Watching those cooking shows really does pay off.

It's not a good thing to wake up to a cooking show.

I was lollygagging around watching some guy cook new potatoes, when my morning stomach grumblings took effect.

As I watched more and more awesome dishes be prepared, I was thinking, hmmm....I don't have to do anything major today, and I do need to go to the store....hey...I'll cook!

So I racked my brain to find out what I have been craving recently, and pick a dish to make.

Hands down, it was the chicken fettuccine with a white wine and garlic sauce, that they used to serve at a former place of employment.

I have attempted fettuccine in wine sauce before, but they never resulted in what they sold at the restaurant.

So I did a quick web search, and couldn't find anything that came close to what I wanted.

'Oh well, let's see if I can make it up', I thought.

So off to the store.

An hour and $100 later [I stocked up this time since I normally shop every day, because food always seems to spoil before I can get to it], I was ready to commence cooking activities.

However, whilst putting the groceries away, my OCD kicked in.

Instead of washing veggies and prepping for the task ahead, I delved in to the laborious project of cleaning the refrigerator.

Luckily, it hasn't been so long since I did it, so it didn't take too long.

While doing this, I decided that I was going to poach the chicken breast instead of pan cooking or baking.

I grabbed a pot, threw in some thyme, turmeric, salt and pepper, and plop! went the chicken breasts.

I'd give you tablespoon and ingredient amounts, but I don't really cook that way.

Sorry.

Ha.

I let that simmer on low to medium heat, while I prepped the other stuff [poaching at a low heat allows the flavors to permeate the breast, and not overcook. It also helps to keep the chicken moist - a thing I sometimes have a problem with].

Next up were the lemons.

I thought about using some imported lemon juice/oil I saw at the store, but opted for the real thing instead.

I threw two lemons in the microwave for a minute.

I learned on some show that if you microwave citrus fruits for just a bit, it will help you get more juice out of them [it works].

Juiced and strained the lemons, and put it in a cup with some olive oil[so that it didn't evaporate while doing other stuff].

Chopped up some fresh mushrooms, and minced two cloves of garlic.

Next up, fired up the saucepan and threw some regular butter, with an equal amount of this sea salt butter I found [I was leery of doing all sea salt butter, because I didn't want it to turn out too salty].

Sauteed the garlic until golden brown, threw in the mushrooms, and chopped the combo up some more in the butter.

Next up, threw in the lemon juice [with the oil], and added thyme, turmeric, salt and pepper again [like the poached chicken], and reduced it to a low heat.

I then took the chicken breasts, washed off the boiled-off fat, and sliced in to decent strips.

This is the point where you should probably start the fettuccine.

I like to keep mine al-dente so that when you add the sauce, it doesn't muck up on you.

Back to the chicken and sauce: turned it up to a medium simmer and once that started bubbling, threw in about a half of a cup of Sauvignon Blanc, and let that simmer and reduce.

Finished up the pasta, threw it a bowl, and added the chicken, with a few extra spoonfuls of the sauce.

Holy Moishe!

It turned out WAY better than I hoped.

I must say, I actually liked it better than the one they served at the restaurant.

It was light and fresh, with a great lemon taste.

You could barely notice the butter or wine, but you could tell they were there.

This is the first time using turmeric, and poaching the meat first.

Definitely going to do that in the future.

So there you go, a helpful recommendation borne of my random culinary talents.