Getting a barbecue was one of the best decisions we’ve made as homeowners. This is the first time I’ve done chicken on it, and it didn’t dry out at all, which I was worried about. A little over-seasoned, but that’s easily fixed for next time.
I intend to keep barbecuing until the snow forces me to stop.
Well, I wrote a sci-fi short story called We Dragons and submitted it to a couple of places. That was a three-day process from concept to writing to editing to submission. I’m looking forward to seeing what kinds of rejections it earns me!
I also did some rewrites and revisions for my thesis, and later today I’ll be writing my abstract and sending my completed second draft off to my committee for further feedback. That’s another milestone to celebrate along the path to finally being finished.
Besides writing, I did some cooking last week, but nothing too special, and I didn’t take any pictures. I experimented with stuffing a chicken breast with almonds and apple, and there’s some potential there, but I need to work on it. I’m thinking of maybe trying it as more of a garnish than a stuffing. It went well with the rice, I thought.
This week, I’m back to working on my novel. With some good time management, I’m hoping to get at least another 12,000 words done. I’ll also be building up my 50-word story backlog, of course, and working to promote preorders of Volume Two.
I made pasta for dinner last night. I was sort of improvising, so there are a few things I would have done differently, in retrospect, but it still turned out tasting pretty good.
I began by preparing some chicken thighs in a sauce pan with some white wine. When the chicken was done, I added chopped up tomato and lots of grated cheddar cheese, to combine with the wine and thicken into a cheese sauce. I seasoned it with salt, pepper, and Italian seasoning, and served it all over spaghetti noodles.
What I should have done is taken the chicken out when it was done, and chopped it up, then prepped the sauce over low heat and reintroduced the chicken for a couple of minutes when the sauce was ready.
My friend Andrew Metcalfe suggested I make a roux next time. That would probably work a lot better, too. I’m thinking if I prepped a roux, then added it to the remaining white wine after the chicken was out, and added the cheese after all of that had been combined, it would have made a better sauce, and I could control the amount of sauce a lot better, too.
Also, I’m not sure Italian seasoning was the best choice. I’m a total newbie with spices and seasonings. Someone needs to give me a course or something.