Post-Summer, Pre-Fall
I had a good summer. I hope you did too.
School/Career Updates
So! Summer is almost done, and the new school year/semester is starting up soon. As I mentioned previously, I’ve been teaching a summer gen-ed course about internet cultures and communities. I’m happy to report that the course has gone well! We’re two days away from the end of the course, and it seems like students have responded well to the design, materials, and teaching of the course. If I teach this again, there are some adjustments I’ll make, but overall, it’s been good.
I can’t remember if I mentioned it before, but as an MA student in Linguistics at MSU, I’m not necessarily guaranteed funding. I didn’t have anything lined up for this Fall, so I was a bit concerned about that. Fortunately, a call went out for a TAship, and I got it! This is another IAH course, which is the same gen-ed department I taught in last year and this summer. The course title is Africa and the World, which is a new academic area for me, but I’m very excited to explore it. Dr. Upenyu Majee, who is the professor of this course, founded the Institute of Ubuntu Thought and Practice with the department of philosophy at MSU, which is also super exciting.
The coming semester looks very busy for me, and I’ll be doing applications for PhD programs (my FINAL round of apps, I swear), and going on the job market (mostly as a plan b, but who knows!). I’ll also be studying for my MA exam which will take place in the spring instead of a traditional thesis. I opted for the exam route in order to take another course and because I was unsure I’d be able to propose and complete a thesis with my smaller linguistics background.
Life Updates
Since I last wrote to you, I’ve gone to Winona, Minnesota to see Mom for a month and come back. One of the things I enjoy doing while I’m at Mom’s is having a massive cooking extravaganza. Mom does the dishes, and I make all the meals (except re-heating leftovers). I’ve included a screenshot of my instagram above, but it doesn’t do the food justice. Also, there are detailed captions of the meals/dishes. Obviously, cooking is one of my greatest stress-relievers, and it makes me truly happy to do, so my mental health has been superb, haha. I made some really interesting ice creams, the best cod I’ve ever had, and we processed 40lbs of peaches. I should mention: I did text a tragically macabre political fiction personifying those peaches to friends. When you’re doomed to be canned, there’s no happy ending (except in my belly).
I just remembered I forgot to take any of those peaches home with me to Michigan. I am so upset at myself, oh my god...
Besides teaching, watching The Bear, and cooking, Mom, Jana (one of Mom’s colleagues and a good friend of mine), and I went to Portage, WI to find family graves we’ve been looking for for years:
On the same day, we also visited the National Mustard Museum in Middleton, WI, which, for me, was amazing. The museum itself is very small, but has a very cool collection of mustards from all over the world, as well as silver and china mustard pots. The gift shop was, perhaps, more entertaining since I was able to sample over 20 mustards for fun (and they had PLENTY more to sample from, but I was only interested in about two dozen of the 100+). You will absolutely catch me in my NMM merch.
Part of my Christmas Crew also visited at the end of July/beginning of August. I always feel incredibly refreshed after spending time with them. We ended up having a lot of seafood on this summer’s menu, but it felt right to have these kinds of lighter meals. While Ryan (from Nebraska) was up here, we also FINALLY got to the cool toy store up by Winona. That was a lot of fun as well, and we got some cool board games to play at Mom’s when we have folks visiting.
Most of the time, though, was spent decompressing and NOT doing the dishes.
Finally, A New Recipe
I debated about which recipe I wanted to post in this newsletter, but I decided on a simpler one that I think might appeal to more people. This is a riff on an old Chinese chicken recipe from the Jiangxi province called 三杯鸡 (San Bei Ji or “Three Cup Chicken”). I adapted for oven-roasting a chicken and producing a dipping sauce from the marinade.
Three Cup Roasted Chicken
1 cup soy sauce
1 cup citrus marmalade (this ingredient is not traditional, but it’s REALLY good)
1 cup shaoxing wine
1/3 cup sesame oil
4-5 1/4-inch thick slices of ginger
4-5 smashed garlic cloves
1 inch piece of cinnamon stick
2 tsp white pepper
2 star anise
1 4-5lb whole chicken
2-3 russet potatoes
peanut oil (unrefined is better for this!)
salt and pepper
Marinate the Chicken
Combine all the ingredients in a container large enough for the chicken.
Add the chicken to the marinade and put in the fridge for at least 8 hours (24 is best). Make sure to flip the chicken in the marinade every so often and ensure that the marinade also goes into the chicken’s cavity.
Spatchcock the Chicken
If you’ve never done this, don’t be scared! Take the chicken out of the marinade and pat dry with paper towels.
Flip the chicken breast-side down on a cutting board. Using kitchen shears or a strong/sturdy knife, cut along both sides of the chicken’s spine. Place the backbone into the marinade.
Flip the chicken over onto the cutting board, pulling the shoulder and hips out to the side (matching the photo above!). You may feel the hip joints of the chicken thighs pop out. That’s fine.
With the heel of your palm, press firmly on the breast bone so the chicken lays flat. Sometimes it may crack the bones, sometimes not. Just make sure the whole chicken can lay relatively flat now. Tuck the wings over and behind themselves so they won’t burn in the oven (also like the photo above).
Roast the Chicken and Reduce the Sauce
Preheat oven to 425F.
Peel and cube the russet potatoes. Toss in a bowl with enough peanut oil to lightly coat and salt and pepper to taste.
Place chicken on a rimmed sheet tray and surround with the potatoes.
When the oven is preheated, place the sheet tray in. Roast for about 40-50 minutes or until temp of thickest part of chicken (breast if spatchcocked) hits about 157F (yes, the internet says 165F, but your chicken will be SO overcooked if you do that. Carryover heat will cook your chicken as it rests. You will not get salmonella, I promise).
Halfway through, toss the potatoes.
While the chicken is in the oven, pour the marinade and backbone into a pot and bring to a boil. Reduce until syrupy, but not TOO thick.
Strain the sauce and discard solids.
Serve
Rest the chicken under foil for at least 10-15 minutes before eating. When pierced, juices should run clear (not rosy/pink). The joints should be loose and meat should fall off easily.
Carve/pull apart and serve with potatoes and a small dish of sauce for dipping. Enjoy!
Beloveds,
That’s about it for this update. If you peruse my instagram and come across something you want the recipe for, let me know. I made a lotttt of food this summer. I miss you all lots. Stay in touch.