A couple weeks ago, I decided I would make some fried chicken for lunch. Travis was at a meeting, and I was hungry. I had some defrosted chicken in the fridge. It was an easy solution. I wouldn't have time to make my usual WONDERFUL fried chicken, but I figured this easier method would suffice in a pinch. I sliced up the chicken, dipped it in egg, dipped it in flour, and fried it in the deep fryer. I took a taster bite of the first batch and nearly spit it back out. It was flavorless. It was dry. I hadn't cooked it any longer than usual, but something hadn't gone right. I threw out the chicken in a state of despair. I asked my husband to pick me up some Taco Bell on his way home, and tried to comfort myself. It was a rough day.
We have a lot of chicken. Most of it is frozen, but we had two chicken breasts defrosted in the fridge today. "Hm... maybe we should make some fried chicken..." But THIS TIME, we did it the right way. When we first got married, I was determined to make wonderful meals for my husband and myself. My first goal was to make delicious fried chicken. I tried a handful of recipes, but none of them truly lived up to my expectations. I finally took matters into my own hands and took bits and pieces from different recipes and made my own fried chicken. And after a bit of tweaking here and there, it was perfect. And even now, it's the only thing I make completely from scratch. I put the "be a great cook" thing on the back burner once I'd mastered fried chicken. Priorities, people. Today Travis did the cooking, I did the cleaning. I say that as if it's unusual, but really... that's just how we usually do things around here. He sliced the chicken, soaked it in my special buttermilk mixture for a good... 5 or 6 hours, and then dipped in my special flour mixture. He fried it up to a golden crisp in our lovely deep fryer. (Don't judge me for having a deep fryer. I need my fried chicken.) And do you know what happened when I took a taster bite of the first (and only) batch? I melted inside. It was flavorful and moist and wonderful. And I vowed to never ever ever, no matter what, fry chicken without first soaking it in buttermilk. Some people may know how to fry chicken without buttermilk-soaking and have it turn out delicious... but I am not that person. I learned a valuable lesson today. We will also eat fried chicken tomorrow. That's just how it's gonna be.
The dogs played outside with Travis and the neighborhood kids for about two and a half hours today. They've now been completely out (as in, asleep) for... an hour and a half? At least. The kids tire them out. And since my wonderful husband doesn't mind staying outside with the kids and dogs for two and a half hours, it works to my advantage. I enjoy the quiet of the house... watch a movie... take a nap... whatever I would like. It makes for a lovely afternoon! This week I finally read three of the five books I checked out from the library a month ago. I put off starting them because I know that once I start a book, all I will want to do is read. And that's exactly what happened. I read one book on Tuesday, one on Wednesday, and one on Thursday. Since Travis has Fridays off, I resisted the urge to start another book today. But I have rediscovered how much I love reading. And there's a good chance I will be reading incessantly for the next... however many months it takes before I run out of books to read. (I'm very picky about authors and genres and such when it comes to reading... so while I won't literally run out of books I could read, there's a good chance I'll run out of books I want to read.)
I just found out that Thanksgiving is the last week in November. No one told me.
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