I am pleased to report all goals for this weekend were met and exceeded. The birthday parties were each fun in very different ways; one involved booze and the other had pizza and go-carts. (I suck a wiener at laser tag, in case you were wondering.)
Then we planted the redbud tree.
1. We dug a hole.
2. Eric got in the hole.
3. Eric got out of the hole, and we stuck a tree in it.
It seems like a nice tree. I hope it likes its new digs. (Get it? Digs? Ahahahahahahahashutupjoolie.)
After all that labor--digging holes is hard!--it was time for some fried chicken. The recipe I linked to the other day is really good. It's not easy, exactly, because setting up, disposing of, and cleaning up the spatters from a giant vat of boiling oil is a bit of work, and it takes about 20 minutes a batch. But the technique is fairly simple and produces consistently tasty, non-greasy results.
Everyone liked the chicken so much we started grabbing anything that was handy, dredging it in egg and flour, and deep frying it all. We fried artichokes, bacon (which was so much better than the last time we tried it), and bacon-wrapped chicken. We fried french fries and then dredged and fried them again. Everything turned out crisp, chicken-y, and delicious.
The best thing of all, maybe the best thing ever, was the half-eaten breakfast taco I'd saved from this morning.
The #0 from Mi Madre's is one of the best foods on this planet already, but man, I can't even describe how good it tasted when ensconced in a hot, crisp, nicely seasoned crust. We should all storm Mi Madre's and demand deep-fried versions of everything on their menu. Seriously, I feel like a better, nicer person for having eaten that.
So! I am giving this weekend a solid 'A', with only a few points off for insufficient lounging and coffee drinking. No promises, but maybe next weekend I can improve in those areas.