When in Rome...

I've been on a roll with trying new recipes lately, and while I was checking out BlueStar's All Star Chefs, I came across Michael Symon's Butter Fried Chicken. Literally, everything about this recipe sounded amazing: Butter. Fried. Chicken. There's just not much more to say.

Growing up I had been to Florida so many times (always Disney or Miami). But despite the fact that Florida is south, I never actually considered it to be "the south". However, Florida seems to be the only state where the farther north you are, the deeper you are in the south. We are currently about an hour or so away from Georgia, so yeah. We are in the south.

Anyway, one of the foods I see everywhere down here, aside from barbecue, is fried chicken. As a new southerner, I feel that it is my duty to learn how to make fried chicken. I'm also buttering up my husband with delicious meals. He needs to see how much we need a jewel tone BlueStar range. Although today I'm really feeling this sapphire stove. I may have to leave the final decision up to my designer because it's going to be a tough decision. Both the topaz and the sapphire will look AMAZING!

Bluestar Jewel Tone Range in Sapphire

Bluestar Jewel Tone Range in Topaz

Seriously - I'm feeling like this may be the most difficult decision that I will have to make in our new house. My husband is team sapphire. It looks like our designer will have to have the final say.

And without further ado, onto the fried chicken!

Tools:

• 12 inch skillet
• Skillet splatter screen
• Large serving platter layered with paper towels 
• Tongs
• Measuring cups
• Batter bowls 
• Cooling rack

Ingredients:

• 1/2 pound unsalted butter at room temperature (I used salted because that's what I had)
• 1/4 cup maple syrup
• Kosher salt
• Freshly ground black pepper
• 1 chicken cut into 8 pieces (I bought packages of thighs and legs, both on the bone with skin)
• 2 cups buttermilk
• 1/2 cup of your favorite hot sauce (I used Frank's Red Hot Wings sauce)
• 3 garlic cloves peeled and mashed (I grabbed a heaping Tbsp of minced garlic from a jar)
• 1 small bundle of fresh thyme (I used dried thyme instead of fresh)
• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 1 cup ground cracker crumbs (I used Ritz - the buttery cracker adds better flavor than a saltine)
• 2 tsp smoked paprika
• Canola oil (for frying)

Directions:

1. In a mixing bowl, whip together (I used a rubber spatula for this) butter and maple syrup. Season with some salt (to taste). Place in a piping bag and set aside. **I don't have a piping bag. I put this in a large ziplock bag and cut off one corner when I was ready**

   

   Butter and syrup in a ziplock bag. Just cut off the tip when you're ready to pipe it under the skin

2. In another mixing bowl, whisk together the buttermilk, hot sauce, garlic and thyme. Season with salt and pepper.
   
3. Lay out the chicken pieces and loosen (but do not remove) the skin. Pipe the compound butter under the skin of the chicken. Then press the skin back down slightly. Season the chicken on both sides with salt and pepper and add to the buttermilk marinade. Let marinate in the fridge for at least two hours. **I am such a bonehead and totally forgot about this step. Mine only marinated for about an hour and I left it out on the counter so that I could skip step 4**
   
4. Remove chicken from the fridge and let sit for about 30 minutes to take the chill off. In the meantime, heat a large cast iron skillet over medium-high heat (I don't have a cast iron skillet. I used a regular non-stick skillet instead and it worked just fine).
5. Mix together the flour, cracker crumbs and paprika. Remove the chicken from the buttermilk and dredge in the flour. Be sure to shake off excess flour mixture. Then dip again into the buttermilk and again into the flour mixture to coat. ***After coating four thighs, I had to add more flour and crackers***
   
6. Add a good inch or two of oil to the skillet and heat to 360 degrees (I kept it on low-med heat) for a shallow pan fry. When all of the chicken has been coated, lay it in a single layer, skin side down and cook until golden brown on all sides. Remove to a cooking rack to drain and then serve!
   

   

   I made the mistake of cooking the first batch on med-high heat which cooked the outside really fast but not the inside. I cooked the second batch on low-med heat and it came out perfect.

   
   

I'm not sure if this recipe constitutes as authentic southern fried chicken, but it was delicious nevertheless! The hot sauce was not overpowering and it added a really nice flavor! I served with mashed potatoes and broccoli slaw.

Enjoy!

The Calm After the Storm

I had every intention of getting this blog off the ground...and then life happened.

I wanted more than anything to be a stay-at-home mom, but living in New York would have made that almost impossible. Why? Well, imagine this: 

• Owning and living in a 1,700 sq. ft. condo (you do not own any of the property that is "your yard". 
• Paying $360 a month (plus an additional $140 a month during June, July and August) in maintenance fees (and special assessment fees) which basically covered lawn care, snow removal, and the concrete hole in the ground otherwise known as the pool. 
• Paying almost $8,000 a year in property taxes. Again, the only thing you own is the inside of your tiny condo. 
• Childcare was going to run about $2,000 a month. We checked out daycare facilities and a private nanny - the cost was going to be about the same.  
• Extras like Mommy & Me? These could run you an additional $200+ a month. IF you could find a place that tailored its hours around working moms. 

So, would it have been possible to stay home and live in New York? Probably. I certainly wouldn't have been the first to make it work. Would it have been ideal? Absolutely not. It would have been extraordinarily difficult. But, we were prepared to make it work one way or another. Then God stepped in. 

After years of hardships, God finally decided that it was time to make our new life a little easier. My husband, the amazing man and father that he has grown to be, was willing to make his work life even crazier than it already was by going to work in Manhattan. The hours would be longer, the commute would be torturous, but the money would be better and I could stay home with our daughter. In May, he had started interviewing and was seemingly about to be handed a position when this other opportunity landed in his lap. This new opportunity was for a position that he hoped to attain in the next 5-10 years of his career. 

Not only would this job put my husband exactly where he wanted to be professionally, but it would also relocate our family to Florida - a place with a much lower cost of living, real suburban communities, and, best of all, no more harsh winters - and allow us to live much more comfortably on one salary than if we were to stay in New York. 

At first, the answer seemed easy - let's go! We were excited and optimistic about the idea of moving. My husband submitted his resume and waited to hear back. And waited....and waited....and waited. 

I had practically forgotten about the job, and my husband hadn't actually expected to get it (according to him, he was too young and lacked the experience that was necessary). So you can imagine our surprise when he got a phone call in June from the head of the company asking him to fly down to Florida the following week for an interview. The rest happened with lightening speed.

I won't bore you with all of the details, but long story short we are now living down in sunny Florida! Moving from New York to Florida with an infant actually wasn't as bad as it may seem, and despite a little touch of homesickness, we have been transitioning pretty well. 

Truth be told, Florida is not AS cheap as I thought it would be, but we are definitely better off than we would have been up in New York. If we were in New York, I would be at work right now instead of writing this blog and our daughter would be somewhere doing God knows what. Her dad would probably be leaving for work before she woke up in the morning and getting home after she was already in bed asleep. 

I've only been here about a month and a half, so it still gets a bit lonely at times. But this new life is good, and I have faith that everything will fall into place just as it should.