Oven fries

Yummy oven fries

I finished the pasta salad for lunch and now it's onto...oven fries. Sometimes I have a craving for what I would call "bar food" which is mostly fried things i.e. hot wings (mmm), fried zucchini, fried mushrooms, etc.

Do you know who makes really good hot wings? Hazelwood's Bar, conveniently located a few hundred yards from where I live. Yes, it's almost too convenient. Once in awhile I get a dozen wings to go with extra veggies. I just love the snap and taste of raw carrots and celery. Yes, rabbit food, I know...but my Mom always had it around when we were kids; we ate a lot of it, mostly a la ants on a log (celery with peanut butter and raisins on top). It is still one of my snacking favorites today.

I digress.

There are a couple of russets in the frig that are begging to be made into fries today, so that's what I'm doing. I preheated the oven to 415 degrees and soaked some wedge cut potatoes in ice water for 5 minutes. Then I dried them thoroughly and placed them on the baking sheet lined with foil and doused with a good amount of olive oil.

The weather is nice today, it just rained and all of the windows are open so I don't mind turning on the oven, which I normally don't care to do in our hot summer months.

These will cook about 15 minutes, then I will flip them and give them another 15. I sprinkle them with kosher salt when they come out pat them with paper towels to get rid of excess oil. Personally I am a fan of catsup but I have heard in some countries they are eaten with mayo. In all likelihood, I would probably not turn down a batch of fries, no matter what they were served with.

I received an email recently from a nice lady who lives in NY and works at Lenny, where they design amazing, beautiful and modern swimsuits. She's from Chandler originally. When I told her I was also from AZ and I'm a foodie she said I must go to New York for eats. She discovered her inside foodie when she moved there, trying many different types of foods. A trip to New York would be so great. There is a tour, I understand, of ethnic neighborhoods where you can just walk around and eat all day long, going from an Italian neighborhood, moving on to a Polish neighborhood, and a Puerto Rican neighborhood, etc. How yummy and interesting does that sound? That's for me.

Again, I digress.

Now, if I didn't have somewhere else to be later this afternoon I would have my bar food with beer or a gin with seltzer (the kitchen wench's version of gin and tonic). But, I'm driving in awhile, so it's iced tea, at least for now. But later today, perhaps, a drinking experience. A sweet vermouth with lemon sounds really good...the kitchen wench is easily distracted, as you can see.

Happy lunching.