Review: King Soopers (Krogers) New-and-Improved Fried Chicken

     Grandma Cumings had a chickenyard.

     She not only used its products for her own large family -- 8 kids, or 'two and a half-dozen,' as my grandpa liked to say -- but delivered eggs to a long line of customers.
     One of her favorite foods was fried chicken, crisped in a cast-iron skillet. She was famous for it and her pies, especially to the threshers who came by each year.
     When the Brick and I married, I gained another side to the fried chicken angle, thanks to his North Carolina roots. But I confess -- rather than go to all the trouble and grease spatters of frying my own chicken, I rely on store-bought.

King Soopers (probably Kroger's, to you easterners) has been tinkering with its fried chicken lately. They sent me a coupon to try a free batch --
      And they're right. It is an improvement!

A box of chicken gets you two of each: breasts, thighs, wings and legs. You can buy them hot off the deli plate (which we did this time), or packaged and ready to take out of the cooler.
    First thing I noticed was the nice crrunch that happened when I bit into the chicken. The meat inside was moist, almost delicate, in spite of the crispy batter outside.
    But something even better happened. I had hardly any grease on my fingers!

I don't know how they do it, but this latest method produces crunchier chicken with less grease aftertaste, and noticeably less pools of grease inside the box, or on your hands. I have to believe this means less grease going into your mouth, as well. Hooray!

The cold chicken wasn't quite as good -- but still less grease.

I actually went and bought some Safeway chicken, to compare the two. That version had a softer crust and more noticeable fat left on the chicken. Back to the grease marks on the carton, too.

King Soopers likes to say, "We have the best chicken!" You know what? In the grocery deli department, I think they do!

(Please note: I do occasionally take Bzz agent jobs, and review various products. I am not paid for these, but do get free and reduced-price coupons. However, I'm not going to say anything I don't believe is true. No matter what.)

Woof! In Stitches

Just got this wonderful redwork embroidered quilt via gb-best. (An experienced, trustworthy Ebay seller with a sterling reputation...and good stuff.)

 

You should be asking...why call it 'redwork' when it's blue? Because to the appraiser, that's the official term, regardless of the color. Many of the first quilts in this style were stitched in Turkey red, because that was the most colorfast dye for a long time. And if you boiled your quilts and kitchen linens to get them clean (common practice for a long time), you wanted to be sure that your colors were going to stay. Why go through all that work, otherwise...

Gb-best dates this piece from the Thirties, and I'd agree -- the late Thirties, that is. Maybe even the early Forties, based on the darker blue. The kicker is the Scotty dog.

My favorite -- and probably a connection with President Roosevelt's dog Fala

No golden Labs, though -- poor Charley and Abby.

Quilting's a lot more elaborate than you'd normally see on a quilt of this type. Was it made by a dog-loving adult, rather than for a child? I'm guessing yes.
    I would have said this was a unique pattern, most probably traced from pages of a dog book or magazine. However, a fellow appraiser, Carol Elmore, tells me she has the same quilt, but in pink. She got hers in Missouri. (Gb-best isn't saying where hers came from. UPDATE: This quilt came from an estate in Pennsylvania.)
    Could they have been made by the same person, or mutual friends and relatives? I'm guessing this is a commercial pattern, but sure haven't noticed it, in more than two decades of research.

Unusual, however you put it. 

See more of gb-best's listings here.

Libby Lehman...Want to Help?

This message just came through, regarding our mutual friend, Libby Lehman.

(She had a few strokes, if you'll remember, and is slowly, painfully recuperating. She must learn how to talk, walk and all the rest of the life's other things that we take for granted.)


Here it is...

Great News!
Bill Arnold (Libby's brother in law) has created an online account where donations can easily be made online towards Libby's medical fund using www.PayPal.com
The email address to use for the donation is: libby.medfund@gmail.com

And here's the June 19 update via Libby's Facebook (and CaringBridge) site:

Tuesday night - icing on our cake, 10 hours ago, Here's the Icing on our cake today, as reported from Diane: "This afternoon the Administrator, Mr. Scoffer, made his rounds as usual. The assistant, Ela, asked in Spanish for Libby to wave to him "Goodbye". Delores (a good friend of Libby and Lester's) said Libby gave him a big wave with her right hand. Ela was so happy about it what when I (Diane) got back from HEB she hugged me and told me how good Libby is doing." This must have been a thrill around the nursing center because during Sarah's visit later this evening she reported that two staff members made sure to tell her about Libby's goodbye wave before Sarah left. It is so sweet to have the staff as excited as we are! Finally, in closing for the day, some words from Lester:
"There are still some big hurdles but I am so hopeful after what I saw today. I will also tell you that every therapist, nurse, and cleaning person in University Place adores Libby." 

www.caringbridge.org/visit/libbylehman


You can catch up Libby's situation here and here.

Still thinking about and praying for you, Libby.

Here's a mystery for you

An Egyptian statuette keeps turning around. Is it a true mystery...or just 'differential friction?'

(I'd believe the latter more quickly if all of the statuettes in the case were doing the same thing.)

Curious...

Yes, I am the Mother of a Super-Hero

Here she is, Daughter #1, Wonder Womyn, at the local Comic.com with one of her buddies:

(She's a cartoonist, as well as a designer -- she did this costume herself. Wow!)

Hot, Sticky Saturday

The Brick is out on the deck, banging and sawing away at the laundry room window. A swamp cooler awaits installation...should be cooler in here!

The dogs are snoring at my feet. Charley's fur is so thick...he especially feels the heat.

Shoot, I do, too. The keys on the computer board keep sticking to my fingers in a thin pool of sweat.

Yuck.

But that's summer for you.

The 'baby' chicks are now out in the yard, mixing with the older hens. The chicks are now awkward teenagers, with gawky legs. They forever look like they're pulling down too-tight skirts, and God forbid any of the chicks go anyplace in the yard by themselves. Instead, they run in a tight, nervous group. (Sound like any of the teenagers in your life?)
    They remind me a lot of the velociraptors in Jurassic Park:

Or here:

The chickies would be doing this too, if they had teeth and thought they'd get away with it. The strange thing: they make a half-peeping, almost-clucking noise that reminds me of the velociraptors. They've got to be related, the little terrorists. (They're supposed to be related, scientifically speaking.)

Meanwhile, now that articles and e-mail are done, lawn mowing awaits. And cleaning out the chicken coop. Stacking some firewood. Planting more beans. (The terrorists took care of the rows I planted a few weeks ago, in spite of netting and muttered curses.)

Maybe a crisp salad and iced tea for supper...and a movie about snow.

Our new threesome, the Rhode Island 'Production' Reds, are this orange color. The rest are glossy black Australorps.
Go here for a chicken/dinosaur progression...scroll down to see the graphic. Yup, I agree!

Quilting...In Space!

Wow, can you believe it -- a NASA astronaut is bringing quilting into the space age.

 

Now, if she and I can only get our hands on some of that 'invisibility' cloak fabric...I'll take a fat quarter, scraps, anything!

* * * * * * * *
It's a better day. Another big quilt restoration flew out the door, and on to its destination. I have more deadlines to finish up before Friday, but they're doable.

     Feeling tired...it's hot as all getout here, and another fire (a smaller one, thankfully) is making the air smoky again. But we are plugging away. Hope you are, too.