How They Fry Chicken

Working in a deli at a downtown grocery mart is quite an interesting job at times. Most days I feel like a hamster running back and forth with no real purpose in life (i.e. "I have to slice four more pounds of turkey ham again?!"), other times I meet so many new people, and learn new things, and it's generally a good day. Except when I almost slice my finger off and it gushes blood like it thinks it's the newest Niagara Falls. Eh, that I could definitely live without.


The one thing I've noticed over the course of working here, is how different the fried chicken we sell turns out after each person has "dropped" it in the fryers, as we call it.

I then started to theorize and over think it, as always, and decided to put it down on paper.

With my various co workers, [names changed] some have tough exteriors and others you can tell have the softest hearts. Learning from them and getting to know what goes on in their lives is really an amazing thing. Meeting new people, especially the ones you work with, can be eye opening on just how unique each and every one of us are. While it sounds completely lame, the more I noticed how the chicken turned out, the more I noticed how on point it was to each of the cooks.

Sammy, the head cook is a sweet lady with a wild side. She's a bar tender when she isn't working at the deli, and I can imagine her kicking out a few people for not taking any bullcrap. She'll be cracking hilarious jokes behind the counter making it hard for the rest of us to keep face. When she fries chicken, it comes out looking like classic KFC chicken: She's all about being feisty  getting her work done, and making sure everyone is happy. So with her fried chicken, there has never once been a complaint.

Bonnie, the assistant cook, is this tiny short skinny lady that always looks forward to lunch to see the "Marlboro Man." (a smoke break) At first glance, she's distant and cold at times, but deep down she's a Woo-girl at heart. (Meaning every time she accomplishes something, we say, "Woohoooo!" really loud.) I help her lift heavy things and stuff on high shelves, and she's generally a nice lady. Her chicken is nearly perfect, except for the random bare patches with no breading. Sort of like her: you see what she allows you to see of her, but occasionally lets down her walls and you can see the real Bonnie, outside of the deli.

Arty, the sandwich maker, will sometime throw a batch together when we need it. She's an older lady with short hair and her presence is all about business. She was intimidating at first when I met her, but now she'll giggle at my side jokes and is usually in an all around good mood. Her batches come out very neat and thorough looking, much like her.

Tara, my fellow night shift deli girl, is an extremely energetic and sassy sort of young lady. Closest in age, we usually have a lot of fun working together. Her chicken comes out messy, but it's only because she is usually busy doing most of the dishes and night cleaning, which I am always grateful for. So if her chicken isn't perfect, the rest of the deli usually is.

Now I realize this is an entirely odd blog post, but it made sense to me while I was thinking about it, coincidentally while frying chicken.

What does my fried chicken look like when it comes out, you ask?

Absolutely stunning. But it soon falls apart and I'll never understand why I'm the only person that fries chicken so beautiful only to have the skin slink off later. Not sure what that says about me, though.

All around, I love working this job. It's exhausting and I'm constantly running somewhere and my back, feet, legs, thumbs, and arms all ache when I get off, but it's satisfying work that I think is a great learning experience.

Deli tip: Always ask to have your deli selections sliced for you. While we put in a lot of work to make the case look fluffy and nice, I'd never eat out of it unless it was fresh.

Ciao,

Week 25: Learn Not to Burn

One, two, skip a few... and BAM! here we are at the end of week 25 (I actually just guessed...). I'm missing like 5 or so articles, but I have an excuse. I was working on a piece for my new writing freelance job, and it got published!

If you're curious and want to read it, check it out here.

With the summer almost ending, classes starting, and increased work hours, one can easily become discouraged how much energy is sucked out of you on a daily basis. According to the American Psychological Association's 2007 survey of the US, half of Americans say they can't sleep at night due to stress. 30% of Americans also feel like they live under extreme stress on a daily basis. Why so uptight?

The principle is simple: Americans need to learn to slow down, de-stress, and learn to say "no" to over committing and "yes" to taking a little time out of their busy schedules to repair themselves.

Everyone knows if you use your car, and never put anything in it, never do anything to the interior, or the exterior, or take care of it that thing is going to be one sorry piece of junk that won't be going anywhere. So if we take good care of our cars (well, the smart ones among us that is; or else you already have a junker and don't care...still, the poor thing could use some TLC), why don't humans stop and refill up our energy stores alot more often than once or twice a week? A solution de-stressing from a busy schedule is not saying no to everything except doing what it takes to pay the bills. It's the concept of not over committing yourself. Cutting back on unneeded areas in your life that just add more baggage or dead weight. And learning the use of time management is a very necessary tool.

 

#1 = Start with one hour.

If you have a crammed life, start with just one hour a week. If you think you can manage an hour a day, good. In that hour, pick up a magazine, pour yourself a glass of something cold, and sit down. Yes, please take a seat. See how long you can stay that way within the hour without answering the door, the phone, your recent Facebook notifications (Farmville can seriously wait, I promise), or even the dog. (Unless it's peeing somewhere...) What you are attempting to do right then is called something very weird but wonderful--it's called relaxing. As strange a concept as it seems, simply sitting down and breathing is actually really healthy for you. No TV though. TV can actually raise your blood pressure. (Probably from shows like NCIS or Monk which always keep me on the edge of my seat until I almost fall off.)

Grab your favorite piece of writing, (I would highly suggest "Unfashionable" by Tullian Tchividjian, this month's Lucky magazine, or even a cookbook like Culinaria France...), sip your drink, play some music in the background and repeat this at least three times a week. You'll find yourself not only looking forward to your hour of "me time" and also find yourself de-stressing a fraction more and more every time.

 

#2 = Learn to say, "No, thanks."

Everything may seem like a good idea, but you're not Superman. So don't "super commit" to even recreational activities. Keep your schedule basic. If you work long hours, don't plan on long nights out or elaborate plans. Even if you feel like time is crucial to keeping your social life interesting, keeping your body going is alot more important. Physical fatigue isn't the only symptom from "stressing too hard." Mental fatigue, which drains you much more than physical, is very demanding on your brain, your body, and your mind. As long as you keep in mind that you can say "no" to friends and still be friends, (unless they are completely lame), you will definitely thank yourself later when you're feet and head are throbbing after work or class.

 

#3 = Find something that's satisfying.

 

Americans are restless. We flit like butterflies from place to event to home to games to hobbies in a heartbeat, not realizing it only fuels our impatient fast-paced lifestyle habits all the more. Whatever happened to that relaxation thing I mentioned? Find something simple that you like doing, (such as a simple hobby or exercise) and try your hardest to practice it twice a week. With your "me hours" and your "satisfaction times", you'll need to sift out somethings your life doesn't need. Even if it's volunteer work or going to every single church event (yes, that's admirable but one must be realistic) or volunteering to take another shift when your body is already screaming no, you must let it go. Learn to say no, take some time for yourself, and do something you enjoy.

Life is a beautiful thing. As long as we don't let the clock rule our lives (to a certain extent), it can always stay that way, even through the ups and downs.

For more ideas on how to de-stress, check out these websites I found for reference:

• Simple Yoga Poses
• How to Relax

For you,

{TSSN} Week 2: Hold the Hail, please.

So, after pore strips, I was ready to conquer something more. Everyone knows less sugar in your life, the better it is for you. Er...right.

I suffer from migraines, so I figured it might prove healthy to try being off sugar for one week and see how it felt.

HA HA FAIL.

Before the week started, on Sunday, I made a big batch of peanut butter brownies (I ate 4...) and drank lots of raspberry lemonade. (The raspberry was actually coffee syrup, which proved to be...rather eccentric in lemonade). I figured if I was going off sugar I might as well LIVE IT UP! Which only resulted in a headache that night and regrets about that fourth brownie. Darn.

Monday, I woke up refreshed (strangely) and ready to tackle my work schedule. Needless to say, the day went horribly... sugar-wise. I succumbed to two more brownies, some leftover lemonade and, horror of horrors, I found a twizzler to devour. Insert tears and another headache and I flunked the first day off sugar. >.<

Tuesday was definitely a better day. But only because I skipped breakfast and just had green tea with my Japanese cuisine for lunch. I managed to only put one packet in the two cups of tea I drank. A feat since green tea is of course, rather bitter. Wednesday I tried oatmeal without brown sugar, and drank lots of water and ate sugar-free jello. Thursday told me that the jello wasn't sugar free and I got a headache, and today, Friday, was strangely uneventful. I still had a headache, but I figured it was from my awesome sparkly silver headband.

Experience: No sugar for....6-ish days.

Lesson Learned: If there's one thing I've learned, it's....AH, FORGET IT. Considering the fact I'm already completely off all--and any--forms of dairy and shellfish, adding sugar on top of that was literally wayyyy too much.

Conclusion: I resolve to work on downsizing my sugar intake; but not completely eliminating it. Otherwise, I'll just be eating carrots, whole bread, and water for the rest of my life.


For you,

Dumster Bags, Petrified Roosters, My Music Slump, and Rubix Cubes

Just throw it in the Bag...

You have to hand it the eco-friendly people, they are pretty creative. Finding ways to use less or re-use, or use up what you have to me seems like it would be tricky, but worth it. Recently at Lowe's I noticed a new eco-item for construction projects. Dumpster bags! You just fill the green (of course) large recyclable Bagster© by Waster Management with your construction leftovers and the company comes and takes it away for a reasonable collection fee (compared to the price of renting and using a regular dumpster). It's made out of canvas that's completely reusable and is large enough to accommodate a small dumpster size's worth of trash, or around 3,300 lbs of debris.You can fill it concrete, or landscaping scraps, or whatever other construction type of trash you'd wish to throw away. Talk about cool :] The two only problems I could find with this method of eco-trash removal is that the Bagster© is not waterproof and the collection fee in some rural areas can be up to $129. Other than that, I'd say it's a pretty nifty idea...

Ewwww.

Chickens. Blah. Don't get me wrong, I adore a chicken in the form of edible food, but not in "real life." I can take Gen Tso's Chicken, chicken strips, Arroz con Pollo, cold chicken salad. Just not, for the love of bagels, a real live Americana hen! I think it's the chicken doo, squawking, and yellow beady eyes that get to me. Urgh, those eyes! It's like they can SEE into my soul. Hideous things, but fascinating when around little kids. My parents' neighbors down the lane recently adopted two Ukrainian brothers, ages being about 3 and 5, and they stopped over on one hot afternoon as the family was out of a lark of walk. A hot one, but they are avid walkers! At the house my mother has a few mobile pens with various breeds of chickens. Young chicks, year-old roosters, mother hens and the top rooster, stray roosters, the Big Huge Ugly laying hens, and more. The little boys were extremely fascinated with the roosters--namely, gently tormenting them in a young child-like fashion. Alexsander, the younger one, immediately ran over to the young roosters pen squealing in delight about the chickens in a language I assume was Ukraine. He poked his little fingers through the pen and that near about did for the frisky rooster boys. POW- SQUAWK- FLOOF! The roosters exploded into a pile of feathers, running to the other side of the pen for their dear skinny-necked lives, screaming protests. They were more skiddish than a pair of little girls finding a snake! Quickly rebuked for scaring the chickens, Alexsander was swooshed back into his mother's arms, but he craned his neck to watch and laugh at the roosters, who were squealing their protests and fluffing their rusty feathers in annoyance. I stood a few feet away, grinning, as I watched the whole scene play out. I have an idea me and Alex are going to be real, real good friends.

Hilariously idiotic? Heck yes.

What is it with music these days? I wish we could all go back to the days where songs were complicated stories.  All these modern boppy tunes of repeated choruses with alotta bass seem to be geared toward teenage audiences that are assumed idiots with no musical taste whatsoever. Just whatever is catchy and fast, cool and fun sounding right? Who cares about the lyrics, the distasteful use of explicit words, and ridiculous beating background noise? Or worse, the trashy lives of the singers. Well, I'll admit it, pop songs, soft rock, techno, punk etc...I do enjoy it when I'm out driving with the sun shining and the world is moving fast. Heck, even the beat goes with the road bumps sometimes! But try listening to Katy Perry's Teenage Dream, Timbaland's If We Ever Meet Again, or Mike Posner's Cooler than Me while trying to read a book...nearly impossible. But what's the solution? Beethoven?  Hymn songs? Folk lore strumming? Or worse, ethereal notes of New Age? No thanks. There just doesn't seem to be a neutral area. Either it's too plunky, too poppy, too rockish, too classical for my taste. I guess I shall dub this condition I have a ''Music Slump''.

WOWzers. DA-Huuuude. Geewilikers.

 4x4 Rubix Cube

I met this 12 year old kid at a neuro clinic today that could solve a 5x5 Rubix cube in less than 5 minutes. You could hear the rattling of the cube as he worked it with his slim agile fingers all the way across from the room, where his mother sat unfazed. She calmly explained to me that he could do a 3x3 Rubix in less than 30 seconds....I probably couldn't even solve one in 30 years. He showed me all his other ones that he had toted along in a reusable grocery bag (6x6, 5x5, 7x7, and a 9x9) and commented on who he hasn't quite figured out a 7x7 since he just got it yesterday for his birthday. The boy then carefully explained that the key is practice, but also a high quality Rubix that can shift easily, aiding in quick time to solve the cube. He looked like a nerdy genius and man, he sure could solve that cube fast! The things you learn while waiting in a reception lobby...




Sincerely Yours, Lizzie ♥

Crapple Pies, Bruises, and Paper Wasps

    Alright, I promised my friend Candi I'd blog about them...so here goes :) You know, McDonald's right? Heck who doesn't. Well, through careful observation, taste-testing, and studious thought, I think I'm finally ready to write to McDonald's and suggest a unique and wonderfully descriptive name for their so-called "apple pies". Call 'em Crapple Pies! LOL! Yeah? Oh c'mon, you know I'm right. It's a disgrace to even say they're pies at all. Have you ever compared those squared stamps molten hot with foreign objects in them thingys to the REAL thing? You'd probably get a taste score of negative -50. I do admit, I used to eat them alot...late night, pick up a small fry, a coke, and pie right? Wrong. No more. Nuh-uh. Not doing that anymore. Bleah, the last one I had was a partially burnt one in a remote Oregon town that I ate anyway because I was so starved. (It was like 10:30pm at night, you see.) It not only burnt my tongue into oblivion, but it also lost my appreciation for McD's tasty CRAPPLE pies. So, I abstain from them....unfortunately, I'm too much of a good person to actually go and do suggest the name Crapple Pies to the McDonald's Admissions Office (or whatever fancy name they call it) so just be satisified about laughing at it here.
Wait, why am I frequently mentioning McDonald's in my posts?! This is sick. I hate McDonalds. Oh heck, who doesn't.

Bruises. Funny, weird marks on your body that show up in the most annoying places with no memory usually of where they came from. Hunh. I'm pretty sure they've ended up on my Nature's Mysteries list by now. recently I walked into my mom's kitchen, looking for a snack to pass me off til she finished dinner, and all of a sudden she cried out, "Woah! What is THAT?" and pointed at my leg. Innocently, I looked down at the spot whilst she was pointing, and cried out, "Woah-h-h-h! What is that?" Strangest bruise mark I've ever seen. Usually when I get bruise its a small, darkish red spotch. This one was a perfectly and brilliantly blue SPOT. No kidding. I do not remember backing up into a metal pipe, or knocking a hammer smack-dab (cool term, eh?) on my leg so this was all very strange. I gingerly touched the area and WOOOOO man, it hurt. Normally bruises for me just have that achy sensation, never the big, honking neon sign saying "OUCH" type of pain, lol. After that little bit, I finished scrounging for my snack and basically forgot about it. Later, while I was on a camping trip with my friend Kate and her grandparents, I noticed it again.

A week had gone by and the bruise had now turned into a dark purple ring. Funny thing was that were was in the dead center of the bruise ring, a freckle! Katie and I laughed at the weirdness of it and then went body surfing in the river, at which I hit a huge sharp rock dead on my butt and have a large butt bruise from it. Anyway, on the ride homewards, a 5 hour drive, Gramma noticed me looking at the back of my leg and asked me what I was doing. I showed her the bruise and she said, "Oh my! Look at that mole in the middle of it! I think you better get that checked out." And went on for another 15 minutes or so talking about various nephews or nieces that had had cancer in different areas. Katie and I looked at each other and burst into silent laughter. The very thought of my little bruise and freckle being cancer drove us over the edge. We were sitting there laughing without making any noise, and I still laugh at remembering Gramma saying, "Look at that MOLE!" lol :) The bruise is gone now, and I still have a freckle....and yes, my butt still hurts too. But body surfing is SOOOOO worth it!!!

So...paper wasps. While taking a jolly ride around the yard in Karl, my sister's ex-car, I noticed a HUGE honking paper wasp nest in one of our planted cypress trees. I think maybe I'll go check it out tomorrow. JUST KIDDING. lol :) I know better than that, despite the rumors of me being blonde. There IS a difference between dumb and blonde, right? Right? lol :)




Sincerely, Lizzie ♥