First Book Club (and the meal was wonderful!)

I spent the day preparing the house for our guests.
Above is Mr. Husband's old copy of
GK Chesteron's Orthodoxy
from which he studied for a book club he was in
years before. 

It worked well:
the chicken being buttered, filled with onion and thyme
the night before.
Lots of chopped up garlic inside the skin,
a bit of dried summer savory sprinkled
with salt and pepper outside,
after the butter was put inside and outside the chicken's skin.
As I worked with gloves on,
with these small chickens
(we got two of them so we would have enough
plus leftovers) I had a feeling
not of sentimentality but more of a sense of gratefulness
that the chickens were,
from all I could ensure by the purchase,
organically raised without harm and now
providing such good food for us to share.

Cheesy Micro-fries is the above recipe.
From a cookbook from my school girl days.
My Mom had told it to me over the phone
and while Mr. Husband was helping gallently prepare the meal
I realized I did not know where I had put the paper with that recipe.
Luckly, with my third call home,
my Mom was there to answer it and quickly gave me the recipe.

Mr. Husband got the salad and small tomatoes at
the local farmer's market
and they added edible nasturtiums
to the salad
which Mr. Husband made beautiful.

The potato recipe:
Cut up potatoes, in wedges, leaving the skin on.
Add garlic powder, salt, a smidgen of onion salt,
paprika and then Parmesan cheese.
Microwave until tender or almost tender.
12 or more minutes.
{I did it in two batches, the first being bigger and thus
needing more time}.

Mr. Husband had obtained local beer
which some had, another a wine, some only water.
GK Chesterton had loved beer and things bought locally...

I kept the potatoes warm with a big
metal lid from a large pot and a dish towel.

 

Mr. Husband got the flowers at the farmer's market
very inexpensively.
*
And so everyone came,
saying it was so wonderful to be in a home
and all the lampadas were lit
and we talked over dinner,
the chicken fell off the bone and was proclaimed to be perfect
and then we talked about chapters 1 and 2 and a
little of 3.
It was wonderful, refreshing.
I told Mr. Husband I could not wait to do the next
which was decided earlier that evening to be in about a month's time.
*
And now I know that I can prepare chicken a day before
and let it roast in the oven.
I roasted it at I believe 400 degrees for 1 hour
 and then turned the oven off
and let it stay warm.
*
It was a lovely evening
of which we are all thankful for!