Today is Gary's birthday
 

He's 61. I baked him his favorite cake, Italian Cream Cake with cream cheese icing. It's a darned hard cake to make - why can't Duncan Hinz box cake be his favorite! :D

I have his favorite dinner in the oven, chicken fried steak. I'll also fix mashed potatoes, corn and gravy.

Right now, he's sleeping in the chair. He just got home from the deer lease - they saw a few deer, but (thankfully) didn't shoot anything!

I bought him the new computer last month, so I only got him a digital money jar as a present to unwrap. He always throws his change into a big jar and then spends hours sorting and counting the money when it is full. This jar counts it as you drop it in and keeps the total. I think he'll think that's cool!

Tell Gary Happy Birthday from 4WT!! I love Italian cream cake and you're right, it is hard to make. Your dinner sounds awesome! What a cool gift.....a digital money jar! I'll have to look for one of those for one of my sons for Christmas!

Lots of places probably have them, but I'd never seen one before - but then again, I'd never looked. LOL! I got mine at Sears and saw one at Kohl's too.

Tell Gary I said HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!!

One question... How the heck do you make chicken fried steak in the oven, lol??!!

Happy Birthday Gary!!! Tell Gayle that falling isn't the 'entertainment' you had in mind....lol

Happy Birthday to Gary!!!! Hope he has many, many more!!! I'm sure he's enjoying his cake!!!

That's a really good question, Betsi! LOL!

I pan fry it just like making regular chicken fry - brown it on both sides and then put it in a dutch oven with the cover on, in a 250 degree oven for as long as you want. I put a metal rack in the bottom of the pan and lay the chicken fries on top of the rack so much of the grease drains off to the bottom of the pan. You can layer them, and put as many as you want in the pan. You do have to be careful when you take them out as sometimes the breading wants to fall off. I do this anytime I want to make the chicken fry early and not have to mess with it while trying to get everything else done.

Also, if you leave it in the oven for an hour or two, it "steams" the meat and makes it fork tender. I always used tenderized beef cubes (or venison) but putting it in the over for an hour or two REALLY makes it tender.

So, there you go - that's how my chicken fry in the oven works!

Happy Belated Birthday Gary!!!! I hope you had a good day!!! I know that you had some good entertainment!!!!

Happy Birthday Gary:bigbday::bigbday: