Thai Peanut Chicken Turnovers; Pyriszhky; Pushkin's Punch

     As is usual lately, it had been an interesting week.  Monday, three more sales reps jumped ship.  Tuesday morning, another supervisor.  Our entire restaurant division now consists of 6 sales people and one supervisor instead of the 12 reps and three supervisors.
     In my mail when I got home from work on Tuesday, there was the official letter from the president of our company that said that if the sale of the company happens on the 31st of this month as planned, I will be out of a job, unless the new company decides to hire me.  There is still nothing on their website available besides sales positions, and we still haven't been told if the building or location is going to be used by the new company.  So, our options are - apply for a sales-related position for a location to be named later; or look elsewhere; or just sit at home and collect unemployment insurance.

     I have been completely overwhelmed.  I keep thinking that collecting unemployment and finding what I really want to do is an opportunity that shouldn't be missed.  However, as the bills have already been stacking up because of the meager salary I was already getting, I worry that isn't going to be an option.  I have been coming home everyday, thinking I really need to get on looking for a job, paying my bills, cleaning my house, but then I just sit there stunned and do nothing.

     Wednesday, just before my lunch break, the power went out of part of our building at work.  The warehouse was still live, and some cubicles had power to their computers, but they didn't have access to the server, so they couldn't do any actual work.  There were no lights in the main office, and there was power t the phones, but there is no reason to talk to customers or sales staff if you can't put their orders in, answer their accounting questions, or check their relative status for them.  I decided that was as good a time as any to take my lunch.  When I came back, it still wasn't on.  A few of the office staffers and I loitered outside in the sunshine.  It was a record-breaking warm day for March - it got up to 72º!  We were basking in it.

     At 4pm, I finally asked the VP what he wanted us to do.  He said that Judy was going to come back when the power comes back on and enter the entire day's worth of orders.  "What do you want the rest of us to do?"  He said he supposed we should just get a jump start on the drive home.
     I saw it as a gift, but I am also conflicted about it.  Was it a gift to get home early to get my pizza preps done early, so I can maybe tidy up, so my guests aren't frightened that I am becoming a hoarder.  Or was it a gift, so I could lay in the hammock and read my book and nap off and on?  I wanted to be motivated.  I wanted to get some things cleaned up, so I could feel better about my surroundings, and so I don't look around and feel buried or feel guilty that I hadn't done the "responsible" thing, but I was so tired.  I have not been able to sleep for weeks.  I start to fall asleep, and something brings me out of it, and then I cannot stop thinking about everything.  What am I going to do for a job?  Will we be able to stretch ourselves even further for me to find the right job?  Are they going to pay us our vacation?  How horrible is it going to be at work tomorrow? 
     So, I cleaned a bathroom and found the table, and put away half of the extra stuff that thought it was going to find a new home in my dining room.  It was a bargain with myself.  Just do these few things, do a few pizza preps, and hurry up about it, and maybe - just maybe - I will be able to enjoy some fading sunlight and 70ish weather.

     I thought that I would start with the cooked brown rice, since that could take a while.  However, my brown rice that I knew was in my pantry wasn't.  I wasn't sure where it went, but it really wasn't there.  Maybe there was a short in my mental inventory program.  I would have to check into that later.  So, white rice was the new brown rice.  And, I wasn't going to mess with success.  I was going to make the full batch (3½ cups) of rice even though I only needed half a cup, like I did last time, so that I can follow the instructions to the letter and get good rice.  The added benefit is I can eat the extra for dinner when I am done.  When I poured the rice into the boiling water, though, I realized I had forgotten the Christopher Kimbel trick of rinsing the rice first to get the excess starch off of it.  I guess this will be a taste test, then (texture test?). 
     Again, I have decided that the crusts for both the turnovers and the pyriszhky were so similar that I was just going to make one batch of the Classic Crust from the Everything Pizza Book and split it between the two recipes.  That saved a step, and brought me closer to outside time.
     After I had made that decision and started on the dough, I could smell the rice a steamy warm aroma that made my stomach growl. I turned around to see how much time was left on the....  Oh no!  I didn't set a timer, and in my sleep-deprived daze, I had no idea how long it had been cooking.  I took a guess that it had been the exact 15 minutes I had intended and turned it off.  So much for following the recipe to the letter.
     While the rice was cooling and the dough was mixing, I boiled my eggs.  I have a cool toy that tells me when my eggs are done the way I would like them to be.  It is a half-egg-shaped red and clear thing that you put in the water with the eggs.  Then, you turn on the heat, and as it heats, the red disappears or is overtaken by black that gets closer and closer to the center of the half-egg.  There are lines on it that indicate the done-ness of the egg: when the black mark reaches the line between "medium" and "hard" they are done and ready for their icy plunge.  I noticed that one of the eggs split open during boiling.  I Googled it and found that it was the sudden temperature change.  I did take them from the refrigerator, covered them with water, and then started the boiling process, but maybe my cold egg heated up too fast, since it was in almost direct contact with the burner even though it was surrounded by water.  Another source informed me that pressure builds up in the air pocket of the egg when it heats up and could cause cracking.  That seemed more likely the case for my eggs than a sudden temperature change.  That sight suggested making a pin hole in the end of the egg with the air pocket.  What did we ever do without Google?

     I started compiling the ingredients for the sauce for the Thai chicken, then realized that the recipe called for cooked chicken, and I didn't have any thawed.  I didn't even have any inside the house!  Well, by this point, I had missed the sun, but at least I could go outside to get some chicken breasts, and I was still wearing my shorts! 

     While that was thawing in the microwave, I cleaned the mushrooms.  I had an 8 ounce package from Cub and the same weight from Wal-Mart.  They were both labeled "Baby bellas", but they were dramatically different in size.  I cut the Wal-Mart mushrooms in quarters so they would be close in size to the Cub ones.  The recipe didn't say whether the mushrooms were cut or not.  At first, I was going to slice them, but then, I thought, it didn't indicate that they were sliced.  Maybe they were supposed to be whole.  I decided to try it with them whole (at least with the Cub mushrooms) and see what happened.

     I bought my green onions at Wal-Mart, too, and I have to say that I was surprised at how nice they were.  The ones I have seen at Cub lately have been scrawny with wilted greenery.  These Wal-Mart onions had girth, and the greens were green all the way to the end with no sagging.  It only took three of them to make 3/4 cup chopped.

     I cooked the mushrooms and scallions for the recommended five minutes.  I was skeptical about that being enough time cooking.  They were still pretty large and firm.  I didn't want them to come out mushy or anything, but I do like them a little browned.  I tasted one, though, and it was fantastic.  There was a little bite to it.  It was slightly salty, with just a suggestion of butter and a hint of the hot pepper that lurks in the bottom of my salt container.  I took them off of the heat as instructed, added the rice and the chopped egg, and set it aside to cool.  The rice had turned out wonderfully.  The texture, flavor, everything was just as it was the last time.  I did not notice any marked difference between this batch and the pre-rinsed batch.

     Meanwhile, my two very large chicken breasts were broiling.  I put them on a "pan" I fashioned out of tin foil.  It is my stand-by method for when I don't feel like dirtying an actual pan. 

I had originally put Harley's seasoning salt on the one side, but after I slid them under the broiler, I kicked myself a little.  I probably should have put a more Asian-esque seasoning on them, since it was going into a Thai peanut sauce.  When I flipped them over, I went ahead and threw some garam marsala on the other side.  As I opened the oven to let the birds out, I got a big waft of toasty nutmeg, cinnamon, and allspice - those toasty warm smelling spices that remind me of campfires and camaraderie.

     I had intended to buy frozen, chopped spinach when I was at the grocery store.  However, I had gone to the store on my lunch break, and it had been in the 60's. I didn't dare to leave it in the car.  I was afraid I would forget it in the freezer at work, so I decided to cook up the spinach that was already in my fridge.  Jeff was gone, and I wouldn't be able to eat it fast enough otherwise, so it was a good plan on two counts.

     I estimated that the two breasts were going to be more than I needed for my recipe, so I could probably take some for my dinner.  I cut a little corner off and added it to my extra rice.  I poured a little of the mushroom liquid into my extra rice, too.  There seemed to be more than enough rice and chicken for my dinner, so I packaged up half of it for my lunch at work the next day.  It was delicious.


     Thursday, when I got to work, the power was still off.  Someone had strung extension cords to the server, so customer service was now able to put in orders.  Some construction utility lights, so they could see what they were doing.  My area, which is far from any windows or doors, was still completely dark.  I spent the first hour and a half of the day in the lobby, where there was sunlight, so I could open and organize the checks that had come in the mail.  The power finally came back at 9:30am, so I started out my day behind schedule.
     While I had been in the lobby, I was talking to another co-worker, who told me that, even though the new company didn't have any postings for office staff, that we were just supposed to apply for anything to get our resume to them.  I felt that my application process should be done on company time, since it was the company's fault that I was going to be in need of a job.  I got busy and didn't end up starting the process until 4:45.  Unfortunately, I didn't finish it until 5:30.  I had no idea it would be so involved. 

     My friends, Karen and Patrick, were planning on joining us for pizza, so on my run to the car, I sent a text message to Patrick, asking them not to show up until after 6:30, because I was just leaving work, and I needed some calming time before people showed up at my house.  His reply was, "Rough day?"  I answered, "rough year."  Then, when he and Karen showed up, they came with flowers.  That was so sweet!

 

      Usually, when I leave the refrigerated dough on the counter when I leave for work, the dough puffs up some, and it sometimes even bursts the Ziploc, but since it was so warm the dough just went crazy.  It didn't blow out the bag, as I would have expected, but I had packed it into an extra-thick zipper bag.  It had completely filled the bag to capacity, but the bag was too strong for it.  The bag fought back and knocked the dough back down, but the gasses from the dough were still trapped.

     The Liggetts had shown up first.  The kids went straight outside to play, since it was nearly 70 degrees.  I started Jen on the doughs that I had cut into their appropriate portions.  I had cut the massive mound in half, and the one half I cut into thirds for the turnover recipe, and the other half I cut into 16 little pieces.

     Roger volunteered to be bartender and put together the Pushkin's Punch.  I thought that since we were having Russian mushroom pockets as an entree, we ought to have a drink that was Russian, too. 

PUSHKIN'S PUNCH

1 measure vodka

1 measure Harlequin (or orange curacao)

Dash of orange bitters

Dash of lime juice

Sparkling wine

     She all of the ingredients, except the wine, in a cocktail shaker filled with ice.  Pour into a wine goblet and top with sparkling wine.

     If I had really been thinking when I picked this drink out, I would have tried to get a Russian sparkling wine, but I had a Cava on hand, so that is what we used.  The resulting drink was light, refreshing, and bubbly.  We really enjoyed it.  We enjoyed it even more when we made the second batch with Monin Harbenero Lime juice.  The slight heat was barely perceptible, but added a little extra zing to the drink.

     Jennifer had done a fabulous job rolling the dough out, and she started in on filling the Pyriszhky, while I worked on the turnovers.

                                    

The sauce whirred up nicely in the Vitamix, and it took just a couple more minutes each to chop the chicken, chop the nuts, and mix them all together with the spinach before closing them up in the dough.

     I doubled the egg and vegetable oil concoction to use as a wash for the three turnovers and the 16 little mushroom breads.  After their brief stint in the oven, they came out beautifully.

     I was amazed that the blurb at the beginning of the recipe for the Pyriszhky said that the filling was bland.  If it weren't for my o.c.d., I would have skipped the recipe and opted for something that didn't claim to be bland.  I am glad I wasn't deterred.  The filling was wonderful.  The mushrooms were perfect - I was glad I left them whole.  They were meaty and firm, and the onions and garlic were mild and homey.  The bread was soft and fluffy on the inside with a slight crispiness to the outside without being crunchy.

     Obviously the crust for the turnovers had pretty much the same texture and flavor as their little friends, since they were made out of the dough.  These were wonderful, too.  The filling was fantastic.  The chicken was aft and moist.  I had been worried about it drying out with two sessions in the oven, but it was moist.  I was certain that the peanut butter helped.  I could feel a little of the heat of the red pepper in the sauce, and the peanuts, while they weren't the crunchy nuggets they were before the baking, they still retained some of their texture to add intrigue to the whole dish.  I would definitely make this again.

     I turned out to be a wonderful evening.  We were regaled by stories about Patrick and Karen's trip to Europe.  The food was great, and the company was even better.  All the worries of the day (week) had all but disappeared.