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There are few activities I find more satisfying than going down a good Internet rabbit hole. A few months ago, it was learning about Claire Clairmont and, also, more about Lord Byron being a whole POS. In the true spirit of In Good Taste, I imagine that you, too, value a good rabbit hole!
Recently, I discovered nearly every issue of New York Magazine has been digitized and is freely accessible on Google Books. So my new thing has been starting from the first available issue (April 29, 1968) and reading from there.
The articles are pretty good, but I’m really here for the time capsule.
Old ads for photographers and Polish sausage shops, referencing addresses that were tenements then, Taylor Swift’s condo now. The “After Dark” section, where you can imagine going to see the Marian McPartland Trio at some place called The Apartment on 2nd Avenue at 56th Street (a “nautical-themed eatery” now, which I guess is one way to say “seafood restaurant”). The opening weeks of plays, made cheesy and dated in the contemporary cultural memory (Hair), or otherwise obsolete. Anyway, I haven’t made it to 1969 yet, but spring in 1968 New York has been a fun rabbit hole to visit.
LINKS FOR OTHER WAYS TO ESCAPE THE HELLSCAPE THAT IS OUR COLLECTIVE CURRENT REALITY
Will we ever want to use touchscreens again? PIN pads make me squirm a bit nowadays.
The earth is healing: chipmunks everywhere and a tiny picnic table for squirrels.
More nostalgia tripping: how baseball players became celebrities.
And more slice-of-life reporting, this time from Paris a century ago; and c/o my friend and colleague Ray: Atget’s Paris, 100 years later.
NOTHING ROLLS OFF THE TONGUE QUITE LIKE “SLIPPERY MARINADE”
I didn’t grow up eating Shake and Bake dinners. But according to A True Shake and Bake Expert, who happens to live in my house and share in the dinner bounty, this is a very close approximation to the “real” thing.
It borrows from this NYT Cooking recipe with some creative liberties. I really can’t speak to making this a less plastic-wasteful process. You probably have Ziploc freezer bags and this is just one way to use them?
Prep time: 10 minutes
Cook time: ~30 minutes
INGREDIENTS
1 cup Panko bread crumbs
2-3 garlic cloves, minced
Dash of Adobo
A few healthy cranks of salt & pepper
¼ cup vegetable oil
2 tsp. Duke’s mayonnaise
About 4 boneless, skinless chicken thighs, or 6-7 chicken breast tenderloins, as flat as you can get them
Flat pasta noodles, like linguine or egg
~½ a bag of frozen peas
2 tbsp. Kerrygold butter
Salt & pepper
½ cup grated Parmesan
WHAT TO DO:
Heat the oven to 450. Set a wire rack atop a baking sheet and spray with oil to prevent sticking. If you don’t have a rack, you can just put the chicken on an oiled sheet, but you’ll have to flip them halfway through.
Put all the chicken ingredients (chicken + bread crumbs, et al) into a plastic freezer bag and mix them all around until everything is combined and the chicken pieces seem fairly coated. It’s a bit of a wet mess, this slippery marinade, and not all will adhere to the chicken pieces as you transfer them (coated) to the baking sheet.
Once you have them laid out, take a fork or bendy spatula and apply the rest of the slippery marinade (the Shake and Bake™) to your tenders. Bake for about 20-25 minutes, depending on your oven, then turn off the heat and let the chicken stay warm in there.
In the meantime, make your pasta noodles. Water, salt, heat, etc.
As the chicken rests, melt 2 tbsp. butter in a medium saucepan. Add peas, season, and stir around until heated through on medium-high heat, then mix in the Parmesan and fold around until it’s melty.
Throw them all together. And if you felt guilty about the plastic bag, at least you made the “real” equivalent of a processed grocery staple.