After all this time, we have yet to have a story about music. Well friends..... we are going to change all that right now. Those of you who know me understand my crazy love of heavy metal, death metal, dark and looming lyrics of hellfire and damnation, gruesome topics, war and disease, the hardest of the hard stuff, and amazingly enough, Lady Gaga. Yes, I am a Little Monster, and I am proud of it. The obsession took hold when she first came on the music scene. I had not yet heard a single song but I saw article after article about her in the London Daily Mail. The more I read about her, the more the fascination grew. Her crazy clothing. Her hair bow made of hair. Shoes that are mile high. I was so curious about her and eventually heard the song Poker Face. My bestie Ronda and I fell in love with the catchy songs on her first album and played them daily, usually accompanied by a round or four of Jager bombs in the townhouse we shared.
The first album, The Fame, was firmly committed to memory when The Fame Monster came out and a whole new round of songs had to be learned, and learn them we did. Mastered the Bad Romance dance. Slayed it, and slurred it. Born This Way came along next, and by that time Ronda had moved away and The Chef and I had moved to the Little Lake House. Born This Way was filled with songs I just couldn't get enough of. The title track was a favorite, and I'd often belt it out at the top of my voice driving to work. Scheibe- loved it. Bloody Mary- crazy obsessed. It was after this album that I had my first opportunity to see Mother Monster in concert. My daughter Laurie, her friend Jim and I made the drive to Minneapolis on a pilgrimage to see our Mother in the Born This Way Ball. My life was complete that day. I cried when Highway Unicorn began and she rode onto the stage riding upon a giant mechanical unicorn. I died. I truly died, and went to heaven.
Artpop was the next album and once again, became part of me. Every song on that album was fun to sing and I learned every word. This time around when she came to the midwest my other daughter Debbee and I made the drive to Minneapolis to experience ArtRave. The stage was incredible- acrylic floors and waves and Lady Gaga walked all over during the show, singing and dancing over the heads of her screaming Little Monsters. Amazing. The costumes, pure amazing. Again, the songs filled my heart, Venus, ArtPop, Mary Jane Holland, Gypsy, every one was great and made me want to dance and sing, and I did so right there in the arena, with full abandon and not a care in the world.
Lady Gaga's most recent album Joanne is a collection of a totally different kind of songs. These songs are very personal to Lady Gaga and tell the story of her life and different times of pain and happiness, of struggle and triumph. Joanne is named for her late aunt Joanne, who is also her namesake. While the album has a raw, funky almost country vibe, the World Tour lives up to everything her fans expect. This time Laurie, Debbee, Jim and I made the trip again to Minnesota to bask in the presence of our Mother Monster. This show featured no opening act, we were plunged right into the heart of Joanne from the opening notes of Diamond Heart to the classics Bad Romance, Telephone and Poker Face, Lady Gaga just astounds me with her energy and stage presence. Again I cried as she took the stage, and screamed and danced and raised my paws when she asked me to. The show was over in a flash, and I felt so sad walking out of the arena. I do know that I will be back to see her again.
Because the Twin Cities are just three hours away, we didn't grab a hotel for the night. We hit the road and headed home. With good weather, and only a couple stops along the way, we rolled back into Des Moines around 3 a.m. annnnnnd crashed. The next day was a lazy day for me, The Chef's day off, so we lazed around and did very little. I needed to recoup from all the walking, dancing, and driving. So we eventually got to the time of day when tummies are grumbling but neither one of us really wants to cook, and we certainly have no game plan for the meal- what we do have is a package of chicken tenders and a package of frozen gnocchi. These things need to become a meal!
The gnocchi is a no brainer. Trader Joe's has again made it easy, and delicious, for me to get a side on the table in just a few minutes, less than five minutes to be exact. Having already fallen in love with the sweet potato gnocchi, I still had a bag of Gorgonzola gnocchi in the freezer waiting for me to try. I thought this would be perfect with a juicy steak on the side but chicken is what's available today. Following the directions on the package, all you do is pour the contents into a bowl or saucepan and heat. You don't add anything, not even water. Frozen cubes of the creamy sauce and the delicate little potato dumplings heat up in a snap to creamy tender perfection. I wish I had thought ahead and grabbed some fresh parsley from the garden- while these were ridiculously delicious and I will absolutely buy them again, they were pretty rich and needed an herbal note to cut the richness a bit, and could have used a pop of color. Flavor-wise they were awesome, perfectly tender and the sauce was creamy and had the right amount of cheese so that it wasn't an overpowering Gorgonzola taste.
For my chicken, I just went on a whim with a few ingredients from the fridge and pantry. I used a 1 to 1 1/2 lb package boneless skinless chicken tenders, but you could use breasts if you had them, or even cut breasts into strips or nuggets. Drain them well, place in a bowl, season with salt and pepper, then add 2 tablespoons mustard to the bowl. Use Dijon or a spicy deli style mustard- grainy, I don't recommend regular yellow mustard but hey, if that's your thing, go for it. Use your hand to distribute the mustard evenly over all the chicken pieces and set aside. In a shallow bowl, combine half a cup or so of flour with salt, pepper, your favorite herbs and seasonings. I used a good tablespoon of Penzey's Bouquet Garni and a generous tablespoon of Emeril's Essence. Mix those together well.
Heat a skillet over medium high heat and add a tablespoon or two of oil. Dip the chicken into the flour, coating lightly and add the the hot skillet. Cook for 3-4 minutes per side, until cooked through and golden brown. Don't crowd the skillet or you will have soggy nasty chicken goo. After I had browned all the chicken, I added a tablespoon f butter to the skillet and a couple glugs of Riesling- I had an open bottle I needed to use up. A quick sprinkle of bouquet garni in the sauce and dinner was served, drizzle the sauce over the chicken if you like. The mustard added a nice flavor to the chicken and the flour brought that crispy texture. Quick, easy, and on the table in under 20 minutes.
Disclosure
of Material Connection: I have not received any compensation for
writing this post. I have no material connection to the brands,
products, or services that I mentioned. I am disclosing this in
accordance with the Federal Trade Commission's 16 CFR, Part 55: "Guides
Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising."
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