weekend to recover

Well, like I said, we didn't get home until about 3am on Friday night/Saturday morning, not in bed until about 4. I was a little surprised that I wasn't completely wiped when I got up at 11ish. Trav was leaving at that point to head up to Lehigh and visit with his fraternity as they were inducting new brothers that day. It was actually kind of nice having the day/night alone after spending the whole week with Trav, Ro & Pat. Plus, it definitely made it easier for me to get stuff done. And I certainly did plenty!
I... emptied our suitcases, put away all the toiletries, did all the laundry (three large loads), downloaded all of our pictures to the computer, then uploaded them to shutterfly, and went shopping at Trader Joe's and the grocery store. I got lots of yummy stuff, including some nice cheeses and some avocados so I could make some of that guacamole at home (which I did last night with mixed results, see below).

Sunday I got up earlier so that I could go to this church (the one I talked about here). It was nice. Very relaxed, inviting atmosphere. I'll definitely go again... although I'm not sure if its thee place for me. We'll see. After church I went to Ridley Creek State Park to do a walk, which was nice if a bit blustery. At least I didn't have to compete for trail space!!
Most of the rest of the day was spent relaxing a watching the Lord of the Rings trilogy playing on TBS... with one break to make a really yummy chicken dish for dinner. Which I'm going to share with you now... like it or not! ;-)

The only changes I made from the recipe was that I used two large chicken breasts instead of the halves and needed to pop them in the oven for a bit to finish them off. I also used a mix of garlic and onion because I didn't have shallots, and used a lot more onion then the recipe calls for... because we like onion, and I wanted to use a whole one up. Delish.

Balsamic Chicken

1/2 cup chicken broth
1/2 cup balsamic vinegar
2 teaspoons honey
1 tablespoon butter
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
4 (5-ounce) skinless, boneless chicken breast halves
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
2 tablespoons finely chopped shallots (can substituted garlic and/or onion)
Chopped parsley (optional)


1. Combine broth, vinegar, and honey.

2. Melt butter and oil in a large nonstick skillet over low heat. While butter melts, sprinkle chicken with salt and pepper. Place flour in a shallow dish. Dredge chicken in flour and shake off excess.

3. Increase heat to medium-high and heat until butter turns golden brown. Add chicken to pan; cook 4 minutes on each side or until golden brown.

4. Remove chicken from pan; keep warm. Add shallots (or onion/garlic mix), and sauté until starting to become translucent. Add the broth mixture, scraping to loosen browned bits.

5. Bring to a boil, and cook until reduced to 1/2 cup (about 3 minutes). Serve sauce over chicken. Garnish with chopped parsley, if desired.

I served mine on some whole wheat pasta (which honestly, I'm not a huge fan of... but I wanted to use it up and the sauce is bold enough to handle it) with a side of green beans. I was a bit nervous at first that the taste would be too strong or vinegary, but it wasn't. It was bold, but not tart... all in all, damn good.

Yesterday was the first day back to work and I was surprised how NOT tired I was. I slept damn well all weekend, and getting up on Sunday helped me get back into the swing of things. I was a bit sore though. No long walks all week meant that the 5-miles on Sunday left me a bit achy!

For dinner last night, neither Trav nor I felt like really cooking. So I made some quicky guacamole by mashing up those avocados with some salt and pepper, plus a splash of lemon juice (to prevent browning). With that I grabbed some cheese and crackers, for a simple "artisan" dinner.

I wasn't thrilled with the guacamole. It tasted okay... but the one avocado didn't look so great (so I tossed it) and the other avocado, which I actually used, wasn't anything to write home about either. Next time I would use lime juice instead too.

In any case, I also wanted to share a picture of a treat I brought home from Mexico:
I haven't seen this flavor here (Choclate Mint! like an Andies chocolate, so good!)... but it's fabu. I hope I can find more because I am almost out.

Well, time to get back to work again. I'm having a little trouble getting back into the swing of things, but hopefully I'll be caught up by the end of the week.

Ps. Check out this post on Lag Liv... I love how honest it is.