Chicken

I am cooking chicken today! As a self-proclaimed foodie, I am quite ashamed to say that I've never actually cooked chicken before. I've cooked many different kinds of meat: ground beef, shrimp, hotdogs and hamburgers, made an incredibly-failed attempt at cooking steak, am still nervous about cooking fish, but I've somehow managed to avoid cooking chicken all these years.

Whenever I try a new cooking strategy, I try to remember my mom's motto from when I was younger and she used to experiment with cooking new dishes pretty frequently: "If it sucks, we'll just order a pizza." This helps me remember to not put so much pressure on myself and to enjoy the process of cooking instead of freaking out about the results.

I found a delicious-sounding recipe on Foodnetwork.com for Italian baked chicken and pasta that I'll be trying out ina few minutes: http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/giada-de-laurentiis/italian-baked-chicken-and-pastina-recipe/index.html

Tomorrow I am going to try making chicken kiev! And soon, very soon, on to steak and then fish. Wheeee!

On another note, here is a haibun I wrote today:


I walk toward the pond and pass the tree that used to have a stump shaped like a heart. It was cut away in the fall. It is winter now, and still I feel sad at the loss. Now there is just an empty hole open to the frigid winter wind. I walk on without a smile, but I carry the tree in my heart.

Crust of ice
with a hole
along the bank.


Also, I am making progress on my sister's scarf! Check out the picture.

Learning lots,


Monica