Thanksgiving in February

Today's favorite moments included . . .

. . . Daniel having a great time at preschool.  I'm glad he's enjoying school and getting to know other kids his age.  I think it's good to have fun with your sibs, but it's also important to connect with your peers.

. . . finally making some really good chicken tacos.  The recipe came from the Yucatecan cookbook Phillip gave me for Christmas, and it actually required that I make three other recipes (roasted garlic, a spice rub, chicken broth) before marinating and grilling the chicken.  The recipes were all simple, but they required a lot of planning.  By the time I finally served up the chicken, I felt like I had cooked Thanksgiving dinner.  It tasted great, though, and I felt like all the effort was worth it when Phillip's eyes lit up as he took a bite, and he exclaimed, "Now THAT is authentic Mexican food!"

I definitely want to make the chicken again, but I'm going to see if I can simplify the prep somehow.  Maybe I'll enlist my solar oven - while I was working in the kitchen for three hours, it was out on the patio merrily cooking three pounds of chicken (which I later shredded and froze for other recipes) with no attention from me whatsoever.