Spicy Beer & Wine Chicken Drumsticks

In celebration of Lubbock’s newfound freedoms, I present to you a recipe: Spicy Beer and Wine Chicken Drumsticks:

Ingredients:
Chicken drumsticks
Salt and hot pepper flakes
Light olive oil
Bay leaf
Red wine (*)
Beer (*)

(*) Any kind of red wine and beer from your local grocery store where you buy the chicken will be perfect.

In a Dutch oven, brown the drumsticks in a bit of oil over high heat, add seasoning. When brown, add red wine to taste, and let reduce until almost gone. Add some more if desired. You can always go get some more around the corner if you run out. When reduced, add a bottle of beer. Put a lid on, reduce heat and simmer until done. I’m not sure how long that will take, probably an hour. I’ll let you know how they turned out in a later post. But it sure smells good.

Morning coffee is saved

Got my RoadPro 12 volt immersion heater in the mail today. Its heating element is only 120 watts, but with a little patience – about 10-12 minutes - it manages to heat a mug of water to near boiling. The cord runs hot, and I’m reading in reviews that the plug may melt… but it’s fixable. Best of all, my morning coffee is saved! Great news for the cold winter mornings ahead.

More van pictures

I've been adding some finesse to the van – like I’ve mentioned earlier, I was considering a back wall. Well, the more I’ve sat on my bed the more I’ve missed the ability to sit back and relax, and some annoying electrical wires in the corner next to the bed have been worrying me. Today I did something about it. I’ve built a wall halfway across the back of the bed, and glued on to it a 1 inch foam sheet. This works great as a back rest. Onto the other side of the wall I've attached shelving – the kind you normally attach to a pantry door for extra space. What’s cool about the “half” wall is that I can reach behind the wall and get to the stuff on the shelves.

I’m also attaching pictures of the set of drawers, which now have a bungee cord attached to keep the drawers from opening when I turn. One day I came into the back, and the contents of one drawer was emptied onto the bed. That shouldn't happen anymore. In that picture, you can also see the carbon monoxide alarm that I’ve attached to the wall next to the bed.

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