Urban family chicken fry picnic

I don’t know why Jeanne and I decided to have a fried chicken dinner party. It just seemed right. Our dinner menu would be some hearty, but not too heart-healthy, comforts: macaroni and cheese, potato salad, green beans in a garlic butter sauce, fried chicken, and brownie sundaes.

We prepped our food early and thought that we would have plenty of time to cook and look pretty, but our timing didn’t work out. Friends arrived and we were still cooking. The kitchen was a mess as we tried to entertain and fry chicken simultaneously. I brought dinner out to the table with my hair in a foul ponytail, sweat and grease smudged all over my face, and wearing the paper thin gray T-shirt I run in. But, it didn’t matter. All attention was on the table full of food.

We laid out a sheet over the shag rug, spread ourselves out for an indoor picnic, and helped ourselves to mounds of food. The macaroni and cheese could have been a touch warmer, but it was still rich and gooey. The potato salad was sad. I had let the potatoes overcook, thinking that one couldn’t overcook potatoes, and they had turned into potato mush. Scott had thought we made mashed potatoes. And, when I was at the little grocery store on Hayes where the family who runs the place chat me up, I opted for the healthy mayonnaise with flax seed oil and Omega 3. Healthfulness shouldn’t have been a deciding factor for my pack-on-five-pounds dinner. The mayonnaise tasted a bit like Berkeley hippie. The greens beans were fantastic. I stood by the counter and popped bean after bean into my mouth. They were crunchy with just the perfect amount of salty, garlic butter. The fried chicken was great too, not the least bit greasy, with a beautifully crispy coating, although I think it could have used a touch more spice. And, our brownie sundaes were yummy too. We washed it all down with a variety of beer.

After our urban, indoor, fireside picnic, we packed up and headed to the Rickshaw Stop, which turned out to be a bust, and we went to the Arrow Bar instead, where dancing and more drinking ensued. Afterwards, we stumbled our way home, where cold fried chicken and brownies awaited our drunken bellies. I couldn’t have thought of anything better.