Chicken Fricassee (Page 372)

• Date: Wednesday, January 31, 2007 -- 8:30pm
• Location: Somerville, MA
• Kitchen: My Apartment
• Fellow Chefs: Craig and Matty
• Dining Companions: Ana and Ronen
• Recipe Rating: B

This recipe was on the list from the random number generator. It was tasty. The sauce had a good flavor to it and the chicken was cooked well. My biggest complaint (which I have made over and over again with recipes of this form) is that having the skin on the chicken was gross. If the skin isn't going to be crispy, it shouldn't be there, and there was no way that a preparation like this was going to result in crispy skin. It would have been nice if the skin had been removed and the chicken had been taken off the bone (shredded or chopped) and stirred in to the sauce. That would have been a vastly superior dish. This dish still had a good flavor though and I enjoyed eating it once I removed all the skin from my meat.

I haven't written in days. I just don't know what to say.

This month has been bad news, followed by more bad news, followed by more bad news. Every morning I wake up and think that things are bound to get better, for me, and for the people I love who are suffering this month even more than I am. But it hasn't happened yet.

Chris commented last night that the winter quarter curse is worse than ever this year. Emilee noted that 10 days ago or so the world seemed to turn against all of us.

Last night, visiting with Chris' mom and the rest of the family, it occurred to me that she was the only one who didn't look terrified. Everyone else sat there with wide eyes, scared of the things to come in the next few weeks. Michael, though, looked calm. Whatever profound peace of mind that is, or inner strength, or acceptance of fate, I wish I had some of it. I feel a lot of different things right now, but calm is not one of them...

(Happy Valentine's Day.)