skills are apparently more advanced than mine).

Later I met one of Josh's new friends whose name incidentally also happens to be Josh, as well as his girlfriend Jenny, both of whom live on the fourth floor of our building and both of whom are quite nice. As it turns out, Jenny enjoys cooking and canning and dinner parties, so I was happy to meet someone with a common interest. Despite our apartment seeming to be about the same size as our old one in Phoenix, it is really not laid out well for dinner parties. There isn't a lot of space near the kitchen for a table that seats more than two, which makes having people over for dinner problematic. As bothersome as this is, I tell myself I just have to go through this for a while before I can buy a real house, have a real kitchen (and by real I actually mean real big), and get a real dining room. Just three more years...just three more years...

After going to the store I put together my dinner--which turned out great, by the way, even without the bourbon thankyouverymuch. I used a recipe I found on Pinterest, as usual. Her pictures of course turned out way better than mine. First thing I plan to do when I get a permanent job is buy a new camera with a spectacular macro lens.

5 chicken breasts 

2 Tbsp. olive oi

1 tsp. minced garlic

1/4 c. apple or pineapple juice

1/3 c. packed brown sugar

2 Tbsp. ketchup

1 Tbsp. apple cider vinegar

1/2 c. water

1/3 c. soy sauce

pinch of red pepper flakes

1 Tbsp. cornstarch

I only had 3 chicken breasts, so my attempt at this turned out more saucy than Josh would've liked (which is too bad for him and great for me--the more sauce the better!). Also, bear with me on the ketchup bit--sounds weird, looks weird going in, but it tastes good in the end.

Cut your chicken breasts into 1"-2" chunks and place them in a large skillet with 2 Tbsp. oil. Cook them until they are no longer pink and the juices run clear. Drain juices, and sear chicken a bit, like so:

 While you're cooking your chicken, combine your remaining ingredients. When you add your cornstarch, whisk everything together until it becomes a sauce (it looks like watery dark soy sauce ketchup garlic chunk gunk until you whisk it!)

Then pour your newly delicious looking sauce over your chicken, stir, and allow it to simmer and thicken for about 10 minutes or until the sauce is as thick as you like. 

Sauce isn't super thick yet here...

Then serve over rice, and enjoy!

Anyway, after dinner I was fortunate enough to get to skype my family back home while they were having a barbecue. I gave them a virtual tour of my apartment and we chatted for about a half hour or so. It was nice getting so see everyone's faces in real-time for the first time in almost three months. The skype window would freeze every once in a while, and I captured this little gem: my little sister doing her sad face when I told her I needed to go:

It's funny how your family is totally crazy until you move far away and learn how weird the rest of the world is...last night I actually dreamt that I was back in Phoenix and my parents let me borrow their (which used to be mine until I sold it to them) car to go to a craft store with my sister, and it only took 10 minutes to drive there. In the dream, I was actually ecstatic about it only taking me 10 minutes to get somewhere 5 miles away--as in, that's the part that made it such a great dream. At least I know that if I take anything away from my stay in Boston, it will be a greater appreciation for the small things in life, as well as a much greater collection of outerwear.