Renovations and a Recipe

We are in the midst of some renovations around here.  Hallelujah.  When we bought this house 6 years ago, the first thing we were going to do was paint the exterior.  Mountain homes should not be Colonial Blue, in my humble opinion, and we are not blue house people, anyways.  But then we got a few quotes for someone painting the house and it didn't seem so important anymore.  I have always hated the blue paint but I have enjoyed eating and amenities such as heat and air conditioning more.

Y'all!  My house is no longer blue.  It is Tea Leaf (or olivey-browney-green).  Of course it started raining before the painters could finish the trim and such but the important part is my house is a shade that is found in nature and doesn't scream, "Look AT ME!!"  And because it's raining and the painter is giving us such a good deal on the labor (it helps that he does a lot of work for my dad), we're having him paint the walls in our house that have had flat, white paint on them.  Flat, white paint and 2 little boys do not mix so now we have walls that look nice.  ALSO!  Our roof is one wind storm away from utter destruction so the nice people we pay lots of money to for house insurance are now giving us a little bit of that money back for a new roof.  AND!! Mr. A, who has a coronary even thinking about spending money, has agreed that if we're in for a penny, we're in for a pound.   So I think we're going to get hardwoods downstairs and replace our nasty carpet upstairs.

Y'all, I didn't know all this would make me so happy.  I've always loved this house-now it's going to feel more like me.  And I think we've been kind of dragging our feet on home improvements because we just didn't know what was going to happen in Tater world.  In my crazy mind, home improvements=Tater doing well!  I'm just giddy about the whole deal.  I'll share before and after pics when it's all done but here is a before until then.  It's lovely in blue, it's just not me:

And what better way to celebrate going broke than to share a recipe involving heavy cream and wine?  We just had this for dinner and I had to get up from the table to find bread so I could sop up the sauce.  Mr. A and I were purring, it's so good.  It's by Shirley O. Corriher (a real cook, not one of those skinny twits who doesn't eat their own food) and there should be a pair of elastic-waist pants named after her.  I doubled the sauce and made some egg noodles to put the chicken on.  It is heaven:  http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=130596892

Classic French Chicken

Makes 2 servings.

2 medium boneless, skinless chicken breasts

Salt and white pepper

2 tablespoons canola oil or very mild olive oil

1/2 cup chicken stock or chicken stock and dry white wine

4 or 5 sprigs of fresh thyme or 1/2 teaspoon dried thyme

1 bay leaf

1/3 cup heavy cream

Sprinkle chicken breasts with salt and pepper. Place each breast between two pieces of plastic wrap or waxed paper and lightly pound the thick end to make breast more equal in thickness.

Over medium-high heat, heat a 10-inch skillet until the upper edge of the pan feels hot to a quick touch. Remove from the heat; pour in the oil and tilt to run oil over the pan. Return to the heat and immediately place the breasts into the pan with the rib side up. The breasts will sizzle and they will be stuck.

This is a Zen moment. Think happy thoughts. Be at peace with the world. Twiddle your thumbs. Do anything but don't touch the chicken. After about 90 seconds which will seem like an eternity, the breasts will lightly brown and release all by themselves. Turn each over. Again, they will be stuck. Wait again until they brown and release, and then remove them to a platter.

Pour the stock into the hot pan. Scrape the pan to loosen any stuck-on particles. Add the thyme, and bay leaf. Boil on high heat and reduce until a only few tablespoons remain. Stir in the heavy cream and continue to reduce until the sauce thickens. Remove the bay leaf. Slice each fillet at an angle into 3 pieces. Spoon the sauce over the fillets and serve immediately.