February 20, 2012: Kentucky Fried.....Cornish Hen?

As many of you know, I spend several weeks a year in Nicaragua taking care of some very nice people with very limited access to medical care.

I get LOTS of praise for this work, but the reality of the matter is, it is BIG TIME teamwork. THere are local people in Chinandega who make the ball roll and lots of great help from stateside...folks who spend their own money and give up vacation time to be a part of delivering health care to those who have none or very little. ANd all for no charge. It is a wonderful feeling to do this. They give us so much. One component of this also is DONATIONS...time, effort, money and often, medical supplies. So a big SHOUT OUT to the Nelson County Public Clinic who for several years have been donating surgical supplies to Amigos to help these folks down in Nicaragua. These health care professionals save these items that they do not need because they do not do surgery in their clinic. Twice a year I go to Bardstown, Kentucky and collect this spectacular set of donated items and eventually get them to Atlanta for shipment to Nicaragua. There are numerous people involved BUT who stores them in her garage for months on end?

Jim and Sandra Akin, that's who. Mr. Akin is the retired fire chief of Bardstown and Mrs. AKin is a retired nurse who still volunteers in the clinic. They can't go to Nicaragua in person, but everytime I operate on someone, they are there! Since Mrs. Akin, who is a stellar home cook, was afraid I would be hungry she made-- CORNISH HEN. Wow. And boy was it delicious!

Even though the Akins are not drinkers, they were kind enough to serve me this amazing Kentucky Bourbon barrel beer. If you can get your paws on this, grab it all. It is seasonal and not always availble, but always amazing.

This cornish hen tasted as amazing as it looked. Mrs. Akin served it with a mixed tropical fruit salad. It HIT the spot. Really delicious. Here is her recipe: Well, I just put some good herbs on it and roasted it. GOOD LUCK everyone :) Enjoy!