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You may rightly ask what dots connect candy bars, contact lenses and chicken Kiev &mdash; but it&rsquo;s obvious to me.
				I grew up becoming lifetime friends with John next door, and one of our favorite places to visit as children in our West Hazleton neighborhood was a little sole-proprietor store at the corner of Hagelgans and West Green Street (we lived on the latter).
				While that store sold various items, we went for the candy behind the counter, of course.
				John grew up to be an optometrist and thus my eye doctor, even after he married and moved to Ephrata, which explains why I don&rsquo;t get my eyes checked or buy new contacts as often as I should (haven&rsquo;t had a pair for over a year, and miss them).
				John and I both came from big families, though he was the oldest brother while I was the third youngest (of nine kids). His younger brother Jim grew up and bought that corner store, revamping the offerings to include an array of hand-made chicken specialties you could either buy cooked in a deep fryer or frozen for home use. I loved his chicken finger hoagies with hot sauce, and his chicken Cordon Bleu and chicken Kiev became standard stock in my freezer for quick meals. As far as I can remember, Jim introduced me to both the bleu and the Kiev.
				I probably could, of course, contact Jim (he closed the store years ago) and ask for his recipe, but when I finally decided to try making chicken Kiev recently I opted for a web search, settling on a version from Emeril Lagasse, whom regular readers know I tend to favor now and again.
				This is a little bit of work, and a few things I figured out from my first attempt may help.
				Emeril says to &ldquo;pound each breast out very thin,&rdquo; with no metric guidance. I had thicker breasts than the 6 ounces called for, so I sliced them in half before pounding, but am pretty sure I went too thin. Therewere spots, once rolled, where the butter that puts the Kiev in the chicken was visible.
				Speaking of the butter, Emeril says to &ldquo;cover the top of each breast with some,&rdquo; but spreading it out became problematic. Perhaps if it had been a bit softer &#8230; though I thought it was fine. More likely I should have patted the chicken dry before seasoning it. Since it&rsquo;s going to melt when cooked, I suppose you could just drop it in little dabs.
				On the plus side, the thinness made the rolled chicken keep its shape without any toothpicks, so I&rsquo;m guessing there&rsquo;s a happy medium when flattening with the meat mallet (you can also use a rolling pin in a pinch, though a mallet is better).
				The Welsh Rarebit Sauce leaves a lot of room for personal taste. You can spice it up effortlessly with more Worcestershire, more mustard or more hot sauce. I went pretty mild this time. You can also skip it entirely, though we found it quite tasty.
				While I&rsquo;ve mentioned Emeril&rsquo;s Creole &ldquo;Essence of Emeril&rdquo; seasoning before, I&rsquo;m including it with the recipe this time. I keep a small bag of it with the other spices all the time. The recipe calls for not only seasoning the chicken with it, but adding some to the flour, eggs and breadcrumbs. I did the first but forgot the others, and the flavor came through fine for me.
				Roasting the asparagus is simple. I opted to coat it with olive oil and season lightly with kosher salt, spreading it on a rimmed cookie sheet and topping with grated Parmesan. I set the oven at 425 and put it in for about 10 minutes. There are endless variations to this, including using lemon juice, garlic and balsamic vinegar, so feel free to experiment to suit your palate.
				Lastly, while this recipe calls for deep frying, I have little doubt you could find one that opts for baking, or you could even try baking these. I always baked Jim&rsquo;s.
				I wouldn&rsquo;t even try to type the Ukrainian equivalent of &ldquo;Bon appetit,&rdquo; with that Cyrillic alphabet (and yes, I know it&rsquo;s probably not actually from Kiev), but I did come across this online. Hope it&rsquo;s close:
				Khoroshiy apetyt!
				Chicken Kiev (Emeril Lagasse)
				Ingredients
				For the Chicken:
				&#8226; 4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts, about 6 ounces each
				&#8226; Salt and freshly ground black pepper
				&#8226; 8 tablespoons butter, softened
				&#8226; 1/4 cup chopped chives
				&#8226; 1 lemon, juiced
				&#8226; 1 cup flour
				&#8226; 2 eggs, beaten with 1 tablespoon water
				&#8226; 2 cups fine dried bread crumbs
				&#8226; 1 pound fresh asparagus, roasted and hot
				&#8226; 1 tablespoon chopped chives
				&#8226; Oil for frying
				For the Creole Seasoning:
				&#8226; 2 1/2 tablespoons paprika
				&#8226; 2 tablespoons salt
				&#8226; 2 tablespoons garlic powder
				&#8226; 1 tablespoon black pepper
				&#8226; 1 tablespoon onion powder
				&#8226; 1 tablespoon cayenne pepper
				&#8226; 1 tablespoon dried oregano
				&#8226; 1 tablespoon dried thyme
				For the Welsh rarebit sauce:
				&#8226; 3 tablespoons unsalted butter
				&#8226; 3 tablespoons flour
				&#8226; 2/3 cup ale
				&#8226; 10 ounces extra sharp cheddar cheese, grated
				&#8226; 1 teaspoon English mustard
				&#8226; 1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
				&#8226; 2 to 3 drops hot sauce
				Place each breast between 2 sheets of plastic wrap. Using a meat mallet, pound each breast out very thin. Remove the top piece of plastic wrap from each breast. Season with salt, pepper, and Essence.
				Combine butter, chopped chives, and lemon juice. Cover the top of each breast with some of the butter mixture. Fold the 2 smaller ends of each breast in by 1-inch. Beginning with 1 of the long ends, roll each breast up tightly and secure with toothpicks.
				In 3 separate plates or bowls place the flour, beaten eggs, and bread crumbs and season each with Essence.
				Dredge the stuffed chicken in the flour, shaking off any excess. Dip each in the beaten egg, letting the excess drip off. Dredge each rolled breast in the seasoned bread crumbs, coating completely.
				Deep fry in oil about 8 minutes, turning occasionally for overall browning.remove and drain on paper towels. Season to taste with Essence
				Slice, spoon sauce on top, garnish with chives if you like, and serve with asparagus.
				To make the Creole Essence seasoning, just combine all ingredients thoroughly.
				To make the Welsh Rarebit sauce: Melt the butter in a saucepan over low heat. Add the flour and whisk to make a roux. Cook for 2 to 3 minutes. Whisk in the ale and boil the mixture for 3 minutes while whisking. Reduce heat to low, add the Cheddar cheese, mustard, Worcestershire, and hot sauce. Cook, stirring, until hot but not boiling.

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Of candy, contact lenses and chicken Kiev