Chicken fight...

See this... This was the subject of a big, knock-down, drag-out fight tonight- weeeelllll, maybe not knock-down, but it was definitely the subject of a fight!

I like to think of myself as a good eater, but I do have some small hang-ups. I eat meat, but it has to be cooked perfectly to my liking and have no fat. I eat veggies and fruit, but they have to be fresh and blemish-free. I eat and drink dairy products, but they have to be gone before the best by date on the package, or, to my mother's great disdain because she did not raise me this way, into the trash they go!!! Nor will I let meat thaw on the counter, or let raw meat touch any kitchen surfaces, or share the meat cutting board with the veggie/bread cutting board. But I think that my biggest small hang up over food has to do with the expiration date.... you see, if a meat package says use or freeze within 48 hours of purchase, I take that quite literally! And if I choose to freeze said meet, then you can bet that I expect to thaw it in the fridge and use it as soon as it is thawed, or into the trash it goes. Such was the situation tonight......

Enter Zack (my hubby of soon-to-be 18years on June16th)! We had grilled chicken for dinner last night, and Zack was in charge of retrieving the chicken from the fridge in the basement and cooking it up on the grill while I prepared risotto and a veggie. It just so happened that I had 2 packages of chicken thawed in the fridge, and I fully intended for them to be cooked together because, when feeding a family of 9, you just never know how much food you'll need. I had previously frozen the chicken, and it had been in the fridge for 3 days at the time we made dinner- there was no doubt that it needed to be used that day! Unfortunately, Zack didn't get the memo to prepare both packages, and he only cooked one of them, leaving the other in the fridge. So, when I went to the fridge to get the meat for tonight's dinner, I noticed the second package of chicken still sitting on the shelf. I immediately called to Zack that he was supposed to cook it last night and why was it still sitting there, to which he replied that he would cook it tomorrow night. Uh, I don't think so! I hollered back that we would not be cooking it tomorrow night and that was that! But then Zack, who was on the phone with an old friend from highschool at the time, told me that I better leave that chicken in the fridge or he'd divorce me! Excuse me...... what?! What did you say?! Uh, you better get off that phone and not threaten me!!! Well, you better not throw that chicken away! Oh, I WILL throw this chicken away! Oh no you won't cuz I'm gonna cook it tonight! Oh no you're not cuz we're having something else for dinner and you're NOT grilling! Ok- if you're completely lost at this point, I'll catch you up.... basically, the conversation was going nowhere, and I had HAD it! Zack had brought the chicken upstairs and set it on the counter, and I proceeded to knock it on the floor!! It was at that point that he began to tell his buddy on the phone about the chicken- it was a little hard not to notice by then- and he placed the chicken in the upstairs fridge and walked into the other room. I continued to prepare tonight's dinner and had already promised myself that I would leave the chicken in the fridge until Thursday morning- trash day- and pitch it in the garbage then!! A couple minutes later a very sheepish Zack came walking back into the kitchen. He was now off the phone and, as he walked over to me, I noticed a smile spreading across his face. He came over to me and gave me a hug as he explained that his friend had sided with me and agreed that chicken does tend to go bad fast, and it would probably be better to get rid of it! Well now...... I'm not about to gloat, but I must admit it was a great feeling to have one of my husband's buddies agree with me!! So much for our chicken fight!!! And BTW, a BIG thanks to Andrew (Zack's old highschool buddy)- I owe ya one!!