Blatherings of Boredom

Ronan and I just returned from a trip to Florida. We flew to Orlando, rented a car, and drove to Melbourne. We stayed with my brother for a few days, then returned to Orlando, dropped off the rental, and got on the Amtrak headed south.

At West Palm Beach, we transferred to the Tri Rail (regional rail) and went one station south to meet my MiL and her sister.

Tom's grandma Mary turned 90 Saturday. Her daughters decided the best surprise would be a visit from Ronan. They kept it secret until we walked in.

Anyhow, it was a lovely visit. The night before we left, I was up late and found myself paging through a random freebie booklet cookbook. I found a chicken with cranberries crockpot dish. It was pretty much this recipe, though it called for a quartered/skinned broiler (about 3.5lbs) and used a beurre manié instead of a slurry. I copied it out by hand (crampy, I rarely write these days) and brought it home.

I just made it today, using 3.5lbs of boneless skinless thighs.

Yum.

It's really good. I might up the cinnamon next time.

This is really tasty. I can smell it, despite being congested from the pigSARS. FiL made it when we were up there, Tom's making it now. FiL doubled the marinade. I think we just halved the chicken. ;)

Anyhow, for all I know you've made this before. I just really, really like it and it seems like something you might enjoy. Posted on LJ for all the other folks who eat fowl.

http://simplyrecipes.com/recipes/chicken_marbella/

I'm trying my hand at making mustard for boy. He eats mustard on his lunch sandwiches every single day. I often buy nifty speciality mustards for him. I saw the empty jar of Yoder's chili garlic stone-ground mustard on the counter and the big fat "0" on the message board where he lets me see the grocery budget. I checked my own yellow mustard bottle and saw that it's nearly empty. In an effort to stave off mustard theft (and naked french fries), I've opted to get creative.

I often make mustard dressings for salad, but I hadn't tried making something spreadable. Since I'm achy, I'm just using what I can easily grab in the kitchen. So far, there's been one coffee measure of yellow mustard seed, one half coffee measure of brown mustard seeds, tarragon vinegar, a generous pouring of mustard powder, a generous shake of dried tarragon, a pinch of cloves, and white wine. I think a coffee measure is 1/8cup, but I have no idea on proportions for everything. Right now, it's super hot, as just prepared mustard is. I'll taste it in a bit and see if anything needs adding. Most recipes call for sugar, but he doesn't want sugar in his mustards (I always make sure the commercial mustards have 1g of sugar or less per tablespoon). I may sneak in a drop or two of maple syrup, but not enough to make him scream. ;)

Edit: I've added olive oil to tone down the heat and add some sweetness. I also added some poppy seeds because crunchy things are yummy.
Edit²: minced garlic

I just put the Torta di Noce in the oven. Yum.