the kitchen

This isn't new, but I'm going to write about it anyway.  You know how people hang out in the kitchen at gatherings all the time?  There is all kinds of other room in the house, but the kitchen is where people congregate.  Even in smaller kitchens.  Last night, a couple of my friends came over for dinner and - granted - we were getting dinner ready and making cookies, but part of the time we could have been sitting in the living room.  But we didn't.  We just hung out around the counter in the kitchen.  Even when Keith has boys' night with his buddies, they hang out there for a while when they first get there -- and sometimes for quite a bit of the night.  And on Christmas, Mom and Dad's kitchen was packed all night... which was different when she had a bigger kitchen because people could spread out.  But now that she has a smaller kitchen, that hasn't changed.  I was even stuck in the corner for a while and couldn't get out!  It was cool, though, because the company was good and I was next to the drinks... and within arms reach of a couple of the food things.

Like I said, this is not a new concept, but I still don't know why it is.  Maybe because that's where the food / drink is?  Or it's less formal than the dining room?  Does it smell better there?  I was talking about a while back with a colleague and they said they have even moved the food into another room to try to move the party... but people still came back to the kitchen.  So, what is it?  I'd be curious to know your thoughts on that. 

I'm not complaining - I had a lot of fun hanging out in the kitchen with my friends last night!  I made dinner... I had found a recipe for Baked Apricot Chicken that I wanted to try.  When I went to make it, it turned out that what I thought was apricot marmalade in the fridge was actually orange marmalade, but it worked out just fine.  I messed up and didn't get a picture of it, but if you look at the pictures on the site, it looked like that. It was super good and super easy - served with rice and corn from the farm.  Unfortunately, I didn't get a good picture, but it was really good.  Here's what it ended up being (credit to the original recipe):

Baked Orange Chicken
1 c. orange marmalade
1 c. sweet & spicy french dressing
1 pkg (1 oz.) Lipton onion soup mix
10 chicken thighs

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Place chicken in a 9x13 pan.  Mix the marmalade, dressing, and soup mix together well and then pour over the chicken, covering well.  Bake for 1 hour, uncovered. 

That's it.  SO easy.  And SO good. 

Then we did dessert and made some chocolate chip cookies.  I honestly cannot remember the last time I made chocolate chip cookies and, because I don't do it often, don't have a favorite recipe that I use.  Instead, I pulled out the trusty church cookbook, and made J. Halverson's recipe from it.  They turned out really good, but I think they were better when they first came out of the oven... they were a little hard today.  Still very edible, though!  I'm interested in hearing what your tried-and-true chocolate chip cookie recipes are - ones that stay soft and chewy on the inside and a little crunchy on the outside.  Feel free to share. :) 

And we made the last group with some cut up maraschino cherries in it, and it was a yummy edition.  Give it a try sometime!


regular

with cherries!



After dinner and dessert, we hung out in the kitchen for a little while longer, and then watched a DVD of a comedian.  A great night with awesome people is always nice. 

So... what I want to know is:

• why do you think people always hang out in the kitchen?
• got any good chocolate chip cookie recipes?