Public Service Announcement for Lisa. The Chicken Recipe!

By popular demand - okay...only one person actually asked - here is the recipe for "Loon's Chicken".  I tend to cook by feel...so there's no need to follow the recipe to the letter.

Here's what you're going to need.

• Chicken.  With the skin on.  If you've got skinless chicken - you're just wasting everyone's time.  I typically use chicken thighs...but you can use drumsticks or breasts. 
• Breadcrumbs - you can make you're own if you're inspired...or you can be lazy and just buy them.  I'm lazy...or efficient - you decide.
• Corn Flakes.  Yes - that's right Corn Flakes.  Regular Corn Flakes.
• Bunch of spices and stuff.  I use the following.....I don't take actual measurements...but I'd say about a 1 teaspoon of each of the following:  garlic powder, onion powder, paprika, turmeric, salt, and pepper.  I might add in some hot pepper flakes if I'm in the mood.
• I also use a pinch of cumin and cinnamon.  You can use whatever floats your boat actually...depends on what you like.  I won't use curry (funkifies the whole house)....and there is no coriander in my house at all.  That stuff is just nasty.
• Oh....throw some parsley flakes in there too.  It doesn't do much for the taste of the chicken...but it makes it look pretty.  Presentation is good too!

Ok - got all that stuff Lisa?  Ready to get your chicken on?  Here we go:

Get a large bowl (preferably clean...depends on whether you like the people you're serving the chicken too).  Kurt's alright as I recall...so clean is probably the way to go.

• Dump in about 1 cup of Corn Flakes...and crush them up mortar and pistil style.  Don't turn them into dust...just make the Corn Flakes really, really small (like half the size of a Rice Crispy I suppose).  The ideal size is generally the same as you'd find in the last bowl of Corn Flakes - when some unthoughtful spouse has left just enough in the box as to qualify as not empty (and thus avoiding the trip downstairs to get another box).
• Dump in 1/2 cup of bread crumbs.
• Dump in all the other stuff
• Mix

Now the fun part (as if crushing Corn Flakes wasn't fun enough)!

• Take a piece of chicken and rinse it off....shake off excess water.  I suggest using a pair of tongs for this....but I'm sure you've already thought of that.  As much as I love to cook - I abhor touching raw meat.
• Throw said piece of chicken in the bowl....ensure the entire piece of chicken is covered with the spicy stuff.
• Do this as many times as there are pieces of chicken.
• If you have any of the mix left after all the pieces have been coated - sprinkle it over the pieces.  It adds to the crunchy texture we're going for here.

The key to getting this to turn out well is how you cook it.

I don't like my chicken cooking in all the fat that renders off as it cooks....so I place an elevated rack on the tray that I use.  Actually - I use some Ikea roasting pan and just use the rack that came with it.  Doesn't matter really what you use - just as long as the chicken is not marinating in the chicken fat.  I also line the tray with foil - the bottom of the tray is going to get really messy.  Using foil is going to save you lots of time.

Throw those bad boys into a preheated oven....generally about 375 for 60-70 minutes.  The last 5 minutes I crank up the broiler to high to ensure the skin is nice and crispy.

Voila!  Chicken worth stealing!  Bon appetit!

And the tie into how this particular posting relates to my son....well....now that the recipe is posted on the Internet.....he'll be sure to find it.....and make his own damn chicken!  :)

Who Ate The Big Piece of Chicken?

"Why did the little boy cross the road?"

"To rip off the big piece of chicken!"

It used to be bacon that was the most commonly stolen item of food in my house.

Things have changed.

Now it's chicken.  More specifically.  Daddy's chicken.

Word to the wise...I can totally understand the recent spate of chicken theft.  I happen to make some really fine chicken.  Got my own recipe for a KFC/Shake 'n Bake knockoff that has been years in development.  It's recently been perfected - and now chicken theft is on the rise.

All I ever did was offer my son a piece of chicken.  Once.  Now he's hooked....bad.

I've had pieces of chicken go missing from my plate.

I've seen all the left over chicken that I had lunch plans for....go missing from the fridge (and the tell tale empty Tupperware thing is left in the fridge - ChickenMan is not concerned about leaving a neat crime scene....it's usually a smash and grab kind of event).

I've even had requests for chicken.

"Daddy!"

"What?"

"I'm hungry!  Can you make some chicken?"

"Ask Mommy to make it."

"No.  You make good chicken.  Mommy's is ok...but your's is better!"

He happens to be right on that by the way....but we won't discuss that publicly.


"Well....maybe for dinner little man.  No one eats chicken for breakfast anyways."

"Why not?"

"Just because.  You don't eat waffles for dinner...and you don't eat chicken for breakfast.  That's just the way it is.  I don't make the rules in society man....I just try and follow them."

"That's terrible.  Who makes these rules anyways?"

Wish I knew little man....wish I knew.

Someone please click on some ads (on the right hand side)...I've gotta chicken junkie to support.  :)

In The Beginning... "Now In Stereo!"

Today's posting, aptly titled, "In The Beginning..." is just that.  It's a summary of things that first caught our eye - and started us down the road of discovering Autism.  It's intended as a bit of a guide for other parents who are wondering about their child's development.  I get an email to that effect fairly often....someone I know will send me an email asking me about our initial experiences....as they cast a wondering eye at their own offspring.


So - without further ado - here's how it all went down.  And yes - I like the Motley Crue tune "In The Beginning - and how it leads into Shout At The Devil.  I really only want the ominous "In The Beginning" sound....but then ya know - it just leads into some classic mid 80's metal....so I used the whole tune instead. If you're not feelin' Motley Crue - just turn it off and read on.  If you are feelin' it....turn it up.  And if you're a lawyer representing Motley Crue about my use of the tune....take it up with YouTube - I'm just linking something that they are making available.  It's not like I'm getting rich here ripping off Crue tunes....

As best as I can recall - we first noticed that Nicholas stopped responding when we called to him.  He would just act as if he hadn't heard us.  So - being responsible and concerned parents...we took him to get his hearing checked out.  His hearing was fine.  He was nearly 2 1/2 at that time.


Around that same time - the daycare that we had him at wanted to speak with us about some 'observed' behaviour.  My wife and I went down to the daycare to have a little chat (interestingly enough - this is the same daycare my wife attended once upon a time....some of the same staff were their after all that time) about some things they had noticed about Nicholas.  We were glad that they took the time and effort to speak with us - they had a lot more experience with kids than we did at that time....so it was helpful to have people more skilled in child development than us provide some insight/concerns.  Basically - the behaviours expressed things like:

• he seems to be unaware of other people around him
• he likes to line things up - in order (we had noticed this as well).
• he doesn't always deal well with transitions
• he doesn't seem to have a lot of interest in socializing with other kids, or take part in group activities.

My wife and I took this information home - and began to wonder about our son...


It was also around the same time (actually 7-10 days before we noticed the hearing issue) that we had our son vaccinated with the MMR shot.  Now I know - there's a lot of controversy surrounding the use of vaccinations and the incidence of Autism.  And I'm not here to rehash all that nonsense - whether I believe MMR negatively impacted my son is besides the point.  And what good would it do anyways if we knew for sure?  But - for the record....I do not believe in coincidences (and I know a great many number of people who have had similar experiences)....and I do think it quite likely that it was the loading schedule itself that caused our son harm.  Kids today receive many, many more shots than we did when I was of that age.  I don't think it was MMR per se....but rather the frequency in which children were subjected to vaccinations that has a cumulative impact of children's neurological development.


We also noticed Nicholas had a fascination with lining stuff up.  Blocks.  Animals.  Books.  Whatever.  If it could be arranged from big to small....it was.  This is typical of kids on the spectrum - or so we learned.


Nicholas also had an innate skills when it came reading.  That we discovered is called hyperlexia (defined by the follow 'borrowed' text from Wikipedia):

Hyperlexia was initially identified by Silberg and Silberg (1967), who defined it as the precocious ability to read words without prior training in learning to read typically before the age of 5. They indicated that children with hyperlexia have a significantly higher word decoding ability than their reading comprehension levels.

Hyperlexic children are characterized by having average or above average IQs and word-reading ability well above what would be expected given their age.

In a nutshell?  Our son was reading at a very early - at a level far advanced for his age.  His recall on what he has read is nearly photographic.  He remembers everything he's read - and everything that's read to him.  Just try and miss a page when reading him a story he's already heard...


And then there was echolalia - the automatic repetition of vocalizations made by another person. It is closely related to echopraxia, the automatic repetition of movements made by another person.  Nicholas used to love repeating things back to us....and one occasions - when he gets really excited - he'll kind of flap his left arm (mostly when he's brushing his teeth these days however).


At this point - my wife got her social worker skills happening...and was able to get Nicholas in to see a Dr. by the name of Dr. Flanagan at St. Joseph's Health Care Centre.  Dr. Flanagan had opened a new clinic there - so we were able to bypass the year long wait that we would have had to endure if we booked at East York General.  Connections help sometimes.  From a few visits with Dr. Flanagan we were provided a from that basically said our child had autism....among other high end diagnostic expressions.


So - we noticed a few things.  Other people noticed a few other things.  A diagnosis here - a professional opinion there....and voila.  Instant diagnosis of autism.


Now....here's your written summary - you have a child with an issue on your hands....but no help provided as to the question, "Great?!  Now what the hell do I do?":


To be continued...

Out With The New....In With The Old?

My son has an incredible memory.  He remembers everything.  All the time.  Well....most of the time - he can remember who said what, when they said it - and quite possibly what they were wearing when they said it....but as him where he left HIS toy and the answer is invariably, "I dunno".

Yeah...right.  You know.  You just don't want to be the one to actually go and get it (have I mentioned that I was gullible on occasion).

My son used to go to Norseman Public School.  He currently attends 20th Street Public School.

We changed his home school a few years back because Norseman didn't actually have any classes for autistic dudes....and 20th Street did.  We were thrilled with the change initially.  It meant that Nicholas would be in a class where the teachers (we thought) had actual training and a background in dealing with kids who were atypical.  While the staff at Norseman were sincere in their efforts to help Nicholas - they didn't have a lot of experience in dealing with autistic kids - and no....attending a 1/2 day seminar isn't going to make someone an expert.  FYI - we've had mixed results with Nicholas' new school placement, and are currently investigating other, more suitable options.

My son had a lot of fun (for the most part) at Norseman.  He had some friends that he really liked (mostly girls...ya man!) and he had more good days than bad.  20th Street is different.

He seems to have more bad days than good.  What entails a bad day is a post unto itself (and I might post that too...we'll see) - and I'm pretty sure Nicholas would rather switch back to Norseman (it's a lot closer too).

A few days ago - Nicholas announced his intentions to return to his old stomping grounds and pay a visit.  That's where he is right now actually.  Mommy called ahead and had a chat with the principal (who remembers Nicholas quite well) to see if it would be ok.  His kindergarten teacher isn't there anymore (likely off on mat leave I suspect) - but his grade one teacher is around.

It's an interesting process watching my son's schemes unfold.  I'm sure there's an end game here somewhere - likely (in his mind) a return to where school was more fun than work.  Sorry bub - that's not going to happen.

Scrap Ain't Crap

Once upon a time - there was a mayor of Toronto who decided that residents didn't pay enough in taxes.  Now this mayor spent a lot of money of things that weren't really all that useful...so new sources of revenue had to be invented just to pay for his grand vision of what Toronto should be.

So....this mayor foisted upon the hapless citizens of Toronto some new taxes.  We got the vehicle license tax (since repealed by our new mayor), a land transfer tax on the sale of homes, and a garbage pick up fee.

The garbage pick up fee is a scam.  Big time.  Our property taxes were supposed to pay for this service already...but it wasn't enough you see.  So now?  Citizens of Toronto now have a new line item on their water bills....trash collection.  What a scam if you ask me.

Ok.  Great.  I've gotten my little rant out of the way....but what does this have to do with my son and his adventures?  I'm getting to that - hold on!  Be patient!

Now - if you're like me....you're pretty diligent in your efforts to recycle.  I'm really good at it....as my bin is frequently overflowing with stuff.  And then it dawned on me one day in a moment of "screw this!  I'm paying for the privilege of having the city haul away my crap that they are making money from".

Come again Paul?

Yes.  You see the city (or the contractors who haul it away) makes money from your trash.  The metal that is recovered is sold for scrap - and someone (not me) gets money for it.  This annoys me a great deal.

If you know me - you know that I used to consume about 14% of the world's production of Coca Cola (I've since cut back considerably)....and that means a lot of empty pop cans.

Pop cans (or soda cans if you happen to be of the American persuasion) are worth money.  Not a lot of money....but money nonetheless.  Pop cans happen to be made of aluminum.  Aluminum happens to be worth coin.  Coin happens to be of interest to me.

So....I've taken to separating the aluminum cans out of the city's recycling stream....and placing them in my own recycling stream.  All the pop cans in my house go into another bag....which when full makes it's way to the scrap yard for cold hard cash.  I'm never going to get rich off this - but that isn't the point.  I just don't like the fact that they city is charging me to pick up stuff that they are going to turn around and make money from.  So I separate.

And this is where my son comes in.  We're trying to teach him that there are more ways to earn money in life than just sticking his hand out and smiling at his parents.  Sometimes work can earn you money as well.  And my son has developed himself a rather expensive hobby of collecting Moshi Monster (read: cheap plastic crap made in China).  Oh....let's not be coy.  He's got himself a bad problem.  He's hooked on Moshis....and he's always jonesing for a new one.

Recently my son asked me for some money to buy a Moshi on eBay.  I wasn't into it.  I was into cutting him in on my aluminum venture.

"Nicholas.  Want to make some money?"

"Of course!"

"You know that big bag of pop cans in the shed?"

"Uh huh.  What about it?"

"Would you like it?"

"What for?  It's garbage!"

"No.  It's...money just waiting to happen."

"Explain please."

"Well...there are these places called scrap yards.  They take your scrap metal and give you money for it."

"Really?"

"Yes. Really."

"Ok.  That sounds good.  How do I get in on this?"

"Simple.  You just take pop cans and put them in the black bag on the deck....as opposed to the blue bin.  And when you have a bunch - we take them to the scrap yard.  They weigh them - and then they give us cold, hard cash."

"That's it?"

"Yep.  Pretty much."

"Ok.  I'm in!"

"And to start you out - you can have the big bag that I've already got stashed away.  We can take it in tomorrow when you get back from school."

"Awesome!"

The very next day upon arrival from school - my son refuses to take his boots and coat off.  He announces that he is going to the scrap yard.

"Daaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaddddy!!!  Let's go!"

"Ok.  Let's wait for Mommy at least!"

"No!  We don't need her.  This is boy stuff.  Mommy can't come."

I beam with pride.  He's right!  This is boy stuff.  The scrap yard is dirty, noisy....and dangerous.  No place for Mommy.  We may not throw a baseball very often....who needs that!  We have the scrap yard!  Booya!

I grab the big bag of pop cans from the shed - and toss them in the trunk.  Nicholas piles into the car (he's brought one of his stuffed doggies - apparently they need to see this as well), buckles his seat beat and proclaims his readiness.

And we're off!  Over hill, over dale...to the scrap yard - it never fails!

When we get there - we have to wait for a few minutes while other dudes (not a female to be found) get their metal weighted.  Then it's our turn.

I pile the bag on the scale....and remove my son from the scale.  I'm not scrapping him (but nice try on upping the weight little man!).  The guy asks us what we have.

"POP CANS!  Lots of them!"

"Ok little man" the guy replies with.  He then asks me if this stuff is for "the kid".

I reply in the affirmative.

"Ok then.  You've got 20 pounds of aluminum.  That's $7.  But since its for the kid - I'll make it $10."

"Yaaaaaaayy!"

My son happily collects a piece of paper that says someone owes him $10.  He's excited as we walk through a building full of busted up machinery - and a yard that has a big crane with a magnet for picking up and moving steel (not aluminium....that's a non-ferrous metal - and thus not magnetic.  Learned something new didn't ya!).  We enter the office - and politely wait our turn to cash out.

And there she is!  The sole woman at the scrap yard.  She's the one handling the money!

Nicholas hands over his piece of paper and announces he "would like his loot please".  He's very excited that junk has been turned into money....and that money will eventually be converted back into more junk (read....Moshis).  The scrap lady looks over the counter (there's a glass barrier in the way) and smiles down on my son as she hands over a fresh, crisp $10 spot.

"Here you go sweetie.  Don't spend it all in one place."

"Oh.  Don't worry.  I've got plans for this money.  Thank you!"

My son is beside himself with joy!  So much so that he seems to have forgotten that Little Caesars....that nirvana of pizza goodness is only 1 minute away.  He doesn't care.  He's got cash.  He places it safely in his pocket for the ride home.

"Oh wow Daddy!  That was really cool!  Just wait until Mommy see's my money.  I am totally rich now!"

Or he was...for all of 15 minutes.  He had that spent on eBay in short order.  He decides what he wants  I buy it....and he forks over the money to me.  I always get ripped off on the transactions....but at least he's chipping in - like a good Moshi addict should.

If your car has aluminum rims...please send me your address.  My son and I will there in short order to take them off your hands....you don't need to be there - we'll just jack up your car and take care of it for you.  Cast aluminum is worth more money than the aluminum they use for pop cans.  :)