This week’s Instagram, photo a day challenge:

Apr 7th – Day 98

Day 7 – shadow

These guys are getting more and more fun to hang out with!  Both of them are constantly on the go!

Apr 8th – Day 99

Day 8 – inside your wallet

I know, I have entirely too much stuff in my Kate Spade wallet.

Wow it’s been awhile since I did a wine wednesday post, sorry about that! But it doesn’t mean I haven’t been drinking wine so don’t worry!

I first tried a Hahn Winery wine on a trip down to Dee Lincoln’s Bubble Bar and really enjoyed it. I believe it was a Pinot Noir.  But tonight I want to talk about the 2010 St Lucia Highlands Chardonnay.  Since the warmer weather has already started arriving here in Dallas, I’ve been drinking a few more white wines, just because it is a bit more refreshing.

We just had a Spec’s Wine & Beer store open in the neighborhood and I love their wine selection.  They had several Hahn wines for just about $12  so I thought I’d give them a try.

This Chardonnay reminds me more of a Pinot Grigio because of its citrus taste.  I didn’t really get the buttery flavor that most Chardonnays emit but overall I thought this was  pretty good Chardonnay.

Chardonnay was once my favorite wine but since moving on to red wines I’ve become more of a Sauvignon Blanc fan if I had to pick a white.  But I did enjoy this wine.  I drank it over a few nights and I don’t think aging it made that big of a difference but aerating it may have.  I might have to try that next time.

According to the Hahn Winery site, there is a coconut flavor to this Chardonnay and that just may be what is keeping me from falling in love with it.  Not to say I wouldn’t drink this particular wine again.  I’m just a bigger fan of their Pinot Noir and GSM.  They are both fabulous and the price point is pretty awesome as well!  I love when you can find a good wine that doesn’t make you feel like you were robbed when you walked out of the store with.

Once again I got a great crockpot recipe from my friend Jenn and I am so excited about how easy and delicious this crockpot whole chicken recipe was.  The recipe she shared with me originally came from Weelicious.

All you need is a whole chicken, about 4 pounds, 1 lemon, a few sprigs of thyme and salt.

First I took the nasty stuff out of the inside of the chicken…I don’t even know what it is all called but I removed it.  Then the recipe said to cut the lemon in half, but I was afraid it wouldn’t fit very well so I cute it into fourths (wedges) and stuffed the pieces inside the chicken and added the thyme.  Then I had my sister sprinkle a good coating of both salt (I used regular but now I see the recipe called for kosher…oops) and pepper.

I put it in the crockpot and then sprinkled a little paprika on top.  I set the timer to 4 hour on high and let it cook.

For the first hour it smelled more like graham crackers than chicken which was, needless to say, weird.

After four hours it looked delicious!  But since it was getting late I didn’t put it in the oven for about 10 minutes as Jenn suggested to make the skin a little crispy but I’ll do it next time!

I have never before read a Stephen King novel.  I think I’ve seen a couple of his movies but reading his books has never interested me.  That was until I started hearing about 11/22/63.

To be honest before I started this book I hadn’t heard a whole lot about it other than it was really good.  And so far I haven’t been disappointed.  I am well over half way through the book and thought this would be the perfect time to review this book so I can ensure I don’t give anything away.

11/22/63 is a day that most Americans know exactly what happened without really giving it much thought, even if we weren’t alive during that time.  Being from Dallas, I suppose the Kennedy assissination has always fascinated me to some degree.  I’ve been to the 6th Floor Museum and to see Dealey Plaza and I even remember being in elementary school when the 25th anniversary of JFK’s death was remembered.  That is when I was first introduced to this tragedy.

When I first began this book I couldn’t for the life of me figure out how the story could go from a 2011 English teacher in Maine sitting in his classroom reading a story by the school’s janitor working toward earning his GED to 11/22/63 in Dallas, TX.  Then I learned that this book dealt with time travel; but not in a lame or over complicated way.

Jake Epping (the English teacher) is quickly introduced to the portal to 1958 by his friend, the owner of a local diner, Al Templeton.  Jake learns that Al has traveled through time countless times but it is not until Al is on his death bed and realizes he needs Jake to accomplish what he never could; to prevent the assassination of JFK.  Jake is of course leery of this proposition but eventually takes on his dying friend’s mission as his own.

This being my first Stephen King novel, I am really impressed at his writing abilities.  Though I guess to write the thrillers he is so famous for would require him to be a great wordsmith with an amazing ability to stir up his readers’ imaginations.  This book contains mystery, suspense, drama and even romance.  Just when you think the book is on one path it will quickily take a twist and lead you another way.

This week’s Instagram, photo a day challenge:

Mar 31st – Day 91

Day 31 – where you relax

I’ll give you one guess where this is…

Apr 1st – Day 92

Day 1 – your reflection

Notice the green color in the reflection? I was a few days late in taking this photo.  This was the day the tornados hit the Dallas area.

Yesterday I decided to try out a new crockpot recipe: Jerk Chicken. My sister in law Tiffany was coming over to hang with us so I figured it was the perfect time. Sadly I think I’ve now had my first crockpot fail. Though Beth & Tiffany were nice enough to say it still tasted good.

Monday night I cut up all the veggies to try and speed up the prep time yesterday morning. One of the ingredients was habanero and after my last experience with habanero I knew I needed gloves of some sort, so I got creative. Yes, those are grocery bags covering my hands and it worked! (thanks for taking the picture sis)

I loaded everything up in the crockpot, turned it on and headed to work. Then…about 2:00 tornadoes started rolling into Dallas. It made for quite an interesting afternoon. And while I was at work, the power at home went out…oh joy…best guess the power went out about 3 pm because by 5:20 when I got home the crockpot had almost cooled. Luckily the chicken still cooked; so that wasn’t how this recipe was a failure.

Weirdly even after being in the crockpot and cooking for 6 ish hours the chicken did look a lot like it did this morning when I first put it in:

And I really didn’t think it looked too appetizing….but I served it anyway…once I got it out of the crockpot and onto a plate it definitely looked better. It had some flavor and the chicken was moist (eww), but it wasn’t that spicy. Isn’t jerk chicken supposed to be spicy?

My favorite part of the meal was actually the zucchini that Tiffany made. After slicing it in half she drizzled it with olive oil and then sprinkled parmesan ontop. It was really good and I don’t really even like zucchini, but I’m trying to get better! I’m pretty sure this was a recipe from Pintrest.

The night definitely wasn’t an overall fail because I always have a good time with my sisters. We did of course have some wine. Beth picked up one I’d never had before . The Meritage from Sterling was really good!

Needless to say, I will not be making the Jerk Chicken recipe again and I’m bummed to have had a cooking failure with the crockpot.  It had never let me down before!

I’ve Got Your Number is the newest book from Sophie Kinsella and it was a fun read!

Sopaholic was one of the first books I read that introduced me to chicklit, so I have to thank Sophie Kinsella for helping inspire me, in a very round about way, to write Creative Chaos.  Though I have to say around Shopaholic and sister I started losing interest in Becky Bloomwood and stopped reading that series.

So I LOVE that Kinsella is writing stand alone novels.  I have yet to come across one of those that has disappointed me; and that is true of I’ve Got Your Number.

The whole premise of this book is fun and playful and it really drew me in.  In fact I was up until 2 am this morning finishing the book.  Poppy Wyatt, after losing her engagement ring and having her phone stolen discovers a cell phone in the bin (or trash as we say on this side of the pond), and has no idea what is in store for her on the other side of the phone.

Despite the storyline being a little predictable, they way it worked it’s self out was a lot of fun.  It really took no time to get through this book when I actually sat down and read it.

This is definitely a great light hearted read that is perfect for unwinding from work, reading while traveling, or even while lounging in the sun.  I’ve Got Your Number was definitely a job well done by Sophie Kinsella!

Next book is going to be a total change of pace, because it will be my first ever Stephen King novel.  I’m really looking forward to 11/22/63.  Who would have guessed Sophie Kinsella would be a segway to Stephen King? I like to keep you on your toes here at kateolynch.com!