Sticky Situation

Recently a friend wanted to know what the secret is to my fried chicken was.   Not to brag; but I've been asked this question on several occasions.    Depending on how close the friend was, depended on just how many ingredients in my personal recipe and preparation secrets I gave up.   Needless to say, I am a true Southern Belle and don't hand over my recipes.   Now the same can't be said about me with a good piece of gossip but when it comes to my recipes honey you bet your buttered biscuits that the lock down on my recipe box rivals Fort Knox.

The truth is, and I will deny that I told y'all this if ever I'm brought before a tribunal of the DAR and judged by Paula Deen; but it is pretty hard to mess up fried chicken.   Hell I think its pretty hard to mess up anything fried; but believe me this Diva has witnessed it.   The key is your respect for seasoning in the batter/breading and a careful eye when frying it.   Frying it on too high of a heat will speed up the cooking on the outside but will leave the inside as raw and undone as a Witch's womb!   The biggest mistake in frying chicken and actually many dishes is walking away from the dish as it is cooking.   Fried Chicken requires a careful eye to make sure it doesn't stick.

Now back to my friend.   When she asked me this fried chicken question for some reason it stuck with me.   The idea of "sticking," in its many forms begin to play around in my mind.   I know when I was a kid my mother always warned me that I never stuck to any project long enough to really get anything of value out of it.   Which I admit here, that she was right; but to her face I would still roll my eyes in that "whatever," tone.  To me it seems all about timing.   Like with the chicken that is frying, not letting it stick yet sticking by the stove to keep that from happening.   The same thing in life I think is also true.   It is hard to stick with things we like in life let alone trying to stick out things we don't like and then the flip side conundrum comes when we  start to wonder how long do I stick before I wind up getting stuck?

When it comes to romance and relationships in the past I always had my bag packed in the closet and my running shoes shined and ready to roll.   Yet this time around I am learning that I cannot just run.   It would be easy for me to do so, or relatively speaking.  Sometimes we have to let go and follow what our hearts say.   Same thing with frying chicken, I truly believe that the best fried chicken comes from those people who just have a "feel," for frying.   Maybe with relationships in the past I was just too chicken assed to stick around for fear of getting stuck and burned.    So, then, what has changed?   Maybe age and maturity has finally snuck up on my sweet Southern ass; but with this guy I have a "feel," that I need to stick this one out.   Folks my track record ain't good and maybe when it comes to relationships and romance I just don't have a talent for or "feel," for picking the best mate; however this time around something tells me the more this relationship simmers and ages it will be worth my having stuck around.    I'm learning in life that the old cliche about life being too short is the damn truth, so I am realizing dear readers that there are times in life that you have to take your time, learn patience and stick with things.   Yes we always risk getting "stuck," in some muck; but the one thing I've learned you don't want to do is look at your life and say, "what if?"  There are two things I feel sure about and that is there are not many of us who have a Teflon heart so we are gonna get stuck and perhaps burned once in a while and finally I know life is full of hard decisions, uncertain paths and many sticky situations.