If Only I'd Thought Of "Misremembering" in 1976

Like most people, I vividly remember the times when I was little and got in BIG trouble.

A few that come to mind are the following:

• My friend David and I ate 100% of the beautiful vegetables grown by a neighbor one fine summer day. Said neighbor's innocent notion of a fenceless yard was dashed that day, as was a summer's worth of work as his delicious squash, tomatoes and cucumbers disappeared down our gullets. What was so strange about this crime is that it's not like we were exactly clamoring for vegetables when we were TOLD to eat them - inside, clean, and cooked. I guess that goes to show you that a good backyard garden can win anyone over.
• My friend David and I (see a pattern yet?) threw handfuls of mud at the pristine white garage door and brick of the neighbor whose house was between ours. How dare someone occupy that space?? We got more grounded than we'd ever been grounded before.
• My friend David and I (seriously - if you don't get it by now you might have some sort of problem you need to get checked out) threw "bom boms" (the little stinky nut-like things that grow on Tallow trees) at cars, landed some real whoppers onto the windshield of a passing car, causing the car to stop and disgorge an extremely angry man who chased us into the house where we pretended we'd been coloring for HOURS. We were great actors.
• My friend David and I (are you kidding me? Please re-read them all) decided that the ONE DAY it would be smart to walk home from elementary school through the storm sewer subterranean wonderland was DURING A THUNDERSTORM. Seriously - that is how little dead kids end up becoming national news - that was DEFINITELY not our finest hour.  Luckily we were saved in time for a serious arse whooping. 

If only I had known in the 70s what I know now. See in the 70s, if you told your mother, or anyone else that you did not do something you had clearly done, that was called LYING. It usually increased the intensity of the punishment. It certainly never REDUCED the punishment.

Now, I'm learning, what used to be called LYING is now called "misremembering". I've seen this used by many politicians, and of course now, Brian Williams, who is seen here reporting from the Jurassic period.

If only I'd been able to misremember some of my crimes instead of confessing! I might have been able to play hide-and-seek instead of languishing, grounded in my room listening to Kasey Kasem over the sounds of free children playing outside.

If only my sister had had the benefit of misrememberment about taking off the side of our Suburban with a Sonic tray! (Actually, now that I think of it, she is still misremembering that incident to this day.)

I thought misremembering was what happens when I lose my keys! Just TODAY I misremembered where my mailbox key is. I remembered that it was in my car, but I was MISremembering that, because it actually is NOT in my car.

Sometimes, I misremember people's names - I'm terrible with names. But I'm not LYING about their name when I call them Julie instead of Queen Elizabeth, I am just misremembering that the broad with the crown and all the jewels is, in fact, Elizabeth, even if she looks like a Julie.

I do not approve of the other use of the word misremembering, because it's mistalking and mismeaning. There is lying, and there is forgetting (that's actually disremembering), and there is embellishing - and those are all perfectly good words that we already have. So I would like everyone to go back to using those. Thanks a bunch.

Now - I did NOT misremember how much fun it is to do my backyard coloring on these glorious spring days here in the great Republic. No bugs, perfect light, 80 degrees, birds singing. It's glorious.

So I headed out back last night to enjoy the light and the sound and the warm and brought my Polychromos with me. The image I colored is Sweetbriar Rose. I stamped it in Crumb Cake on Crumb Cake and then just had fun - just four pencils, one of which is called Magenta Hell - what the heck? Doesn't look like hell to me! :) I decided to leave the background just sort of neutral so the flowers popped. The coloring probably took half an hour. I'm a slow colorer. But man do I enjoy every second.

Hopefully as the days lengthen in the coming weeks, I won't misremember how to color.

OH - and I almost forgot - I made an AWESOME meal this week! I had been searching for a good orange chicken recipe for a while, and with my mods, this is DEFINITELY it - I could eat this every day!

Ingredients

• 1 cup jasmine rice or long-grain white rice
• 2 C. Chicken broth
• 3/4 cup orange juice
• 3 tablespoons soy sauce
• 1 tablespoon cornstarch
• 2 teaspoons finely grated orange peel (This is the peel of one decent sized navel orange)
• 2 tablespoons vegetable oil for rice
• Large pinch of dried crushed red pepper
• 1 1/2 pounds chicken thighs, cut into bite sized pieces
• Salt
• Oil
• Cornstarch
• Flour
• 1 C. frozen green peas
• Green onions, sliced thinly
• Sesame seeds

Preparation

Toast rice in oil until fragrant. Add chicken broth and bring to a boil. Reduce to low, cover and cook for 20 minutes. Remove from heat, stir in peas. Cover to keep warm; set aside.

Meanwhile, whisk juice, soy sauce, and 1 TBS cornstarch in medium bowl until cornstarch dissolves. Mix in orange peel.

Heat oil in large wok or skillet over high heat. Sprinkle chicken with salt and pepper and toss in a Ziploc bag with cornstarch and flour (or just cornstarch for gluten free) until coated. Add to pan and fry, turning, until chicken is just cooked through and golden brown, about 4 minutes. Remove chicken - working in batches and keep warm on a cookie sheet in the oven at about 170. When all the chicken is cooked, clean out skillet, add chicken and sauce, and Toss until sauce thickens and comes to boil. Add sesame seeds and green onions and crushed red pepper. Serve on rice with sweet chili sauce. (or see notes)

Notes:

Okay - this was amazing but it needs sweetness. We added my sweet chili sauce to just our servings and that was perfect, but I think that it needs honey or sweet chili in the sauce. I’d say try it with ⅓ C. honey whisked into the sauce. If I try it next time and it works I’ll update this.

Completely modified from this recipe.

Loveyameanitbye.