Y'all, I made fried chicken!

     By the 'y'all' in the title, you might think I grew up enjoying homemade fried chicken.  As my dad like to (lovingly) say, the only two things my mom can't do in the kitchen is make gravy and fry chicken.  Well, after years of watching Rachael Ray, I have mastered the pan gravy.  And thank to another cooking guru, I have made my first batch of fried chicken.

     My dad loves watching Fabio (not the long-haired model) on Yahoo!  It's a 5 or 6 minute webisode called Chow Ciao that airs weekly.  He always forwards the episodes to me to watch , and they are always fun and informative.  A few months ago, Fabio made Italian Fried Chicken.  Dad and I both kept saying we wanted to try it.  I said I would make it for him when I was home in Atlanta over Memorial Day.  Memorial Day arrived and there I was, facing loads of raw chicken (marinated in buttermilk) and hot oil.  Having never fried a single thing in my life, I was intimidated. 

     The end result - amazing!  One of Fabio's secrets is to slice up lemons and fry them with the chicken, along with sage and rosemary.  Y'all, do not skip this step.  The oils in the lemons release and you can taste it in the chicken.  It was something I would never have thought of doing on my own.  You could even eat the fried lemon slices.  Seriously delicious.  The fried sage and rosemary were also winners.  There were six of us sitting around the table and moaning with happiness. 

     Oh, and when we poured the oil back in the bottles for easy disposal, we found that not a lot was missing.  Meaning less oil got absorbed into the chicken, meaning fewer of my arteries were clogged.


     I can now say I am a true Southern lady.   

Crazy Beautiful Life

Yep,  my title is a Ke$ha song.  Her songs are crazy catchy, and I've accepted my love for her.  :)

I attended BLEND retreat last weekend and had an amazing time connecting with fellow bloggers.  The retreat reanimated my desire to blog.  Maybe my next post will even have pictures?  I also met a bunch of Colorado bloggers.  Hi ladies! 

Life is crazy right now.  I had an interview last Wednesday, got the job Friday before heading out to BLEND, and started work on Monday.  After my first full week, I have a bit better feel of it.  It was very odd to go from part-time work (including telecommuting), to working 50 hours a week, in a suit.  My feet are not happy about being in heels all the time, but they'll get used to it again. 

I spent a chunk of yesterday prepping for the upcoming week.  Laundry, cleaning bathrooms and meal prepping were key.  There were two nights last week were nothing was planned, but I managed to pull something out of the pantry.  I made sure to stock up on some pantry staples.  I made a quinoa and lentil salad to take for lunches, and a huge amount of enchiladas so that dinner will be ready a few nights this week.