Stormy Last Monday Of January Butchering Chicken With Kentucky Fried Chicken's Original Recipe's Secret 11 Herbs & Spices

This is the final Magic Monday of the 1st month of 2013. Magic Monday is my favorite day of the week, my fun day, my I don't go anywhere and run day.

I may go somewhere and hike though, if the stormy looking clouds don't burst.

As you can see, via the view from my pool overlook patio, the stormy looking clouds look like they should already be dropping water.

We are breaking temperature records, heat-wise, in North Texas. I have my windows open again. 67 degrees, currently.

Changing the subject from my favorite one to butchering chickens.

When I was last in Tacoma, summer of 2008, I was instructed to instruct my sister-in-law as to how to cut up a whole chicken. We'd come into possession of two large free range organic chickens that needed to be sliced up.

As I recollect, the instruction session went well, with me cutting up the first chicken and then my student cutting up the second one under my close guidance.

So, this morning I cut up a chicken. I had not done this in awhile. But that is no explanation for how badly I butchered the bird. Some how I got a big chunk of breast on the back. One of the thighs also did not fare well.

I stood there looking at this badly mangled chicken wondering why the butchering had gone so badly, as opposed to the nicely chopped Tacoma chickens.

And then I realized the problem. My sister-in-law had really good knives. Very sharp. I am a bit of a hazard with knives. So, I like my knives to be a bit dull. I think when cutting up a chicken a dull knife turns the process into more of a risky hazard than having a really sharp knife.

Lately I've been having myself a craving for Kentucky Fried Chicken. I Googled to see if I could find the Colonel's 11 Secret Herbs and Spices.

Well, some guy reverse engineered the "Secret Recipe". His version shows up on multiple websites. However, just looking at it it seemed wrong to me, as in each ingredient was 1 teaspoon, with the guy not saying how much flour was to be used.

Then I found a forum where all these knowledgeable foodies were debating this serious issue.

Turns out the guy reverse engineered what went into making a piece of Extra Crispy taste like it does, not the Original Recipe.

Then someone who seemed to be quite knowledgeable detailed the history of the Colonel's Original Recipe and listed what this particular foodie believed to be the Original Recipe's 11 Herbs & Spices....

1 tsp black pepper
1 tsp white pepper
1/2 tsp sage
3/8 tsp ginger
1/4 tsp coriander seed
1/4 tsp summer savory
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1/8 tsp bay leaf
1/8 tsp cayenne pepper
1/8 tsp green cardamom
1/8 tsp cloves

2 teaspoons of salt is also added to the 1 cup of flour one rolls the chicken pieces in. I guess salt is not considered an herb or spice.

Of the Secret Recipe ingredients I only had black pepper, salt, ginger and cayenne pepper.

I am oven frying my chicken, not deep frying. I suspect my chicken will not be even remotely as tasty as KFC's.

Blissed Out From A Fort Worth Endorphin Overdose

You are looking up the Fort Worth Space Needle from the top of Mount Tandy. I was not at the Fort Worth Space Needle for lunch. I was there before lunch.

When I look up at the Fort Worth Space Needle it makes me dizzy, particularly if it is windy, which today it was.

I am trying to figure out how to break my endorphin addiction. It really is a tiresome monkey to have on my back.

Today I got up well before the sun did, was in the pool after the sun showed up. And then coming up on noon that endorphin withdrawal woe started to kick in.

And so I headed to my usual place where I get my endorphin fix, the Tandy Hills.

After today's HOT Hill Hiking I am feeling particularly blissed out by all the endorphins coursing through my veins.

The hiking got off to a semi-bad start today. As I descended Mount Tandy and took a left, heading south from the first junction, I was surprised to see the Fort Worth Water Department back in the Tandy Hills Natural Area, with several trucks, being un-natural. One big truck blocked the trail I was on. That truck's engine was running. I was in no mood to get a dose of diesel fumes in my face, so I reversed direction, altering my carefully planned hiking route for the day.

It all worked out fine in the end. I did not get any diesel fumes in my lungs, that I noticed.

My soul food lunch turned out tasty, particularly the oven-fried chicken. I've only recently discovered this chicken cooking method. It's very easy. I soak the chicken in buttermilk, to which I've mixed in some pepper. Then I roll the chicken in corn meal, to which I've added more pepper, powdered ginger, paprika, thyme, oregano and salt. The chicken goes in a glass cooking dish, on which I've smeared butter, and then stuck in the oven at 375 for an hour.

Tomorrow the leftover chicken gets turned into stir-fry with Vietnamese spring rolls, which are very easy to make.

My noisy construction project is complete, so peace and quiet reigns supreme once more. Between that and the endorphin overdose, I'm feeling blissful.

The feeling likely won't last.

I'm A Hot Mess Butchering Chickens In Texas

You're looking at a sign telling you about the Tandy Hills. The wildflowers being in bloom indicates I took this picture previous to today.

I did not feel up to doing my usual aerobic thing today. Hence no hiking or walking anywhere. Consequently I am now suffering from endorphin withdrawal.

I did go swimming this morning for a long time. I somehow am able to swim without it being all that aerobic.

After I was finished with the swimming is when Saturday started to go awry.

I wanted to oven fry a chicken. That involved cutting up the bird. I'd not done that type surgery since some time in August of 2008. It did not go well. I ended up with a lot of very strange pieces of chicken. It turned out okay, in the end, though, sort of.

By the time it was time to consume the oven fried chicken I was not feeling all that well. I usually feel quite well, so feeling not so well is unsettling to me.

After lunch I went to the library, which has re-opened for one day. I returned some books, got some new ones, but the main purpose was to make copies of police reports. I think I mentioned police reports and the FBI previously.

I was befuddled by the complex copy machine and had to ask for assistance. I told the librarian I was too stupid to figure out the complex copy machine, could you be so kind as to help me.

It turned out to be fairly simple once I was shown how to make it work.

The temperature is in the 90s again today. Once more with the National Weather Service issuing one of its Level Orange Air Pollution Watch Alerts. So, I'm sitting here looking out my window, watching the air pollution.

This morning whilst swimming there was a slight petroleum like smell in the air, as if I was out in West Texas, in Odessa or Wink.

Speaking of Wink, I've not heard from the Queen of Wink. I assume she made it to Albuquerque, as planned, and then on to Denver, where she has likely taken possession of her new car and is heading back to Wink, with Princess Annie helping navigate.

I heard from Elsie Hotpepper this morning. Elsie mentioned doing some saloon hopping. I am currently in no condition to do any saloon hopping, even though that sounds like a really fine time.

I think maybe I am having some sort of imbalance, like my electrolytes are out of whack, or something. Because I keep feeling the need to drink a lot of water. To the point I think I'm starting to bloat up, like a sponge.

Yes. I'm a HOT mess.

The Chicken Crossed the Road. Why?

Incoming from the Songbird of the South known as Alma:

WHY DID THE CHICKEN CROSS THE ROAD?

BARACK OBAMA: The chicken crossed the road because it was time for a CHANGE! The chicken wanted CHANGE!

JOHN MC CAIN: My friends, that chicken crossed the road because he recognized the need to engage in cooperation and dialogue with all the chickens on the other side of the road.

HILLARY CLINTON: When I was First Lady, I personally helped that little chicken to cross the road. This experience makes me uniquely qualified to ensure -- right from Day One! -- that every chicken in this country gets the chance it deserves to cross the road. But then, this really isn't about me.......

DR. PHIL: The problem we have here is that this chicken won't realize that he must first deal with the problem on 'THIS' side of the road before it goes after the problem on the 'OTHER SIDE' of the road. What we need to do is help him realize how stupid he's acting by not taking on his 'CURRENT' problems before adding 'NEW' problems.

OPRAH: Well, I understand that the chicken is having problems, which is why he wants to cross this road so bad. So instead of having the chicken learn from his mistakes and take falls, which is a part of life, I'm going to give this chicken a car so that he can just drive across the road and not live his life like the rest of the chickens.

GEORGE W. BUSH: We don't really care why the chicken crossed the road. We just want to know if the chicken is on our side of the road, or not. The chicken is either against us, or for us. There is no middle ground here.

COLIN POWELL: Now to the left of the screen, you can clearly see the satellite image of the chicken crossing the road...

ANDERSON COOPER - CNN: We have reason to believe there is a chicken, but we have not yet been allowed to have access to the other side of the road.

JOHN KERRY: Although I voted to let the chicken cross the road, I am now against it! It was the wrong road to cross, and I was misled about the chicken's intentions. I am not for it now, and will remain against it.

NANCY GRACE: That chicken crossed the road because he's GUILTY! You can see it in his eyes and the way he walks.

PAT BUCHANAN: To steal the job of a decent, hardworking American.

MARTHA STEWART: No one called me to warn me which way that chicken was going. I had a standing order at the Farmer's Market to sell my eggs when the price dropped to a certain level. No little bird gave me any insider information.

DR SEUSS: Did the chicken cross the road? Did he cross it with a toad? Yes, the chicken crossed the road, but why it crossed I've not been told.

ERNEST HEMINGWAY: To die in the rain. Alone.

THE LATE JERRY FALWELL: Because the chicken was gay! Can't you people see the plain truth?' That's why they call it the 'other side.' Yes, my friends, that chicken is gay. And if you eat that chicken, you will become gay too. I say we boycott all chickens until we sort out this abomination that the liberal media white washes with seemingly harmless phrases like 'the other side. That chicken should not be crossing the road. It's as plain and as simple as that.

GRANDPA: In my day we didn't ask why the chicken crossed the road. Somebody told us the chicken crossed the road, and that was good enough.

BARBARA WALTERS: Isn't that interesting? In a few moments, we will be listening to the chicken tell, for the first time, the heart warming story of how it experienced a serious case of molting, and went on to accomplish its life long dream of crossing the road.

ARISTOTLE: It is the nature of chickens to cross the road.

JOHN LENNON: Imagine all the chickens in the world crossing roads together, in peace.

BILL GATES: I have just released eChicken2008, which will not only cross roads, but will lay eggs, file your important documents, and balance your check book. Internet Explorer is an integral part of the Chicken. This new platform is much more stable and will never cra...#@&&^(C% .reboot.

ALBERT EINSTEIN: Did the chicken really cross the road, or did the road move beneath the chicken?

BILL CLINTON: I did not cross the road with THAT chicken. What is your definition of chicken?

AL GORE: I invented the chicken!

COLONEL SANDERS: Did I miss one?

DICK CHENEY: Where's my gun?

AL SHARPTON: Why are all the chickens white? We need some black chickens.