After a wonderful week in New York with my family, I am back home in Portland. 

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Craving a taste of the comforts of home, I decided to make individual chicken pot pies from Ina Garten's fail-proof recipe to dazzle A and get us excited about the Thanksgiving flavors to come next  week.

Ina's recipe calls for a homemade pie crust, but I don't usually go through all of the trouble and instead buy frozen puff pastry to fit each souffle dish. I find that it saves a lot of time and provides the perfect flaky crust for the molten pot pie filling.

[1-6. c. lynn]

Things are on the mend! We finally shrugged off our difficult adjustment to life stateside and went out for the most delicious (and decadent) meal at the Screen Door.

With a strong craving for fried chicken and all its trappings, we split their generous two-piece fried buttermilk-battered chicken entree with collard greens, gravy, and mashed potatoes. We also ordered a few sides including a roasted beet salad with toasted pistachios, avocado, goat cheese, and orange segments finished with a delicious lemon vinaigrette; a plate of heirloom carrots and broccoli, and a small dish of some of the best mac & cheese that I've had in awhile. But unbeknownst to me, this dinner was all really leading up to the most incredible dessert of my life—a three layer chocolate orange cake with chocolate sour cream icing topped with vanilla bean ice cream and candied oranges. Chocolate sour cream icing. I didn't even know that I liked icing. It was unbelievable—like a tangy chocolate cheese in between layers of moist chocolate cake. I wanted to be left alone in a room with it. The pastry chef, Erin Eberlein-Sage is a goddess for creating this cake.

You can see the leftovers below:

[1. Where the fork am I?; 2. ? 3. c. lynn]

Sometimes there's nothing more comforting than a roasted chicken for dinner. Our family recipe always delights and it seems that every family has a favorite. 

We wash the bird with salt to really clean it—inside and out. Then I pat it dry and add a pat or two of butter under the skin of the breast. I generously salt and pepper the outside and inside of the bird. I stuff the cavity with half a lemon, which I also squeeze inside the bird. I add a few sprigs of thyme or rosemary (or both) as well as a half of an onion. I truss the bird, drizzle some olive oil, and pop it in a 350-degree oven. Every fifteen minutes or so, I baste the bird with the juices from the bottom of the pan. If the juices start to gather too much at the base of the bird, I remove some of the excess drippings into heatproof glass. After about 45 minutes, I pump up the temperature to 400 degrees and wait about 20-35 minutes until the bird is golden and crispy. Afterward, I let the chicken roast rest for about ten to fifteen minutes before carving to serve.


[1. fig and plum]