Chicken alfredo with baked potatoe, spinach leaf salad, cheese garlic bread, and milk.
This, my children, was my meal last night. The only problem was that it takes so long for my oven to preheat that the rest of the food was cold by the time I got the cheese garlic bread done.
It was my first prepared meal since the tempura accident. If you don’t know, tempura is that breading that they cover sweet and sour chicken and sweet and sour shrimp with. It’s actually pretty easy to prepare. You cut up chicken, add water to the batter, batter the chicken, then toss it in the oil. Well, I don’t have a deep-fat frier; I have a skillet and oil. Not being one to research before attempting, I first put the oil in the oven to get it to the specified temp of 355. Then I put it on the stove-top instead.
The first batch, before it was hot oil, turned out ruined. The batter floated off the chicken, so I just scooped that stuff out. My second batch, though, was going awesome. So awesome that I thought I’d try chatting with Holly for a bit. BIG MISTAKE.
I suddenly notice all this billowing (yes, billowing) smoke coming out of my kitchen. The batter stuff in the oil was burning, and it was producing the most acrid, foul-smelling smoke ever. Needless to say, I was coughing and in tears for nearly an hour trying to get the smoke out of my apartment, keeping the smoke alarm quiet, and escaping to the bathroom to breathe.
The food, when all was said and done, was excellent. The stench didn’t leave my apartment for days, and it definately made me reconsider finding or buying a fire extinguisher. And, probably, more air freshener.
My alfredo was good, though. Delish, even. And Britt and I chat-casted on MSN for a while. She has a webcam, and a cat named Oscar. And internet problems. We watched The West Wing and griped about the demise of a once great show.
Laundry was a chore. Actually, getting quarters was the chore. Since it’s a bank holiday, I had to be creative. I took a trip to campus and fed my dollars to a pop machine and then immediately asked for change. But I only had 3 $1 bills and a $5 bill and a $20 bill. So, I only did two loads of laundry.
Then I had improv rehearsal, which I thought went really well. I laughed a lot. They have this game called “Story Time” or something where you have to tell a story by feeding off of the person before you. Holli Gregg, it would seem, is the championess of this game, but tonight I managed to beat her. I’m sure it was luck, but it was fun. She is a worthy opponent.
Well, the hour is late, and I must be getting to homework (or deciding to not do it – one or the other). Be sure that more pictures will be coming. Me and my camera took a jaunt today, and as soon as the photo gallery I’m using turns 1.0, I’ll show the pics to you guys.
As if.
alfredo, Zen Photo, improvisation, laundry, tempura, smoke inhalation
