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A Million Dollar (Chicken) Journal Entry

When I did have/take the time to write in my journal, it recorded my experiences well much closer to the moment they happened. There is an extensive entry on cooking I would like to simply quote. I feel that it's not so much about the food itself, though, as the experience of navigating life in a completely foreign situation. The random French throughout is how it was written. 

This is dated "mercredi 28 avril 2021" (Wednesday, April 28th, 2021): 

"On Saturday evening, I asked Martha if I could make Sunday dinner. I had gotten the idea that I could do a version of Million Dollar Chicken [a somewhat insane dish of a whole chicken, seasoned with salt, pepper, lemons, thyme and garlic, which is then roasted on top of sliced bread with olive oil and a glaze made from crème fraîche, onions and more lemon.]. Anyway, Martha said yes (I was happy because I think as a result, she got to go our visiting on Sunday), and on Sunday afternoon, when I asked if there was anything I shouldn't use, she said no. Parfait!

"The freezer was quite something, I rather doubt that anyone remembers that some of the stuff in there... is there. I found some bread I was going to use, but it was freezer burned, so I used the less-old bread from the little freezer. Martha said there was another carton of cream in there, but I never found it, digging around frozen whole fish that had fallen out of the bag (one), I think a rack of pork ribs, and some puff pastry and other frozen packages I believe have been forgotten. 

"It took me a little bit to pull everything together, but I eventually figured it out. I separated the chicken legs and thighs, cut up the bread and found some pans. I put some palm oil in the pans and the bread on that, then a little olive oil on the bread [we had one bottle of an oil blend that included olive oil; neither the same nor nearly enough]. I put the chicken on the bread, rubbed all of it with palm oil and seasoned it with salt, pepper and dried thyme. 

"Meanwhile, I was also working on the sauce. I had soured the milk with white vinegar and added as much lemon zest as I could get (which was next to nothing; two of the three tiny lemons were going bad and the microplane was dull). I squeezed some lemon juice in and the rest on the chicken (and threw the rinds in with the chicken), grated in onion and garlic and added salt and pepper. Since I needed more lemon for flavor and didn't have it, I realized I would have to change the flavor profile, so I started doing lots of garlic, chopping it roughly for the sauce and the chicken. I also sliced some onion over the chicken.

"The sauce really needed something, so I took a gurnsey [an Australian expression I had heard before] at the herbs and spices and went with herbs de Provence. WOW! That helped sooo much!

"It was too early to start baking the chicken, so, after reminding myself that Sunday was the day for special desserts, I turned my attention to scones. The biggest issue was having to use baking soda, not powder (I soured the milk to try to help), and not using enough [long story here... We did have baking powder, I just didn't realize it at the time]. The texture was 'un petit peu' [a little bit] tough, but the flavor (with cinnamon sugar) was great!

"The chicken went over really well (some of the bread was a bit soggy, but all the chicken got eaten) [the bread also didn't taste great as I recall; if you've ever had bread with olive oil compared to bread with palm oil, you will understand why the latter is not popular], and we had the scones with apricot jam. There were 24 and they all got eaten. J'était heureuse! [I was happy!] :) "

Scones: flat and a bit tough, but tasty

The chicken doesn't look so great in the picture; it was better in person

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