It's Nostalgia Week on Order from Chaos

I returned home today from a weekend of packing and pitching. I put a six pack of beer out front for the garbage men this morning as I drove away. Next weekend is the rest of the models and whatever else is left to pack in the rest of the house. I thought it might be harder to pack up the house I grew up in but it went much more smoothly than I thought.

As it is Monday, it must be recipe day. Before I get to that, ten hours in the car by oneself (five hours up on Friday and five hours home today), I came up with lots of good blog entry ideas. So this week is likely to be all about me and my exploits growing up in the Long Island suburbs.

First, a bit of background to today's recipe. As I will usually do when I visit my father, I will take over the cooking for him. He has to do it all the time (and he and I actually had a conversation about this) and usually winds up with something bad for him (prepared foods) or he will attempt to burn the house down by flambeing something. I left him with several sheets of paper that I had made him the last time I had this conversation with him (shortly after my mother's death) but he did not take to it then. Hopefully I got to him this time. I made him a "menu sheet," where he can write down what he is going to eat for the week, room to add items to a shopping list, even a space to note what's on sale at the various grocery stores (he likes to buy on sale * especially when it's lobster). I also left him several sheets where he can record the inventories of his freezer and pantry (not currently located near the kitchen (but will be in the new place he's going). He tends to be a bit forgetful, so this will help him not buy something he already has too much of. We'll see how he does. I will report back next week.

So, last night, after having gone to the grocery store, I made dinner for the two of us. Unlike my wife, who likes to follow recipes exactly, I like to "cook without a net." I think it comes from my father, just without the mold, which I found on a couple of items in the fridge. I bought a small roast chicken, some salad, and a bag of egg noodles. So here's how dinner got made.

Sunday Dinner

• 1 small roast chicken
• Egg noodles
• Salad
• Lemons
• White Wine
• Butter
• Parmesan Cheese
• Salt and Pepper
• Flour / corn starch

This is the entire ingredient list I needed. I know, really hard.

After rinsing out the chicken insides and then seasoned it with salt and pepper inside and out. I put several pats of butter underneath the skin. I then cut a lemon in half and put the two halves in the cavity of the chicken. I roasted it in the oven for 30 minutes at 425 degrees and then lowered it to 375 degrees for another 45 minutes or so until the temperature thermometer registered 185 degrees internally (cooking directions from the chicken wrapper). Periodically, I basted the chicken with a little water and some white wine. Once I removed the chicken from the pan to carve, I made gravy with the pan juices, adding a little flour to thicken it.

I cooked the egg noodles and tossed them in a bowl with a little butter and some cheese. I opened the salad bag and put some in a bowl (I know it was really hard). (Remind me that next week's recipe should be the family dressing, which I didn't make last night). I served the meal with a nice bottle of white wine (if my father has too many models, he also has too much wine, including the two cases that just arrived and now have to be moved to the new place. Enjoy!