What I Made for Dinner: September 26, 2009

Grilled chicken paillard, roasted potatoes and eggplant.

So, the new patio needs plants. And the local tree nursery is having an end-of-season sale on perennials and shrubs. So at 4:30, there we were, with a cart full of hostas and holly and one Annabelle hydrangea, my particular folly, despite a warning from the tree guy that if it sees daylight it will "spontaneously combust."

We couldn't go plant-buying any earlier because of other commitments, including a stint at the farmers market selling Cub Scout popcorn. Here is what happens when I spend two hours "selling" at a farmers market: I came away with a dozen oatmeal-honey cookies, literature on the many health benefits of bee pollen, a bag full of miniature gourds, and the eggplant that inspired dinner. Here is what happens when my children spend two hours selling at a farmers market: they came away exhausted and crabby and, apparently, ready to kill each other.

We made them go to the tree nursery with us anyway. That was fun.

So dinner needed to be fast because we wanted to put some of our new lovelies in the ground and also because, you know, early bedtime. This dinner worked well because the veggies needed no attention while they roasted, and the grill needed no attention while the coals heated, and the chicken only took ten minutes to cook. That way we adults had time and attention for the other demanding things in our backyard, and I am not just talking about that hydrangea.