Good Gravy, Mommy Dearest and European Terror Warning

Good gravy, chicken and instant mashed potatoes

This is a photo of Friday night's dinner. There's some gravy for ya! This meal is a bit more uptown than the photo would have you believe. The recipe (for the chicken, not the taters) comes from the Red Cat cookbook. The Red Cat is a yummy restaurant in the Chelsea area of New York City. After our meal there, we returned home and purchased the cookbook. This recipe is entitled, "simple skillet roast of chicken with red onion, sugar plum (prune) and rosemary sauce." You can get the tater recipe from the back of the hungry jack box (for six servings even though we are three).

Hubby made a lot so that his wife and child could have leftovers while he is out of town for several days. He knows that limits of my cooking skills. I do believe an earlier post showed the browned result of my attempt to boil frozen peas. I can boil pasta and grate cheese. I have a 75/25 shot of getting frozen food safely into boiling water and the same chance of getting it onto a plate. Before a trip, however, he will stock me up on leftovers. All I have to do is thaw and heat.

With hubby gone, daughter and I ate some of those chicken leftovers. She, however, requested no gravy. The chicken didn't fare extremely well with reheating. I didn't know that chicken leftovers smelled like wet dog. There was more chicken remaining in the freezer, and I told my daughter that the following night, I would chop up the leftover leftover chicken and put it in a pasta sauce. I suddenly saw myself slathered in bright red lipstick, whacking my child with a wire coat hanger and forcing her to eat her meat no matter how long it takes her to finish it. I tossed all leftovers out. I will NOT become Mommy Dearest.

So hubby is off in Lyon, France. A business trip. Really. So now I read on the Huffington Post that there is a terror threat in Europe. A very vague threat, apparently. Am I somewhat comforted by the vagueness or does it add more tension? Is there something somebody knows or are the powers that be just covering their butts?

So in his absence, I am off to the grocery store. I'd rather have a colonoscopy. Perhaps, upon my arrival, there will be a message over the PA system. "Ladies and gentleman, there is salmonella in one of the products in this store. Well, there COULD be salmonella in one of the products in the store. Seems more likely than usual. No. We don't know which product. Might be in more than one. Might not be in any. Just be careful. Be on guard. Pay attention to your surroundings. Have a good day. Thank you for shopping here."

Have a good day yourself. Especially if its chilly and rainy in your neck of the woods.