Seahawks (2-1) vs. Cooking (General Tso's Chicken)

(This fall we are combining our love of the football and our dream of learning to cook. On Sunday morning, following a trip to a local farmer’s market/major supermarket chain, we will be preparing a meal from the city of the Seahawks opponent. Then at halftime we will throw our badly burned hands in the air and make hot dogs.)

Sunday's NFC West showdown in San Francisco leads to many culinary possibilities.

The best burritos we've ever devoured have been in the Bay Area. Joe DiMaggio's home town also has amazing Italian food, with some of the finest Olive Garden restaurants in the country located alongside I-580. Of course there is the San Francisco treat, Gavin Newsom (de-lish), and finally Rice-a-Roni, which we felt would be way too easy after last week's chili.

We are going with General Tso's Chicken from the city's popular Chinatown. Of course we realize this dish isn't from China, or even the Pacific Rim, however, they serve the Tso in all of Chinatown's "authentic" restaurants. It tastes good and most importantly we want to make it.

It's also our tribute to The Joy Luck Club, the book that helped us survive middle school.

Alas our excitement has been met with pessimism from our housemates who are giving us the Prefontaine treatment, "You're too small, Pre. You're not fast enough, Pre. I'm not sure how you're gonna do General Tso's without a deep fryer. Give up your foolish dreams, Steve!"

We fully understand that this could be a disaster, and that we'll likely end up with hot oil burning our gorgeous arms.

However, we want to try and cook the meal that Steve Prefontaine and Amy Tan never lived to complete. Besides, if all goes wrong we can just toss some clam chowder in a sourdough roll and charge ten bucks.

We'll report back on Monday, and if you think you're so fucking great why not try and make the
stuff as well. Then we can all compare notes as our fathers stare at us disapprovingly.

Recipe for General Tso's Chicken.