There's a First Time for Everything

OK, not to toot my own horn, but I managed to please EVERYONE in my family this Mother's Day with only a couple of hours of prep, and serving brunch an hour later than I planned.

[Side note: I also realized today why my prep time always takes longer than most people. It's not that my knife skills suck or that I am extremely disorganized. It's because I take after Japanese sushi chefs, cleaning everything between each step. While that may ensure a very clean and disinfected kitchen, and frees up quite a bit of utensils, pots and pans; it adds about half an hour to an hour. I'll need to keep that in mind next time I make a meal for someone.]

Usually, when I make something Mom considers delicious, Dad will turn his nose at it. When I make something good according to Dad, Mom will give me an ear-load of how unhealthful the food is and how Dad should really be eating more salads or drinking fruit shakes. Pleasing my brother is even more difficult. He's one of those who will clean his plate without making any comments, and then, after the meal is over, he'll say something like, "I kind of wanted to eat X instead. You also need to add more salt to Y. Oh, and where's the Z?"

You see how it is in my family?

Well, I finally made a meal that everyone seemed to enjoy greatly. Spicy oven-fried chicken marinated in buttermilk and spices topped with bacon, citrus-flavored red cabbage slaw, spring carrots sauteed with rosemary and lemon, accompanied with warm and crunchy French bread. We ended the meal with fresh, ripe mangoes from the Philippines.

[I had bigger aspirations of making yorkshire pudding and white bacon gravy, but I forgot to buy some cupcake pans and I burnt the roux for the gravy, which wasn't really my fault because everyone arrived at the moment where the roux was at its critical point and I had to answer the door and greet the family.]

The chicken turned out with a thick, panko crust and extremely juicy, and my father LOVED his drumstick with the crunchy crust and bacon. He gnawed that piece clean. The slaw was the perfect tangy accompaniment, which my mother called, "very refreshing." The carrots were sweet and tasty and balanced with the fresh rosemary and lemon; I think this dish was my favorite today. My brother loved the chicken marinade and asked for the recipe.

Now, I am going to sit back and relish this first.