Melba Wilson's Southern Fried Chicken & Eggnog Waffles Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/lifestyle/food/2010/10/31/2010-10-31_recipe_bobby_flays_

Chicken & Eggnog Waffles

Sunday, October 31st 2010, 4:00 AM

Ben Fink

"Bobby Flay's Throwdown!" published by Clarkson Potter ($27.

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Recipe: Melba Wilson's Southern Fried Chicken & Eggnog Waffles

Serves: 4

Ingredients

Melba's Restaurant, 300 W. 114th St.,
(212) 864-7777

CHICKEN

1 (3-pound) chicken, cut into 8 pieces
2 teaspoons kosher salt
1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1 teaspoon sweet Spanish paprika
1 teaspoon poultry seasoning
½ teaspoon garlic powder
1 tablespoon brown mustard
2 cups buttermilk
Peanut or vegetable oil, for frying
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons Sazonador seasoning

EGGNOG WAFFLES:

2 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
Pinch of ground cinnamon
Pinch of ground nutmeg
2 cups eggnog
2 large eggs, separated
4 tablespoons (½ stick) unsalted butter, melted
Cooking spray, for the waffle iron

Instructions

To cook chicken: Put the chicken pieces in a bowl and sprinkle the salt, pepper, paprika, poultry seasoning and garlic powder. Add the mustard and use your hands to work everything into the chicken. Pour in buttermilk, cover with plastic wrap, and refrigerate for 2 hours.

Heat 3 inches of oil to 325 degrees in a deep cast-iron skillet over medium-heat. Combine flour and Sazonador seasoning in a brown paper bag.

Add a few pieces of chicken at a time and shake it like you mean it!

Working in batches, fry the chicken until it is beautifully brown and crispy on one side, about 15 minutes.

Turn and cook until a meat thermometer inserted into the meat registers 160 degrees, about 15 minutes. Drain on paper towels.

To make the waffles: Combine the flour, baking powder, cinnamon, and nutmeg in a medium bowl. Whisk the eggnog, egg yolks and butter in another bowl. Stir the wet ingredients into the dry until combined; you don’t want the batter to be lumpy or too smooth— just right.

Whisk the egg whites until almost stiff; fold them into the batter.

Heat a waffle iron.

Spray the waffle iron with cooking spray. Pour some of the batter into the middle of the iron, following manufacturer’s instructions. Close and cook until golden brown and cooked through, 3 to 4 minutes.

Repeat with the remaining batter.

Top the waffles with fried chicken, strawberry butter and m

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U.K. Lawmaker Calls for Trial Extension of Daylight Saving

The U.K. should try extending daylight saving time into autumn and spring months in order to save energy and cut the country’s emis, chairman of Parliament’s said.

Yeo’s panel yesterday heard evidence from , which said about 1,300 megawatts of power could be slashed from peak evening usage if clocks aren’t put back an hour at the end of October. That’s the equivalent of a large power station or 100,000 homes. University of Cambridge researchers told the panel 447,000 tons of carbon dioxide emissions could be cut by putting clocks an hour forward all year.

“At a time when public finances are tight, making better use of the available daylight is a cheap and cheerful way for the U.K. to do its bit in reducing emissions,” Yeo said today in an e-mailed statement. “I am calling on the government to launch a full scale trial. Until we do this, we will all be in the dark about whether this idea really could help.”

The U.K. has a target to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 32 percent from 1990 levels to help fight climate change. Prime Minister David Cameron has pledged his government will be the “greenest ever,” and Energy and Climate Change Secretary Chris Huhne plans to publish a draft law by year-end to help insulate 26 million homes and slash electricity use.

Daylight saving time this year began on March 28 and ends on Oct. 31. Yeo said Parliament is due to vote on extending daylight saving in December, though he didn’t specify how long he’d like to see it extended.

Peak Demand

Alan Smart, operations manager for National Grid, told the committee yesterday that the change could cut peak power use in November, February and March. It would only have a marginal effect in December and January.

The proposal from Cambridge would involve putting the clocks forward from the current times by an hour all year round -- so retaining daylight saving while moving British time in line with countries such as Germany and France. Such a measure could also cut deaths in road accidents, Yeo said.

“If there was a transport disaster tomorrow in which 80 people were killed, there would be calls for a public inquiry to ensure it never happened again,” Yeo said. “But that is how many lives road safety experts say could saved by putting the clocks forward an hour.”

To contact the reporter on this story: Alex Morales in London

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Reed Landberg at

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Frenzied, irreverent take on 'Baby Jane'

What artistic mayhem transpires when you pair up a cult classic film with a legendary ballet? A few good turns on the dance floor, dark humor, and a sadistic premise that knocks you over the head too many times (just like the hammer in the final act).

But subtlety rarely figures into the repertoire of choreographer Myron Johnson and Ballet of the Dolls. "Whatever Happened to ... Swan Lake?" carries on the troupe's commitment to boldly celebrating the irreverent. And there's plenty of it in this remount of a 1991 work.

Joan Crawford and Bette Davis set the standard for scenery-chewing performance in 1962's "Whatever Happened to Baby Jane?" Johnson transfers their roles to a pair of ballerinas: Blanche White (Stephanie Karr-Smith) and her sister, Jane (Stephanie Fellner). Blanche is beloved by all and wins the lead in "Swan Lake." Jane is overlooked, even failing in her attempt to seduce company director Serge (Robert Skafte).

When Blanche suffers a suspicious career-ending accident, Jane breaks into a sinister smile and bows to an audience that she is certain will finally be hers alone. She evolves into a deluxe diva and steals her sister's former partner, Siegfried (Michael DeLeon). But the wheelchair-bound Blanche remains everyone's favorite, and Jane is no longer just jealous, she's brutally abusive toward her sister.

Karr-Smith embraces good-hearted Blanche with grace while Fellner navigates Jane's psychopathic turn with varied success. She's often pitch-perfect while plotting fresh horrors, but also seems distracted, a fault attributed to the frenzied pace of her key scenes. The indignities and injustices by her hand pile up so quickly that they lose dramatic impact.

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Comics' 'sanity' rally sends thanks to God (no joke)

Unlike , Comedy Central TV hosts Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert never claimed God inspired their joined-at-the-funny-bone on Saturday on the National Mall. But word of God turned up, and prayer as well.

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Father Guido Sarducci gave the benediction. Blogger Jerry Litt, a tells readers unfamiliar with the Saturday Night Live character played by Don Novello:

The priest who makes divisive religious rifts vanish in a puff of smoke, is mauled by some spoilsports for mocking religious sentiments, but he is a hit in the blogosphere, and is ruling the Google Trends roost.

It wound around a bit (you can watch him call out cheers for the Methodists, Buddhists and

But when it came to the wrap up, where any good , so did Sarducci.

Well God, I don't know your schedule, but, uh, I imagine you must be pretty busy. You got the whole world in your hand and all that stuff. But before I go, I just wanna say, God, eh, on behalf of all of us, thank you for making the universe. And thank you for giving us all the good things, like trees, and animals ... dogs, especially thank you for dogs.

And thank you for all of the good things that we do in your name, like charity and, eh, forgiveness, that's an idea we would never come up with that's for sure. You know that better than anybody. So, on behalf of all of us, thank you very much, and we really mean it. Amen.

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