Lydia Earhart
After almost four years of dating, I was starting to consider the power of chicken.
Ever heard of the “engagement chicken?” If you haven’t heard of this legend, it might be brilliant or just a great way to cook a chicken – I didn’t know. I had just heard it worked through a friend.
Simple and basic, it’s a way to charm your significant other into popping the question immediately after consuming this lemony dish.
Besides the stories, Glamour magazine also tagged this recipe as the “100 recipes every woman should know.” Either way, I figured I should get to know this chicken and try to tackle the recipe. For the next few weeks, I scoured the grocery stores looking for a chicken that would be easy to manage for my first try at cooking a whole chicken. I secretly felt like I was making a love potion.
Thank goodness most love stories don’t start out with chicken. Christy and her husband Taunton Melville met at a Christmas party and dated for a few years. The first time I met Christy, we sipped coffee and talked all about our boyfriends (at the time) and bonded over being in love.
After a couple of months, Christy got engaged, and I was thrilled. She became a good friend after our coffee meeting, and I couldn’t wait to hear about the proposal. you could tell they were in love and ready for marriage.
Personally, this is the kind of wedding story I enjoy hearing about. Christy was determined to get married without stressing too much over the details.
The details don’t matter as much as the love does between the two people. No dress, no cake or venue matters as much as the love does.
Read their story on Page 26. Back to the grocery store, I was beginning to find it hard to commit to a chicken, and to be honest, I was more intimidated by the process of cooking a whole chicken.
I gave up and decided to scratch the love potion. If he asked, his heart would be filled with love and not his stomach filled with chicken.
Two months later, I was in front of my love as he offered to spend forever as husband and wife. I was engaged, and I didn’t have to master a whole chicken! My two wishes came true. In case you do want to try a good chicken recipe, read Chef John Strand’s apricot and Gouda-stuffed chicken breast on Page 42.
