First Dinner in Beijing

I had my first opportunity to cook dinner in Beijing last night. I was happy to use my new chef's knife, and it did not disappoint. Anyways, lets get to the good stuff.

The main dish:
Brown 6 seasoned chicken drum sticks in sesame oil
Add 3 cloves of garlic to the browning process
Remove garlic and chicken and set on plate
Deglaze pan with 1/2 cup of vinegar (dark somewhat cidery vinegar in this case)
Add 1/2 cup of water (stock would be great here)
Add chicken and garlic
Simmer for 15 minutes, or until you approximate 10 minutes until the chicken is cooked through
Add 3/4 cup celery chopped
Add 1 large tomato seeded and rough chopped
Simmer for 10 minutes

Side dish:
Boil several potatoes in salted water
Remove potatoes after 15 minutes or when you think they are 1/2 cooked
Rough chop potatoes
Place potatoes on a metal tray and add olive oil
Spice with fresh ground black pepper and rosemary
Roast in preheated (375 Fahrenheit) oven for 20 minutes

Comments:
The main dish was solid and will probably show up in the future. The chicken was tender, and the sauce was flavorful. All parties were satisfied. A key to success was the use of whole cloves of garlic which avoided browning and allowed for easy removal and addition.

7 out of 10 frisbees

The side dish was nothing to write home about. Suspected foul-ups include boiling the potatoes too long and roasting them not long enough. A third party contends that the heat distributes unevenly in the oven, but I believe the soggy inner texture and lack of crunch on the outside was due to poor timing. What saved this from a two frisbee ranking was the addition of sauce from the main dish.

3 out of 10 frisbees