The Curvy Girls Guide to National Chicken Month!

It is with great elation that announce and celebrate National Chicken Month!  National Chicken Month, is a brilliant way devised by chicken producers to continue chicken sales that would begin to wane after the end of summer.

Let's start by getting the obvious out of the way.  I am a black woman and I am about to talk about why I love chicken.  But, well...I mean kill me, but I do. It's so yummy, so versatile, so satisfying!  But this should come as no surprise--I AM holding a piece of fried chicken on the homepage of this blog!

Chicken is delicious YEAR ROUND, not just during National Chicken Month.  This month just serves as a canvas to highlight just how awesome chicken is! Chicken even serves to make us laugh, mainly cause we all love it to eat and have fun with chickens. Who can forget Arrested Development's infamous chicken impersonation (coo, coo, ca chaw) or the epic chicken battle from Family Guy, and of course Foghorn Leghorn (Leghorn is a breed of chicken BTW) because of course, The Bird Is the Word!

Grilled, fried, poached, shredded, stewed, roasted . . . So many different ways to enjoy it!  (For the adventurous among you, read Andrew Zimmerman's breakdown EVERY yummy edible part of the chicken here)

My rules to what constitutes "good eating" bird:

Cut
I prefer the classic 1/4 chicken ---rich dark meat thighs & legs = yum.
Or....wings..cause you're not American if you don't like wings.

Skin
So as another not so secret reason why I am curvy...I love chicken skin. It has to be well seasoned and must always be crispy! The skin (done right) gives a lovely textural and savory note to any cut of chicken.

Confession time:I have a secret snack I make when I make my chipotle bbq stewed chicken.  I like to cook it initially with the skin letting the fat render and add flavor to the sauce, but it's texture doesn't make it awesome to enjoy.  Instead, I take the skins and pan fry them with a little salt and pepper and finish with a little chipotle bbq sauce.  Heaven, guilty delicious--heaven.

Cooking
Chicken should be cooked just thru, as too much cooking makes chicken horrible, texture and taste wise.  It should also be golden brown, not pale, not burnt but perfectly golden brown on the outside and juicy on the inside.  Chicken is a versatile and delicious food, when treated right.

I didn't get curvy by not eating...and much of what I eat is some great chicken.  My favorite types of chicken...all excel in one of the aforementioned categories:

1. Roast Chicken 
2. Rotisserie Chicken
3. Grilled Chicken
4. Korean Fried Chicken
5. Classic, Southern Style Fried Chicken

xoxo,

Erica Michele

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Curvy Woman Rant, A Girl on the Cusp

SO, it finally happened.  I had my very first Facebook rant!

I feel like I've crossed some sort of milestone.  But, that rant was necessary. It served to open me up to my passion and self-expression. I was in a rut, I was feeling so, many things, things I should have used the self-expression of my blog to get out, but I was...AFRAID.  Afraid to hurt people's feelings, afraid that if I became fully expressed I'd be rejected.  I worked in entertainment for the bulk of my career and still work in media now because expression fascinates me, it motivates me, it inspires me. Therefore, I needed to express who I was, without fear of what people would think of me.

WHAT SET ME OFF: I read some comments about a model's weight online, people felt the need to not only determine what that size was but then to question whether on not she was indeed "plus size."  The conversation that should have existed about the fashion, the styling, the shot, was all replaced with discourse about whether or not she was plus sized enough.  This rant, freed something in me and it needed to be said.

My anger was based on knowing what it's like to be on the cusp.  To be told by men I've loved and well meaning "friends" that I wasn't "that fat." Only to then open myself up to those who were (traditionally) plus size, who would surely not make me feel like that, to only be told I wasn't plus enough.  (Much like the model in question--who for the record is CLEARLY not straight size.) So I had to speak, I had to have a voice for those who sit there (like I did for many years) and take it.

For me, in an industry that should be about confidence for who you are and sometimes the lack of support by for those of who should be part of the same community baffles and angers me.  Body image issues transcends our racial, sexual orientation and gender boundaries. We in the plus community should be embracing ANY woman who is ostracized based on what size happens to be on the inside of their pair of jeans.  Confident women who have more than one number on their clothing label (I like to call us #doubledigitdivas) are a rarity.  We have a unique opportunity to preach love, self-love goes beyond body image, since for better or worse we are faced with dealing with that every day.

That's the community I am interested in being a part of...one that accepts our flaws but moves forward to be better.

I think many of you feel the same way, those of you who do I am glad to have your support.

xoxo,

Erica Michele

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