Strike One and Trilogies

Yesterday was like the middle movie in a trilogy... The first movie is always interesting because you are meeting all the characters and learning about what is happening.  The last movie has the conclusion and (hopefully) happy ending.  That leaves the middle movie in a trilogy to be all the plot stuff without intro and without a conclusion.  You usually leave the theater confused and wanting more.  That was yesterday.

I finished building all the Ikea furniture (with some help from hubby when he got home from work).  The bookshelves are now up and filled, and many of the boxes that were cluttering the living room are gone.  I can feel progress being made, but it's not quite there yet.  This means that I am going to spend most of my day trying to make the apartment look like it should after so much time and effort.

Dinner last night was equally frustrating.  I have been collecting recipes over time and am delighted to have the opportunity to make them.  So far, this has worked well, but last night I got my first strike.  I tried a recipe for a Spanish chicken and potato roast from an old Food Network Magazine.  I substituted chicken breast instead of the thighs that were called for in the recipe, which may be where the whole thing went wrong.  Overall, I thought the recipe lacked flavor, and the chicken was (obviously) dry... though at least it wasn't undercooked.  =) 

 It looks more delicious than it is... so sad.

I was able to redeem myself with dessert.  I am more of a baker than a chef mostly because I have a huge sweet tooth, which means I have TONS of dessert recipes.  We are trying to watch our figures, so I thought one dessert a week would be nice.  Last night, I made a peach tart tatin.  My abuela (te quiero mucho!) sent me this recipe years ago, and I've been waiting for a cast iron skillet to make it in.  Thanks to a dear friend, we got a cast iron skillet for our wedding, and this recipe is now in reach.  It was a fairly simple recipe... basically just melt down some sugar (about 1 cup), stir in butter (about 1 tbsp), take off heat, add peach halves from 5 peaches, cover with puff pastry and put in a 450 degree oven for 15 to 20 minutes.  It turned out great and felt summer-y with the fresh Texas peaches.

Peach tart tatin... so yum and fresh for summer

Doesn't it look nice on our serving platter?