Day 658: Wow.  Can you believe it's been 658 days so far?  Life has certainly changed quite a lot since I showed up to California.  Most significantly, of course, has been my relationship with Kris, which, honestly, I don't talk about much on this blog, but is easily the biggest part of my life.  We're really very happy together, and we both frequently find ourselves marveling at just how wonderful sharing life's little joys can be.

This past weekend, we had an Easter feast at her parents' house, along with her brother John and his wife Melanie.  Her folks, Ron and Josetta, seem to like me pretty well, and we all have fun when we're hanging out.  This weekend was no exception, as we had just PILES of delicious food: salad, ham, chicken, asparagus, smashed potatoes (Josetta cooked 'em, and I got to smash 'em.  It's entirely possible that, in my head, I kept going, "HULK SMASH!"....), bruschetta, and Kris made really nummy cake and tarts.  Good times.  We were stuffed, and I kept threatening to fall asleep, but then we were all corralled into the backyard to hunt for Easter eggs.  A good Easter egg hunt is something I hadn't participated in since I was a kid, and it was super fun!  I did come in last (in "total eggs found"), but I claimed a moral victory for finding the lion's share of the last (and therefore best hidden) eggs.

It was a wonderful afternoon, and we all look forward to doing it all again next year!

In other, less timely news, I took a couple of panoramic shots of our recently landscaped backyard, and they are presented here for you to enjoy.  :)

I love that fountain!  Just the other week, we saw a couple of robins splashing around in it, and they were really cute!!  We're hoping more birds come to visit over the spring.  If they do, I'll certainly keep you all posted.  The grill has been a real joy to cook with, and the veggie garden has been a fun little project as the weather has warmed up.

Oh, and our very first tomatoes are JUST starting to ripen!  We're farmers!!  Woot!

It's all pretty great, and you should come visit, so that you can see it for yourself!!

Tomorrow, ADVENTURE!!  :)

This weekend, I was tasked with preparing a roasted chicken for Easter dinner, and I'm pleased to say that it was a huge success!!  The recipe is super-simple, too.  Note that I cooked an average sized chicken (5.75 pounds), and the cooking time listed below is for a bird of that size.

BRINE

You should always brine chicken.  This simple brine is the one that I used.

1/2 cup Low Sodium Soy Sauce
1/4 cup Teriyaki sauce
1 gallon water
3/4 cup kosher salt
2/3 cup sugar

Combine all of the ingredients in a large bowl and mix together until the sugar and salt are dissolved.  Also, don't worry that it's going to taste too "teriyaki-y"; this is all just to add a little complexity to the flavor, and it's not going to overpower the natural chicken yumminess!

Throw a handful of ice into the bowl to cool it down, then drop the entire whole chicken into the bowl.  Cover and chill overnight in the fridge (or cover with another bowl full of ice, keeping it iced down and chilled for the duration of the brining).

RUB

1/2 cup kosher salt
1/8 cup ground pepper
1/4 cup poultry seasoning

Mix all of these ingredients together.  I crushed it all up using a mortar and pestle.

MIREPOIX

1 large onion
2 ribs celery
2 carrots

Dice all of these, and toss them into your roasting pan. 

ROAST

1 lemon
1/2 stick of unsalted butter
Olive oil

Drain the chicken, and remove the gizzards (save these for stock and/or gravy).  Dry the whole thing down.  Rub the interior cavity with olive oil and a handful of the Rub.  Drizzle the juice of one lemon generously over the outside, then stuff the lemon along with the butter into the cavity.  This is going to keep the interior flavorful and aromatic!  Drizzle the outside of the chicken with oil, and then apply the remainder of the rub generously.  This is going to give you delicious crispy skin.  Mmmmm... 

Drizzle oil over the mirepoix, and then place the chicken directly on top, breasts up.  Tuck the tips of the wings under the legs. You should really truss the legs with butcher's twine, but I did not, and the chicken was still awesome.

Cook at 350 for 2 hours and 15 minutes.  Every 30 minutes, baste with the drippings in the pan.

Let this cool after removing it from the oven, then carve it up and eat it in your face.

I hope you enjoy it as much as we all did!

Happy Easter, everybody!

Tomorrow, ADVENTURE!! :)

April 19, 2014 - Today, I was happily and innocently indulging in a little computering, when, from the other room, a familiar strain was heard:

Yo Joe!
He'll fight for freedom where ever there's trouble.
GI Joe is there.

It's GI Joe against Cobra the enemy
Fighting to save the day.
He never gives up.
He's always there,
Fighting for freedom over land and air

GI Joe- A real American hero
GI Joe is there...

...Now, I know that on Saturday mornings, K likes to catch up on her weekly television, but why in the world was she watching the adventures of America's daring, highly trained special mission force?  Curious, I wandered into the other room, wondering what Cobra (a ruthless terrorist organization determined to rule the world) was up to in this animated adventure.

It turned out to be an episode of Community, which took place inside the animated series that I remembered so fondly.  In thinking about it, I wondered, as I had often done as a wee tyke, exactly which G.I. Joe *I* would have been.  Of course, it's obviously the roguish-but-loveable sailor, Shipwreck.  And then I thought, "Hey, let's do a side-by-side comparison!!"

It's like looking in a damn mirror.

Although I had no parrot, which is lame.

I hope you are all having a wonderful weekend!

Tomorrow, ADVENTURE!!  :)