Saturday's Dinner

I was up at 7:00 AM on Saturday. I stripped the bedding and put that in the washer. Next, I put on a pot of coffee and went outside to start watering the front lawn. I set the big sprinkler in the middle of the lawn and turned on the water.

I walked out back to see if my suspicions were correct and the morning glory vine I had spotted last night might be in bloom. They were and it was, so I took a couple of pictures of that, and a picture of the cucumbers I also spotted last night. I came in and posted them, then got a cup of coffee and went out on the front porch to drink it.

As I was sitting there, enjoying the morning air, I noticed the sprinkler was a little angled, so the sweep of the water wasn't perfect. At first, I decided it was no big deal, but the German in me started to rise and finally, I couldn't take it anymore. So, I walked out back, turned off the water, repositioned it and then walked around back again and turned the water back on.

Back to the porch and my coffee. Uh, oh! The oscillating sprinkler is not oscillating! It's stuck in one position! Since, I work in IT, my first thought was to reboot. So, I turned the water off, waited a minute or so and then turned it back on. No help! Now, the sprinkler had been running for over 30 minutes, so I know that I had put down about 1/4 inch of water, but I had planned on letting it run an hour. Deeply disappointed in my faithless sprinkler, I switched it for the square sprinkler and started to water the front side lawn.

If anybody out there has had this experience and knows what to do to fix it, please, PLEASE comment!

Back inside, I cleaned the counters and got out the chicken for today's main meal. Carla had let me know they were going to be stopping by and thought it might be fun to make some fried chicken. I said I'd make some cornbread (not sweet, no bacon or cheese, just plain old Alabama cornbread). She said she'd make some mashed potatoes.

For appetizers, she will make some bruschetta, using a store-bought baguette and my home grown tomatoes and basil. She'll also be making some deep-fried chicken gizzards (Yum-o!)

So, I know her favorite fried chicken part is the wings, Jake's is the thighs (easily, the best tasting part of the chicken) and mine are the drumsticks. I had picked up a package of drumsticks and one of thighs, but I couldn't find a small one of chicken wings. So, I got the "value-pack" which had 16 chicken wings. Too much for Shorty to eat, even with me and Jake helping.

So, I put the drumsticks and thighs in a zip-lock bag, filled it with buttermilk, put that in a bowl (I have had a few bad experiences with marinades leaking out of a zip-lock bag) and popped it in the fridge. Then I tackled the wings. I put six of them into another zip-lock bag and stuck them in the freezer (I'll either cook them as wings or use them when I am making chicken stock).

I cut the remaining chicken wings at the joints, and set the wing tips aside in another zip-lock bag for my chicken stock. The two chicken wing sections, per wing, went into another zip-lock bag. I filled it with buttermilk, put that in a bowl and popped it in the fridge. I put the plastic cutting board into the dishwasher and turned it on to wash this week's dishes. I sprayed the counters with anti-bacterial 409 spray and wiped them down.

I'm not sure what she will want to bread these with (I always use eggs, whisked with hot sauce until it's orange colored and then plain flour). But, since I have flour, regular bread crumbs, Italian bread crumbs, Japanese panko bread crumbs and/or crackers (if she wants to crush them up), I think I've got it covered! Note: I was SO wrong!

Oh, yeah, in between all that, I was moving the square sprinkler around every 20 minutes. But, by 11:00 AM, I was done watering. I had remade the bed and started cleaning the house. I forgot to mention, but, before I was finished watering, I had hand watered the patio herb gardens, refilled the reflecting pool and the bird bath and gave the Japanese red maple a good, long drink.

BTW, whenever I went outside, there was a squirrel that didn't run away. He just moved a few feet out of the way and continued to eat the seeds. So, I congratulated him on his bravery and told him, "Brother, I mean you no harm. Thank you for not running away from me!" He seemed to smile...

At noon, I was sweeping the kitchen floor when the air conditioner clicked on. So, I quickly shut all the windows I had opened and continued to clean the house.

By 1:30 PM, I had everything cleaned. So, I took my shower. I got dressed and laid down on the bed to rest for a bit, and then they showed up, with a hearty "Hello!" (Okay, so I know it's really so I don't shoot them, but it still always sounds so friendly!)

So, we caught each other up on what's been going on and then they got to work. Jake sliced the baguette up and put the slices on the half sheet pan, drizzled with olive oil). We all walked outside and picked some tomatoes, and then Carla cut them up for the bruschetta, while Jake toasted the sliced baguette in the oven. Oh, yeah, I went back outside and picked a good handful of basil for her. She made the tomatoes and the basil into the topping for the bruschetta.

She heated the oil and, after discarding all the hearts, she seasoned the gizzards with salt, pepper, onion powder and garlic powder. Then, when the oil hit 375 degrees F., she deep fried them. We snacked on the bruschetta and gizzards (both excellent, BTW) and then we addressed the main meal.

Here's where I let everybody down! There was barely two cups of flour in my container and, even though I pride myself on having extra "everything" in my pantry, there was no more flour to be found! Carla disregarded my breading station and asked for just a baggie. Without any flour, my cornbread was a bust, so we scratched it off the list.

We drained the chicken wings in a colander and she shook them in the baggie with the flour and her secret seasonings (well, they aren't really secret, I just didn't see what she put in there). Then she fried them up. There wasn't enough flour left to do the drumsticks or thighs, though.

Meanwhile, I cut up five pounds of Yukon gold potatoes into cubes and put them on to boil. I went back outside at Carla's direction and harvested a handful of chives. Using scissors, I snipped them up into a glass dish. When she deemed the potatoes were done, she mashed them with the chives, some butter, milk, a little sour cream and just a handful of shredded cheddar cheese.

And, then we ate...

The chicken wings were excellent, crunchy on the outside, moist and juicy on the inside. And, the mashed potatoes were over the top!

Jake insisted on cleaning up, so we let him. Since I have to get some flour and fry up the remaining thighs and drumsticks, Jake suggested saving the cooking oil (normally, I would just discard this).

Then, they left for home. I decided it was a GREAT time to take a nap, so I did.

I woke up just before 8:00 PM, checked the TV menu and decided on a movie. I watched that until 11:00.

I went out to the kitchen and started to strain the cooking oil. At first, I used a coffee filter, but that didn't work (after 15 minutes, I had, maybe, two tablespoons of oil). So, I switched to a strainer and my kitchen handkerchiefs. That worked, so I saved all the oil except for the stuff at the bottom of the pan (which had the entire breading gunk in it). According to Jake, if I reheat it and then cook a potato in it (it like, sucks up the nasty bits and flavors) I can then use it to fry up the rest of the chicken, tomorrow.

That accomplished, I opened some windows and then went to bed.