Mike Oren.com

Quick announcement, MikeOren.com is now 1 year old, so to celebrate I'm giving out my "ultra top secret semi-world famous finger lickin' good northern fried chicken" recipe (that I just came up with a few weeks ago--it was a matter of having flour, wanting to use it, but unsure what to use it for). So without further ado, here's the recipe:

Place flour in bowl
Add preferred seasoning (I recommend a decent amount of black pepper, garlic powder/salt, Jacob Dean's Smokey Chipotle, Onion Powder, some cumin powder, and a dash of cinnamon)
Pour vegetable oil into a large frying pan (that has a lid) and put the stove at about medium heat
Place the chicken in the flour mixture and make sure to cover the chicken pieces completely
Place the chicken piece(s) into the pan and place the cover on the pan
After about 5 minutes, flip the chicken piece(s) over and cook the other side
After another 5 minutes take the chicken out and roll it around the flour mixture (to make it extra crispy)
Cook each side for another 5 minutes
Bon Appetite

Those directions aren't exact, but they're "close enough". I made this for my mom, grandma, and little brother and they all enjoyed it (and my grandma is a person who normally doesn't like ANYTHING that she didn't make herself, but she wanted my mom to get the recipe from me because she enjoyed my chicken recipe). So enjoy the recipe, and play around with the spices so you have something that works for you. Also note that this should be done in a deep pan and flipping the chicken and with a liquid oil (instead of something like Crisco) as this will make the chicken more tender and I think makes the breading a little better as well (even if it takes slightly longer).

As for things going on in my life, I had my first presentation in grad school, which I think went alright. Not as nicely as I would have liked, but considering some drama that occurred a few days before I had to give the presentation that made preparing for it slightly difficult, I think it all turned out fairly nicely and with just the normal nervousness that is entailed with speaking in front of a group of people (with cameras pointed at you). Research is also going fairly well, although I've reshifted my focus toward the audio game as more work is now necessary to properly prepare for the user study.

If anybody's interested (besides Danielle) my last name before it was shortened by my grandfather or great grandfather was Orzeszynski. I prefer the much shorter "Oren", which also balances nicely and symmetrically with "Mike", but Danielle seems to prefer the longer Orzeszynski. What does everybody else think? Write your thoughts in the comments section. And Danielle, don't flood the comment section with posts in favor of Orzeszynski... I love you, honey :-*