le blog de tranny

I’ve always been fried chicken’s biggest fan. I used to always force my mom to bring me popcorn chicken after tennis practice when I was in middle school and I believe it was Arby’s chicken strips at a food court or some shit that ended my one and half year stint as a vegetarian when I was 19. And nowadays, from Bakesale Betty’s fried chicken sandwich to 900 Grayson’s Demon Lover to Pizzaiolo’s buttermilk fried chicken, it seems like I can satisfy any fried chicken craving I have in the blink of an eye. Now it’s not even fried chicken that I crave so much anymore. I’ve branched out somewhat into the world of southern cooking – from sampling the homestyle Sunday specials at Lois the Pie Queen (the catfish with potato salad is the best!) and the beef tongue canape and shrimp n grits at the more modern and upscale Hungry Mother in Boston to throwing a southern-themed potluck for my birthday this past January. People hella brought it for my birthday, by the way. We had at least 6 different bottles of whiskey on the table, and people made ribs, gumbo, cat fish, chicken, potato salad, mac n cheese, collard greens, corn bread, biscuits, sweet potato pie, pecan pie, tiramisu, bread pudding, cake balls (lol), and probably a bunch of other stuff I’m forgetting (it has been 5 months after all). I tried to salvage these photos from my party with heavy editing.

On a separate note, Iiving near Lois the Pie Queen has been magical, and I’m sad to say that we may no longer be able to call this a neighborhood establishment come August (depending on where we move).

Here’s one taken by our friend Caity.

No other Sunday spot will ever measure up to Lois. The food there just hits the spot and there’s always a good vibe. The prospect of not being within walking distance of this place makes me sad. But alas, time to lighten the mood with a collards recipe. Not your traditional stewed collard greens — this recipe takes all of five minutes to execute (aside from prep). I made this dish for our gigantic and ridiculously gourmet and delicious Thanksgiving feast that we had at Matt and Jane’s last year. The recipe is from Epicurious. Basically you cut the collards into thin strips and then saute them in bacon fat with bits of chopped up bacon for about a minute or two. Such a refreshing and delightful take on collards. The bacon fat is a must but if you are feeding a vegetarian (one of our party was) then sauteing the collards in olive oil and minced garlic also does the trick. I also recommend squeezing some lemon juice over the collards before serving, and a little s&p never hurt anyone.
Here’s some ‘before’ pictures of the Thanksgiving collards.

I didn’t get them quite thin enough so I think I sauteed them for more like 3 or 4 minutes. A bientôt!