Chubby Chicken!
Some of my best memories with Ron centered around the eating of food. Many times, we would eat together meals that I cooked. Our favourite was chicken. Did Ron ever love the way I cooked it! I guess it was my favourite meal too so I learned how to do it better than anyone (so sayeth my kids!). Whenever Namchi and Kaima, my daughters, knew that we were going to have chicken, their friends would magically appear just in time to be invited to stay for dinner......
I remember the first time Ron stayed for dinner when I had chicken in the oven...Vancouver days in Kits. Tracy Chapman playing on CD, glorious smells wafting from the kitchen as the roasted bird and potatoes et all was getting ready for the table. When we ate, Ron was so blown away, he could barely eat it was so good! All he could do was talk about it between mouthfuls!
He started rating them out of 10 .... he was generous, most got a 10! One time when he was staying here on Cortes for a strategy session for WorldBuyDirect.com, he prepared by stopping in Black Creek to buy a chicken from the most amazing grower, whose operation was so clean and his birds so big....He brought one with him and we cooked it up just right. By the way, I never remember from time to time exactly what I use and what proportions and it often depends on what I have on hand. Well that time a couple of years ago, I must have had exactly what was needed and I must have measured perfectly. And the chicken was huge and so perfect. When it came out of the oven, we called her Chubby Chicken and when we both had our first bites and couldn't say a word because we were in an ecstasy of taste just looking at each other with huge grins on our faces, Ron finally said that Chubby Chicken was an eleven out of a ten! And we just cracked up laughing! Was that a feast to remember!
We always made it a point when I came down to Vancouver and then later to Duncan of going out to eat so we could at least ease the pain of the struggles by having a precious time doing something we loved. We shared some wine or a beer over a meal and always felt renewed by those times. I will always remember Ron's joyful appreciation for food and the wonderful satisfaction it gave. He was so easy to please and always so appreciative.
Ron, this one's for you, Buddy!
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