Smokeless Splendor

Gainesville

Stunningly beautiful day here: perfectly clear, light breeze, upper 70's, no humidity, and best of all, no smoke. I did the walk around the circle twice, just to breathe it all in. Lovely.

It made the trip I had to make to Publix almost enjoyable, too. I'd forgotten to get Dove Bars for Bill ( a household staple). Of course, the Dove Bars ended up costing $31 -- FL is so right about keeping the shopping to once a week if possible. Just picking up a few extra things really adds up.

Once again, I was able to Twitter while standing in Publix. Also, I took a picture with the phone, and was able to email it to myself, another first. Too bad I didn't figure this out earlier in the day: on the walk, I spotted three tiny armadillos rooting around in a neighbor's lawn. They paid no attention to me at all, and would have been easy to photograph.

Dinner was kind of an ordeal. I made the Spicy Fried Chicken from FC 86 Q&D. Mistakes were made. Had not read the recipe closely enough to realize how much oil I was going to need, and was almost out of canola. Had to use olive, which of course is not good for that kind of thing. Some of my spices were pretty old also, and I had to use skin-on drumsticks. Thought I might be able to skin them myself, but didn't have nearly enough time. A lot of the crust stuck to the pan and not the chicken, at least until I realized I needed to use a spatchala before attempting to turn them over with tongs.

The the real mistake was underestimating the time it was going to take to toss together a "simple potato salad," which I decided I just had to have with fried chicken. Ya gotta hard boil the eggs. Ya gotta steam the spuds (the part of the potato was played tonight by cauliflower). And all that chopping. All that dinking around trying to get it to taste right. I knew I shouldn't have attempted this, but do I listen to myself? Noooo... On top of everything else I had green beans that needed to be snapped. Good think I had some baseball to keep me from going crazy.

Took over three hours to get this on the table (half an hour late), and then there was the heroic mess left behind. That took another two hours. Lousy planning, poor execution. A grade of C- for me.

Good for you having Champagne this morning, Mom-- and especially for persisting even after dumping the first one. I thought you had lost your taste for it, but glad to hear you still find it festive. It sounds like you got through this day in fine style, blown fuse and all.

Need to read some-- no time for this for several days now. I've been re-reading Emma, but think I may be ready for another JA Mystery.