Daily Life | Sunday

// Sunday / Morning kisses by the kitties / Reading in bed / Sly plays classical music — really loud. / I open the screen door to the deck (sorry neighbors) / We let the kitties outside. / It’s cool outside. Fall is here. /  Sly cooks bacon, bought at Union Market yesterday afternoon. We don’t each much bacon (on account that I am obsessed with pigs) but this is special bacon bought from Harvey’s. / We make B.L.T’s with eggs (B.L.E.Ts as we call them). / We run out of mayo. Sly makes some more…from scratch. It’s amazing to watch mayo being made. I’m spellbound (and a dork). / P.S. These are the best BLETs we have ever had. / I sneak Max the tiniest bit of our special bacon. He thanks me by rubbing his head in my hand over and over. I tell Max to go outside and play, and he does. / There are tons of tiny birds in the mangy tree that grows beside our upper deck. I hate and love that ugly tree. Hate it because it looks like a weed with branches. Love it because it makes us feel as if we live in a tree house. / I make the coffee. This is usually my job. Sly does all the rest. / We pull out all our produce from our CSA and plan menus around them. / I have never seen some of these veggies before. WTF is a ‘Cucuzza?“/ I edit photos./ We get ready and go shopping for the week. / Costco sucks on Sundays  / Sly preps the honey lavender marinade for the chicken tonight. (recipe below) / I edit more photos / We sort of tidy up a bit and I get really OCD so I stop / I wear sweatshirts and leggings and slippers all day / We eat dinner on the “family bed” which is what we call our corner of blankets and pillows piled in the living room. We built it many weeks ago to have a “slumber party” and have yet to put away. We are so bohemian. / We watch the latest SNL, and cuddle with the kitties. Then we head to our real bed and read until we fall asleep. / Insignificant moments. A typical Sunday. These are the are ones I want to remember most.//

Recipe below

Recipe | Lavender Honey Chicken

My sister turned me on to this Rachel Khoo recipe (and to Rachel Khoo) when we were perusing the spice shop at the Maryland Renaissance Faire. They had food grade lavender for sale and I really wanted to buy some but didn’t know how I would cook with it. Most lavender-infused things tend to taste too perfumey to me, but this marinade had such a perfect balance of flavors — not too sweet or ‘floral’ at all. We both agreed this was probably some of the best chicken we have ever eaten.

Ingredients
6-8 pieces of chicken (we used drums and thighs, but after making it, we think we prefer using boneless thighs)

Marinade
1 heaped Tbsp dried food grade edible lavender (it’s important that the lavender if food-grade, not the stuff you put in potpurri)
2 garlic cloves, mashed
The leaves of 2-3 sprigs of fresh thyme
4 Tbsp olive oil
1/4 c honey
1 lemon (zest and juice)
Freshly ground black pepper

Directions

• Blend all the items in a food processor (you could also use a mortar and pestle to crush the dry ingredients together but we were too lazy). Place chicken in plastic bag and pour in the marinade so that it covers the chicken. Refrigerate for at least an hour (though the more it marinades, the better)
• After a few hours, remove marinaded chicken from fridge and let it come to room temperature
• Preheat your oven to 390 F
• Place the marinated chicken in a large roasting tray, drizzle the marinade on top and add salt to taste. Place the pan on the middle rack of the oven and roast the chicken for 40-45 minutes, until the chicken takes on a golden brown color and the skin becomes crispy and caramelized.
• Once the chicken is roasted, remove from the oven and set aside.
• Using the chicken drippings at the bottom of the roasting tray — add a bit of water (or wine, or whatever liquid you want to use) and deglaze the pan to create some gravy. The juice is soooo good.
• **We ate our chicken with a side of roasted rosemary and olive oil fingerling potatoes drizzled with the chicken gravy from above. So. Good..