The Visit part 1

When my In-laws came for their visit last week; we were waiting for them to arrive, not quite sure when they would get here or what they were planning. Oddly we (really Kris) is expected to know what they are planning before they arrive and act accordingly. We were discussing what we should have ready for them for dinner that night.

The first option and my favorite was Pasties. Pasties, if you are not familiar with them, are one of the world's most perfect foods it consists of Beef, Onion, Rutabaga, and Potatoes wrapped in a pie like crust and baked golden brown. I have wanted to make pasties for quite a while but it is one of those dishes that I want to learn from a master (read Kris' mom) before I do. I am pretty sure that Kris is afraid that I will try to "improve" on them one day which would be a crime, Salmon and Poblano Pasties would upset the balance of the universe. By the way this was my favorite option for the evening because it only involved turning on the oven.

The second option was spaghetti with meat sauce, nothing exciting, just like your mom made it. Spaghetti, with ground beef and red sauce from a jar . Kris usually makes this one so I am not sure what she doctors the sauce up with but it is good. This was my least favorite option because Kris would be making the sauce while I discussed the first three in-law topics.

The third option that we had come up with was ordering Pizza. After all we live in Schaumburg, a Northwest Suburb of Chicago... the Pizza Capitol of the world (if you are from New York just shut up, you know it is true). I was pretty good with this option too since I was getting home from work about 25 minutes before they arrived.

When they came into our house and the three dinner options were laid out I discovered that there was another option, the one that we should have known to begin with. "We hoped that Bryan would come up with something... we really like the good potatoes."

"No problem!" I said, "let me see what we have..." The good potatoes were easy that is the foil wrapped cheesy potatoes that I cook on the grill but meat? Ok I had some chicken so I would work from there:

Grilled Chicken Breast with a Bourbon, Apple Cider Glaze:
"Marinade" In quotation marks because there wasn't really enough time to marinade.
1/2 cup Apple Cider Vinegar
1 cup Olive Oil
1 1/2 TBS Honey
5 Chicken Breasts (thawed)

Put the Chicken Breasts in the marinade while preparing all side dishes then put the glaze on the stove and cook for about half an hour until it reduces by half.
Glaze
1/2 cup Bourbon
1 cup Apple Cider
1/2 cup brown Sugar

Put glaze on medium heat while preparing potatoes Once potatoes have been on the grill for about 5 minutes take chicken out of the marinate and soak in the warm glaze for a few minutes then put on the grill. Grill over medium heat for about 3-4 minuted then dredge through the glaze and put it back on the grill. Do this once more then serve.

The Chicken came out tender and sweet, the dinner came together pretty fast and kept everyone a bay for an evening. Tomorrow the real work would begin.