when i was in the 8th grade, i was just as much of a slacker as i am now. i would put off doing homework and projects at school until the very last possible moment. i would lag so much, that often times not only would i have to stay up the night before the due date all night long, but i’d even have my mom stay up all night with me to help. looking back now, it impresses me that my mom would be so dedicated and nice as to stay up till 5 in the morning time and time again, but that’s a whole other story altogether.
one night, the night before a large project about advertising was due, my mom and i were in my room in the middle of the night, frantically digging through enormous piles of magazines strewn about my room. it was an arduous task, and we were both exhausted, and yet somehow, out of all those hundreds of magazines i scanned that night, one random recipe caught my eye. it was a recipe for something called “Spicy Skillet Chicken” and was listed in an advertisement for Tabasco sauce.
Now, i have had an interest in cooking ever since i was really little. i remember being in *elementary* school, and checking out books about cooking from the local public library so i could get recipes to try out. anyways, despite being half awake etc, i set the recipe aside and saved it, and several days later made the stuff. it was sooo fucking good. i mean it was *incredibly* good. since then, i’ve made that recipe countless numbers of times. almost every single person that i have ever seen try it, has loved it. in fact, out of everything i’ve ever cooked, this is the one thing that people consistently ask me for the recipe of. since then, i’ve lost the page from the magazine article, but i still have the recipe in my head.
just the other night, i made the spicy skillet chicken for dinner, and was telling caryn the whole story of how i started making the stuff. it’s pretty funny that one of my favorite recipes ever was discovered around 3am while working on an english project…
*v
Mmmm… Spicy skillet chicken. 🙂