Lazy Chickens and Being Thankful...

Lazy Chickens and Being Thankful…

November 24 has come again and, while in the US everyone was celebrating the harvest by gorging on hopefully not too dry tryptophan laden poultry and side dishes with marshmallows while strategizing their locust-like descent upon the their favorite big-box store’s sale, it was also my fourth wedding anniversary. 

In previous years Kurt has gone all out for our anniversary.  He will spend months planning every detail of our little personal holiday.  On our first anniversary, Kurt arranged for us to go to Sedona where we had the best dining experience of our lives at L’Auberge in Sedona, Arizona (this was not cheap but seriously if you can, go check this place out!).  For our second anniversary, Kurt planned an amazing trip to San Francisco where we had a wonderful time exploring the city (we even did a Duck Tour and went to the Wharf Ripley’s Believe It Or Not- I love cheesy fun).  For our third anniversary we were in Phoenix and though we did all of our dating in California, Kurt managed to recreate our second date by arranging for us to go to a wonderful Tapas restaurant and take in a hockey game (the Ducks versus the Coyotes- Ducks won, of course). 

This year, in anticipation of our fourth wedding anniversary, Kurt informed me, that due to the limitations that our current locale presented, we wouldn’t be doing anything special except for acknowledging the fact that it was in fact, our anniversary.  When he said this I could see the sadness and disappointment in his eyes.  Kurt loves to plan vacations and surprises; it’s like a hobby for him or something.  I love seeing the excitement in him as he works out all of the details and is later bursting from trying to keep his secret plans from me.  Alas, this year, no dice.

This would not do.  I had to figure out how to give him a great anniversary, but how…

Sadly, being here in Abakaliki, where, as you all know by now, there isn’t anything in the way of shopping, entertainment or dining as we know it in the US, so I wasn’t sure how or if I could pull it off.  Add to it the fact that Kurt is the hardest person to gift plan for in the world.  It’s not that he’s a man with everything and so what-do-you-give-to-the-man-who-has-everything?; it’s more the fact that he’s a man how wants nothing.  This fact has forced me to become quite creative with my gift giving but again, how do I do that in a place with limited everything?

So, as you may have noticed, I’ve been rather quiet on here.  Things have been hectic and strange and well, most of that I’ll save for another post but, on top of all of that, Kurt and I have both been suffering from Social/Cultural Displacement Disorder- otherwise known as homesickness.  Our lack of home and reminders of home is what gave me the idea for my present to Kurt:  I’d give him a little bit of home. 

With the help of the house staff, Blessings and Mary, I arranged for Kurt and me to have a candle lit dinner in our upstairs parlor instead of down in the dining room with the rest of our housemates.  The menu was to be Southern Fried Chicken, seasoned sting beans, garlic mashed potatoes and salad. 

I’ve mentioned before that Blessings, our cook, primarily cooks Lebanese food.  Lebanese folk love fried chicken but not fried chicken as Americans know it.  They tend to take the skin off and there really isn’t much in the way of seasonings involved in the preparation of it.  Now, Blessings is a really good cook; she has a firm handle on seasonings and understands some of the basic chemistry involved in cooking well.   Her only failing, thus far, is that she overcooks everything- including and especially chicken.  So typically when we’ve had chicken, it’s been more like poultry jerky on the bone (sort of akin to trying to chew a leather shoe- flavorless, tough on the teeth and unsatisfying). 

After a few encounters with the chicken jerky, I finally asked her how she prepares the chicken.  She told me and the problem became immediately apparent: she was buying the wrong kind of chicken and she was cooking it too long.  Blessings had been buying cheap chickens or, as she put it, “…chicken that is too much strong; makes chicken tough.  Must have slower chicken who no move too much.”  Right.  So I asked her if “lazier” chickens were available and she said, yes, they were but that they were more expensive.  Okay, that’s an easy fix: she would henceforth increase the budget for chicken from ₦1700 to ₦2000 ($10.73 to $12.63 and includes butchering/de-feathering).  I have no problem paying more for better quality.  (We’ve since had many hilarious conversations about lazy chickens versus strong chickens and how one can ascertain such a character trait of a chicken when at market.)  As for cooking technique, well, that too was an easy fix as I would just teach her how to make proper fried chicken.

On November 24, I took the day off from the office and we, Blessings, Mary and I, went into to the market to purchase provisions for this special night (to be honest, I think that my help was as excited about the plan as I was).  We went into the meat market, picked out the laziest chicken we could find, paid the man and waited as he butchered and de-feathered it.  Then we made our other purchases and headed back to the house. 

When we go there, I showed Blessings how to make Southern Fried Chicken.  I started the lesson with a well seasoned brine which we left the chicken sitting in for five hours (I prefer to brine a chicken overnight but that wasn’t possible as there wasn’t any room in the fridge- fridges are apartment sized here in Nigeria).  I showed her how to do a triple-dip dredge of dry seasoned flour and wet seasoned egg.  I even showed her that her frying method of a shallow pan with not enough oil in it was part of her chicken jerky problem and showed her the correct method of using a deep pan with more and hotter oil.  When the lesson was finished the chicken was perfect: golden brown, crispy crust, tender and juicy meat- even the breast!  I cut up one of the pieces and shared it with the girls.  I wish you could have seen their faces as they tasted the chicken; it was a look of pure bliss.  After the first batch of chicken was finished, I left instructions about the rest of the chicken and other preparations.  Mary had strict instructions to wait until Kurt came home and had gone into our room before she was to set up the table and chairs.  By the time Kurt did come home we were ready. 

We typically have dinner about 7:00pm and are in our room when Blessings comes to let us know that dinner is served.  This night, though, when she came to our room to let us know that dinner was ready, instead of heading downstairs, right outside of our room was a wonderfully set table with Kurt’s favorite American meal.  He was totally surprised (especially when, after dinner, I handed him a package of his favorite candy, Werther’s Originals, which I had shipped in from the US and arrived only the day before.  Frankly, I think he was as excited by the candy as he was by the meal). 

We had such a great time feasting on our American meal and chatting about our day.  We called our families and even Skyped a bit with them while the internet connection was strong enough.  We had as much “home” as we could under our circumstances.  Nope, it wasn’t fancy or expensive (well shipping the candy was) or extravagant but, it was wonderful and soul healing.

Over the years, Kurt and I have taken a bit of flack for having our wedding so close to, and on occasion exactly on, Thanksgiving but; when I think of what the sentiment of Thanksgiving is all about it, I realize that it was a great decision of ours. 

Thanksgiving is supposed to be about being grateful for the bounty of a harvest. 

Love is work; well, real love is.  It takes care, nurturing, bolstering, feeding and maintaining much like crops.  The result of all of this care is the harvest of mutual love shared.  We have a harvest of friends, family and each other.  For this harvest we are truly thankful and each year around Thanksgiving we are reminded of the special harvest that is the love in our marriage. 

I hope you have as much to be thankful for.