Today was just one of those days.
It was dark, gray, and gloomy all day long.
I spent hours working on some web stuff for a new site that should have taken minutes. Nothing was cooperating.
When I finally got things working, it was past time to start dinner.
I had decided on grilled chicken tonight. It has been a while since I used the grill, and tonight it was calling to me.
I bought a beautiful whole organic chicken.
(For those of you out there who claim there is no difference in taste between an organic chicken and one of those national-brand things, I have to seriously disagree. There’s a big difference.)
But I digress…
I made a dry rub of :
- pico de gallo seasoning
- chili powder
- cumin
- paprika
- smoked paprika
- celery seed
- garlic powder
- boonie pepper
- salt
- pepper
and liberally applied it early in the afternoon. By 5pm, it was ready to hit the grill.
I preheated the grill, then turned off the middle burners and placed the chicken – leaving the two end burners lit.
Into the kitchen I went to double-bake a big ol’ sweet potato.
I baked the potato, scooped out the goodies, mixed it with a pat of butter, a drizzle of maple syrup, and some S&P. Back into the potato and back into the oven.
After about 15 minutes on the grill, I went out to check.
Blazing fire.
As in a big ol’ blazing charred-almost-beyond-recognition-fire.
I was not amused.
Did I mention I was having a day?!?
I put out the flames, did a bit of rearranging on the grill, and finished them. I figured they would still be moderately edible
Not amused.
When I brought then into the light, though, I found they weren’t quite as bad as I had envisioned. The dark, gray, and gloomy outside did make them seem worse than they were.
So onto the plate they went, along with a twice-baked sweet potato and some baby broccoli.
The chicken was actually pretty awesome! Tender, juicy, spicy, perfect smoky flavor… If I hadn’t known I had screwed up in the beginning, I would have sworn I planned it this way!
And the web-stuff is working, too!