HAPPY INSPIRATION + HUMOR + CHICKEN FRIED CHICKEN RECIPE + BEAUTIFUL ART ILLUSTRATIONS OF VARIOUS WING PIECES
It’s Wednesday and it’s officially August.
Greetings, Friends!
Presenting Wednesday Reader – August 2nd.
The Quick Question – What are you most shy about? I might have more than one answer for that question.
My first would be Public Speaking. Ha!
I can talk all day long – comfortably – with a group of people I’m working with.
However, put me in front of a different group of people – I freeze like a deer in headlights (aka shy). You?
Tracy Beckerman – her writing is SO MUCH FUN!
Chicken Fried Chicken recipe is tried-and-true and super, super delish!
The Burglar who couldn’t find his way out cracks me up. He had it coming, I reckon. Ha!
Leslie Elman’s Trivia remains one of my very favorites – such great conversation pieces to share.
Thanks all for sliding by and giving us your time and thoughts + comments + joy this Wednesday. Valuable!
Have a great rest of your week and we’ll catch ya on Friday.
POP QUIZ
- IN NORSE MYTHOLOGY, WHAT IS THE NAME OF THE SACRED ASH TREE THAT CONNECTS THE REALMS OF THE UNIVERSE?
a) Asgard
b) Odin
c) Ragnarok
d) Yggdrassill - IN HIS FIRST TRANSATLANTIC FLIGHT, CHARLES LINDBERGH FLEW FROM LONG ISLAND NEW YORK , TO WHAT CITY?
a) Belfast
b) Berlin
c) London
d) Paris - WHAT WAS THE SUBJECT OF ERNEST HEMINGWAY’S “DEATH IN THE AFTERNOON”?
a) Boxing
b) Bullfighting
c) Emergency medicine
d) Fishing
QUICK QUESTION
WHAT ARE YOU SHY ABOUT?
POP QUIZ ANSWERS
1. In Norse mythology, Yggdrasill is the sacred ash tree that connects all the realms of the Universe.
2. In his first transatlantic flight, Charles Lindbergh flew from Long Island, New York, to Paris.
3. Bullfighting is the subject of Ernest Hemingway’s 1932 nonfiction book “Death in the Afternoon.”
~ COPYRIGHT 2023 LESLIE ELMAN
DISTRIBUTED BY CREATORS.COM
THE BURGLAR WHO COULDN’T FIND HIS WAY OUT
… and the story goes like this:
A trail-blazing burglar broke into a vast mansion on millionaire’s row in June 1980 something in Bel Air, L.A.
While on a sackfilling tour of this palatial structure, the burglar went through the ballroom into the hall, down the escalators to the single-lane swimming arbor, up to the library across from the dining room, out of the annex and into the conservatory containing sixty-three varieties of sulphur-crested parrots.
Deciding that now was the time to make a quick exit, he went back through the dining room, up to the gymnasium across the indoor tennis court, down the spiral staircase to an enclosed patio with synchronized fountains, out to the cocktail lounge through junior’s sound proofed drum studio and back into the room full of increasingly excited parrots who normally saw nobody from one day to the next.
Panicking slightly, the burglar ran back towards the library, through the swinging doors into a gallery containing the works of Jackson Pollock, out through the kitchen across from a jacuzzi enclosure and up two flights of stairs, at which point he became hysterical, ran outside along the balcony around the circular corridors, up more stairs, down the landing into the master bedroom and woke up the owners to ask them how to get out.
In order to spare him further distress, the owners arranged for a local policeman to escort him from the premises.
~ Stephen Pile, author
via an email thread from many years ago
“YOU CAN’T UNDO THE PAST … BUT YOU CAN CERTAINLY NOT REPEAT IT”
~ Bruce Willis ~
(( Starve the landfills. Recycle. ))
RIDDLE ME THIS
WHAT IS STRONGER THAN STEEL — BUT CAN’T HANDLE THE SUN?
CHICKEN FRIED CHICKEN
Prepared almost exactly the same as Chicken Fried Steak. Serve with mashed potatoes, gravy and a brilliant green veggie (think broccoli or fresh sauteed spinach)
~ SERVES 6
THIS IS HOW WE MAKE IT:
IN A BOWL WHISK:
2 cups flour
2 tsp salt
2 tsp pepper
2 tsp garlic powder
4 TBSP Spanish paprika
2 TBSP cayenne pepper
IN ANOTHER BOWL WHISK:
3 eggs
1 cup buttermilk
Vegetable oil for frying
6 – boneless, skinless chicken breasts
NOW:
In a heavy skillet – heat oil on medium-high while prepping the chicken.
PREPPING THE CHICKEN GOES LIKE THIS:
Place each chicken breast in a plastic Zipper bag (Ziploc) and pound pretty thin (like about 1/2″) with a mallet or rolling pin.
TIME TO:
Dredge the chicken breasts in flour/spice mixture – coating evenly. Dip flour coated breasts in the egg and buttermilk. Then back for one more time – to coat – in the flour/spice mixture.
FRY IN HOT OIL
About 5-6 minutes per side.
REMOVE CHICKEN FRIED CHICKEN
And drain on paper towels – that have been placed on a cookie sheet.
TRANSFER TO A PREHEATED
250* oven until ready to serve.
~ Hippie Cowboy recipe box
RIDDLE ANSWER
ICE
LOST IN SUBURBIA
THE BIRD IS THE WORD
BY TRACY BECKERMAN
I have often written about my mishaps and unfortunate interactions with suburban flora and fauna. In addition to my encounters with poison ivy and other nasty weeds, I have come up against grouchy uber-woodchucks, manic squirrels and psycho wild turkeys, to name a few. Although I have taken it all in stride, my husband thinks I have an unusually high rate of unpleasant nature issues for one suburban mom. I am quick to point out that since he works in the city, he doesn’t really have as much of an opportunity as I do for run-ins with wildlife … at least the four-legged kind.
Personally, though, I think he is jealous. I have a much more exciting life than he does.
Sometimes, however, I think you get what you wish for, and recently, my husband won the award for the foulest encounter of the week.
It was a beautiful, sunny summer morning. My husband emerged from the subway with a smile on his face and a bounce in his step. After a cleansing rain the night before, the city glistened as the sun bounced off the skyscrapers and dried up the last few puddles that lingered in the street. He stopped to let a street vendor pass and caught a whiff of the sausage grilling on board, beckoning him to indulge in a spicy, hot breakfast to go.
As he stood on that street corner smelling the sausage, feeling the slight breeze on his face and watching the sun dance on the rainwater, he suddenly noticed a large flock of pigeons soar overhead.
Then he heard a splat. And another splat. And another. Five splats in all. It took him a moment to realize that the splats landed very close to him. So close, in fact, they were on him: one on his shirt and four on his pants. Five pigeon splats all over his work clothes … a half-hour before he was to give a major presentation.
The street vendor stopped pushing his cart and looked my husband up and down.
“That’s unfortunate,” he said.
“You think?” my husband replied. He stood staring at the multiple bird offenses on his clothing. This was not the first time he had been a victim of a pigeon hit-and-run, but it was certainly the biggest attack he had ever suffered. The issue, however, was not so much whether five pigeon poop hits constituted a world record, but how fast my husband could get it cleaned up before his big meeting.
The vendor grabbed a wad of napkins and passed them to my husband, who did the best he could to remove the pigeon poop from his clothing.
“You know,” said the street vendor. “They say it’s good luck to have a bird poop on you.”
“Really?” said my husband wryly.
“So it looks like you have five times the good luck.” The street vendor smiled encouragingly at my husband. My husband looked at his watch.
“What if the bird poops all over you 30 minutes before you have a major work presentation?” asked my husband as he futilely tried to eradicate the pigeon damage.
The vendor grinned. “Then it’s really good luck for the dry cleaners.”
~ Tracy Beckerman is the author of the Amazon Bestseller, “Barking at the Moon: A Story of Life, Love, and Kibble.” You can visit her at www.tracybeckerman.com
COPYRIGHT 2023 CREATORS
Fascinating Stuff
FASCINATING STUFF
- A unique subspecies of wild horse used to roam the plains of Mongolia. Locals call them “takhi,” meaning “spirit”. Scientists call them Przewalski’s horses, for the Russian explorer who wrote about them in the 1880s. By the 1960s, they were extinct in the wild. So, zoos began breeding them in captivity to repopulate the wild areas they once inhabited. The Prague Zoo alone has bred and released more than 30 takhi horses. It’s also home to Len, the stallion grandson of the last takhi mare caught in the wild.
- To jumpstart a silk industry in England at the start of the 17th century, King James I had land owners plant 10,000 mulberry trees, which thrives in England’s climate and produces delicious fruit. But silkworms prefer white mulberry, which yields a finer silk. The silk industry didn’t take off. Undeterred, English colonists brought white mulberry seedlings to North America and tried again. Although the white mulberry thrived (so much that it’s now considered an invasive species in some states) American silk production didn’t.
- The word “noon” comes from the Latin nona hora, meaning ninth hour. It’s related to the word “nones,” a specific time for prayer observed by Christians. The thing is, in Christian communities, the prayers for nones are said in the afternoon at about three o’clock. (The ecclesiastical day began at 6 a.m., which would make 3 p.m. the the ninth hour of the day.) Why and how noon was cranked back to 12 pm has been a matter of speculation for centuries. It likely has something to do with when the main meal of the day was served.
- Cayenne pepper is named for Cayenne, the capital of French Guiana. The pepper itself originated someplace in South America, possibly French Guiana, possibly not. Never the most hospitable place to live, French Guiana is a French overseas department notorious as a penal colony for much of its history. Trivia buffs know it as the largest European Union territory outside Europe. It is also the European Space Agency’s primary launch site.
- “Baba Yetu” by Christopher Tin is the first piece of video game music to win a Grammy Award. Tin composed the piece for the 2005 game “Civilization IV” with lyrics from the Swahali translation of “The Lord’s Prayer.” Gaming audiences tend to be tough to impress, but the music’s grandeur was too compelling to ignore. Tin released a recording of “Baba Yetu” featuring Ron Ragin and the Soweto Gospel Choir that won a Grammy for best instrumental arrangement accompanying vocalists. In 2016, Tin composed “Songo di Volare,” the theme for “Civilization VI.”
~ COPYRIGHT 2023 LESLIE ELMAN
DISTRIBUTED BY CREATORS.COM
I’m shy about speaking in front of a group of people I know – would rather speak in front of strangers 😉 Checked out the Baba Yetu recording by the Sowetu Gospel Choir and LOVED it! Easy to see why it won awards. Another great issue!
I love that you’d prefer to speak in front of strangers – as opposed to people you know.
Thumbs up on that one, Carol!