My New Favorite Recipe

Ok, I know you're going to think it's absolutely FOUL after reading the description. All I ask is that you try making it, just once. If it isn't the best chicken recipe you've ever tried, I'll be surprised!

INGREDIENTS:
- 1 cup ketchup
- 1 cup Coca-Cola (Pepsi will ruin it!)
- 3.5 pounds of chicken, quartered

HOW TO MAKE:
1.) In a large bowl, whisk together the ketchup and coke until thoroughly mixed. Wash the chicken and pat dry with paper towels. Remove the wings from the chicken breast quarters. Put all of the chicken pieces in the bowl and toss so that the chicken is coated with the ketchup-cola mixture. Let sit refrigerated for at least 4 hours (even better, let it sit overnight!).

2.) Preheat oven to 350-degrees (or preferred, cook on the BBQ!).

3.) Remove the chicken, reserve the marinade. Place the chicken, skin side up, on a rimmed backing sheet. Sprinkle chicken with salt and freshly ground pepper. Back for 1 hour. Meanwhile, put the marinade in a small saucepan and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat to medium and cook until the marinade is reduced to 1 cup, about 15 minutes. During baking, baste the chicken with the reduced marinade several times using a pastry brush. After 30 minutes, transfer the chicken to a plate, pour off the fat, and return chicken to the pan. Continue cooking 30 minutes.

4.) When chicken is done, transfer to a platter. Drizzle with more warm marinade, serving any extra on the side. Makes 4 finger-licking servings.

Here we go again!

Angie is cringing as she views this picture ... what was he thinking?!? You can't take a picture while shooting directly into the sun, you have to have the sun at your back. I know, I know ... but this angle was important, so you could see what was happening not only in the foreground (we're on the move now, loading the balloon into the chase van), but also in the background.

What's that? Could it be??? Yes, it's ANOTHER hot air balloon, dangerously low and coming in for a landing. Here we go all over again! 

Putting 'em to work

I mentioned the other day how impressed I was at the speed by which the balloon pilot and his crew collapsed the balloon and hauled it away. Well, that's because they got help ... from the entire neighborhood. Brad was set to work handing them the twistie straps, and every other kid who didn't volunteer quickly enough for that easy job got THIS JOB. Here Julian, and neighbors Hayden, Hannah, and Danny shoulder the balloon, all wrapped up, and get ready to load it into the Chase Van. 

Tieing Up the Balloon

Recognize that little guy on the left? That's Brad, recruited to help the balloon pilot and his crew by fetching all the twist-ties used to tie up the balloon. Ok, they really weren't twist-ties, more like bright, orange day-glo straps, but that's kinda what it looked like the crew was doing to the balloon ... tieing it up like a giant loaf of break.

Brad was a real champ, so eager to help, they put him to work right away. But that's not all, wait until you see what happened next ... 

Deflated

So what do you do with a 6-story tall balloon, when you have it parked between two houses, both with high-voltage power lines running to them from the street utility poles (and only mere feet away from your balloon)? Deflate. Fast!!

I was amazed at how quickly the knocked the balloon over and were able to deflate it of hot air. It was a pretty impressive sight.

But wait until you see what happened next ... 

Emergency Landing

Remember the "Low Flying Aircraft" image from yesterday? Well, it came in a bit lower. In fact, it landed right in our neighbors front yard. That's the "chase van" in the foreground. I guess when you own your own hot air balloon, your spouse (or someone) has to drive around in the Chase Van following you ... and being ready to assist with the landing, which could be just about anywhere.

Angie's taught me how to remove powerline poles and wires from my pictures, but this time, I left them in -- so you could see how close to the power lines the balloon is. And it was CLOSE. One strong gust, and the balloon probably could have taken out half the neighborhood's power! Still, the pilot seemed to know what he was doing, and the balloon really didn't stay inflated much after this pic was taken. Wait until you see what happens next ...