POW

OK, here I go again, dishing on the People of Walmart again. Click the title link. It's interesting, it's like driving by a wreck on the freeway and not wanting to look but being unable to fight the compulsion. All I want to know is... seriously, really... folks... All I want to know is, do people really have no clue how they appear to the majority of onlookers? I understand, some choose to make a statement and look this way on purpose, and some may well suffer from mental illness, but c'mon... all of these people? I know for a fact that regardless of how comfortable I might be with my aging body, no way am I going to go out in public with a halter top and shorts crammed all the way up my crack. The mirror wouldn't let me even if I was so inclined. I honestly don't get it, and if somebody could explain to me then I'd consider myself more educated and less illiterate about the workings of the human mind - or the lack of workings, as the pictures on the website might suggest.

Help me out here, please!!!

Harvest 2010 is Upon Us :)

Beans are canned, beets are parboiling as we speak, and cucumbers are soaking in hot pepper/garlic/dill/vinegar brine. Zucchinis are regular gifts to friends, acorn squashes are prolific on their vines and cantaloupes are softball size. Tomatoes of all types - Romas, Ruetgers, Early Girls, Beefsteaks - are ripening, and jalapenos, banana peppers and anaheims are nearly ready to pick. Onions are harvested, garlic is resting nicely and it's Salsa Season, YAY!! The time is upon us - well, upon me - and the joys of harvesting the fruits of my spring labors and summer water bills are beginning to be realized.

Here's a wonderful web site for very good information regarding the harvesting and preservation of garden produce. Easy to understand for the beginner, and easy to navigate for the expert: http://www.pickyourown.org/index.htm

Happy gardening and harvesting! Please don't hesitate to drop a comment or question if you're interested in some ideas of how to join the multitude of "home preservationists" out here! You don't have to garden in order to enjoy wholesome produce all year around.

Best to you!!!!

Carl Hamlin, CFII - Teacher, Mentor, Friend

It is with great sadness I must speak of the passing of one of my dearest friends, Carl Hamlin. He left us from his home on June 27, 2010, traveling to his ShangriLa. If I wrote of his influence on my life, I would be writing forever, so let me merely give you a few stories that reflect my celebration of the time I was blessed, 2000-2010. Please come celebrate his life at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XTHXgqAkm4I as well.

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Carl had this very interesting look that he could get on occasion... generally on the occasions I would come up with some hare-brained scheme. It was a look that reflected his thought of "You've seriously GOT to be kidding.... but you're not, are you?" This look was always followed by questions to find out how I figured to achieve a positive result from my idea. There was an instance in particular that taught me that it was safe to share my schemes with him, and from that day forward, nearly every time I came up with something off the wall, we'd plan it out and get it done - always successfully. I remember the weekend after my first solo flight I went out to Chuckanut to rent 757RD for a couple hours of practice. Carl wasn't there, and when I told Sandy where I was planning to go, she didn't seem to have a problem with it. When I returned a couple hours later, Carl was there sitting at the picnic table outside, quietly doodling on some scratch paper. After I dropped off the keys and can (and money), he invited me to sit and chat. He asked me how my flight was, to which I replied "Amazing!" with the biggest grin my face could hold. He looked at me. Quietly he said "Where did you go?" My grin began to fade as I sensed perhaps he was not as happy about my flight as I was, and I said "Well, I flew up around Mt. Baker, then between Baker and Shuksan, down into the valley and into Bellingham, then I flew along the railroad tracks by the bay then home..." That was the first time I saw "that look." Carl was silent for several agonizing moments, then he looked at me, broke out into a smile, chuckled and asked "Did you experience any downdrafts?" We chatted about the flight for awhile, then he sternly told me "Never in a million years would I have given the OK for that flight for you solo, yet, but obviously you did just fine so carry on. Sounds like you've been studying beyond student level. Next time just please talk with me before you go off and do anything else crazy, OK?" I agreed, and that was the beginning of many adventures in flying.

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757RD had just received a new engine, and it needed a maintenance flight. I wanted to fly over to my folks' in central Idaho, but still being a student pilot I wasn't sure I'd get to make that flight. Everything got OK'd for my first big cross-country solo flight, though, and I made a successful trip to Idaho. The return trip was much more challenging, as temps were high, thermals were profuse, and the smoothest ride I could find was at about 10,000'. My flight plan included stopping at Wenatchee for fuel before heading west over the Cascades. I didn't have a GPS. Somehow I boofed up my navigation and found myself lost. I was getting closer and closer to the mountains with no idea where I was. Suddenly something hit the plane and it was being buffetted every which way but straight. I thought "I gotta get outta here, where can I go...?" (Well, what I really thought isn't fit for mixed company!) I looked down and saw a small runway directly below, and I spiraled down to land. I could see houses around it. After landing I got out, looked around, calmed down, looked at my chart and identified where I was. Fortunately the taxiway had the airport's name painted on it, Desert Aire. I called Carl to discuss my situation. "Hey Coach, I've got a problem that I'm solving but wanted you to know about it anyway." We talked, I told him where I was, he searched and searched on his chart, saying "I can't find it." I said "Turn the chart over." He did. He said "You're THERE?" I said "Yup. There's no bathrooms here." He said "So pee on your tire." I said "I did." He busted up laughing and said "I should have known. You get to wash the plane when you get back." He told me to go to Ellensburg for fuel, then follow 90 home. I told him that wasn't my planned route. He said "Just do it." I sighed... "OK, fine." After I got home, he put it to me simple and straight when I tried to defend my reluctance to follow 90 home rather than my planned route over Stevens' Pass: "You got lost. I didn't want you lost in the Cascades and 90 is an easy follow." Never let it be said that the man didn't put me in my place when I deserved it!!!!

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It was a warm July afternoon, and I approached Carl with a scheme. I wanted to get some grass strip experience, but didn't want to go to the islands or to Arlington. I'd decided on Sultan as the destination. Yet again, I got "that look." We chatted and decided 757RD would be the best choice, and since I'd already planned out density altitude issues, weight and balance, and fuel load, he was satisfied enough that we could achieve the goal successfully. It was a struggle for me to find the field, but finally, with his help, I spotted it. I didn't expect it to look as small as it did, and I didn't expect the trees on the ends to be as tall as they were. After circling the field a dozen times or so, he impatiently asked me "Are we going to land or not?" I turned to him and smiled, and said "Yes, when I'm ready, unless you need to pee in which case there's an empty water bottle in back." He laughed and said "Fair enough, but we don't want to burn all our fuel just circling." I replied "Good point." As we made the approach, he showed me how to tell that the far end of the field was wet, and cautioned about landing too long. We landed nice and short, turned around, and he said "Turn right here." He wanted to park out of the way and get out, and go chat with the pilot we saw there working on a Cub. So I turned right there, and promptly sunk the nosewheel into a rut. We were stuck. That's where the photo captioned "Um, Houston, we have a problem" came from. After we got out and chatted awhile, we manually turned the plane and moved it out of the ruts, and prepared to depart. We couldn't use the entire field for our takeoff roll due to the standing water on the departure end. I looked at the short distance between us and the trees, sighed and said "Oh, boy... this is the real McCoy." Carl looked at me very seriously and said "It is. Do it. We have 125 hp." So we did it. On the way home we discussed the experience and mutually decided that we'd keep tricycle gear 152's out of Sultan until later in the season. We landed back at Skagit, parked, got out, looked at the landing gear and he said "Let's get these leaves off here before anyone sees them." I agreed. There was only a small handful. He said "We did good" and shook my hand. I don't think we ever talked about that flight again.

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After I got 65C, I had the idea that it'd be great for us to learn formation flight, so great photos could be taken. Not that I had a great camera yet, but still. By this time he knew the impish look on my face before I laid out one of my "plans." Once again, I got "that look" from him. He said "John Hubner is the fella you want to talk to about that." Well, I took that to mean that Carl would be open to the idea of learning formation flight along with me, so I talked with John and he was amenable to the idea of teaching "us" a little bit about the art. When I told Carl that John had said "Yes," and laid out the training plan, he looked at me yet AGAIN with that look! But lo and behold, we trained with John per the plan, and we had a blast going out to practice. It was scary, with Carl's low-wing and my high-wing, sometimes, but what a magnificent and successful feeling to touch the hem of that art :) Carl would humor me sometimes and we'd fly up to Bellingham for touch and go's in formation just so we could announce "flight of two" to ATC and be cleared for our "precision landing routine." He and I both got a kick out of showing off our newly-learned skills to Jim in the tower. We'd take turns being lead and wing, and while a "flight of two" 2-seaters certainly is nowhere on par with even the smallest airshow, we both had the biggest chessie-cat grins after every flight. We were both proud to have had an introduction to the skills required to participate in the art of formation flight.

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I always dropped in and let him know if I was heading out on a long cross-country flight, or a foray into the Cascades after I got 65C. I'm not big on using flight following, I'm pretty much a seat of the pants traveler that way but it's smart to let somebody know the plans. My reluctance to use comm always annoyed him, but he finally accepted it as my style and took the extra time in my training to ensure that I obtained adequate skills for my particular interests. Conversely, I'd drop in and say howdy when I got back, share any adventures I'd had, basically just the friendly check-in. One afternoon I'd just returned from visiting my folks in Idaho, and dropped in to say howdy and use the bathroom. Somewhere in conversation I mentioned that I had to scoot, my cat was really wanting to get home. He stared at me. "Your cat??" I laughed and said "Yup, my cat goes with me everywhere, he even flies." He laughed and said "Well bring this super-cat up here and let me meet him!!" So I went and got the cat. Carl was amazed at how calm and mellow he was, friendly, and not even on tranquilizers. He held and petted BooBoo who, when it was time to go, didn't want to go back into his carrier. Carl showed me the trick to "reloading" cats and trust me, every time I put BooBoo into the carrier I think of my amazement at how simple Carl made the task when he first taught me. I figure only a good friend is willing to not only hold my cat but help in resecuring it in its carrier :)

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In November of '04, I was to be deployed to D.C. I asked him if he would do me a favor, and take me for a ride in my plane, around the area. He didn't even ask why, he knew. I told him I wanted to see just how much altitude ol' 65C could actually attain. We made it to 13,700' that day. He saw my tears of grief at leaving the first place I'd been able to call home in my heart, with no idea of when I might return, and he understood his role that day. He showed his friendship in his willingness to just be there, quietly and without judgement. He took care of 65C during the next 2 1/2 years I was on the road with my work, kept me updated on life around Skagit, and shared from a distance my thrills and adventures at flying in such diverse places as Barrow, AK, the Washington DC ADIZ, and the Colorado Rockies.

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The last time I saw Carl was when he brought 65C over to Spokane for me, a true act of friendship. I regret that I never made it back to the West side to see him again. I'm thankful for the gift of e-mail, however, as we were at least able to keep in touch.

In 2000, I was knocking on doors, searching for the pathway to a new life. Carl opened the door when I knocked, and not once did he ever say that any of my dreams were out of reach. I am forever grateful for his inspiration, his support, his trust and his belief in me. He was, and still is, a true friend.

Quick 'n' Easy Sweet 'n' Sour Chicken

Once again I was scrounging around the house last night looking for something to cook for dinner that also would provide leftovers. Had odds 'n' ends of this 'n' that, so here's what I came up with... Gotta say, when my son eats the leftovers today and says "Damn Mom, that's good!" I figure I did something right (considering his restaurant cooking experience). Here's what I did, along with commentary...

- 1 1/3 Cup brown sugar
- 1/2 Cup soy sauce (light or low sodium is fine)
- 1/4 Cup diced onion (I used red onion, any old onion will work the same)
- 1 tsp. minced garlic
- 1 Cup cider vinegar
- 1 big can of crushed pineapple (15 ounce?)
- 1 little can of water chestnuts (6 ounce?)
- 1 pint jar of home canned sliced carrots (try to avoid store-bought canned carrots, better off to use some frozen ones if you don't have fresh. If you have fresh, slice them and boil them for awhile first, 'til they start to get soft)
- 7 flash frozen chicken breast pieces (Safeway sells a huge resealable package of these for about $9.99, about 15 to a pack)
- A handful of Craisins
- Some cornstarch and some ketchup (I'll explain this later)

Much like the bbq chicken recipe earlier on, rub the chicken all over with a real light coating of mayo. I started out with frozen chicken, this worked fine. Sprinkle a bit of pepper, onion salt, garlic powder, and chili powder over both sides of the chicken, and put it in the oven on 300. Then you can go do whatever for half an hour or so. Drain the liquid from the chicken, then slice it into 1/4" strips, leaving it in the baking dish.

Drain the pineapple while the chicken is cooking. Put the juice, soy sauce, brown sugar, garlic, vinegar and Craisins into a kettle and heat to a boil. While this is heating, dice the onion and the water chestnuts. Once the liquid mixture comes to a boil, mix up about 4 heaping teaspoons of corn starch with about half a cup of ketchup and add to the boiling mixture. Stir it in good, then add the pineapple, drained carrots, onion and water chestnuts. Bring to a boil again while stirring, and if this mixture isn't thickening like you think it should, mix a bit more cornstarch in some cold water and add it in. Once the mixture is sort of thick, pour it over the sliced chicken, cover with tin foil and return to the oven. This can bake now at 325 for awhile, I think I did about 40 minutes but unsure 'cuz I got busy with other things. Take the dish out of the oven to "rest" while you make some rice.

Serve the sweet 'n' sour over the rice and enjoy :)

The ingredients I would have added to this if I'd had them include diced green peppers, diced celery and a bit of shredded cabbage. Feel free to use whatever veggies you like to have in a sweet 'n' sour, just stay true to the ratios of vinegar, brown sugar, soy sauce, pineapple juice and ketchup. Make as much or as little as you want. Don't worry if some of the ingredients don't "seem" to go together... they really do complement and enhance one another once combined. I didn't add any extra salt to the mixture, not even to the rice water. None needed.

Get It Now!! Only $3035.16 Per Month on Your Walmart Card!

So... hmmm... I was browsing walmart.com tonight just trying to get some basic price estimates for auxiliary heating...

How's this for a nice little space heater? It's only $36,499... pocket change, right?

I'm wondering just which of the People of Walmart.com folks will be making this purchase? Maybe they'll use the Bill Me Later financing option. Only $3035.16 per month on their Walmart card for the first year... hmmmm....

Seriously... who out there who's "in the business" will be web browsing at walmart.com deliberately looking something like this to buy from Walmart of all places? Or this even?

I've gotta say, these things really pegged my WTF meter.

It's Venison Season!

It's the time of year to start dreaming of the meals you'll be making with all that fresh venison in your freezer. You spent the money on license and tags, you spent your time hunting and were gloriously successful, you spent more time and effort cutting and wrapping... now it's time to relax and savor the fruits of your labor :)

A lot of people won't bother with cutting roasts, just making steaks or hamburger instead, because they just don't quite know how to cook a venison roast to their liking. Let me throw in an idea for your hamburger while I'm here, a nice change from the usual mixtures of meat people use for their ground venison... Rather than using beef or pork to add the flavor and fat to the ground venison, try using 1/3 bacon instead. A 2 lb. package of bacon ends and pieces ground up with 5 lbs. of venison will provide all the fat needed to hold it all together and will give a fantastic flavor to the burgers :)

But back to venison roasts. I think of venison as being a "pure" meat. Unlike beef, it's not marbled with layers of fat, and hasn't been fed a ton of unknown antibiotics and growth hormones. This lack of marbling, however, can be a detriment in the roasts. While the fat and other connective tissues give the meat the "gamey" taste that causes many people to dislike venison, which is why we trim it off when we butcher, these two things also help provide the tenderness found in beef and pork.

Venison roasts do best when roasted with moist heat. While a beef roast is great to just stick in a pan and bake for awhile, your venison roast will be dry and tough using this method. There's no fat in it to help create the moisture needed for tenderness, so you'll have to add water to the pan. While I love a dry-roasted beef chuck, about all a dry-roasted venison roast is good for, in my opinion, is to grind into a sandwich meat. Pretty good that way, with mayo, relish, onions, etc. My preferred method of cooking a venison roast is in the slow cooker. The following recipe can be adapted to oven use if you don't have a slow cooker, simply by maintaining a temp of about 225 and ensuring your roasting pan has a good lid, and checking on it a bit more often.

You'll need:

A slow cooker
Some butcher string
A venison roast

1 onion
1 apple
1-2 cups Craisins or 1-2 cups dried blueberries
1-2 stalks celery, or 1 tsp. celery seed, or 2 tbs. celery flakes
1 can mushroom stems & pieces
2 garlic cloves, minced
1/2 tsp. crushed red pepper flakes
1/3 C. cherry wine

Dice the onion, apple, celery and mushrooms into small pieces. Plump the Craisins in some warm water, just enough to cover. Saute all these and the spices in a bit of olive oil. Save the Craisin water.

While these things are cooking, lay the roast out. Make a cut down the middle, to about an inch from going all the way through. Spread it out like a butterfly, and make several 1" deep horizontal slits in each side. When the saute is complete, spread the ingredients into the roast and fill the slits. Tie all this back together with the butcher string, and place into the slow cooker. Gather up all the filling that spilled out and put it over the top of the roast. Now go back to your sautee pan, heat it up again and put in the cherry wine and 1/3 cup of the reserved Craisin water. Bring this to a boil, scraping up all the pan stickings in the process, and drizzle it over the roast. Start out the slow cooker temp on high, then after an hour or so turn it down to low. If the liquid steams off, just add a bit of water, you'll want to check on it now and then so it doesn't dry out. If you have the roast in the cooker by 10am, you'll be sitting down to the finest gourmet melt-in-your-mouth venison dinner by 6pm. Since I'm a bit on the lazy side, I generally just put in a few carrots, potatoes and some cabbage around 4pm or so and do a one-dish pot roast meal. This would be great with some garlic mashed potatoes and some home-canned green beans on the side, though, maybe with some buttermilk biscuits too :)

Recipe adapts well to pork or beef roasts also. Use your imagination and let me know :)

And SW Was Wrong Why?

Southwest apologizes to mom on Calif. flight
Fri Oct 30, 10:39 pm ET

SAN JOSE, Calif. – A spokesman for Southwest Airlines says the carrier has apologized to a mother who was kicked off a plane along with her unruly 2-year-old earlier this week.

Spokesman Chris Mainz said the airline called Pamela Root on Friday to apologize. He says Root also will receive a refund and a $300 travel voucher.

The crew bounced Root and her son Adam off the San Jose-bound flight because passengers could not hear preflight safety announcements.

Root says she was confident Adam's screams of "Go! Plane! Go!" and "I want Daddy!" would subside after the plane took off Monday in Amarillo, Texas.

The 38-year-old mom said she hoped to be compensated for the portable crib and diapers she had to buy for the extra night away from home.

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Hmmm. They're in Amarillo, TX. So where'd they stay the night before they boarded? They didn't need a portable crib for that night, so why for this night? Most hotels can provide this amenity anyway. Nice excuse to get a new baby accessory for free. Reimbursed for diapers? Wouldn't she have had to spend money on diapers anyway, at some point in time? I say big KUDOS to SouthWest Airlines for having the cajones to do what most of us wish was done more often. Control your child or get off the plane, lady. Or off the bus or out of the store.

Let's Do Some Math With Obama's Stimulus Plan

Oh boy. My sarcasm is on full boil right now. Just read a news article that stated Obama's stimulus plan of 787 billion dollars has "saved or created" about 650,000 jobs and is on track to meet its goal of saving or creating 3.5 million jobs by next year. OK, that's awesome that jobs are being created and/or saved. But hmmmm... who's got a calculator handy? My calculator says that it will cost $225,000 for each job that's saved or created. Forget the costs of saving all those CEOs' multi-million-dollar-a-year jobs, that's not part of the equation. So who has the demographics handy for the United States and can provide the number of people who currently have jobs, so we can do a breakdown of what it's going to cost us in taxes to pay for these new jobs?

Also I'd like to see a breakdown of whether this will ultimately cost us more to have this many people working, or if it would have been cheaper to keep them on welfare or unemployment? My initial calculations suggest that, based on a family of 4 receiving welfare and food stamps to the tune of about $1200 a month, that same family could live for 15 years for the same cost of creating one job ($225,000) that very possibly won't exist in another 15 years. Assuming the worker in the family remains gainfully employed in that job. Remember, a minimum wage job (let's assume minimum wage is $8 per hour) only pays $16,640 per year before taxes and insurance withholdings. Less take-home than the $1200 per month from welfare and food stamps. Hmmmm... what's wrong with this picture?

I'm thinking, here in my world where my house payment is 40% of my take-home income and I'm STILL getting all my bills paid, having been gainfully employed steadily for the last 12 years and being responsible... I'm thinking that this over-hyped stimulus plan is really designed to create and foster an even wider gap between the lower classes and the upper classes at the cost of those of us in the middle.

Not to mention everyone who isn't going to get a cost of living increase this next year as a result of all this so-called stimulus... Social Security recipients, VA benefits recipients, most Government workers, military, etc. Gas prices have gone up, electricity prices have gone up, food prices have gone up. So what if housing prices have gone down? How does that help people who already have mortgages or rent payments? It only helps those who already have the money to buy a house. Shrug... doesn't seem to be much of an all-inclusive stimulus plan to me, just seems like it's going to benefit the people who already are doing OK. Hmmmmmm... Thoughts, anyone?

Science Meets Art

Or, Swiss Steak ala Kathy. Well. OK, yup, I'm gonna bore you with another recipe. So I like to cook :) Had a pair of huge chuck steaks I didn't know what to do with. No propane for the bbq, and while they're really, really good cooked ala restaurant-style "roasting," I also didn't feel inspired to come up with something else new to use all the leftover steak there'd be later on. So I looked around the house only to find just a few of my favorite ingredients and barely a smattering of stand-bys. Hmmmm.

So here's what you can do when you've got meat, flour, spices, an onion, a couple cans of mushrooms, a couple cans of tomato paste and a stray can of golden mushroom soup:

Thaw the meat. Lay it out on a plate and spice it up, rubbing in the spices on both sides. I used onion salt, pepper, garlic powder and just a wee bit of chili powder. Then dredge the meat in flour. Put some oil (maybe a little more than just covering the bottom) in your heavy duty frying pan (or whatever heavy kettle you have) and heat it to where it's not quite smoking. My frying pan of choice is, of course, an old cast iron workhorse. If little water drops will sprizzle and spurt when you flick 'em into the oil, it's just right. Turn on your exhaust fan ;) Put the steaks in and sear them until nicely browned on both sides. Turn down the heat to mid-way, put the steaks in your oven roaster and set aside. Turn the oven on to 350 or thereabouts. While the meat is searing, drain the mushrooms, and slice the onion. Put these prepared ingredients into the frying pan, covering with a lid. Let them saute awhile, stirring occasionally, 'til the onions are soft-ish. Then pour this mixture over the meat. If there's any oil in this mixture, drain it off first. There shouldn't be any oil, tho.

Get out a bowl and put the golden mushroom soup and a can of water in it. Then add the 2 cans of tomato paste. Mix it up then taste it. Think awhile about what flavor you're looking for. It is on the sweet side, as is. I added beef bullion powder, onion salt, garlic powder, some chives, a bit of basil, a bit of chili powder and some pepper. Since I don't measure much of anything, all I can say is "some" means a little to start, stir it up and taste it, and adjust accordingly :) Too many years of cooking to taste rather than following recipes, I guess :) I did use what looked like about maybe two tablespoons of beef bullion powder. This will be a bit thick, so add some water... maybe equivalent to half a soup can's worth. Pour this over the steaks, cover and bake for an hour. You can bake it for two hours if you want, just turn down the heat a bit and watch it for getting too thick and sticking during the second hour. Clean and foil-wrap a couple nice potatoes and throw them in the oven beside the roaster if you want. Another win with the big appetites sharing the meal :) Does this ol' gal's heart good to know I still have the touch. I'd guesstimate this could serve at least 4 really hungry people, these steaks were each about 8" x 8" and an inch thick. Chucks are fairly tender cuts anyway, so this meal melts in your mouth. People generally cook round steaks in a similar manner to this, because that tough cut will turn out tender. But I want to find something slightly different to do with the rounds I have in the freezer, so chucks it was for tonight.

Leftovers can be frozen for later :) Please pardon my vagueness regarding temperatures and times... my stove doesn't do what the knobs say it's supposed to do, so what might be "hi" for you is probably "medium" for me. I've ruined a few cakes in the process of getting to know my stove, needless to say. My recipes are the place where science meets art... one discipline can step in to balance out a deficit in the other. *grin*

Pretty Darned Good Baked BBQ Chicken

Been super busy lately, but finally did take some time to cook a meal for a change. Came out pretty good, so thought I'd share a recipe that should be a hit with those who like bbq chicken. I like making up recipes and usually they turn out palatable, but this one was a hit with everybody.

Oven-Baked BBQ Chicken Breasts

Pat dry 4 boneless/skinless chicken breasts or 6 thighs or however many of whichever you want. Rub them down all over with a light coat of mayo, then sprinkle them on both sides with the following:

A bit of salt and pepper
Some garlic powder
Some oregano, some basil and a few crushed pepper flakes.

Place them in whatever baking pan they'll fit in, and bake at 350 for about 20-25 minutes.

While they're baking, take a cup of whatever cheap boring BBQ sauce you have, Safeway store brand 2-for-a-buck works just fine, and pour into a flat container. Add a pinch of dry mustard, a few red pepper flakes, a pinch of chili powder, a bit of garlic powder and some pepper and mix up. When the chicken has cooked 20-25 minutes, remove it from the oven and coat it in the BBQ sauce. Place back in the baking pan and bake for another 20-25 minutes. The BBQ sauce will be nice and sticky and the meat will be moist and flavorful.

The application of the mayo helps make a glaze on the chicken so the moisture stays in, and it allows the spices to stick and actually flavor the meat rather than falling off and just flavoring the pan drippings. Don't be afraid of using the basil and oregano with the BBQ sauce, it really does work nicely. The layer of mayo is also a great trick for halibut steaks, stuffed sole and baked salmon - keeps the moisture in and helps make a nice glaze. Don't overdo it, just coat it lightly with your hands.

Alas, time to get ready for work. Stay tuned for my return to regular posting :) And... have a GREAT DAY!!!!