Paths of Writing

With Kris being out of work (see last week’s blog), she has been pursuing other means of income.  One of them is writing in various forms.

She is using her Patreon account to pursue her love of writing and generally creative, fannish insanity she (and we) have done together over the years of our marriage. Along with her creative writings in the My Little Pony and her own universe (Anisoptera), she will be including a showcase for her cosplay, podcasts and music video compilations for Doctor Who YouTube videos.

For those that aren’t familiar with Patreon, it is a platform creatives (like Kris) join to showcase their efforts and get paid to continue creating through the generous, monthly donations of patrons.

Starting with a small core of friends and family who have backed her writing over the last couple of years, she is writing more, and we hope, enough to generate a wider interest in supporting her with a small, viable income to carry us over until she finds more work.

She has also taken the plunge and become a professional reviewer/writer for blogs. Her first articles have been published for the good, fannish people over at SciFi.radio.  She has written a review of the Barbie movie and a review of the “Star Trek:  Strange New Worlds” crossover episode with “Star Trek:  Lower Decks”.

To view her articles, click on the link for her bio over at SciFi Radio here: https://scifi.radio/author/kristine-cherry/

To support her (and us) and keep Dennis cooking and bringing his audience more and more tasty recipes, consider supporting her over on Patreon at: https://www.patreon.com/nocte_libri

It’s a different path to writing than mine, but hey, she got published before me.

Dennis

176th blog completed.

First Steampunk novel:  74839 words.  ß Past 74,000.  Goal:  80,000.

Second Steampunk novel: 783 words.

Second Steampunk screenplay:  157 pages.

First Steampunk screenplay:  Need to update with notes from the novelization.

Third Steampunk screenplay:  38 pages.

“Yesterdays new recipe was “KFC Original Secret Chicken Recipe”, it was a copycat recipe.  Unfortunately, the page has been taken down.  Fortunately, Dennis saved it:”

KFC ORIGINAL SECRET CHICKEN RECIPE

Ingredients
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 tsp. salt
1 ½ tsp. dried thyme leaves
1 ½ tsp. dried basil leaves
1 tsp. dried oregano leaves
1 Tbsp. celery salt
1 Tbsp. ground black pepper
1 Tbsp. dried mustard
¼ cup paprika
2 Tbsp. garlic salt
1 Tbsp. ground ginger
3 Tbsp. ground white pepper
1 cup buttermilk
1 egg, beaten
1 chicken, cut up into 8 pieces or a mix of your favorite bone-in pieces
Neutral oil for frying, like canola or peanut oil
MSG seasoning, like Accent

Directions
1) In a large bowl, combine the flour with the herbs and spices and set aside.
2) In another large bowl, whisk together the buttermilk and egg, mixing until they’re well combined.
3) Add the chicken to the buttermilk bowl and toss to coat. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap or a lid and let it sit for 30 minutes or refrigerate and marinate as long as overnight.
4) Preheat the oven to 175° F.
5) Line a baking sheet with aluminum foil. Set an oven-safe wire cooling rack inside the sheet and set aside.
6) In a large Dutch oven, heat about 3 inches of oil. If you’re using an electric tabletop fryer, fill the unit to its MAX line.
7) Preheat the oil to 350° F over medium-high heat and use a deep-frying thermometer to check the temperature.
8) When the oil reaches 350° F, reduce the heat to medium-low.
9) Remove a chicken piece from the buttermilk, allowing any excess liquid to drip off.
10) Place the piece in the flour mixture and press down firmly, allowing the flour to adhere on all sides. Shake off any excess flour and carefully drop the chicken into the hot oil.
11) Continue dredging chicken until the fryer is full but not overcrowded; you should be able to fry three to four pieces at a time.
12) Cook the chicken for about 12 minutes, turning halfway through, until the crust turns an appealing golden-brown color.
13) Transfer the chicken pieces to the prepared baking sheet and place it in the oven.
14) Allow the oil to return to temperature before adding more chicken.
15) Repeat the dredging and frying process with the remaining pieces of chicken.
16) When you have fried all the chicken, let the pieces sit in the oven until each reaches an internal temperature of 165° F.
17) Sprinkle each piece of chicken with a few shakes of MSG before serving or let each person sprinkle it on their pieces.

Notes
• Sides: I usually serve with coleslaw, macaroni and cheese, mashed potatoes and gravy, and biscuits because those are my family’s favorite sides.

• For the crispiest crust place chicken in hot oil immediately following dredging in the flour mixture.
• When dredging in the flour mixture, press down so the flour adheres well to the chicken.
• Leaving the chicken in a preheated oven after frying is key. It not only ensures that the internal temperature is 165° F, the skin and crust is kept nice and crunchy.

This was really close to KFC chicken.  A little tweaking should do it.  Perhaps a less time frying, to make it lighter in color, and a little more time in the oven.  We will be having this again – as soon as Dennis takes a break from trying new recipes.” – Vincent Reinhart