Dadvice Weekly #36 / Easter Traditions

Dadvice Weekly - #36

Every Easter, I make fried chicken. It started in April 2020, when Alicia and I were in our apartment, bored out of our minds, and doing what everyone was doing that spring—messing around in the kitchen. We tried a couple of recipes, liked different things about each one, and slowly started combining them. That first batch was fine. Nothing special. But I kept coming back to it, adjusting the brine, fiddling with oil temp, developing strong and probably unnecessary opinions about resting time. Five years in, and the final product is actually good.

A lot of satisfaction lives in the process of slowly getting better at a thing, slowly accumulating small improvements over time. I don’t know about you, but for me, it can be hard to carve out time for things like this. Life is too scattered, attention too divided. But there’s something worth protecting about finding one thing and just quietly getting better at it, season after season, until one day you realize you actually know what you’re doing.

This year’s batch turned out great, while the evening itself took a turn. Our five-year-old managed to re-break his arm that had just healed, courtesy of the backyard bounce house, and we closed out Easter Sunday in the ER as they reset it and fit him for a new cast. He’s fine, all’s well, and we’re already back to full chaos. Here’s to the traditions worth repeating, and the ones that better not 😁 –KC

The Fried Chicken Recipe

Here’s the most current version of the recipe. Whole chickens, broken down into about 8-10 pieces per bird, brined overnight in buttermilk and Frank’s RedHot. Twenty-four hours in the fridge and the meat comes out tender, seasoned all the way through, and full of flavor. Day of, I double dredge in seasoned flour and starch, then into the outdoor fryer at 325-350°F. Depending on how you scale it, it’s a full day project. But it’s a lot of fun and totally worth the effort imo. –KC

Fried Chicken Dadvice

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Going to Easter Service on Saturday

I know this is going to sound crazy but hear me out. I have had 2 Easters as a father and both times we have made it to the Saturday service instead of Sunday. Its a great idea.

One caveat before diving in - Easter is the Super Bowl of the Christian faith. So I am not making this recommendation to “check the box” of going to church.

Our church has a 4 o’clock and 6 o’clock Saturday service. Then on Sunday they had a 9, 11, 1, and 3 options. There is a huge push from our church to avoid the 9 and 11 to save room for visitors. So your options really are 1 and 3 on Sunday or picking a Saturday option. We have found the 4 o’clock on Saturday to be perfect. It allows you to go church, experience the service, then you are able to be at home for a typical bed time routine. Then Sunday you have a slow morning doing Easter fun. Have a typical rhythm of naptime. Once the baby is awake you are able to proceed with whatever Easter traditions you have. Hitting the Saturday service is something we will do for a long time. -SW

Turn the Sprinklers On During Masters Week

When I moved to Colorado I didn’t know anything about “real” winters. When I bought a house I didn’t know anything about home ownership. So I had to do a lot of personal research to figure out what it meant to winterize sprinklers in the Fall and what it meant to turn them on in the Spring.

True Coloradans say to not turn your sprinklers on for the Spring until Mother’s Day. For the last 4 years I have made it my tradition to turn them on during Masters week.

For me, this is a tradition that signifies the start of Summer. We might get hit with one or two more snows but there are more warm days than cold days in the month of April. This is the time to start transitioning your mindset into this is the best time of the year to live here. Softball is once a week, I try to book a tee time once a week, I tend to do more grilling, and its the start of lawn care season. There’s nothing better and Masters week is the milestone event to kick it all off. I encourage you to tradition stack Masters week with something you love. -SW

Just for Dad: Grab A Few Extra Sprinkler Heads

Every spring I turn the sprinklers back on and find out at least one head got cracked over the winter or is spraying sideways into the fence. Last year I made two separate trips to Home Depot because I didn’t think to grab extras the first time. Now I just pick up a few replacement heads at the first of the season when I’m stocking up on other spring stuff. They’re a couple bucks each, they’re easy to swap out, and having them on the shelf means I’m not running back to the store mid-project on a Saturday. –KC

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Dadvice Weekly is Kyle and Skyler—two friends in their thirties, living in Colorado, settling into fatherhood and trying to stay sane. Every Tuesday we share what’s working in our homes: gear we use, routines we’ve tested, ideas we’re trying. It could be a recipe, a product that solved a problem, or just what we’re thinking about as dads.

If you have a tip, tried something we mentioned, or just want to say hi, reply to this email or message us on Substack. We read everything, and we’re always looking for what works. Glad you’re here.