mmmm fried chicken! sounds good... i do it naked style too. how, on the face of this planet, can someone NOT know what a tater tot is?!? tragic.

Crazy Aunt Purl, call me paranoid (I am not! Who told you that?!), but.... do you really think it's wise to post your address on the internets? Just watchin' your back. Love your blog! Thanks for keeping me entertained.

Love your blog! Love tater tots (and I'm from Boston). Hang in there, I went throught the D thing, and it does get better. (Then you reach the I-can't-believe-I-was-so-stupid-as-to-have-married-him-in-the-first-place phase). But I digress!

I also thought the address thing was maybe not the best idea. I think the same thing when people post their full names and cities and pictures of their kids. You just never know.

Ok, I'm finished being your mom.

Oh! It's a P.O. Box thingy at a private mail place. I live in Encino, and the mail comes to Studio City (I pick it up each Saturday). Thanks for getting my back though! My mom once called to tell me all about a 48 Hours episode she'd seen and how everyone on the Internets is a pedophile. So, ya'll know, she edumacated me LOL.

And then I added a little thing to clarify up there. Because it might freak my mom out now that I think about it. The internets are scary.

Aw, crap. Now I'm jonesing for Crazy-Aunt-Purl fried chicken and tater tots. and all I have at my desk is salt-free Saltines. (Where do they get off calling them Saltines if they're salt-free? Huh?)

Don't you feel sorry for meeeeeeee??

Salt-free saltines? That's an oxymoron LOL. The best part of saltines is the salt on top!

I just had instant oatmeal. Some fried chicken 'n tots sounds pretty good about now to me too.

Oh crap must stop posting comments to my own comments site and actually work. crud.

Have you ever tried that oh so midwestern culinary delight tater tot hot dish (midwest speak for casserole)?

Kathy in Mpls

Whew! I feel better about the whole address thing. Of course, I'll have to find something else to worry about now. I'm just sayin'...

Now I've gotta have fried chicken tonight. We bought tater tots last time we went to the store. Miss G wanted tots and didn't want fries. I'll let ya know how I do with the chicken.

I always thought Key limes were called Key limes because they either originated or were abundant in the Florida Keys?

I just wanted to testify that the fried chicken is VERY VERY GOOD. And so is Laurie's gravy! She makes it the real way, out of the drippings, which I'd never had. Mmmmm, gravy.

I can't wait til we travel together either!

I've never actually commented, but i've been an avid and addicted reader of your blog. Maybe a sort-of-stalker...Love you, Aunt Purl! And i don't even knit!
I was always under the impression that Key Limes are called that because they come from the Florida Keys...? Thought that might help Australian Lynne better understand the significance (and cuteness) of the tiny lime.

Hah! I was right! http://dictionary.reference.com/search?q=key%20lime

Oops! Sorry, NolaPete. I wasn't paying attention there...

i demand tots immediately. this banana, while quite perfectly ripe (i like 'em with freckles), just will not do.

also? i just posted a few days ago about how i too dislike chicken with bones. purl, we are meant to be. you, me, a gaggle of kitties and my itchy dog. whatta plan.

GRAVY?!!!! Well, that's it, fried chicken tonight and gravy and rice. And biscuits. And maybe something not in the brown/beige/white food group. Thank you Aunt Purl! And Jen!

whenever my friends or family move away from the South i always worry they will lose that special something anyone born beneath the mason-dixon inherently has. i've always contended that we are different for good reason and should always remain that way.

so when you wrote the following line as part of the fried chicken recipe, "Drain on a paper bag layered with paper towels" i knew for certain you hadn't lost it, laurie. good for you!

Your fried chicken shall be mine. Oh, good gravy, that sounds delicious.

I always knew it was going to be a great day at school when the lunch menu had square pizza or tater tots. But together it was sinfully delicious!

You know, since that fried chicken is boneless and skinless, it has to be healthy, right? Of course! It has to be! Ignore the oil and the buttermilk and flour and, mmm, I might make it anyways. :)

I keep thinking I'll mail you something, but I'm not such a great mailer, and then you'd think that you'd have to amil me back, and then it'd just start a horrible tornado of mail angst that would cause "The Big One" in California, and I'd feel guilty forever and ever.

Do you think some of your gnomes stole my 2 brand-new, still in the package sets of 5" size 1 Brittany DPNs? Because I'd really like them back now.

And have you met the Tater Tot's cousin, the Crispy Crown? We much prefer them to the tots, actually. Because they're well, crispier. :)

I will share with you my special secret tater tot dipping sauce recipe...

Put many spoonfuls of Hellmann's Real Mayo in a dipping bowl. (No, you cannot substitute any sort of low fat or healthy white stuff - it must be Hellmann's full fat version).

Stir in liberal squirts of Sriracha, the best hot sauce ever. http://www.huyfong.com/no_frames/sriracha.htm

Dip tot. Eat tot. Repeat.

I always knew it was going to be a great day at school when the lunch menu had square pizza or tater tots. But together it was sinfully delicious!

Your friend chicken recipe is making me so hungry! Yum! And I LOVE tater tots!

The fried chicken sounds great, although I'm pretty big on chicken skin. For the record my fave school lunch was the octagon pizza which had orange cheese. I think they called it "Fiestada Pizza." YUM Despite having lived in KS my whole life, and never having heard ya'll once here, every time I read your blog I start saying ya'll for a while. I'm a southerner at heart :)

Mmm, fried chicken. You know what makes it a little bit better? Add salt to the buttermilk (then it's brined chicken - sooo juicy) and add minced garlic, too.

Have you seen the new knitty? I just read an article by Jenna Wilson about gauge and my brain nearly exploded. I thought of you. Oh the math! I thought I had a pretty good grasp on the whole guage issue but now I know that, in fact, I do not. Take a look at the article.

http://www.knitty.com/ISSUEsummer05/FEATsum05TBP.html

I have to tell you, when I was pregnant I CRAVED tater tots like mad. I'm telling ya, I could have owned Ore Ida in those days. I still love 'em, too.

Oooo...I have Tony Chachere in my kitchen cupboard as we speak! What with that GERD thing, though, we don't get to spend much quality time together. GOD, do I miss N'Awlins.

Key limes are indeed called that because they grow only in the Florida Keys, which are not keys at all but really small islands all in a row, but you knew that. And if you go there, you can buy that culinary delight, Key Lime Pie On A Stick. I never have, but others do.

But Laurie...you forgot the most important question, we need your wine list!

I have tator tots almost every morning with scrambled eggs and cheese. Mmmm!

Just a quick comment on the "key" limes bit, I had never had key limes before, but Safeway had a little net bag of them for 99 cents, so I bought them...because they were cute. I call them cute li'l limes, and drew faces on some of them. Oh, and they're very tasty in diet pepsi.

Smacks forehead. I am stupid with the internets. I am so distracted by your funny-ness in the column area - that I never venture out to read the sides! And to think it has been sitting there all this itme.

I am such a bad stalker!

Wanders of red faced and embarrased.

Tater Tots are my life. Especially ones from Sonic.

You're fried chicken is pretty close to my chicken cutlets. I've got to try the buttermilk (I use eggs). The planets must be (mis)aligned, we were talking about the joys of tater tots in the elevator this morning.

As for travel, have you checked out Amy's site (http://www.indigirl.com/blog/) she's trying to get together a small group of knitters for a trip on the Trans-Mongolian railroad.

Mmm...tater tots! Love the tots! There are a bunch of places in the NW owned by McMenamins that serve monstrous baskets of tots. With ranch dressing. (Y'all who live in OR and WA know the McMenamins...rest of y'all can check 'em out at www.mcmenamins.com.)

My fav dipping sauce though is Pee Dee Swamp Sauce that my mother-in-law got in New Orleans.

I think I will have to make your fried chicken and some tots for dinner tonight! I'm hungry just thinking about it!

Whaaa??? Who out there did not know what tater tots are? Show yourself, ignorant one!!

And WORD to Jo on the tasty goodness of Sonic. Mmmmm.

this is not related to laurie's post, really...

this is related to the mentioning of sonic. sonic is amazing. sonic's $3 breakfast of a breakfast burrito and tater tots and coffee is the best way to start your day before going to a yarn sale with your mother. i find it a horrid punishment that for some reason, there are sonic ads on the boston tv, BUT NO SONICS. WTF?!

and, laurie, i lived in texas for over 20 years, but since i wasn't born there, i will never be a "true texan". which i can't decide to think of as a good or a bad thing...

How 'bout going one step further and making my super delicious Tater Tot Casserole!!! It's fancy 'cause you use FRENCH-fried onions!

Tater Tot Casserole

1 (32 oz.) pkg. Frozen tater tots
1 (16 oz.) container sour cream
1 cup shredded Cheddar cheese
1 can cream of mushroom soup
1 (6 oz.) can Durkee’s FRENCH fried onions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease a 9" x 13" baking dish. Arrange tater tots in the dish. In a mixing bowl, combine sour cream, cheese and mushroom soup. Pour this mixture over the tots. Sprinkle French-fried onions over top of casserole. Bake at 350 degrees for 45 minutes to an hour, until top is golden brown!!!

Enjoy!

Wenders, as a Texan, lived here for 43 of 45 years (daddy was in the navy those other two, so I still count as native born).........there is a saying my husband uses to explain how he is a Texan... after arriving her only 15 years ago:

Texas: "I wasn't born here, but got here as soon as I could"..

Laurie: your chicken recipe sounds great!

humm am craving tater tots with chili and cheese and a big ol' limeaide from Sonic...and I've got one just down the street. Now.. the question is; do I want to brave 93 degree heat?

See ya later!

Nancy France

In this nutty world where people are weird (in a bad way) and effed up, it is so nice that every morning I can read all about what is going on in the minds of my friends. I can get easy fried chicken recipies and I can see that all over the world, people are sharing their fond thoughts of tater tots. I love all y'all.

I thought "GNOMES!!" was a reference to one of my favorite movies, "Chicken Run." Which I once screened at a party accompanied by chicken pot pie, to the horror of one of my friends -- "But they don't want to be a pie!"

Oh, and Laurie Colwin (great writer!) measured the amount of oil that was actually absorbed while cooking her fried chicken, and the answer was "surprisingly little," especially if you have the oil hot enough.

Hi Laurie! I think I have now changed blog space three times, but I like this last one the best!

Can't believe someone did not know what tater tots were! Are they only popular in certain parts of the country? I never much liked them, but the casserole? And the with chili and cheese? Sounds positively lovely!

Gonna try your chicken too! Come visit me if you get a chance. The blog isn't big yet but there are some cute pictures of my youngest kitty so far :)

Girl, get thee to an agent who's connected in the publishing world. You need a book deal. Really.

Laurie - you do the chicken, I'll do the potatoes (smashed of course) and the gravy. I HAVE NEVER been able to get fried chicken right. Tonight, for dinner due to extreme heat, BLT sandwiches!

Curses to ya'll! I think I've gained 10 pounds just reading this blog today! ARGHHHHHHHHHH!

p.s. Uhh ... Taral ... you'll be making extra of that fried chicken tonight, right?!! :)

I has a question. Do you ever use the phrase "fixin' to" as in "I'm fixin' to make me a sandwich" and have people laugh and point. I lived in the South too all my life and then I came to Boston and said "fixin' to" once and got laughed at and now I don't say it. It doesn't even come naturally anymore, I've been so gentrified.

I have got to try your fried chicken. Sounds soooo good. Now I just have to find a good recipe for some southern sweet tea.

Here is a dipping sauce my ex sister-n-law made up that my kids still love. Take some dill pickle juice and mix with a bit of mustard. Quite unique but would taste great with the tater tots.

You're like your own Johnny Cash song - I have "I've Been Everywhere" in my head now. Plus I have a HUGE craving for fried chicken, which I never make, 'cause I can't stand the way it make the house smell a day later. Maybe I'll just mail myself to your PO Box. :D

gasp... can't go out for tater tots......heat up to 96...

but there is a rain cloud over the subdivision.. maybe our little area (nicknamed Saraha Flats) will get lucky and score on the rain lottery!

dang.........it's HOT

Man you've got time to blog! I'm jealous! I love your site, and just wanted to tell you as much. Thanks for sharing...no, really!

Oh and Laurie? Hi! One more thing. Actually a question for your next question and answer blog.

Did you ever think when you started this blog that hundreds of people would start reading/stalking you, that you would get stuff in the mail...lots of stuff, that everyone would love you and anxiously wait for your next blog, and that we would want t-shirts made?

Li,
I'm from Hawaii (born in boston) and thanks to my texan father say "fixin' to" ALL THE TIME. And no one laughs.

Laurie,

Lemme Q&A you for my blog, can I? Can I? Huh? Huh? You know I'm desperately in loves with you.
Play your cards right and I might give you my recipe for my famous flavor-free empenadas

Kat...If I make the fried chicken and tots are you coming over for dinner? You know you need help with that beanie...I mean hat...that you knit up. Added incentive...I also got gelato.

Nancy France...Can we trade weather?? If you send some sunshine to Oregon, I'll send you the rain. Summer has gone missing up here.

mmm that chicken sounds like it be great with some tater tots. :)

OOh...and I want some nice country style cream gravy for that chicken.... nummy!

Wenders, are you watching TBS? I think they have the southern ads and then air them nationally. It drove me absolutely CRAZY when I lived in Boston/New Jersey/Philadelphia to see them. Of course, when I do live somewhere that has Sonic and Chick-Fil-A, I pout because I can't get Dunkin Donuts or Yuengling... it's so hard being a Yankee/Dixie hybrid. ;)

I always feel as if I've met a "soul-friend" when I meet someone new who says "fixin to". Also another good one is , "you-uns". My aunt Brenda got me saying this years ago. I'll See you-uns later!

Here in Houston if you order a burger they ask "fries or tater tots with that?". Bonus when you say fries and one or two tater tots accidentally get mixed in.

Question: Crazy Aunt Purl, what is your opinion of corn dogs? Do you eat them with ketchup?

Drew, you know I'm fixin' to have a corn dog for dinner... with mustard only!!

ya'll work is busybusy. only a good dose of tater tots and wine could fix this!!

hi laurie, your blog is hilarious!!! i am trying to picture you in the drugstore taking pictures of tampons and at the restaurant clicking at the shwarma! too funny! thanks for the fried chicken recipe, might have to try it!

I have got to stop reading this blog! I just said to my boss (after making a *really* stupid mistake) "I'm not so good with the maths"! Too bad my job is pretty much all about the maths...

I've stopped with all the "fixin' to"'s but I still bust out a little Southern every so often, mostly "grab me that..." and so-and-so was really "cuttin' a shine". Not to mention all the y'alls...oh The South, how I miss thee!

DREW.... you know better than to pollute a nice corny dog with ketsup!

And dang it.. the rain storm broke into two different rain storms and avoided my yard completely. I got clouds, wind, thunder and even a rather largish and scary lightning bolt...

but not a dang drop of rain.

I'm a fixin' ta whomp on some rain clouds tomorrow! Me and God is gonna talk. I'm just sayin'....

Tater Tots!!! At the faboo fast food chain Taco Time in Oregon they call thier tater tots Mexi Fries. Go set them straight!!!

I have to agree with Drew here in that I do put ketchup on my corn dog.

ketchup.. good for french fries and tator tots bare of chili and cheese.

Mustard: goood for hamburgers, corn dogs, tuna salads and hot dogs.

Mayo: also good for hamburgers. Tuna salad (balances the bite of the mustard), boloney sandwiches and turkey sandwiches.

Heeeheheheh

I'm looking to start something in here Laurie..
Anything to take your mind off of eating your hair.

I will have to try your receipt for fried chicken, because - this pains me - I'm a southern girl who can't make decent fried chicken to save her life. How wrong is that? I make great cornbread though. And I looooove tater tots!

You know what I love? I mean, besides, knitting, tater tots, fried chicken and Aunt Purl?

Hush Puppies...MMmmmMMMmMmMmM!

Don't laugh, but Red Lobster used to have the best hush puppies.

I'd like to learn to make decent bisquits (without Bisquik).. mine always end up like HOCKEY PUCKS....

Can I be your friend? I think you are so hilarious!!! I thought I was the only one in the world who has weird, random things happening to me all of the time! Keep up the good work and hang in there - Things will get better!

My kids think tater tots are the best... but that's because they grew up in Texas... the youngest was, like you, born here. The other one has the Yankee Stamp on her... born in New York... but she wore cowboy boots all through her 4 years at one o' them fancy up North colleges!

You can to go my link and see me in red hair. Just did it tonight. Had been vainly proud of my natural California blondeness (of which i am a native) for too long. I'm a changed woman.

I hope that fingering yarn doesn't get mixed up with sport....

Golly, people have gotten worked up over you posting your postal address, not your home addy on the web.... Now what was I saying... umm.... oh yeah, i wanna be a redhead too but when I went strawberry blonde I looked really ill and it clashed with all my clothes, so i'm still blonde. And i am over having to be professional all the time at work. It is dull and boring. I guess I should start pretending to be professional and know what I am talking about. Role play it.

Tater tots. TACO TIME. Fried chicken. Corn dogs (another of my favs!). Sonic. Oh, TBS, you evil cable network of taunting-ness...thank you, Gwen, for explaining *that*! And for pointing out that in the balance of the universe, I could have to choose between Sonic and Dunkies. I'd go for Dunkie every. single. time.

You know what else I love love love? Pop tarts.

OMG, its like 134 degrees here, and all I can think about is freaking TOTS! Damn you ALL! (not...)

Kathy, Tater Tot Hotdish! A delightfully scary-looking but amazing-tasting casserole...green beans in yours? And hamburger? And some sort of "cream of____" soup?

Taco Johns has the tots with seasoned salt and calls them Ole's. Luckily, DD works there. Ole!

Corns Dogs TOTALLY with ketchup--and they must be from the Minnesota State Fair, where EVERYTHING is served on a stick.

You are too funny! One of the girls in a knitting group I belong to forwarded your blog address. Can't wait to read more.

Oh. My. God. I just read your crack-head-incest-lovin' neighbour story. Major case of shadenfreude here, I laughed my arse off.

Yum, fried chicken. I've never had the pleasure of tater-tots. Up here in the Maritimes (Canada) my "downhome" comfort foods are:
1. salted cod cakes and baked beans with chow.
2. corned beef hash (the potato kind, not corned beef and drugs. Can you imagine?)
mmm, salt.
3. Fish 'n' Chips (sigh, deep fried battered fish. Its definitely our "fried chicken". I'm quite particular about it, MUST be haddock.)

Some people (it seems to be a Nfld-er thing, I'm from NS) eat "scrunchons" with cod cakes. It is deep fried pieces of pork fat, I think. I know, it defies logic.

OK I am so making fried chicken this weekend w/ tater tots. if your in the mood to fly cross country to NY please come to dinner! ;)

-D-

1. Fried chicken and buttermilk thing - yum.
2. Angst regarding divorce - my solution was to get a license plate holder that read...

"I'm not *ucking stupid! (But I used to)"

Just seek out the small joys in life, hon.

Sweet Jesus and Baby Jesus, Aunt Purl!

Tater tots (tot casserole, YUM!) and yarn "fingering" in the same post? I'm gonna need a fresh pair of pants...

~Miss Pants

but I said the stuff about key limes and fingering (ooh not together tho - bit like experimenting with champagne...)
I digress - I just wanted to say, I realise that Key lime is a variety of lime, its just every american cookbook I read, they say key lime pie or key lime shake or such thing, and then they add a flavouring mix or something which isn't a real key lime. So my point (eventually) is - in the land of litigation could you sue someone if they advertised key lime pie but actually used another variety of lime? Like Champagne can only come from Champagne, etc etc...
just asking... genny from New Zealand (trying not to get tetchy about the aussie thing..)

oops, ps forgot to say, love the blog - in fact am ignoring doing the payroll right now and reading your blog...

Ok - I'm making your chicken tomorrow (it's soaking right now). Well, almost your chicken, 'cuz I don't know what the heck Tony Chachere all-seasoning is, so I'll use some other sumthin' from my spice cabinet. I'm assuming that's okay ;-)

You should try Tater tots with Sriracha Hot sauce! The one with the chicken on it - I swear I would not lead you astray.

Crazy Aunt Purl, where are you???????? I'm really missing my fix.

Re: the fried chicken.... did you know that if you soak it in buttermilk AND louisiana hot sauce, then do all the other steps you listed you get spicy, louisiana hot sauce fried chicken? Because what is fried chicken without the hot sauce? To quote, well, you, "I'm just saying..." ;-)

Key limes are named after the Florida Keys