Mutant Pets, Roast Chicken and Utah County

I'll be the first to admit that last nights posting wasn't the best, but when you only have a few minutes to coe up with a topic, whilst flying downstairs in your underwear to come up with a blog posting for the day... I don't think I did to badly - And as usual, my apologies for the mental image ladies!

So, today was Sunday, and it was also the last week of us attending religious services at our old place... So to celebrate I made pancakes using a mix which I won at a 5k race about a month ago. Now, you may not think that pancake mix is much of a prize, but having eaten the resulting pancakes this morning, I'd gladly brave the rain and chilly morning air again.

The mix itself was from the Lehi Roller Mills, and was the Cinnamon flavor, packaged with their Apple Cider Syrup. It was excellent. I suspect that we may well be headed south sometime to pick up some more mix... Anyway, Lehi Roller Mills is in Utah Country, Utah. This area of the globe is sometimes referred to as 'Happy Valley' and is generally a place I choose to avoid. My initial intent when coming over to the US about a decade ago, was to attend a private religious university in the County, however after an hour or 2 on campus, I pretty decided that it was not for me. Anyway, so with that background, the breakfast conversation turned to what good could one find in Utah County. We have a couple of things that we came up with:

1 - Lehi Roller Mills
2 - Hines Mansion Bed & Breakfast - We suspect they use Lehi Roller Mills Pancake mix as well
3 - Simple Utah Mormon Politics - A blog by Utah country resident Frank Stahelli. Not only is it an excellent blog, but I think Frank may read this occasionally, and I would hate to lose a reader!
4 - Carabba's Italian Grill - Italian Food that may well cause me to eat myself to death if they open up any closer to where I live.
5 - Cabela's Outfitter - An outdoor living Super Store that has to be seen to be believed!!

And well, that's about it!

Anyway, following the highly successful breakfast and celebratory religious observance, I returned home to try out a new Roasting Pan with a 6lb chicken purchased last night. I don't really have a good idea on how to roast chicken, and so I took tips from a few online sources. I first coated the chicken with a mix of butter, olive oil, crushed garlic, salt and freshly ground pepper. Following that I sprinkled some more salt and pepper over the bird as well as a little Thyme. The body cavity was then filled with a couple of loosely chopped garlic cloves, some chopped celery and a sprinkling of more salt and pepper. I placed the bird in the roasting pan, surrounded it with carrots, celery and some Yukon Gold Potatoes and stuck it in the oven at 450 degrees for 20 minutes. I then reduced the heat to 375 degrees and left it for a little under 85 minutes. In hindsight that may have been too long, since the drumsticks and thighs came off as I pulled it out of the pan. I then turned it upside-down for 10 minutes to let the juices run back into the breasts, whilst putting together a nice thick gravy from the drippings. We served it with peas and chopped corn, and had I not been surrounded by kids, I would most liekly have followed it up with a good long nap!

OK, final topic for the day... I suspect that I may be screwing up my kids. The realization came to me as we cleaned out my youngest daughters beta fish tonight. This fish has been in the family a couple of months and just barely in the last month has received a name - Monkey. I said it was wierd that we now have Monkey the Fish, but my wife responded that I started it with Moose the Dog. Now granted his name is actually Musa (M-oo-s-ah), but since I'm the only one that speaks Zulu... I think I've started them down a path that cannot end in good.