A couple weeks ago I flew to Detroit to visit my best friend Emma. I always love it when we get together, but this visit was especially great. Because guess what, guys? My sista’ from anotha’ motha’ is getting married! (Insert How I Met Your Mother’s Woo Girl “Woo” here.)
The story of how he proposed is beyond perfect. But first, something to know about Emma: she’s one of those people who works tirelessly toward any goal once she puts her mind to something. She has always been pretty ambivalent about marriage, but about six months ago she finally, finally admitted that she did indeed want to marry her longtime boyfriend, Steven. And once she decided that, she realized she wanted to do it, like, yesterday. Problem was, even though Steven also wanted to get married, he said he needed time to save up for a ring, so getting engaged was still a ways off.
This, my friends, is where Engagement Chicken comes in. Helpful friend that I am, I sent her a copy of Glamour’s “100 Recipes Every Woman Should Know” and told her to get cooking. It was really more of a joke because Emma isn’t exactly skilled in the kitchen, but she made it happen her own way: instead of making Engagement Chicken for Steven, she convinced him to make it for her while she read him all the success stories about couples who got engaged after eating the dish. (Spoiler alert: It works, but not how you think! Keep reading...)
Fast-forward to two weeks ago. Emma came home from work to find Steven cooking dinner—a totally normal occurrence (that lucky duck!) so she didn’t think twice about it. Right before they were about to sit down, he asked her to check the oven to make sure the food looked ready. He’d had a dishtowel over the oven window until that point, so when she opened the oven she was surprised to discover he’d made
you guessed it
Engagement Chicken! When she turned around, Steven was down on one knee with a gorgeous yellow gold ring, which he’d designed himself. Needless to say, she said “yes!” 
Is that not the cutest story? I love that she flat-out told him what she was doing with the Engagement Chicken instead of trying to play it cool. It totally paid off, and now we have proof that even guys can use this recipe.