Tyranny of the Family

Tonight was one helluva night... everyone was mad at everyone else, especially me, with the exception of the dog and middle-more-well-adjusted-most-times daughter, EB.  SB, the son who will be 14 in one day, decided to take the "prime" portion of the chicken breast... I guess it's my fault since I've always made chicken breasts (mostly w/out skin and w/out bones) so they're used to every piece looking and tasting the same.  But this time, I had the audacity to make Chicken Marbella ... a delicious combo of one whole chicken cut-up, capers, prunes, olive oil, green olives w/a yummy topping of brown sugar and white wine.  Here's the recipe:  http://simplyrecipes.com/recipes/chicken_marbella


We were all set to eat, when eldest daughter, the one who loves carbs and usually won't eat much "meat" unless it looks just right, said that the chicken wasn't thoroughly cooked.  Well, it was just a tad pinkish, so I put it back in the oven and "broiled" it to get it cooked a little better.  After a bit, I pulled it out and CMLB, eldest and "most worthy to get the best piece" daughter, happened to go upstairs for something.  So the one to get first choice this go-around, the first to the kitchen, was son, SB, who picked the slice that older sister had already cut for herself.  Upon CMLB's arrival to the kitchen to serve herself, she noticed her plump, white meat chicken breast was gone... taken by the food-stalker brother who, upon hearing that she was looking for that special piece of chicken, decided to claim it for his own and thoroughly licked it all around.  That was it, that was the card that tumbled the stack... mayhem erupted all around and everything went downhill.  SB was mad at me for scolding him for taking his sister's piece of chicken; SJ, dad, was mad at SB for yelling and throwing his adolescent attitude all around the room; CMLB was indignant that everyone had chosen the best parts of the whole chicken before she could get to it; I was mad because youngest daughter, MCB called just then and demanded that I pick her up from the weekend away skiing (I had to leave my plate in the warm oven; I was so ready to eat and get it all over with).  We ended that night with two going to bed without dinner, one not eating any chicken at all, and mostly everyone still mad at me.  All that after spending quite a bit of time making a wonderful meal!

The lesson I learned:  Stick to boneless chicken breasts that all look alike and there won't be any fighting over the parts!