chocolate cake!

you're going to feel cheated when i tell you that it's from the back of the hershey's cocoa powder box. but i swear, this recipe is moist, chocolate-y (i hate it when chocolate goods just taste *sweet*) and absolute bang for its buck. yes, there are richer and more elaborate chocolate cakes out there, but this one is really for the times when you have a craving and need some chocolate cake *now*. it's measured, mixed, and baked in 1 hour.

ingredients:
1 cup sugar
1 3/4 cup all-purpose flour
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
2 eggs
1 cup milk
1/2 cup vegetable oil
2 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 cup warm water

method:
preheat oven to 350F, and grease a 9" baking pan.

combine dry ingredients in large bowl.

combine wet ingredients, except water. mix in dry ingredients, beat at medium speed for 2 minutes, then stir in warm water.

bake for 30 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.

or for cupcakes, bake for 20 minutes. makes about 30 giant cupcakes.

like i said, bang for its buck. no ridiculously expensive melting chocolate, or cream, or fancy egg separation requirements, it uses cooking oil instead of butter for goodness sakes. which means you don't have to cream the butter, making for a faster process, ie. shorter waiting time for a mouthful of cake. heck, the recipe is so simple that you don't even really need an electric mixer, just a wooden spoon will do. saves on washing up.

you're probably finding adding water to the batter a little weird. yes, it will look more like chocolate soup than batter, but DO IT. it's key to making this recipe moist. the original recipe called for a full cup, but i fear that that may dilute the batter too much and it won't dry out in time, let alone bake fully. that said, i wouldn't go add water to all other cake recipes if i were you. i think the water works here because the ingredients are so simple. other recipes with more complex chemistry may just collapse with the addition of more liquid.

the original recipe also called for *2 cups* of sugar. i've learned that using 1/2 to 2/3 the amount of sugar called for in most american dessert recipes makes the end product more palatable to the rest of us. 1 cup was just right for this cake. it was sweet, but you could still taste the cocoa. each bite left you craving for more, which perhaps is a little dangerous for a dessert, but you have to do it justice; you wouldn't make a sub-standard cake on purpose would you? i wouldn't go a teaspoon over 1 1/3 cup of sugar for this one.

my proof of success? when the boyfriend (who isn't a fan of chocolate) gets seconds.


yes, eat with strawberries. they're good for you.

another day i'll tell you about the tung lok chicken recipe that we tried tonight. go try this recipe first, and you'll trust me on the next one.

On Fried Chicken - I crave it fortnightly!

Growing up, fried chicken was a rare treat. I never really got a chance to eat much else than fast food fried chicken, but boy was it good. I grew up loving the times when the family roadtrip would stop at a KFC and pick up a bucket of the good stuff, complete with sporks. Whenever we would pass a Popeye's, I would wonder why a restaurant would devote their kitchen to spinach dishes. Later on in my eating career, I discovered that Popeye's actually served chicken, and was far superior to KFC. KFC can't compete against Popeye's fresher taste, crispier bite, and juicier (and not mushy!) meat. I have yet to see how Church's chicken fares against the other fast-food giants. As there is a combination White Castle/Church's Chicken within travelling distance of me, this gap in my fried chicken consumption will not be open long.

As tasty as it is, Popeye's still doesn't hold a drumstick to one of my favorite food memories. This memory is, of course, having Chicken and Waffles for the first time. Roscoe's was the place, and good lord, was it a treat. Salty and sweet, the combination was unlike anything I had ever had (or heard of, for that matter). After I had crammed every last bit into my mouth, I felt like I still needed more. Thankfully, my engorged stomach and empty wallet soon reminded me that this wasn't such a great idea. Waffles have thus supplanted corn bread as my favorite fried chicken accompaniment.

It isn't all good out there. I've had some good chicken, some life-changing chicken (more in the "Damn, that's good shit" than the "Damn, that's a heart-attack", thankfully), and some god-awful chicken. One showing that had me thinking that there was something wrong with me was an experience I had at 'Hip Hop Chow.' A fusion of Chinese and soul food? Sounded interesting. The chicken and waffles there did not bring me back at all to Roscoe's. Tough, bland, and slightly burnt chicken topped a passable waffle. I was glad that I had ordered the mac 'n cheese along with it, as that allowed me to somewhat salvage my unhappy tongue. As I didn't have any of the more fusion-y dishes, I can't really comment on the combination of Chinese and soul food. Their corn bread was mighty tasty, so they do get some points for that.

There are still some more places I have yet to explore in New York. Chowhound tells me of places in Harlem and Brooklyn that I have to venture out to one of these days. I've visited Amy Ruth's, but have yet to truly try their chicken... I managed to steal a bite off of one of my tablemates but didn't get the full experience. "Charles' Southern Style Kitchen" is supposed to be one of the best in the NYC area. That's going to have to be the next place I hit up when the craving catches up with me again.

The guilty pleasure of tearing into a drumstick or juicy thigh piece can't be put off for long. I'm just thankful that there aren't any Popeye's nearby, or else I would have an even more pronounced waddle than I do now.