Tuesday, May 30, 2023

Thawing Chicken

 It's been a minute since I've posted anything here. But I just made my grandmother's roasted red peppers, couldn't remember if she added oregano or not, and did a quick search of my site to check and see what she had told me. 

That's the beauty of having a blog like this, the ability to hold a little wisdom for later. I've been inspired to write, post, create, and cook all over again. So let's get to know one another again, shall we? 

A lot has happened over the past few years; I've gone to and graduated from law school and am currently in the grueling process of preparing for the Bar exam. Which, to be honest, feels a bit like thawing chicken. 

Bear with me as I explain. 

When you are figuring out what you want to make for dinner, inspiration strikes, and you do a quick mental inventory of what you currently have in your fridge/freezer. 

"I have chicken!" 

You bustle over to your freezer, take out the chicken--so excited you don't have to run to the store--and then it hits you. This sucker is frozen solid. 

If you're impatient like me, you can't help the immediate despair that hits you. THIS IS GOING TO TAKE FOREVER. 

Then comes the bargaining, "Well, maybe I go buy chicken and put this away for a different day..." Then you're brutally honest internal monologue pipes up "...but that's how I ended up with three packages of chicken in the freezer in the first place!" 

What do you do? 

So begins the cold water thaw. Chicken, when defrosting at room temperature, can take 12-24 hours to totally defrost. How can you speed that up? Leaving the chicken in its packaging, you submerge it in cold water. Every thirty minutes, you change the water to prevent the chicken from getting too warm and allowing bacterial growth. One to three hours later, you have your chicken which is ready to go. 

So too, the Bar. 

Technically I have all the knowledge I need to pass this exam tucked away somewhere in my brain. But, like the cold water. I need to refresh it often, change it out, and continually expose myself to the thousands of rules that need to be committed to memory before the end of July. 

I cannot wait for my chicken to thaw, and I cannot wait for this exam to be over. 

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