Virtual Running Date No. 44: Ready for Spring and a tip for dredging chicken

Hello!

If we were on a virtual running date, I would tell you that I'm ready for spring. This past weekend, we decided that we are done with winter. Just done. And this is coming from two people who get REALLY excited about snow. You know how cold it was when I woke up this morning? NEGATIVE 3 degrees F. That's cold people.

Currently, it's a whopping 16 degrees F, but the windchill makes it feel like about 5 degrees F. Can we get a 30 please?! It's too cold to run comfortably. Or at least without a lot of layers. Brrr...

Anyway, I decided to "shop my house" a la Kari Anne at Thistlewood Farms for some springy decorations. Remember how I made that St. Patrick's Day wreath last year? Well, I could not find the grape vine wreath that I used last year for anything. I know it made it to the new house, but I'm not sure where. Since it's been so cold, our Christmas wreath still looks pretty green. So I decided to dress that up. I just tore off the pine cones and big red bow and added a few shamrocks. See?

Ridiculous? Yes.
Do I feel like I'm extending the life of my wreath? Yes.
Win-win.

I also decided to take down all the red and white and gold on our mantle from Christmas/winter decorations and lighten things up with some of my grandma's milk glass and tea cups that I inherited.

It's amazing what some fresh white, pink and blue glassware will do for your psyche and mantle!

If this were a virtual running date, I'd tell you that we also figured that we need to put together more baby stuff since our kiddo is due to arrive sometime in the next 5-6 weeks. YES, I said weeks. Yes, that's slightly alarming, but mostly awesome. We're ready to meet our new person, but we're also totally content to wait a few more weeks.

From left: car seat to be installed, pack-n-play, seat/rocker and
hand-me-down stroller that needs to be cleaned up in the background.

We're ready. Heh. Or at least we look ready!

One last thing I'd tell you if we were on a running date? I have been watching a lot of America's Test Kitchen lately. Good old Christopher Kimball and Julia Collin Davison were talking about how to make a really great Chicken Parmesan without it getting soggy or rubbery. They also skipped a step of the flour-egg-flour (bread crumbs/whatever) dredging that you normally do when breading chicken. Instead they whisked egg and flour together for the first step, and then dipped it in the bread crumbs. Um, hello! This is way easier! Plus, it cooked nice and even.

I would show you a photo of that, but mommy-to-be got hungry before she could take a photo. Oops! If you want, head over to America's Test Kitchen and read the recipe. It's so good.

Note: Only the current season's recipes are available online. If you are reading this a few years from now, you'll have to pay to see it. Or you could just trust me and know that it works!