Good afternoon, folks!
You know that saying about when life gives you lemon, you should make lemonade? Well, life definitely gave me lemons—actually, I’d say it pelted me with a five pound bag of lemons. But, instead of lemonade, let’s fry some chicken. Keep reading.
About Those Lemons
On Monday, I wrote a post about getting refocused–and BOY MY TIMING WAS CRAZY. No more than fifteen minutes after I hit publish on that post, did I get a knock on my door.
It was one of the maintenance men, and he informed me there was a leak in my neighbor’s apartment and he wanted to check ours. At the time, we were fine. But, then they started working in the neighbor’s apartment, and suddenly I had a pool of water in my bathroom, just in front of my washer and dryer. (by the way, I love having my washer and dryer in the bathroom. Helloooooo warm towels!) Anyway…every time I cleaned this puddle up, it came right back, and each time it got a little bigger. It ruined the dogs’ bed.
Fast forward to Tuesday morning and we woke up with water almost everywhere. At least, it was in the bathroom, the hallway, the living room, the office–everywhere but the bedroom, dining room, and kitchen.
Suffice it to say, all of Tuesday and all of Wednesday were spent wringing things out, cleaning things up, and trying to dry everything. Try not to be too jealous of my 4th of July. There was no apple pie. No fireworks. Just cleaning and trying to dry out the carpet.
All the while, I couldn’t help but think to the post I’d just written and hope I’d be able to take my own advice–because I had a lot of refocusing to do.
Luckily, I’m on the other side of the problem. We have a fan working to finish drying everything, so it’s a bit noisy, but it’s ambient, white noise so it’s not terrible.
Anyway, that was then, and this is today–I’m refocused.
Fried chicken anyone?
Did you know tomorrow is National Fried Chicken Day? Maybe fried chicken isn’t a big deal where you’re from, but I’m in The South, where it’s all about fried chicken, sweet tea, and peach ice cream. (I’m told it’s also about football, but this girl doesn’t care about football.)
In Alabama Rain, you’ll be introduced to several strong, Southern women—all of whom can probably scratch up a plate of fried chicken that would make your toes curl and have you dancing down main street. So, just for kicks, I thought I’d develop a special fried chicken recipe with my character Mabel in mind and share that with you today.
A little about her first, though.
Mabel is a feisty, tell-it-like-it-is, no-nonsense kind of woman with a heart of gold. She loves her family, no matter if they’re blood-related. I wouldn’t want to find myself on her bad side because when she’s angry…oof!
She’s a locally-famous cook, too. During the Great Depression, people would come from all corners of the county for Mabel’s cornbread patties and fried green tomatoes. People from all walks of life enjoyed her cooking, and wanted to learn from her.
One of my favorite Mabel lines:
So, when thinking up a recipe for Mabel’s fried chicken, I wanted it to reflect her personality. There’s a little sweetness and a little spice because that’s her in a nutshell. I wanted to leave a little room for finishing it one way or the other, so whether you’re in a sweet mood or in a…heated mood…this will work just as well with a drizzle of honey or dunked in hot sauce. (I prefer Cholula, but you do you.)
That’s enough jibber-jabber. It’s chicken time!
Happy eatin’ ya’ll.
I can’t wait for you to be fully introduced to this amazing lady. But, in order for that to happen, I have a LOT of catching up to do.
See ya soon, friends! ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥
Aila Stephens 