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Good Old Friends, Fun New Things, and a Drunken Chicken

Have you ever gone without something, not knowing how much you miss it until it comes back into your life? And then you wonder how you survived without it? That is how feel about my hair straightener. I had a great travel one that was accidentally dropped one too many times and stopped working. My bangs grew out and that’s really all I had used the flat-iron for, so I was okay with not having one (having in recent years come to love my curly hair).

But I was doing some Christmas shopping in HomeSense today and they had this huge array of hair tools – flat-irons, curling irons, blowdryers, etc. “Innocent” curiosity drew me to the shelves and then I found the golden box with the brightly coloured, ionic flat-irons (1.25″ plates and travel size). $50 – regularly $120 if not bought at HomeSense – was the price, and really, I would have been a moron not to buy it. And so became my Christmas present.

And because it was there, and it made total sense to buy, I also purchased a heat-safe mat to leave my flat-irons on to cool and get wrapped in when I travel. Totally worth $7. It changes colour so you know your straightener is ready and it’s sparkly.

When I got home, the first thing I did was roll out the mat and plug a straightener in. If my hair could sigh contentedly or even sing, it would have. It sound silly, I know. But it’s the little things, right?

Every now and then we have a roast chicken – whether we roast it ourselves or buy a rotisserie chicken from the deli. I don’t realize how much I love roast chicken until I have it after a while. My taste buds wonder why it’s been so long.

Chicken is really great because it’s a versatile meat. You can flavour it any way you want and it goes with everything. Particularly beer. Random, I know. So was the beer can barbecue stand and tray that my mother-in-law gave us a little while ago. I didn’t really think we would ever use it. And then I came home with a surprisingly reasonably priced non-antibiotic, naturally fed chicken. It was Sean’s turn to make dinner the next day and I was mandated to come home with a six-pack of either Granville Island Maple cream Ale or Lions Winter Ale. And so began the chicken’s somewhat undignified, but super delicious adventure. Definitely a new way to make a roast chicken.

We threw away the box and as previously mentioned, Sean doesn’t really do anything from a recipe. So I Googled and tweaked a recipe to share.

Drunk BBQ Chicken

(Suggested) Ingredients:

  • 1 can beer of choice (room temperature)
  • 1 whole chicken (about 4 pounds)
  • 2 cloves garlic, minced
  • 2 sprigs fresh rosemary
  • 2 teaspoons olive oil
  • 1 teaspoon dried thyme
  • 1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes, crushed
  • Juice of 1 lemon
  • For Rub:
  • 1 teaspoon paprika
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 1 teaspoon fresh rosemary, chopped
  • 1 teaspoon dried thyme
  • 1/2 teaspoon black pepper, ground
  • 1/2 teaspoon lemon zest
Method:
  • Combine all rub ingredients in a small mixing bowl. Set aside.
  • Remove giblets and the neck from chicken. Sprinkle all over with rub, including cavity.
  • Sprinkle all over with rub, including cavity.
  • Open can of beer and drink 1/2 of it. (The site I found this recipe on said to throw that half away, but really? Really?)
  • Pour a bit of the remaining beer into the stand tray.
  • Place, minced garlic, rosemary, thyme, lemon juice, and pepper flakes in the beer can. Make sure to pierce two more holes on the top of the can. Place chicken on top of can.
  • Preheat grill for a medium heat. Place birds on grill balanced by the beer cans. Grill over indirect medium heat for 1 1/2 to 2 hours until internal temperature of thigh is 180 degrees.
  • Remove chicken when finished cooking and let sit (with beer can still intact), for 10 minutes before carving.
  • Enjoy!

Another fun new thing is the slash-proof purse I bought for our Christmas abroad, but that’s a post for another time.

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