Fried chicken is one of those foods for which I indulge a life long enjoyment. My personal favorite fried chicken is Kentucky Fried Chicken original recipe and it is actively pursued by me on an intermittent basis with my favorite vendor being that KFC on Decker BL in Columbia SC.

The KFC location near my home on 12th Street in West Columbia simply doesn't cut it on the product or the service staff. Both are totally unsatisfactory.

I had been going to the local Zesto in Triangle City for fried chicken but theirs too has began to taste as though it were prepared in rancid oil and the wait staff began to get orders woefully wrong to the point that I never returned for terrible fried chicken and totally inept service.

We have another National Fried Chicken Day upon us.

Fried chicken is a southern concoction consisting of chicken pieces that have been coated with seasoned flour or batter and fried using the method of personal choice.

The aim of breading is a crisp coating or crust to the exterior of the chicken while retaining juices in the meat.

The scots were the first Europeans to deep fry their chicken in fat; though it was originally unseasoned. West African people had traditions of seasoned fried chicken in which they seasoned and battered chicken which was then fried in palm oil. The beginnings of what we call 'fried chicken' nowadays is the combination of Scottish frying techniques with the West African seasoning techniques. These were developed to a tee by the indigenous black cultures of the American South.

National fried chicken day is observed on July 6 and is a celebration of the evolution of fried chicken as it relates to the american palate.

Happy Fried Chicken Day to you !
 

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When I was a kid there was Jayne Mansfield. She was a playboy bunny, actress of the large and small screens, and did various appearances selling that sex appeal which was her symbology and claim to fame. I always liked her but my experience with her work was quite limited due to my age and her risque product line.

Jayne Mansfield did a lot of modeling, acting and won a Theatre World Award as well as a Golden Globe, was an accomplished singer, appeared in the pages of Playboy as a Playmate, and did nightclub entertaining. She was a major Hollywood sex symbol during the 1950s and early 1960s under contract with 20th Century Fox. She did not travel with an entourage ... rather by automobile by and large.

It was alleged that she was intimately involved with various men. The list included Robert and John F Kennedy, her attorney Samuel S. Brody, and Las Vegas entertainer Nelson Sardelli among others. Her involvement with the Kennedys has cast doubt on the nature of her passing in my mind. I failed to understand the cut throat nature of politics in general even during this earlier timeframe.

Now, it's simply a given.

While we were traveling from Charleston, South Carolina to Key West Florida pursuing my daddy's Navy career we heard on the radio that she had been killed in an automobile wreck while traveling to a venue.

At once I was saddened because this was a person that I pretty much had always known (of) and now she was gone.

That tragedy which was the concurrent losses by her children had escaped me because I knew nothing of her background. One of her children, Mariska Hargitay became a faviorite character actor of mine later in life. She had five kids altogether with two becoming actors.

Jayne Mansfield was the stage name of one Vera Jayne Palmer who was born April 19, 1933 in Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania. She passed in an auto accident on June 29, 1967 in New Orleans, Louisiana.

She was interred in Fairview Cemetery at Pen Argyl, Pennsylvania beside her father Herbert Palmer. She has a cenotaph in Hollywood at the Hollywood Forever Cemetery in California. It has an incorrect birth year.
 

Every so often I'd watch Dog the Bounty Hunter on television as a diversion. It was about a man whose business was apprehending individuals in legal trouble who had skipped bail and were at large and wanted.

It starred Duane Chapman who is quite the colorful character and featured various employees including his wife, Alice Elizabeth Smith Chapman. Mrs Chapman was a striking lady who typically handled back end duties for the company and I simply cannot imaging conducting my business affairs before the camera ... but this was what they did.

There were a total of three iterations of this programming on television:

Dog the Bounty Hunter,
Dog and Beth: On the Hunt, and
Dog's Most Wanted

I caught a few episodes but never tracked which one of those programs it was referring to and I would just get lost in whatever was going down at the moment.

Mrs Chapman was born in Denver, Colorado on October 29, 1967. She was one of five children and trained as a a gymnast and ice skater. She was a nightclub singer, did waitress and clerical work, and spent much of her early life in Colorado prior to moving to Honolulu to be with her future husband Duane 'Dog' Chapman. They were married in 2006.

She starred in these reality television shows alongside her husband 'Dog the bounty hunter' and most notable of these was the eponymous Dog the Bounty Hunter — which originally was released in late 2004 and lasted 8 seasons through 2012. I think I was enthralled by her magnificent bosom which first caught my eye then held me spellbound.

You may certainly call me sexist if you're so inclined, but I thought they were wonderful.

Beth Chapman's final series was Dog's Most Wanted which was being filmed in 2019. She died while the show was being produced. Dog's Most Wanted included the news of terminal cancer for the family and Beth's battle with it over time prior to her death.

The final episode is dedicated to her memory.

Beth Chapman was diagnosed with stage 2 pharyngeal cancer in September 2017. She initially went into remission. However, the disease later went metastatic to her lungs.

She continued working until her condition required admission; at which time she was placed in a medically induced coma at The Queens Medical Center in Honolulu. She passed in the hospital from complications from the cancer on June 26, 2019 and her final disposition was a scattering of her cremains at sea. An ending I could respect for myself.

I always thought that her ending was very tragic to be at the pinnacle of that more than fickle media success only to fall victim to insurmountable health issues. Alas, this was her tragic fate.

Rest in peace.