After the Storm -- and Dinner....

We had a huge storm here in Southern California last week -- wind, rain, hail(!!) -- resulting in property and landscape damage for a lot of people as well as a career's worth of dents on some cars. After the storm, the clouds were so beautiful that I had to take some pictures...

These were taken off the back deck of my house; couldn't make up my mind which I liked best, so included both.....

It seems like whenever we have bad weather, it triggers the urge to cook -- maybe it's because you want to stay inside, light a fire and some candles and smell good things in the house?


Started with some baby bella mushrooms, which I quartered; then I sliced up some boneless skinless chicken thighs and reached for the standby in my kitchen -- Pasolivo lemon olive oil.

The Texmati rice and butter for a side dish....

This is probably the last of the fresh basil to come out of the garden; it's looking pretty spindly. My friend Charlene has been growing hers indoors, so I'll probably have to offer to trim her basil for her pretty soon -- do you think she'll fall for that one?

Browned the chicken & mushrooms in the olive oil, then added a splash -- well, maybe more than a splash -- of white wine.

This is a Sauvignon Blanc from Justin Vineyards, one of my very favorite Paso Robles wineries.

Rounded out the meal with a quick salad: bagged veggie lovers lettuce, some halved grape tomatoes from Cherub and our favorite not-homemade salad dressing. There's something about those Cherub tomatoes -- we've tried other kinds and brands, but keep coming back to these for their pure tomato-y flavor.

The Girard's dressing is the one that Dan buys whenever I'm out of town and fresh dressing isn't on hand. We like the Light Champagne; it's not as oily as full fat dressings, but isn't sweet either, like so many "light" products.

Pour out another glass of that wine and we have a quick, easy weeknight dinner!