1. This morning, with the Deke and Patrick returning early this afternoon from Nyack, and with us heading over to the Diazes, and with the Diazes worn out and some feeling sickly after a long drive home from Miami, I got going on making Tuscan Chicken Stew -- the recipe is here. I enjoy making this recipe and its several steps of boiling a whole chicken, removing it from the broth that's forming, simmering seasoning and vegetables in this broth while the chicken cools, pulling the meat off the cooled chicken, putting the meat in the pot, freezing fat and bones and some meat that's left over for making a future chicken stock, and simmering the whole stew for a while longer until it's time to eat.
2. While the vegetables simmered and the chicken cooled, I mixed oats, sliced almonds, cinnamon, real maple syrup, vanilla extract, and a stick of melted butter together, spread it out over parchment paper on a baking tray, put it in the oven for around a half an hour at 350 degrees and before long, presto!, I had made my first ever batch of homemade granola. I like the chart of choices and ingredients I used and if making your own granola sounds fun, take a look at the chart here.
3. Patrick spent the night at the Diazes and the Deke and I returned early in the evening to our apartment home and sat in the quiet, talking about stuff off and on -- like where might our not getting younger lives be headed in the next ten years? -- and I capped off a really satisfying beer drinking day. In Nanuet, at Growler and Gill, the Deke bought two four packs of a light colored, citrusy, very refreshing Double IPA from Westerly, Rhode Island's Grey Sail Brewing called Captain's Daughter along with cans of their Leaning Chimney, a hearty smoked porter. I especially enjoyed making two cans of the Double IPA last for at least a couple of hours as I slowly emptied each glass of beer, enjoying the changes in the beer's taste as it warmed slightly. I went to bed without welcoming 2017 into being and read Kenji Lopez-Alt's approach to making fluffy buttermilk pancakes in The Food Lab before I went to sleep. Hmmm, I thought, these might make for a light and tasty break....fast....in.....the.....morn....ing....zzzzzzzzzz.....
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