apple and rosemary chicken salad

Yup, things continue to be quiet around here. I'll tell you why, and it seems a little bit weird to be doing so while at the same time presenting you with a mayonnaise based salad...

Friends, no matter how many baked goods and treats you give away to your friends, eating unhip squirrel style is unhealthy. I always had the intention of presenting delectable morsels to you as once in a while treats, but the reality is that this blog has an "EAT ALL THE THINGS!!!!" sort of vibe. Because I get really excited about food. Oh man. I really love to be creative and fun and experiment with different flavours.

And do you know what can happen when you do that? You can gain ten pounds in one year, on top of the ten pounds you gained the year before.

dijon chicken with rosemary

 

This chicken was not much to look at. I struggled with whether or not to blog it based on its looks. I've posted ugly foods on this blog before (pulled pork with bourbon orange coriander barbecue sauce comes to mind, as does pea and mint soup), but as I progress through this blog, my standards are getting a little higher. With experience comes improvement. Improvement was not evident in any of the photographs taken. Only struggle, oversized garnish and ugly chicken.

Then I tasted the ugly chicken.

chicken lettuce wraps

Sometimes it feels like I'm the only person out there who has no clue where her life is going. I'm surrounded by people who are well on their way or are already fully launched into stable, successful careers and have no reason to question their professional future. I know I can't possibly be alone - the many times I've googled "what should I do with my life?" over the past few years, Google has finished the sentence for me. It's a ten year old question and let's face it, as much as I love my Art History degree, it didn't help me find any realistic answers to that other cliché question - what would you be happy spending your days doing without getting paid?

The best thing to do when you start to get professionally existential is to get out of the house, spend time with your amazing friends, eat exceptional food and drink watermelon mojitos. To excess, of course.

chicken nachos with cilantro corn salsa and guacamole

Alright, I know you can't really write a recipe for nachos.  That's not my intention here. Nobody measures anything when they make nachos, they grate and dump with abandon (and as they should). There's nothing even particularly special about these nachos, except for the fact that they are damn tasty. And anyone who has ever been to a bar or a pub knows that nachos being tasty is not a given.

I just wanted to share these nachos with you because someone shared them with me, sort of. I remember the evening well. Leigh Anne and I were obsessed with LOST, and sometimes I went over to her apartment to watch the weekly episodes which, at that time, were still nail-bitingly and mind-bendingly good. These nachos happened on one of the most intense LOST evenings to date, culminating in Kate and Sawyer finally (finally!) getting it on in the polar bear cage. I don't remember exactly what she put on them (nachos are pretty flexible - one of their excellent qualities), but I do remember that there was chicken involved and from that point on, chicken nachos became a staple at my social gatherings. Especially the LOST parties. <-- dork

spicy sweet chili chicken wings with mango

Well, it's late. I'm exhausted and I'm full of chicken wings. I need to sleep immediately. However, I won't let that stop me from sharing a recipe with you. The inspiration for these chicken wings came from two sources - extreme hunger, and fact that Adam said the words "chicken wings" to me over the phone. He wasn't even talking about good chicken wings. They were nasty ones that he ate with his coworkers at a bar after work. Nevertheless, it put ideas in my head. When I am hungry, I am extremely suggestible, and I am always in the mood for chicken in a sweet and spicy chili sauce! With mango!

butter chicken

There is a story behind this butter chicken. Before moving to Montreal, I worked for a company that had an annual potluck at Christmas. One of my co-workers was famous for bringing his wife's amazing butter chicken to the potluck every year. Before I left, I asked for the recipe and I got way more than I expected. On my penultimate day of work, I found a huge and very heavy plastic bag on my desk. It contained a recipe, a full batch of butter chicken, rice and little spice packages. Amazing!