Winnah winnah! Roasted chicken sheet pan dinnah!

You may have tried a version of this in your travels, but folks, stop the press…

this one has been frenchified!

You will need one large sheet pan (18 x 36″).  To the pan you will add France’s answer to amazing flavor, mirepoix (carrots, celery and onion).  Scatter around the pan 3-4 peeled, halved shallots, 4-5 carrots peeled and roughly chopped, 4-5 celery stalks roughly chopped, and – just so that the entire dinner is done when you pull this out of the oven – 2-3 large russet potatoes peeled and roughly chopped.

The goal here is to get enough vegetables cut up on that sheet pan to form a layer that the chicken will rest upon, that will absorb the delicious juices and flavor from the chicken.

Drizzle the veggies with olive oil…

very liberally!

Add salt

and pepper, very liberally.

Add about 8 pieces chicken thighs, on top of the veggies.  You do not want the chicken to sit in the pan, as it will get wet on the bottom from soaking in its own juices.  Rather, you want the vegetables to cook in those yummy juices.

You can use boneless, skinless thighs as I have here, or those with skin and bone, or other chicken parts.

Sprinkle liberally with olive oil.

Add a generous amount of salt…don’t be afraid…

and a generous amount of pepper…don’t be shy!

Here comes more frenchifying…add multiple branches of rosemary and thyme, tossed all over the chicken…

French alert!!!   …send it right over the top with flavor by adding a pat of butter over each thigh.  Don’t think about it…just go right ahead and make this most delicious dinner for your family, who will thank you and thank you and may even do the dishes for you…

Place in preheated 450 degree oven for about 37 minutes or till done. How do you know it’s done? The degree of doneness will remain the same, no matter the cut of chicken you have on your sheet pan.  When the thermometer inserted into the thickest part of the chicken meat registers 160, take it out of the oven and let it rest for a few minutes.

Bon Appétit, Ma Chérie!

 

 

 

 

 

HAVE YOU EVER RECEIVED AN EMAIL OR TEXT IN ALL CAPS?  OR SENT ONE OUT THAT WAY?

Did you know that this is the equivalent of shouting at someone?  It is.  Even if that’s not how you mean it.  It doesn’t matter the content of your letter, post or email.  You could be the nicest person in the world but WHEN YOU WRITE IN ALL CAPS YOU SOUND LIKE YOU’RE SCREAMING AT ME!

Two reasons to steer clear of your Caps Lock key…

1. People don’t like to be yelled at and so most likely will not read what you’ve written.  For instance, you’re a boss and have fired off an important email about a mandatory meeting and you’ve been heavy-handed with the capital letters.  You’re intending to get a message across and make sure that everyone knows you mean business.  However, on the receiving end, people are thinking that your email was forceful, arrogant and mean.  There may be some long faces and a few uncooperative employees that show up to that meeting!
2. It is a lot more difficult to read what you’ve written.  Studies have shown that type in all caps is around 40 percent less legible than caps and lowercase, or just lowercase.

 

Although the same does not hold true for handwritten letters in all capital letters appearing as though you are being shouted at, writing anything in all caps still is not preferable.  Handwriting analysis mentions that those who write letters using all caps tend to be quite egotistic and hold strong opinions.

Etiquette is essential when you interact with people, whether it be face-to-face, on the phone or in the written form of an email or letter.

Really, the only appropriate time to write a string of words in all capital letters, be it in an email, text, facebook post, tweet, or handwritten letter would be for titles or headings or to EMPHASIZE certain words!

 

 

There is just nothing better than fresh fish.  Walking into a fish market, near the coast, and knowing that the filet you are about to take home to cook could have been caught that morning.  And the smell of the market…not of fish, because fresh fish doesn’t smell, but of salt water and sea air…

You could, as I often like to do, just let the fish be the star of the show and let it sit in a bit of freshly squeezed lemon juice for a few minutes, salt and pepper it and cook it, as is.  It’ll be magnificent in its simplicity and freshness.

But, if you’d like to add that second layer of flavor, the one that really makes you go mmmmmmmm, then follow this extremely easy and mouth-watering recipe…

Simply start by taking out a 1/4 cup of butter and let it get to room temperature.

Add a teaspoon of every New England fisherman’s “secret” seasoning, Old Bay.

Chop up 1 tablespoon of fresh parsley and mince or grate 1 clove of garlic.

Smush all three of these ingredients into the butter, till well combined.

Find a beautiful piece of flaky white fish, such as haddock, cod, halibut, weighing about 1 1/4 pounds.  Squeeze the juice of half a lemon over the top.  (Forgive the chipping nail polish on my thumb…I look like a tweenager… well, from the thumb knuckle down anyway!  Maybe that’s what I’m doing when I ignore my desperate need for a manicure – I’m channeling my inner tweenager!)

Let it sit in the lemon juice for about 10 minutes, while you preheat your broiler on high heat.  If there is a thin piece to the filet of fish, tuck it in under the fish so that it doesn’t overcook and become dry.

Rub that marvelous butter all over the top of the fish filet.  Use a spatula, a knife, your fingers, whatever you have handy!

Broil the fish filet, with the rack in the middle of the oven, for 8-12 minutes, depending on the thickness of the filet.  Spoon up some of that heavenly “sauce” and drizzle it over everything on your plate, the fish, potatoes, rice, veggies, whatever you may be serving…sends it all right over the moon!

Serves 4.

Bon Appétit, Ma Chérie!

 

 

Ah, The Friday Night Knitting Club…

Let me start by saying that this not a bad book…I’m fairly certain that if you brought up the fact that you’d read it, amongst a group of women, they would enthusiastically tell you that they’d read it to.

it’s just not really a good one either.

Maybe it’s unfair to Kate Jacobs that her book happened to be the one I picked up after reading The Burgess Boys, which I thought was aces.  Perhaps it’s unfair of me to expect the same kind of substance, and multidimensional writing that keeps me mulling over instances in The Burgess Boys, long after I’ve finished reading it, from every book that I read.  Are my expectations too high?

I sometimes think that they may be.  After all, I would classify this as chic lit, or a beach read.  Though a bit smarter.  The author does come up with quite a few clever metaphors of her characters’ lives as the complex art of knitting.  And there are some tidbits of good advice on repairing and maintaining relationships, sprinkled throughout the book.

But the story is a cliché.  It’s been told before and the ending is predictable by the middle of the book.

Spoiler Alert:

 

 

By page 196, when Georgia decides to go to Scotland with her daughter, to introduce her to her family lineage, I knew that this trip was happening because the author planned to make it her last trip.

Because of course, she becomes the token cancer patient of the book.  Que the hurling.

And I knew that it would all work out…her old best friend would be there to take care of her daughter, her daughter’s father would be back in the picture to take custody, the girls of the knitting club would pitch in to save the store and surround her daughter with love when she died.  And there’s the story.

Oh, and with a couple of other cliché plot lines thrown in for good measure.  The girl who cheats on her husband who’s never really there anyway. The girl who can’t find a soulmate and tricks a young, unsuspecting boy to impregnate her.  The loud older woman trying to rediscover herself, trying her hand at law school.  Etc, etc.

Not really spoiling things, because whether it be Steel Magnolias, or Angry Housewives Eating Bon Bons you’ve seen this movie or read this book before.

My neighbor was kind enough to give me this book, to keep.  This one and of course, its sequel.  Aaaaaugh!  I should write my book review on Knit Two now, as I can just imagine which direction the author will take these characters lives…

maybe it’s time for me to politely decline the book recommendations I’m getting from my neighbor.  She’s a sweetie, but I think we may be on 2 different pages when it comes to books that speak to us!

 

 

 

Bored?  Book it.

Lonely?  Book it.

Scared of flying? Book it….Immerse yourself in a scary Stephen King book and I guarantee you’ll forget that there might be anything else in the world to be afraid of…

Eating alone?  Book it.

Have a book in the car.

Have a book in your purse.

Have a book in the bathroom.

Have a book in the living room.

Have a book by your bedside table.

Whether it be science-fiction, contemporary fiction, non-fiction, books about fish, hiking, war, kitties, art, photography, gardening, bartending, dragons, Star Wars, ANYTHING…

surround yourself with books, immerse yourself in books, escape in books, learn through books, books, books, books.

Don’t trouble yourself with the subject matter…doesn’t matter! You will learn soooo much with whatever genre of book you gravitate towards, spelling, vocabulary, grammar, sentence structure, etc, etc, etc…

oh and you’ll probably learn quite a bit about the subject of the book!

Now, also, try to discuss the book you’re reading or have just finished with someone, anyone. Discussing it will make it sink in to your memory bank so much better.

Don’t feel as though you have to stick with a specific genre of book forever, either.  Mix it up.

Been reading a lot of fiction?  Try a biography of someone you’re interested in learning more about.

At the beach a lot in the summer, or by a pool?  Maybe chic lit or beach reads, books that are light and fun, would be more appealing than trying to get through Dante’s Inferno.

Perhaps you can try your hand at Dante’s Inferno or other classics when the weather starts to cool and you’re ready for something with more meat to it.

Or alternate between genres.  Read some fiction and then read about how to Win Friends and Influence People.

Never really cared about books or reading, and so aren’t sure how to get started or where to turn?  Haven’t been able to find anything good out there at the suggestion of others?

Here’s a list of the top 100 books to read before you die…(not necessary to have to read them all, of course!  What’s with all this ‘bucket list’ craze?  Goodness, I have enough lists in my life that I try to complete without adding a new one, with a deadline!)

Top 100 books

 

Sweet and Sour Salad Dressing!  Ever tried it?

Sweet and sour anything….mmmmmmmm….

The tang of the mustard, the velvety smoothness, the texture of the celery seeds – oh my!

I just think it’s so fun and inspiring to have a few salad dressing recipes in my arsenal, because it’s so easy to fall into the rut of making the same one you know by heart over and over.

The great thing about this splendid salad dressing is that you can whip this up in no time, with ingredients you most likely always have on hand.

I use any jar I can find in my cupboard that is clean and has a lid as a vessel for my dressing.  The lid makes the shaking bit of this recipe a lot less messy than without one and storing it in the fridge requires no mental or physical exertion at the end of the night when you’re trying to tidy up the kitchen from the mess you made cooking dinner!

You will need 1/2 cup mayonnaise…

1/4 cup white sugar…

2 teaspoons vegetable oil…

1 teaspoon yellow mustard…

and 1/4 teaspoon celery seed…

whisk it together until you have this sunshiny yellow colored salad dressing!  Doesn’t that look beautiful?  Dip your finger in there and give it a try…so new and exciting! So……..sweet…..and…..so……sour….

Now, I like to use a sturdy lettuce whenever I am serving up a creamy dressing.  It holds up a lot better than some of the more delicate green leaf or bibb lettuce types.  They kind of get soppy when you hit them with anything but a vinaigrette, and even then… So, you’d probably want to find a nice hearty romaine and/or iceberg lettuce.  The rest of your salad ingredients are up to you!

Bon Appétit, Ma Chérie!

 

 

No Hay!

Who is this crazy gal?  What am I talking about?

Winterizing your gardens, plants and all outdoor “play areas”…

We live in New England which boasts 4 very distinctive seasons.

And winter here is bold!  The ground is covered in snow, and the only green you see is that of the evergreens spotting the woods behind the house.  It’s cold and everything, your plants, the animals and you hibernate for 4-5 months.

Nothing wrong with that!  I love the time it gives me to focus on working indoors; cooking, cleaning, going through photos, diy projects (not anymore!), etc.

But, it’s bittersweet putting your gardens to bed.  It’s sad to think that you won’t be seeing those vibrant poppies out your kitchen window or that you won’t be snacking on the random green bean as you harvest your vegetable crop.

However, it’s a relief to know that you won’t be pulled between being outdoors or indoors.  The choice just simply is not yours to make!

Winterizing your outdoor living space is part of the transition in New England from fall to winter.  Right about now, most of this work has been completed.  You’ve brought in your patio furniture, your BBQ is all covered up, the lawn has been combed for any loose toys and the garden…

Well, first I pulled up all the old dead annuals, the tomato plants, zucchini, cukes, pepper, basil, etc.  Then the soil was tilled, compost was added until combined with the existing dirt.  And finally, my garlic was planted.  Yup, in November!  Each clove is planted about 1 inch beneath the soil, covered up with the soil and then the entire area is blanketed with a thick stack of straw.

Do not use hay to protect your plants for the winter!  Not around your strawberry plants or lavender.  No, no, no.  Hay contains weed seeds…bad, bad hay.  No fun to introduce more weeds to your garden!

Straw works well to cover the garlic bed, but even straw isn’t the best bet for your berry plants, and any other delicate flowers, herbs or shrubs you may want to protect from the harsh winter elements.  Straw can get  moldy.  Yuck!

The kindest thing you can do for yourself and your plants is to use wood chips around their root system!

That simple.  That’s it!

And now, it’s time to let everyone hibernate…can’t wait to see all those little buds of green in the spring…

For more info on winter insulating and mulching of your plants visit here…

 

 

 

Don’t skimp on the butter…

and that’s it!

I’ve let you in on my little secret!  Now they’re perfect!

Believe it or not, there are a couple of “secrets” to the perfect mashed potatoes.  Now, I call them perfect because, to me, perfect means delicious in their simplest, purest, most traditional form.  No messing with the original recipe’s ingredients, just letting them shine.

Secret #2 is to take your butter and your milk out of the refrigerator, well in advance.  They need to be room temperature when you add them to your hot, mashed potatoes.

Otherwise, you’ll be adding cold ingredients into your piping hot potatoes, cooling them right down!  The horror!

Therefore, at least an hour before you begin peeling, take out what you need; about 1/2 cup of butter for every 1 1/2 pounds of potatoes and about 1/4 cup whole milk. ( You could use lower fat milk here, but don’t.  Please don’t.  Please?)

Next come the star of the show!  Those glorious spuds!  If you can grab them fresh out of your garden or at the farmer’s market, there will be no comparison to the mashed potatoes you make from these.  Sooooo yummy!  But if, like most of us throughout the year, you are purchasing the ones from the supermarket, make certain that they don’t look dry and puckered, or feel soft.

I always make my mashed potatoes from white potatoes.  It’s what my Mémé in France did, my aunts over there do and my Mom does here.  Why fix what ain’t broke?!

If you have trouble finding these, russets are the closest substitute.  But, keep looking…Secret #3:  the white ones make it perfect.

After peeling the potatoes, Secret #4 is to chop them into small pieces of the same size (1/4-1/2 inch).  The uniformity causes them to all cook at the same rate, keeping the flavor consistent and of course, perfect.

 

Place those precisely chopped potatoes in a pot and cover them with enough cold water to cover them by 1 inch.  Bring them to a boil and immediately turn the heat to low.  Cover the pot and simmer for 11 minutes.  Not 12… 11 minutes!

Drain the potatoes and put them back in the same pot on the warm burner on the stove.

 

Now, time for your arm to get a work-out!  Start mashing!

Add in the softened butter and keep mashing.  Add just a little bit of milk at a time and mash and finger test (eat a bit!) before adding more.  Probably won’t need all of it, since the last thing you want to end up with is soupy mashed potatoes!

I love the consistency of mashed potatoes you get from putting some muscle behind the hand tool.  I work it until there are no more lumps. But everyone has differing opinions as to what mashed potatoes should look like…some like them lumpy and some like them so smooth and runny that they take a hand-mixer to them.  This part is entirely up to you!

The last secret, Secret #5 lies in the seasoning of this dish.  Potatoes can handle a lot of salt and a lot of pepper.  Don’t be scared.  Grab a generous amount of salt and a generous amount of pepper and mix it in until thoroughly combined.  Now try it.  Can you taste the salt?  If you’re not sure, you don’t have enough.  Add more.  And more.  And incorporate it and taste it again.  There is nothing more disappointing than under seasoned mashed potatoes on your plate.  When you can feel the velvet of the butter on your tongue and taste the salt and pepper, you’ve mastered the perfect mashed potatoes.

Bon Appétit, Ma Chérie!

 

Do It Yourself? – Not Gonna Happen…..

anymore…

no way…

When my husband and I first got married, we bought a fixer upper duplex.  Thank goodness we were young and enthusiastic.  We figured we’d do the ‘renovating’, since we had no money, and rent out one side and become millionaires.  I cannot even begin to tell you in how many ways we were short-sighted!

 

We bought ourselves the Home Depot ‘DIY Bible’, which covered everything from how to replace a door to how to lay carpet and paint a room.  It gave estimates on the amount of time the project would take and the degree of difficulty.  Which is hysterical…

These estimates may be accurate if you are working on new construction with a group of professional contractors.  But if you are working on any home older than 25 years of age and doing it yourself, we figured out that you need to triple the amount of time it said it would take.  And the project would come out wonky.  Super.

Like the time we decided to lay carpet ourselves by renting a carpet knee kicker and using a box cutter to get the carpet to fit in the corners.  Oh, you can just imagine how beautifully that turned out!  Besides the unraveling in the corners, there were bubbles rising under the carpet, which were super-attractive, not to mention tripping hazards that could put us at risk for lawsuits from prospective tenants…

You know, with all of the projects that we did ourselves, it was pretty rare that I felt truly satisfied with the end result.  No matter the amount of time and effort that went into it.  It just never came out the way I had envisioned it.

I think that we needed to get our hands dirty and get overwhelmed in a couple DIY projects to truly appreciate the expertise and time and talent that goes into getting the job done right.  And it helps you understand why you’re forking over a good amount of cash to have someone else take care of it for you.  Believe me…you’ll be eager to open your wallet!

If you do plan on tackling things yourself, get your DIY projects done before you have children, if you have the choice or foresight!  It’s so hard to embrace the chaos that it involves with a little one underfoot.  That’s plenty of chaos already!  There’s a lot less stress when working amongst rubble if you don’t have to worry about tiny feet being pierced by old rusty nails.

If you have children and need to get some work done, either hire someone to do it properly or if you can live with it as is for a while, if it’s not causing any harm to anyone, leave it alone until later in life, when you can afford to hire someone or have the time and wherewithal to do it yourself…

Just make sure that you know that a DIY project NEVER comes out like the glossy photo on the brochure, in the magazine, etc promises it will!  It will definitely not be as easy and will not take the amount of time that is suggested!

 

If it’s called shepherd’s pie, and shepherds tend sheep, why does it seem as though this classic dish is always made with ground beef instead of ground lamb?

That’s what I asked myself a decade ago, and so came up with what I think would be a more ‘authentic to its namesake’ recipe!

Start with about a tablespoon of reserved bacon grease.  Oooooo!  What better way to start?!

Put this into a medium skillet at medium-high heat.

Add a tablespoon of butter…keeps getting butter, I mean, better…

 

You’ll need about a pound of fresh ground lamb, and half of a medium onion, chopped.

Put these in the hot pan…

 

with a generous teaspoon of oregano…

 

a generous pinch of salt…

 

and a generous pinch of pepper.

 

Sauté until lamb is cooked through, about 8 minutes or so.  Set aside.

 

I used 6 medium-sized white potatoes (from Maine!  Go New England!  Sorry…got side-tracked for a minute…).

 

Peeled and chopped them, uniformly…

 

Then put them in a pot, added enough water to cover them by 1 inch and brought them to a boil.  I then turned the heat down to low, covered the pot and let them simmer for 11 minutes.

 

Here comes the good stuff…the butter and the half and half or the whole milk…

I use a stick of butter for every 3 lbs of potatoes I intend to mash. Therefore, since I have about 1 1/2 lbs going here, I’ve used 1/2 stick.  And about 1/4 cup of whole milk.  Add just a little bit of milk at a time and mash and finger test (eat a bit!) before adding more.  Probably won’t need all of it, since the last thing you want to end up with is soupy mashed potatoes!

 

 

Drain the potatoes and return them to the hot pot.  Return the pot to the warm burner.  Mash.  Keep mashing till they are the consistency you desire.  Stir in the good stuff; i.e. the butter, half and half, salt and pepper.  Be generous with the salt and pepper, potatoes can handle it!

 

Time to assemble!

Layer the can of whole sweet kernel corn (about 14 ounces) on the bottom of a pie dish.  Salt and pepper it.  Top with glorious layer of seasoned, cooked lamb.  And the grand finale of toppings….the mouth-watering mashed potatoes.  Look at those layers!  What art!

Cook in a 350 degree oven for one hour, till potatoes starting to brown.

Ta Da!

Bon Appétit, Ma Chérie!