“Did you enjoy your dinner?” I asked my 12 year old son, D’Angelo.  He replied, “If we are going to have our daily talk, the answer is yes. If we are not going to have our daily talk, the answer is no.”  With that kind of talk, I’m seriously contemplating returning him from whence he came. Every single day he wants to talk. He talks constantly, loves attention and often imposes on my time. He has been trying for years to convince me to buy him a dog. His last rational was that, since I have become a gardener and is somewhat obsessed about my plants and produce, he came up with a new analysis: We need a dog to protect the plants from racoons and rats. He goes, “mom all farmers have a dog. Every one that enjoys gardening, have a dog.”

Now I spend an awful lot of time babying my plants. I water them. I talk to them and watch them everyday. I pamper them.  I even made my compost and was really amazed to see how healthy and rich it was. Wow!  Mother earth is awesome. So of course I don’t want any animal destroying or robbing me of what is rightfully mine. I threw in the towel and told him we would get a dog.  A free dog. So everynight he has me looking for dog’s on the internet.  He just won’t let up.

Anyway, enough about D’Angelo and his dog hunt, let’s rewind…..Earlier I had told D’Angelo to clean the grill as I initially wanted to barbecue the chicken. But then I quickly changed my mind, because I did not intend to do all this by myself. At least not today. I am the slave in my house and everyone else takes such great pride, in reaping the benefits of my authentic cuisine. Sometimes they help, but for the most part, I do EVERYTHING.  Therefore, since I was not in the mood: No grill for me today. The oven will have to do. The chicken was already marinated in all it’s wholesome goodness. Just an awesome dry rub that I made, no fresh herbs included.

So as I prepared my Brown Sugar Dijon Chicken, my son kinda stood there watching me. He was looking at the sauce as if it were an alien or something. He grabbed a spoon, dipped it into the Brown Sugar Dijon sauce and tasted it. He had that “this is not barbecue sauce, but it is definitely good” look on his face. Then he said, “put the sauce on the potatoes too,”  which I did. There were red skin and yukon gold potatoes. I really love yukon golds.  I also boiled some corn, they were oh so sweet  and so good, that they didn’t even need butter. I really enjoy buying food in season.  They are usually at their peak and the flavors seem to be more authentic. Corn seems to be everywhere and I can’t seem to get enough of it. I could eat it raw and it would still be juicy. I did eat a couple of the raw kernels. By the way, I am really appreciating raw fruits and vegetables. Don’t be surprised, if I tell you that I won’t cook them anymore.

As for the new dog…I am still searching for a FREE one….preferably a german shepherd.