"Chicken Sandwich Wars" progress

 

Right after Chick-Fil-A opened here in Southington it began receiving rave reviews.  Marge and I promised each other that we would go see what it was all about.  Unfortunately promised are soon forgotten and we didn’t get there for a couple of years.  The Covid-19 Pandemic resurrected our promise. One of first take-out during this crazy time was from Chick-fil-A.  I had their chicken sandwich and everyone else settled on nuggets.  To tell the truth I really didn’t know what to expect, but I remember not being overly impressed.  Since we have recently decided to engage in our “Chicken Sandwich Wars” a second trip is in the plans so that the two of us can reevaluate to keep them in the running for our contest.

 

Our second chicken sandwich was from Popeyes on the way home from getting our first vaccine shot.  I was starving at that point so I opened my bag and devoured my sandwich on the way home…..it didn’t last long enough to get me there.  I have to admit that it was tasty and contained a large chunk of nice, very crispy chicken filet.  Nice roll, I did find it a bit dry even with the small amount of sauce and pickles.

 

Third trip was a pickup at our local MacDonald’s.  It wasn’t great, but a very decent effort.  No major complaints on my part except for the disappointing fries (strange, since their fries are usually one of the best).  Of course, we’re not evaluating fries this time around.

 

We decided to next go to the place that started our love of fried chicken…..KFC.  Their sandwich surprised me.  I did not expect them to do that good a job.  Brioche roll was loaded with a nice crispy filet lathered in plenty of sauce along with a few decent pickles.  In the running as far as I’m concerned.

 

Here’s some possible future candidates:  Burger King, Wendy’s, Hen House (in Southington). If you have some other ideas concerning places we can try, please let me know.

Praise the Lord - The wait is over!

 

Well, the day finally arrived.  Marge and I got our second vaccine shot this past Sunday.  It appears as though almost the entire family has received both shots, except for us.  Why so long?  Since we both had a visit from Covid 19 this winter and our bodies worked up antibodies which protected us, so we’ve been told, for ninety days vaccine shots before the ninety day period would be a waste.  Hence the annoying wait.  Marge has been uncomfortable with exposures out in the public during this time so we pretty much continued to stay at home. Last year’s situation even kept us from attending Sunday Mass for the entire period, but Marge handled the situation. She ended up having us both watch a televised Mass daily.  My ticket to heaven should be very close to being paid up…..lol

After thirteen months the isolation really begins to get you and you start to get a little antsy.  So it’s great to have our long wait behind us and be able to get out into the world a little.  Especially with the weather starting to get nice.  The timing of our shots couldn’t be any better.  Even our governor pitched in.  Someone must have called him and told him that Bill and Marge are now ok to enter the world again so he removed all the obstructions keeping us away.

You all know by now that I really enjoy food and enjoy cooking it, but after thirteen month of creating over 1150 meals, an occasional restaurant meal will go a long way to getting a little smile on this grouchy face of mine. On a few occasions we did pick up food to go, but did not find it that satisfying…..even lousy in a couple of cases.  We did have some success when we picked up chicken sandwiches coming home from Hartford after both our vaccine shots.  They were pretty good and discussing them made us realize that almost all fast food joints made a chicken sandwich.  Since we were now going to be people in the real world we decided to make “Chicken Sandwiches” a project.  We plan to visit many places that claim to make the best and let you know how we feel about the soon to be “Chicken Sandwich Wars”.

Because of the Covid thing our pool and back yard deck area got more use than usual.  We’re all looking forward to having even more family gatherings since everyone will feel comfortable that we’ve created a safe environment now that everyone has received both shots of the vaccine.   We are even having a new liner put in the pool to celebrate the coming season.  This past year has been crazy for all of us….let’s hope the end is in sight.

Recipe Time:  This recipe is from my Appetizer section.  If memory serves me correctly my daughter, Mary Ann introduced us to this appetizer.  It’s called BLT DIP.   Here’s how to do it.

BLT DIP

1 cup mayonnaise
1 cup sour cream
2 tomatoes, seeded and diced
1 lb. bacon, fried crisp, drained and crumbled shredded lettuce
1 pound loaf sourdough bread, cut into bite sized chunks (or whatever kind you like - I suggest cutting the pieces bigger than bite sized...easier to dip).  Sliced bagels work well also.

In a medium bowl, combine mayonnaise, sour cream, tomatoes and bacon. Chill for about 2 hours. Spread on bottom of a pie plate or other serving dish. Top with shredded lettuce and serve with bread chunks.                              Makes 3 cups

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