Carla Burke

The best fried chicken I've had &/or made has always been a 3 dredge method, regardless of the seasonings used (I'm partial to a spicy Cajun flavor profile, myself). Sometimes, I'll marinate the chicken for a couple hours in buttermilk or bread&butter pickle juice. The first step prep the 3dredges: the first dredge, is a flour mixture (all-purpose, plus plenty of seasonings, particularly black pepper and salt to taste). The second dredge is in an egg wash - I whisk together a couple eggs and a little bit of milk, buttermilk or kefir. The 3rd dredge is another flour mixture: flour - either self rising, or add a little bit of baking powder, and generously add more seasonings. Pie plates/pans work well for this.

Next is to pat the chicken as dry as possible. Only start dredging the amount of chicken that will fit into your pan. You'll want about an inch of fat (I like bacon grease or lard, best) in your pan, and bring it to 375°, while you are dredging the chicken pieces. Make sure to get a good coating in each dredge, in order, on each piece, and gently lay into the hot fat. It will need to cook quite a while, so turn it as needed, but only after each side is firm enough to pick up without smudging the batter off.

While it's cooking is when I work on things like biscuits, gravy, and veggies - except for the collard/ mustard greens - those go into a slow cooker with a ham hock or bacon, and cook an hour or so before I start mixing up the dredges.

They're utterly gorgeous, Chance!!

I get it. I had a part time job at the coffee shop for about 8 months. Two days per week - Sundays and Wednesdays. Granted, they were long days - 6:15am to 4pm - but, I could sit whenever I needed to, the boss was a very generous friend, and it was only insanely busy during tourist season. After the initial first few weeks, the recovery time leveled out, for a couple months. Then, my recovery time started increasing, again - to the point that I was much worse off than at the initial getting used to it stage. It gradually got worse and worse, until I was so depleted, I couldn't even manage a couple hours and got really sick.

Now, I'm struggling to find other ways to help make ends meet, that I can actually maintain. I think it's going to come down to odd jobs that I can do when I'm able. Yeh. THAT'S going to be easy to figure out. 🙄

I like the pocket pens, for travel/ errands, etc, and keeping on me. But, Lamy makes a very affordable, durable normal sizes series, Safari, that we both enjoy as our go-to, at home. But, there are others, that we both enjoy, and some nibs that he loves - flex nibs. You might enjoy them for art, but for simply writing, I find myself going back to the death grip that hurts, so I'm not a fan.

Nicole, I was checking out your walnut ink thread, and thinking about trying it - I think I've completely missed the hulls, for this season, but the effects you achieved were beautiful! And, I've certainly had plenty of black walnut stains on my hands, as a kid, too remember how determined it is, to stay put. How does the alder cone ink compare to the walnut, please?

Thanks, Douglas. Yeh, it *seemed* like it should be a simple fix, so it did feel like a fail. But, I can honestly say I gave it my best effort. Oddly, the well house plumbing was easy, by comparison.

John and I have been playing with dip & fountain pens for the last several months. He's been practicing far more than I, and with a stronger focus on calligraphy. I'm embarrassed at this point to admit to the number of pens, inks, and papers we've accumulated. He gets a new pen, tells me how wonderful it is, and has me try it. Then, he gifts me with one... but, I digress.

Something I'm discovering and loving about them for writing, is that they're forcing me to retrain my hands to release my death grip, when writing. It's easing the pain in my hand, from writing, and allowing me to write more often and much longer - and more beautifully. His writing has improved dramatically, too.

I think, after yesterday, there also comes a point (at least for me) at which I have to cut my losses. After a few hours yesterday, working on a particular plumbing issue I've been battling with for months, I finally packed up my tools and supplies, and announced to hubby, "I'm done. I fail. It's time to call in a pro, because I can not do this one, anymore." It's a reality, for me, that there will occasionally be things I can't do. Maybe it's a matter of strength in my hands, or the painful position I have to be in for too long, to do it, or maybe I just can't figure it out, or it's taking an unreasonable amount of time away from too many other things that are equally important, or maybe I'm just way too fed up and stressed out over it - or a combination of these things - or more. All the above is the case for me, this time. It happens. I'm not going to beat myself up over it, because I *really* tried.

Anna Hutchins wrote:Peach leaves are poisonous too... Although I will admit these plants are probably the exception and not the rule.  From North Carolina Extension Gardener Toolbox:

While the fruit is edible the seeds and wilted leaves are poisonous especially if eaten in quantity

Anyways I don't think I've seen chickweed mentioned and I suddenly eat a bunch of that in the spring. Then of course there's Lamb's quarters, purslane, and dandelion flowers. I'll sometimes put them in a quick bread recipe I like. I do not like dandelion leaves or roots.

I'm tempted to try my daylily roots after we've had more cold weather.  It's just the orangy red one that I think is the species so it should be edible.

Peach leaves are medicinal and beneficial, but typically used as a tea/tisane, rather than as a veg.

https://nutritiveblog.com/peach-leaf-tea-benefits-and-how-to-prepare/

I'm currently doing the vast majority of our on-site repairs. I can't do auto repairs anymore, because of the computers. But, I'm doing all our plumbing and construction repairs. Not because I want to, but out of necessity. I'm disabled. John is more disabled. My hands and the rest of my body hurt something fierce, and frankly,  I'm damn tired of it.

And, yet... even beyond saving the labor costs, there are distinct advantages to doing these repairs, myself. I get to choose and shop around for the best prices on my own parts, and no one is jacking up the price of them. I know exactly what was done, how, and why. I can do additional repairs without worry of invalidating a warranty. No strangers are entering my home, invading my privacy, or risking damage to themselves or their vehicles on my property, that could potentially jack up my home owners insurance rates. No one is potentially going to damage my property, and cost me yet more repairs. For better or worse, I have full ownership of the work done, and only myself to blame, if it isn't quite right, and conversely, I have bragging rights, if it is done well. I have the reassurance that if I'm ever again on my own (yup, John's health is *bad*), I'll have built even more skills, and have fair confidence that whether I'm doing the work myself or paying someone else to do it, I'm not clueless about what needs to be done, how to do it, and what a fair price is.

My mom is alone, and 9hrs away. She has no clue how to fix anything or what is required, and as a result, finds herself handing out money she can't spare, hand over fist. We were just talking about this, last week, as I was telling her of my latest repairs. She told me she wished she had paid more attention to what my step dad was doing, when he was alive, so that even if she couldn't do it herself, at least she wouldn't be so easy to scam. She knows that she doesn't know what she doesn't know, and that it's costing her, dearly. And, there's nothing I can do to help her, because she is so far away, and doesn't tell me what she's doing until after the fact.

It is! I checked them out, and the prices are very reasonable and competitive. I've dropped a pack of 12 single pigment paints into my cart, to wait for payday. I might even treat myself to the travel paint brush set I've been eyeing for about a year...