This Weekend I....

- slept in

- made from-scratch waffles for saturday morning breakfast

- explored new cookbooks at barnes and noble

- read some of this book in cleveland park

- heard an amazingly, complex and convicting sermon here

- celebrated the resurrection of my Savior

- watched The King's Speech (amazing movie, and bonus: it stars colin firth!)

- went for a bike ride

- hosted Sunday lunch for old and new friends

A wonderfully fun and relaxing weekend indeed.

Out of the anguish of his soul he shall see and be satisfied;

by his knowledge shall the righteous one, my servant,

make many to be accounted righteous,

and he shall bear their iniquities.

Therefore I will divide him a portion with the many,

and he shall divide the spoil with the strong,

because he poured out his soul to death

and was numbered with the transgressors;

yet he bore the sin of many,

and makes intercession for the transgressors.

~Isaiah 53: 10-12

He is Risen!

I Roasted a Chicken!

For the first time. Ever.

Oh happy day!

Thoughts of roasting a chicken have been in my head for the last couple weeks. I had never done it before, and I was a little nervous. Finally, I decided I was going to roast one this past Sunday.

I used an Ina Garten recipe - she had never failed me before, and she didn't this time either. The chicken was amazing - it was so moist and tender. Yummmm. The veggies I cooked up with it had amazing flavor from the chicken juices. I am definitely planning on making this again in the near future. It was super easy, and produced fabulous results!

The part I was most nervous about was cleaning out the chicken. I got our chicken from Trader Joe's and to my happiness, the insides were already cleaned out - all the gross stuff had already been removed. Number 547 why I love Trader Joe's.

And for once in my life, I actually took pictures of the preparation and cooking process.

Veggies that I chopped and roasted with the chicken - onions, celery, carrot, sweet potato, and my fav, mushrooms!

Garlic and lemon that I stuffed into the chicken cavity

Preparing to lather the chicken in butter - hellooooo treadmill!

Chicken covered in salt, pepper, butter, and thyme. I think next time I'll add lemon zest.

And the final result

And onto my plate - so delicious and I can't wait to make this again!

I recently just read a blog post where there was a list of some of the author's most favorite books. As I've said in previous posts, I love to read. Because of work, I often don't have time these days to read much more than journals. I used to spend more summers growing literally glued to my stack of library books. That was the highlight of my summer - going to the library every few weeks to get a fresh batch of books to read. Nerdy, yes. But oh man, the stories I've read.

I love to reflect on the books I've read, and it's always fun to put them in list form :) So, here are some of my all-time favorite books. Some of these books I've read several times, and this is a list that is constantly being added to.

The Counte of Monte Cristo - this is my all-time favorite, i don't even know how many times i've read it. and the movie, although well-done, does not even come close to the amazingness of this book.

To Kill a Mockingbird

Pride and Prejudice

The Diary of Anne Frank

The Pact - really, every Jodi Picoult book I've read has been amazing

The Ragamuffin Gospel

Beach Music

Harry Potter

The Hunger Games - this is a 3-book series, I've read the first two so far. these books are fiction, and have a very interesting story line

Bel Canto - i was hooked after the first sentence

I Capture the Castle

The Blind Assassin

Just thinking about these books and all the amazing books that are out there that I have yet to read makes me want to become part of a book club. Anyone???