Three Beautiful Things 04/16/18: Christy's Slideshow Tribute to Mom, Organizing Paper, Braised Curried Chicken

1. My day was underway in the usual way -- dogs fed, coffee brewed, hot cereal nearly cooked, my daily writing begun -- when I see Christy has made a post on Facebook she had told us at family dinner was forthcoming. I stopped everything to watch it. It's a stirring series of photographs, a slideshow, accompanied by music, of Mom's Celebration of Life, the reception at Paul and Carol's that followed, the committal of her ashes, and moments from the span of her life from when she was a child to when she was in the nursing home. If you haven't seen this video, I hope you will watch it. It beautifully portrays the love Mom gave to those in her life and the bounty of love so many others gave her.

The video is right here.

2. I spent the day sorting out personal papers, reviewing bills, going back through papers of Mom's and deciding what to keep and what to dispose of, and doing some preparation for filing our 2018 taxes next year. I decided I didn't want to chase down tax documents in a year that I already have on hand now, so I organized them. 

3. I had a couple of chicken thighs on hand. I heated up oil in the Dutch oven and seared both sides of the salted, peppered, and garlic powdered thighs. Meanwhile, I made a mixture of coconut milk, green curry paste, fish sauce, soy sauce, and brown sugar. I removed the thighs from the Dutch oven, drained off the excess hot oil, and put lemon slices, cauliflower florets, and broccoli crowns at the bottom of the pan and put the chicken on top. I poured the coconut milk mixture over it all, put the lid on the Dutch oven, and let it all cook at 275 degrees. I checked the vegetables a couple of times, not wanting to overcook them and ended up removing them about ten or fifteen minutes before the chicken was cooked through.

This was a delicious meal, one I made up just by calling upon past experience with curry sauces and braising. I enjoyed the slight heat and the subtle sweetness and the spices of the curry sauce and especially enjoyed how the vegetables and chicken absorbed these flavors.