A Vacation From July

The word “vacation” is defined thusly: an extended period of recreation, esp. one spent away from home or in traveling. In layman’s terms, it is the act of vacating your current position, maybe with a full tank of gas in your car, a toothbrush, and going elsewhere with a “See ya!” and not looking back.

July was that kind of month for me, and August brought the vacation I needed.

So at 4:30 in the morning on Wednesday, I drove my little red car to Bedford, Pennsylvania. It was so nice being the only person on the road, watching the blue mountains change colors as the sun rose along my journey, driving through fog and lightly falling rain, listening to various uplifting playlists on my iPod, and not in a hurry to get anywhere in particular. The early birds of the family were the first to greet me when I arrived at 7:20, and I crashed on the couch until 9:45, when Daddy-O and his wife Allison hugged me goodbye.

The House in Bedford, or so we lovingly call the many-roomed cabin by the lake, is one big chill pill in the mountains that I desperately needed. I got to stay in the smaller cabin by the road with my cousin and her boyfriend, and we would go up to the bigger cabin to eat, read, nap, and socialize. 

My reading materials were what inspired me on that trip, and the push forward toward my plans in changing the world: Sandor Katz’s Wild Fermentation and Mel Bartholomew’s Square Foot Gardening. (And then I come home to my Mountain Rose Herbs package all about sprouting, which inspired me even more.)

I then put it out into the universe: “Sprouting. Fermenting. Culturing. It’s happening, people.”

And wouldn’t you know it; I have just the place to post it all on.

I came back yesterday afternoon with a spring in my step, because I’ve never felt so sure of anything in my life. Making life to nourish others (and myself, naturally) is such a grounding thing, and I can’t wait to share it with you.

There’s going to be a lot of change on Meals with Morri in the coming months. There’s going to be a lot of change regarding Morri as well, so stay tuned!

Whenever there has been a huge impact on my life, I like to cook chicken. After reading Paul Pitchford's Healing with Whole Foods, I really started looking at what I put into my body and really started caring about how the food was grown, raised, and processed. I not only took my “Best Oven-Baked Chicken You’ll Ever Make” method and stepped it up a notch by adding a super secret ingredient to make it even better (honey) I also tried a different brand than I usually get (Trader Joe’s kosher chicken leg quarters).

I could definitely taste the difference.

Sweet n’ Herby Oven-Baked Chicken

4 (Roughly 2 lbs.) Chicken Leg Quarters
Sea salt
1/4 tsp. Thyme
1/4 tsp. Oregano
1/4 tsp. French tarragon
1/4 tsp. Basil
30 ml Honey

Preheat the oven to 400ºF.*
Measure out the honey and spices in two small individual bowls and set aside.
Place the chicken in a cast iron skillet (some overlapping may occur, but that’s fine), dry the skin and dash the surface with sea salt, and cook for one hour.
Remove the chicken from the oven and carefully pour some of the fat in with the honey (at least equal parts), thoroughly incorporate, and coat the skin using a silicon brush.
Sprinkle the spices on top of the skin and bake for another 30 minutes (You can give the chicken a second coating at any time if you have any honey-fat mixture left over).
Remove from the oven and let it sit for ten minutes before serving.

Serves 4.

* I noticed that cooking the chicken at 400ºF produced juicier chicken meat, but baking it at 425ºF like my original method works too.