On the final Wednesday morning of June, with an oppressive heat dome too well-settled over the eastern half of the United States, it was another cool evening with Amy on hand for dinner and hanging out. But how best to balance that miserable weather, and how it put us all in slow motion, with a desire to make the menu appealing? I had a notion to shake things up a bit from my regular features. With a tomato, some Romaine, and ciabatta baguette from Trader Joe's, I pulled recently-prepped bacon out of the fridge to go with a batch of spicy ranch dressing I'd made; I pounded and marinated chicken breasts and then grilled them to a juicy perfection; before shutting down the grill I added provolone slices to the bacon'd bottom halves of that loaf and got them good and gooey. Then it was a matter of assembling the sandwiches to one's liking. As for me, that was a good slather of spicy ranch on the top bun, and Romaine and tomato and grilled chicken and provolone and bacon...and a two-fisted supper that satisfied.
Another variety of my mixed lilies was blooming fine that week, as noted above.
The low temp here at the house that morning was a stunning 80°F when I got up at 6 am. That was consistent for both outdoor monitoring stations. I quickly ruled out even a pre-dawn stroll. A morning meeting with a student in the Ed Leadership masters program I’m working with got me out of the house, and it was a great conversation at a popular coffeehouse in Kernersville. That’s what got me to the grocery store but I scampered back to the wonderful retreat of the Roediger House as soon as possible!
"BEST Quick and Easy Chicken Marinade," by Tiffany Azure of Creme de la Crumb. [Published 18 April 2020 / Updated 11 August 2021]
"Spicy Ranch Dressing," from Alexa Blay of Key to My Lime.
"Chile-Rubbed Bacon," by Rick Martinez. In "D.I.Y. B.L.T. O.M.G.: Bake Better Bacon (Upgrade Idea No. 1)," Bon Appétit, July 2016, p. 44.
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