I had planned to do a Chinese New Year dinner tonight in anticipation of the Lunar New Year on Sunday.  Alas, a power outage, downed wires, closed freeways, 30 minutes just to get out of the parking lot at work, and another 15 minutes to travel the two miles home did not really leave me in a mood to be creative.  Surly?!?  MOI?!?  You bet.

Fortunately, my ill-temper left quickly.  We went out and removed a huge branch that had broken off from a tree in the front.  Well… we got it out of the street, at least.  It’s going to take a bit more to “remove” it completely.  Just not today.

Feeling slightly better – but still not overly creative – I went for the easy route; Caribbean Chicken.

The chicken was already in the fridge, the inspiration for the Caribbean bent was Sarah’s Sea Salt. Savory Salt with Caribbean Spices.  It was a gift from a friend and just sitting on the counter waiting to be used.

Opening the tin, the first thing I smelled were the scents of the Caribbean;  nutmeg, allspice, pepper…  I wanted to really liberally rub it on the chicken and had to remind myself that the first ingredient was S-A-L-T.  It’s really good.  Really flavorful.  And Really Salt.  I used it sparingly.

I browned the chicken and then added a splash of Wegman’s Caribbean sauce.  (I picked it up because it’s one of the only sauces I could find that wasn’t loaded with high fructose corn syrup.  The sauce itself is “okay”.  It mixed well with Sarah salt.)

I then popped the chicken in the oven to finish.  Rice and broccoli finished the plate.

The Olympics are starting soon.  I think a baked brie wedge with caramalized figs is going to be just the thing for the Opening Ceremonies.

Oh.  And maybe another 8″ of snow on Monday!

Life is good!