Ladies and Gentlemen: Start ~Your ~Engines!

Nascar Sprint Cup Racing begins today with the running of the Daytona 500 and it just wouldn't be the same with out some Race Day food.

To me, that means a icy cold beverage and food you can wrangle with your hands.  One of which is a huge platter of perfect Buffalo Hot Wings.  You can always grab some pre-made wings from the freezer section of your grocery market or you can get real ballsy and make your own.

I obviously like to make my own and now you can too!

Here is what you'll need to have your own Wing Fest:

Enough chicken wing pieces (Flats and Drums) to feed your crowd.  I usually make two servings more than what I will need to ensure that (a) there are enough to go around, (b) in case there are unexpected guests, and (c) I hide some in the fridge to munch on the next day.

Frying Oil :  Peanut Oil or Vegetable Oil is just fine.

Flour:  just regular ol' white stuff.  Nothing Fancy.

Salt n' Pepper and whatever other spices that might thrill you. Sometimes, I even get all fancy and add some Garlic and Onion powder in there.  I live on the edge.  I don't use exact measurements.  Use your brain....if you can operate a stove then you know what too much spice looks like.  If you don't, then please don't attempt this.  Just go to Hooters and smile nicely at the servers.  They'll bring you lots of wings.

Hot Sauce:  Texas Pete, Frank's, Generic...doesn't matter.  I prefer Frank's Hot Sauce because The Queen uses that brand.  She puts that shit on everything.

Vinegar: White or Apple Cider, again personal preference.

Butter:  Not margarine...butter, from a cow.

Accompaniments:  Celery Sticks, Ranch, Blue Cheese Dressing.  You are free to be as creative as you want.

Okay, let's make some Racin' Wings.

Okay, first off, you do not have to do this step...it's simply because I can not stand...as in I DETEST wings that have not been cooked thoroughly.

Hate it, hate it, hate it.

As in, it drives me crazy and makes me want to throw up.  There is nothing more disgusting on the planet Earth than undercooked chicken.

I boil those puppies until they look like this....about 15-20 minutes.  Then I drain off the water and blot them on paper towels.

This step can be done the evening before and just keep your par-boiled wings in the fridge until you are ready to make them.

Take the wings out of the fridge and again, just make sure all the moisture is dried off.  Dredge them in your Salt n' Pepper Flour and then let them sit pretty on a baking sheet.

After you have finished coating all your wings, get your grease all nice and hot.  I know it's ready when I flick a few drops of water at the swimming pool and it pops back at me.

Fry about 6-8 wings at a time until the float.  UNTIL THEY FLOAT is the key word here.  There is no particular time limit as it depends upon the size of your wing sections and how hot your grease is, and if  the moon is in a certain phase, or how many icy cold adult beverages you have had...

When they start doing the back stroke you can be assured they are done, done, done.

I, know...right???

Nom, nom, nom.

Now, while the kids are swimming, you will want to make your wing sauce.  I like mine to be right in the middle of the hot scale.  Not too spicy, not too buttery.  I use one stick of butter and about a half cup of hot sauce.  Add in about 1 tablespoon of vinegar to your sauce and stir on low.  

 Throw your wings into a bowl and then pour some sauce on top and swirl them around...I even get all Top Chef and shake 'em.

I can do it now without throwing them all on the floor.

Yes, I have done that.

No, it wasn't pretty.

Serve them up on a plate, platter, or eat out the sauce bowl that you just used.

I will never tell.

I can keep secrets.

Now, go make your own.

~

This is Home Girl and I hope you all have a great Sunday Funday doing whatever it is that makes you happy.

I'm Bringing Sexy Back

I have been wanting to do this set of cookies since this time last year.  I could sit and design themed dessert sets for hours.  They consume my brain, at times.  I walk around with what is known as "Cookie Brain" and I will see cookies in every aspect of my life.  It might be in a fabric that has my visual senses whirling or it could be in a shop or restaurant...even photos I see on social media sites will inspire me.

I am completely attached to black and red as a color combination.  To me, it's crisp, it's a little edgy...it's just "plain, damn, sexy."

Come on, admit it...we all have a little bit of a bad bitch in us.  If you didn't, you wouldn't keep on coming back to read me.  You know "Home Girl" tells it like it is, that's why.

So, I'll say it for you...Be your bad ass sexy self whether it's with someone else or by yourself.  As an introvert, I can appreciate both sides of the fence.  Sometimes I enjoy people, but most times I don't.
Valentine's Day, for me, is more than a couples holiday.  It's not about having someone to be the love of your life...it's about loving yourself and respecting the sexiness that ensues from that.

Yes, I'm telling you that if you start loving yourself first and foremost...the sexiness just happens.

Be strong, confident, classy, and have your own passions in life.

Be a little edgy.  Try new things.  Get some Black and Red in your life.

Don't be scurred....

This is Home Girl wishing you a wonderful St. Valentine's Day.  Know you are loved.  

It's Exceptional To Be Special

Valentine's Cookies for a special friend and his beau.  

I had a long talk with "My Person" this morning.  She was coming home devastated after her first meeting with the Exceptional Education Office in her school district.  Those of us who are the parents of special needs children know what meeting I'm talking about and the punch in a gut that it gives you. The meeting where you have to hear and accept that there is something "wrong" with our child.  You are given lots of suggestions and are even told that a problem may exist in the way we parent.

It is one of the low points of being a mother.

We are typically fixers...we fix dinner, we make everything run in the household...we try to hold it down for the success of the family.

Being told your child has special needs is not something we can readily "fix".  It sucks the life out of everyone and it begins with the mother.

During the course of our conversation, I realized that there is just something so wrong with labeling someone as "special needs"....when it should be "special gifts".

If we are going to be really honest here,  every person on this planet has special needs.  We all have strengths and weaknesses.  We make special accommodations for people on a daily basis and we never realize it.

I understand that it is the goal of a school system to make accommodations to allow each child to be served with success and purpose.  I get that.  A system has to serve the masses, but sometimes a child will be deemed inadequate for simply not fitting into a certain set of parameters.

He is the special child.

She is the mother whose heart is breaking.

In a perfect world, we would see that children each have a learning style that is special to them and gear our educational programs toward teaching groups differently.

Visual Learners, Abstract Learners, Contemplative Learners, and Macro Learners.

Teachers should be matched with their core group based on their own learning styles which would give examples for the students to model.

Yes, a perfect world.

A perfect world would never send a mother away in tears after telling them that something is "wrong" with their child.

So, here's my salute for the special people out there...the one's who were told they were exceptional.  We all have gifts and deficits.

I have a hyper acute visual gift, but higher level math is completely greek to me.

I'm okay with that.

This is Home Girl and I'm sending a big hug to "My Person" and all other parents of those "special needs" kids.  There is nothing wrong with our babies.  The world just hasn't seen "what's so right" about them yet.

The World is Filled With Jealousy

I don't let unkind comments bother me because they are founded in hate and jealousy.  (Someone had posted a comment on the previous post questioning my ability and accusing me of stealing images and claiming them as my own.)

I am a Professional Sugar Artist and a freaking awesome one, too!  With technology being what it is today, one can easily find out if the image in question is the work of the blog owner.

The work you see here was all made by little ol' me.

I'm sorry if you can't believe that.

Wait, here's some more for you...

oh, snap....here's some MORE.  (And cute little note cards of my designs, too!)

and more....

and more...

Wait!!  Here's some MORE....

and why don't we have some icing on the cake, too.

This is Home Girl and I apologize if I "got it like that", but I'll keep on doing what I do and you can go mess with someone else.

My question is:  Who in the hell calls themselves "Happy Preacher" and then posts contrite comments on blogs?  WOW, that's one great preacher there!!  It makes me want to run out and join a church!