RECIPE: Slow Cooker Chicken with Garlic Mashed Poatatoes
15 December 2003, 9:59 AM

This is a recipe that's best made one day ahead of time. On day one you'll need:

1 whole chicken
2 yukon gold potatoes
10 or so new potatoes
several pinches of kosher salt
several grinds of black pepper
1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
1/2 teaspoon dried basil
1 tablespoon lemon pepper
1 large handful (several springs) of rosemary

Wash and trim the chicken of any extra fat and remove (and discard) all the innards. Pull back the skin. Cut the yukon gold potatoes in half and arrange all potatoes on the bottom of the slow cooker. Set the chicken on top of them and stuff with the rosemary. Sprinkle salt, pepper, thyme and basil and replace the skin. Sprinkle with the lemon pepper. Cover and cook on low, 6 hours. When cooked, remove chicken to an oven-proof container. Remove potatoes to another container, and drain all the liquid into a third container. Place everything in the refrigerator overnight.

The next day you'll need:

2 tablespoons butter, divided
1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon whipping cream
1 cup canned low sodium chicken broth
1 cup of the chicken stock from the previous night (skim the fat off of the top and discard)
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1 teaspoon white pepper
1 teaspoon garlic powder

Place the chicken in the oven and turn it on to 350 degrees for the chicken to warm up while you prepare the potatoes. Cut all the new potatoes in half and then push all the potatoes through a potatoe ricer into a microwave-proof bowl. (Alternatively you can simply roughly mash them up and leave the skins on, or peel them all and roughly mash them up. Leave chunks.) Heat them in the microwave for three minutes, stirring every minute. In a pan on the stove, heat the other tablespoon of butter and four over medium-low heat until it has a light golden color. remove from heat and add cream. Stir until it a smooth paste again. Slowly whisk in the chicken stock, then the broth. Remove potatoes from the microwave and sprinkle with salt, pepper and garlic powder and stir. Add one cup of the broth mixture and stir. Add another 1/2 cup or cup, depending on the potatoes and stir. (You want them to be thick and fluffy and not watery.)

Remove the chicken from the oven and enjoy!!

A Weekend of Baking, Cooking and Fire-engines
15 December 2003, 9:40 AM

I had a really nice weekend. First off, we went out for seafood and scrumptious cheesecake in celebration of the last of my final exams Friday night. We browsed around a department store too, got some new music and I got a couple of necklaces. I haven't bought jewelry in such a long time - it was kinda fun to go poking around at all the sparkly things.

Saturday we got up a wee bit earlier than usual for a Saturday so we could be ready when Valerie arrived with her cookie cutters. We'd decided to use my kitchen this year for some cookie baking since her's was a bit over crowded and I had the animal-free space. (Mysty made herself scare the entire time.)

When Val arrived we exchanged gifts, gave her a tour of the place, and then proceeded to make batch after batch of gingerbread cookies. We baked and gabbed, gabbed and baked for about four hours. I think we talked non-stop from the moment she arrived to the moment she left, and covered every subject imaginable, from books, to pets, to jobs, to ... whatever. In the end she had a huge container to take back with her and decorate for giving as gifts.

I was going to have Valerie over for dinner - I'd even stuck a chicken in the slow cooker before she arrived. Problem was, I'd forgotten to turn it on! So, no chicken dinner. She decided to head on home since it was getting late anyway and she'd be going to work the next day. While she was packing her truck we heard sirens.

It turns out that every year the local fire department takes a couple of engines and slowly makes the rounds of a few neighborhoods, with "Santa" sitting in one of the engines. The kids across the street were excited as heck, as was every single dog in the neighborhood :-). I have to admit I thought it was a lot of fun too, seeing the big shiny red engines with all the flashing lights roll slowly down the street with "Ho, Ho, Ho, Merry Christmas" coming out of the engine's bullhorns.

After Valerie headed out, Jeff and I went to eat Thai food. The chicken was done by the time we got back so I just packed it up in the refrigerator for the next day. The rest of the day we spent watching some TV, building a puzzle and reading.