Chicken salad

Not like you'd think though - kind of a spin on the famous Zuni Cafe chicken - but using what I had around and my FAVOURITE roast chicken recipe.

1. Buy the chicken and ingredients on Monday night, intending to make it then. Instead, eat chips and salsa for dinner. Prep the chicken so it can do its 24 hours in the fridge.

2. On Tuesday, eat some more chips and salsa. Get the chicken into the oven. During the pauses when the chicken is browning, cube a staling loaf of Acme's pain au levain, slice up a bunch of garlic, wash stem and slice some yellowing kale.

3. While chicken is roasting, do some verrrry chill yoga in the living room, shoving the cat off the mat every 20 seconds or so.

4. While the chicken is resting, toss the bread cubes with olive oil and salt and pepper; toss around in a hot pan til crunchy. Wipe out the pan, pour some of the chicken-browing fat in, add the garlic, stir briskly, add the kale, cook.

5. Layer your 'salad' as follows: kale, chicken, mixed greens from the Temescal Farmers' Market (n.b. whoever decided to sell them with edible flowers in is a marketing genius - so pretty!), croutons, 'dressing' from the sauce the chicken cooked in, pickled red onions, pickled green beans. Excellent with cold Sierra Nevada pale ale.

PS - Radio silence = doing lots of thinking. Overall in a good place - but not going to get to a better place by doing the same old same old.

PPS - Think I am kind of falling in love with hiking. What a great joy and privilege it is to now live within easy striking distance of so much beautiful public land.