Chicken and More Chicken

Sometimes cooking is a chore but days like today, brimming with sunshine and the good energy that comes as grace (in other words, unannounced, unplanned for, completely its own), cooking is joy.

I took the drumsticks from the package of dark-meat chicken I bought on sale from Marsh last week and marinated them in just soy sauce, lime juice, garlic and ground black pepper. Fried in vegetable oil with plenty of space between them so steam escapes and leave the cooked parts crisp, the result was a nice change from chicken breast. My captive guest, Tony, eats no seafood nor pork. I've had to really come up with new ways to cook and serve chicken. Since he does not object to veggies I might explore veggie recipes for a while.

The beauty of cooking is sweetest when what comes off the skillet after the brainstorm is a delectable surprise as this concoction of fennel and celery strips quickly fried in olive oil with wild mushrooms and walnut halves. 

This is why I cook. When once in a while I come up with a masterpiece like this, I keep cooking, like one addicted to drugs keeps looking for that high he had once had with it. I think we call this "hope."