Adventures in the Fried Chicken Trade

Gainesville

The fried chicken was indeed an adventure. On Sandy's advice, I hauled out the 12" cast iron skillet I haven't used for years. I probably should have done more to rescue it from oblivion than just wipe it out, then rub some veg oil into it. The chicken cooked beautifully (a frozen Kosher cut-up one-- whenever I do a complete chicken of any kind I go Kosher, as I think they take more care in preparing their birds), but tasted a bit like what it was cooked in: a very stale cast iron skillet. Bill tasted nothing wrong with it at all, and was happy with it. I will do some more work on the skillet before trying this again. I've decided fried chicken once per quarter is about the proper frequency for this particular guilty pleasure, so will try it again in early December.

Interesting that you remember Dan as the chicken-fryer, Mom. I guess Pa learned his basic technique from her. And surely, Sandy, Pa put in a whole STICK of butter, not a whole POUND (four sticks)??

The potato-esque salad I whumped up with cauliflower came out quite well, considering I forgot that potato salad requires hard boiled eggs until too late. I compensated by adding some diced green and red pepper. I never know what I do with potato salad-- I go into a kind of trance and just start adding things til it tastes right. Bill was fooled at first, then amazed that I'd made such a convincing substitute.

What does everyone else put in their potato salad? In addition to potatoes, mayo of some sort, and (usually) hard boiled eggs, mine currently include (ad lib) scallions, diced celery, parsley, pickle relish, splash of vinegar, Worcester sauce, Cholula hot sauce or spice, mustard, salt and pepper.

Hot and sunny all day, no rain. We got only traces from Ernesto. If Florence would appear as a slow moving, rain-laden tropical depression, that would be a great blessing.

Bill's uncanny understanding of things electronic continues to embarrass me. I'd struggled several days with my hand held Sudoku thing-- most frustrating (besides being thrust accidentally into "timer" mode) was not being able to erase a value I'd entered by mistake. After all of about 4 seconds, he realized you just hit the same number again, and it disappears. D'oh!! Why didn't I think of that?

I love hearing about the birds you see on your deck, Mom, especially the hummingbirds. They are the most magical of all. How wonderful that you've turned your deck into a bird sanctuary.

Marty, you're reading Strange/Norell too?! Wonderful! Yes, it's slow going-- I've read 2-3 other books (so far) while simultaneously plowing through this one, but it's okay-- it deserves a slow read. Speaking of which, I still need to get back to Neil Stephenson's System of the World, third volume of a trilogy that is difficult in a very similar way, now that I think on it-- historical sci fi/fantasy. Another treat I have on the list for PR attention. About 27 days from now.

Sandy, I'm happy you've found S/N on CD audio, and look forward to hearing what that's like. I'm in a similar fix with car-sounds. Moonbeam has CD only. Blue has tape only. I have tons of tapes, but I'm reluctant to buy any more. It's fortuitous I have the good alternative radio station just now, although when a string of commercials coincides with a traffic jam, I long for a book to talk me through it.

How sweet it is that tomorrow is a holiday. I got the sheets changed, and all the rest of that stuff-- but still nice to know I can pick up the rest of the spinning plates that landed on the floor tomorrow.

The house is still filled with the sweet perfume of butter and chicken...