David and I are sting on the couch, compiling an audio disk of evidence against our upstairs neighbors. It has been a year of harassment from them to us. They retaliate against all the noise we make what with our doing laundry, cleaning dishes, children playing and our dog owningness, by calling the police as often as they are able. The times that don’t warrant an officer visit certainly do warrant an attempt at smashing through our ceiling. I would really love to visit upstairs and learn what tools they use to make such pounding. This morning, David and I have been practically silent. The dog has not barked once. The children are in a different state. We slept in until about 9:00am. We took a shower, and we practiced our French. I guess this was too much noise for our lovely neighbors, because they proceeded to drop what I can only imagine is two 10-pound bowling balls onto their floor, our bedroom ceiling, five times in a row. As per usual, we turned on our recording device, carried on with our activities, and endured several more minutes of pounding and slamming.

In my life, I have been visited by police officers about 12 times, and every last one of those has been in 2014, at the request of David and Sylvia. 10 police reports are sanctioned to the animal control department due to the barkful nature of our vizsla, Errol. 1 is a split between animal control and harassment as my dog attacked following my command to do so. Finally, the 12th, is a good old fashioned noise complaint due to a raucous dinner party wherein we played Cards Against Humanity with far too much laughter and zero music playing, at 8:00pm on a Saturday. We did have music playing, but turned it off, and closed all our windows, at 7:30 when our apartment complex security patrol came to the door with a noise complaint. Numbers 11 and 12 were within the same 24 hours. Somewhere around numbers 5 and 6, we and Errol were away from home when the complaint was received.

So now we have a year of recordings to prove what little noise we make compared with the sounds of our buddies upstairs. We also have a year of emails and phone calls on record with our leasing office.

So we had green smoothies for breakfast as our first step to get back to healthy eating now that the holiday feasts are through. We’re compiling our audio disks and drinking our Stumptown coffee made with one of my coffee Christmas gifts from David. We’ll be meeting with our leasing office manager in a few minutes and after that I have a feeling I’ll want to eat unhealthy food. Something deep fried and comforting. I made and shot this Chicken Katsu for the Dumpling Soup Family Dinner Book Club. This, along with some dipping sauces, rice, and maybe a few veggies thrown in for good measure, seems like just the comfort I crave after stressful meetings.

So here is your final not-so-healthy recipe of 2014. What foods are you comforted by? And what healthy foods do you love to get back on track?

Chicken Katsu - Baked or Fried

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Ingredients

• 1 pound boneless chicken breasts or thighs
• 2 cups panko
• 3 large eggs
• 1 1/2 teaspoons garlic powder
• 1 1/2 teaspoons onion powder
• 1 teaspoon kosher salt
• Oil for frying

Instructions

1. Place the chicken on a flat surface in front of you. Use a meat mallet or a small fry pan to pound the chicken to about 1/4 inch thick.
2. Place the panko in a shallow bowl.
3. In a separate shallow bowl, whisk the eggs with garlic powder, onion powder, and salt.
4. Press the pounded chicken pieces into the panko to coat, then dip in the egg and allow extra to drip off, then press into the panko again to coat. Repeat with all chicken pieces.
5. Heat about 1/2 inch of oil in a large cast iron skillet over medium heat.
6. Add the chicken and cook until golden brown and cooked through, about 2-3 minutes per side. If the panko turns brown before 2 minutes, then your oil is too hot.
7. Repeat with all chicken, remove to a rack to cool slightly. Then cut into strips and serve with Katsu sauce or Thai sweet chili sauce.

Notes

Instead of frying, you can bake this chicken in a 350F oven for 15-20 minutes. The panko won't get the same deep shade of golden brown. To achieve the golden brown crust, broil the panko for 2 minutes prior to beginning this recipe. Keep an eye on it so it doesn't burn!