Dark Days Challenge Week 8: Roasted Chicken and Shallots

I was so hungry last night that I started eating before I remembered to take a picture for my Dark Days post.

So here's a picture of my half-eaten dinner. But I did pretty it up a bit with Instagram effects.

I made Roasted Chicken with Shallots from Martha Stewart Living. I made this recipe a long time ago when the Hubs and I lived in the townhouse we rented when first got married before we bought our house. I don't know why that detail sticks out to me, but it does. I wasn't crazy about that townhouse at the time. It was TINY. And everything in it was dated. The oven was so old. But looking back on it now, it was a very happy time in our lives. The landlord let me paint the whole place as long as the colors I chose weren't obnoxious, and I fixed the place up quite a bit. And, we'd just gotten married, so I had lots of wedding gifts to "set up house" with. That was a lot of fun.

I remember this recipe being crazy good when I made it before. I believe I made it when my sister- and brother-in-law came over for dinner one evening. They used to live near us in a slightly larger rented townhouse before they had children and we've take turns making dinner for the four of us.

But, I guess that's the thing about really good food. The memories it can trigger always are so vivid.

I made this roasted chicken with chicken legs and thighs from Almost Heaven Farm that I bought at the Monroe Farm Market. The Shallots weren't local, but they were Melissa's brand organic. The butter was pasture butter by Organic Valley. I made mashed potatoes with the chicken. The potatoes were from the half bushel I bought earlier in the winter from a farmer I know from Preston County, WV. I used a bit of pasture butter in them with some half and half from Homestead Creamery in Wirtz, VA, and the secret ingredient to my mashed potatoes: a tbsp of sour cream, which was Kroger Brand Natural Sour Cream.

Yesterday was pick-up day for Monroe Farm Market orders. I stopped by the pick-up location on my way home from work to get my order. I always enjoy talking to the people who help with the pick-up. There is a super-nice guy that is a volunteer from here in town that has an amazing mind for detail. He couldn't remember my first name, but he remembered where I was from and where I worked just from snipets of converstation over the past six months since I've been picking up my orders at that location. And they haven't had a pick up since before Christmas. Also, two ladies who are farmers were helping put together the orders. One was a beef farmer and the other a produce farmer. At any rate, the lady who checked outr up before me inadvertantly grabbed the butternut squash I ordered that was on the counter as my order was being assembled. As they were completing my order, we realized that the lady ahead of me must've grabbed the squash with her stuff. I wasn't too phased by it though, no big deal. They refunded the cost of the squash off my order and I was on my way. However, this morning, just as I was leaving for work, there was a knock at my front door. It was the lady who grows the produce with my butternut squash. The lady who paid ahead of me must've brought it back, and before heading back to their farms this morning, they brought it by my house. I thought that was so nice! It shows you what kind of people farmers really are.