Tuesday, September 2, 2008

Chicken Round Up

I've been eating a lot of chicken lately. It seems that SF has a lot to offer if you're a poultry fan, from rotisserie to fried to pastry. If you're looking to make a day of chicken, try, in no particular order:

Rotisserie Chicken from Good Frickin' Chicken
It's not that everything else isn't good here, but the rotisserie is so good that you're going to wish you had more of it. Get a side of mac 'n' cheese, a salad, and the famous olive oil bread (it's not famous for nothing). It's hard not to go crazy on a whole chicken, dawn your slicker and you'll be up to your elbows in no time.

Chicken Karaage from Nijiya Market
If you're in Japan town looking for a quick snack and want to avoid sitting down at a restaurant, head to Nijiya Market at Webster and Post and get a small tray of chicken karaage. Take your karaage, an onigiri, a bottle ice green tea, and head for the Peace Pagoda to enjoy the wonders of these small fried morsels.

Chicken Adobo from Kabayan Fast Food
If you're in the mission and have already had 5 burritos this week, try this Filipino favorite. It's just like your best friend's mom's house, complete with whole peppercorns and bay leaves. Get this with rice and some bite-sized lumpia ftw.

Fried Chicken from Town Hall
After Powell's Place closed down, I haven't been eating fried chicken much. While KFC and Popeye's might do in a drunken pinch, it's not something that I can typically bring myself to eat while actually hungry for fried chicken. That's where Town Hall comes in. Sure it's way fancier than it needs, or should, be, but you can't deny the crispy, juicy, savory, goodness.

Chicken Pastry from King's Bakery Cafe
And what is a list of good chicken places without a bakery? Another of my mission favorites is King's Bakery Cafe. I grew up in Hawai`i and there's a famous bakery there named King's, this King's has nothing to do with that one. This one is run by a Chinese baker who not only whips up your favorites like apple turnovers, donuts, and some of the best dinner rolls you can find, but it also makes a few large versions of my dim-sum favorites including baked char-siu bao, and a few savory pastries. The chicken pastry has a flaky buttery crust and for the $1.50 it sets you back, it's hard not to get a half dozen at a time.

Meanwhile, day two of the RNC did not go without a good amount of ceremonial homage to those who have experienced the ravages of war. It's hard to ignore that the GOP is not only very militaristic, it is a party that has defined itself with war. Even the graphic design follows with the symbols of military service, the star and the use of gold rather than red, white and blue. It could easily fall into the family of brands that is the US Airforce, and the US Army.

While I have a great deal of respect for the men and women who have served bravely, I feel that in modern times diplomacy should have long since made actual conflict something that needs to continue at the current scale. The last eight years have been an insult to those who serve our country. The pandering to this audience during the RNC is not patriotic, it is patronizing. John McCain, you have an amazing story, but your story does not qualify you to be a president in the modern era. If anything you should be reminding those who carry the future security of the nation to focus on avoiding the conflicts that placed the horrors of torture upon your head.

The other horrific over-simplification of the McCain Palin ticket is also its shameless pandering to women. All the images that aren't of our storied war heroes are of proud, sophisticated, affluent women. Hillary Clinton supporters, I hope that you all, in your post-rational haze, can see their ploy. Hillary Clinton makes Sarah Palin (Sarah, have you heard of us, we're called the blogosphere.) look like a rookie cop on her first night out in the Tenderloin. She is hardly a substitute, and to infer as much should be taken for what it is, an insult to the collective intelligence of the female voters in this country.

I hope it becomes clear to the GOP that this election is one that the world is now watching. I hope it becomes clear to the voters who would vote for McCain that the world wants peace, and that is not what McCain will bring. Increasing unilateralism, a large, debt-financed military, and no sound economic plan will not make the global economy better. And while we continue to distract ourselves from the war in Iraq and the global fight on terror, China quietly mounts its future dominion. It already owns a size-able portion our debt and it won't belong until the relative strength of our currency is undermined by the yuan.

Despite all that, I simply find it offensive to listen to the claims that the Democrats have put the US in its current malady. Fred Thompson, how can the Democratic majority in congress have had any real chance to muck things up, they've only held the majority since 2006. The debacle that is Mission Accomplished started three years before that majority. You insult the American voter with your loosely factual account of the past 8 years. Truth is a pillar of the American experience, haven't your years on Law & Order taught you anything?

Non-sequitor photo:

Nap's Only

93.2 °F / 34.0 °C
52.9 °F / 11.6 °C

I had to skip the afternoon beer to take my live Typhoid. YUM!

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