Saturday, January 17, 2009

satisfying

Today has turned into a very satisfying day.

Our Saturday AM trip to JOAD had Boy scoring a 202, beating his personal best by about 50 points. Instead of going out for lunch and spending lots of money, we got breakfast before at Dunkin Donuts. If we ever get a DD in Dixfield, I will have to take a second job to pay for that habit: I won't get up early enough to drive to Rumford for a coffee before work, but if I pass one, I have a hard time resisting the urge. We stopped in at Play It Again Sports and got some store credit for trading in some old skates and skis, although I know they'll sell them for more than we traded, but whatever. They're out of my shed, which completes the summer cleanout project.

While WB went to do grocery shopping, I wanted to get outside in the 'heat' of the day. I decided to be a Useful Engine and finish cutting up the tree that WB felled last weekend. It was still on the side of the house, but had been overshadowed by the cold and the water issues. I spent probably 90 minutes getting the usable bits free and dragging them over to the Woodmaster. WB has probably half a dozen branches to chainsaw into smaller pieces-- either that or teaching me how to, because I can't use our handsaw to save my life.

After I cleaned up from that project, I started dinner. Cooking Light had an oven fried chicken recipe I've wanted to make all week. In my typical fashion, the recipe was a guide rather than a bible, but I think switching panko breadcrumbs for cracker crumbs was a brilliant decision. I then toasted the homemade bread I'd made last weekend with an olive oil garlic dressing and had Boy make up a simple cole slaw. Super yummy! I got all the dishes done while it was all cooking, so the kitchen is even clean now. Yea me!

Tomorrow the kids will come sleep over before their mother goes to work, and we'll hook up somehow with Bestfriends on Monday to return them. All 4 of the kiddos are anxiously awaiting that.

Right now the living room temp is up over 70 (we started the day at 55) and my belly is happy and full. My muscles are tired from doing some work, and my brain is satisfied with accomplishing so many things. So this, SJ, is my favorite kind of Saturday!

2 comments:

Traveling Jones said...

Do you double-bread your fried chicken? It's a trick I learned in NC. After soaking in buttermilk, dredge in flour seasoned with S&P (a course flour like semolina works best). Then, put it back in the buttermilk before dredging in whatever you are using "for real". The two-layer helps the coating stick better and gets it crispier.

The Buck Shoots Here said...

I do that sometimes, but not this time, as the recipe didn't say to. I probably will next time, though-- a little extra crunch is never a bad thing!