Of Sunshine and Potted Plants.

I was up at dawn, essentially. Not really sure why, although I did sort of drowse into slumberland last night in a most delightful way. It was as if my brain was slowly bumping down a long, ornate staircase, into depths of mists and stuff. Or something. It was this gradual drop into darkness, warm and cozy and complete.

So, yeah, up with the blue, right before sun began spilling messily all over my apartment. I watched an episode and a half of Oz, cooked up a couple of eggs for breakfast, had my coffee, and headed out into the warmth and sunshine to take out the trash, drop the Oz disc in the mail for Netflix, and head over to Home Depot. It was pretty crowded, especially in the Nursery area, which I strolled through just to take a gander at what flats they had. Inside, though, was where I set my sights, because as an apartment dweller with no real garden area, I am limited to potted house plants.

Soil, hangers, brackets, pots.

I was also able to hook up my newest toy in the car: on Friday I took the bus up Michigan to the Apple store and got myself the teeniest iPod Shuffle. It is way tiny, and I spent a couple happy hours playing party shuffle through iTunes, and simply dropping whatever I fancied into the Shuffle's playlist. Happily, the cassette converter I have for my old skool tape deck in my car fits the Shuffle's headphone plug perfectly (I dunno, I worry about these things, that perhaps it wouldn't), and it all sounds so much better than on my tired old CD player. The iPod has been named Shuffleupagus, thanks to Dave. Shuffleupagus J. Playa, if you're nasty. Thanks, Dave, for the awesome name. It makes me happy.

Today is warm and lovely and sleepy. A lot of cars around here have suddenly sprouted Polish flags on the antennae, and many, many windows have votives and portraits of good ol' Karol displayed.

Sunday Dinner.

Chicken cut into bite-sized pieces, marinated for 25 minutes with balsamic vinegar, lemon pepper, and crushed garlic. Then, the chicken is placed into a foil pouch with cooked onions and spinach and some more garlic, and stuck in the oven.

Asparagus is currently wicking up some filtered water before being roasted with a little olive oil and kosher salt.

UPDATE:

Hot diggety damn, it turned out well.
Temps, for those who are curious: 400°, with 30 mins. for the chicken, and the latter 15 minutes plus oven cool-down for the asparagus. I think I used a little too much lemon pepper, but honestly, is that even really possible?

The asparagus was just slightly al dente towards the bottoms of the stems, and the heads crisped out super-nicely. I left 'em whole as they roasted, and then sliced 'em in half before putting them on my plate. Yum yum. Good stuff.