Oh, how annoying. At our party on Thursday, I took home a bunch of jerk chicken with the intent of shredding it up for soup. I thought I took home five breasts, but it turned out to be one breast and four thighs. Argh! I don’t like using dark meat in soup. It’s too fatty. I prefer dark meat for straight eating, but I use the white meat for soup. It’s a pretty good balance, means I can use the entire chicken when I roast it.

I was so sad at the results of the white elephant gift exchange. I was really trying to get the gift that I unwrapped, a copy of The Food and Wines of Spain. But it was stolen away from me in the last round. Blast! (I’ll get you for that, Angie.) I ended up with a foam six-pack cooler filled with ginger ale.

I tried a new recipe this week, but I wasn’t really happy with it. I got it from my friend Eddie; it’s one of Mario Batali’s recipes. I’m still going to post it anyway, because I think it might just be a problem with me and my taste buds. I am not terribly keen on the combination of sweet and savory. Some people do enjoy it. For example, my mom and dad love putting raisins in their curries. To that, I say nay! (J agrees.)

But hey, you might like it. Zucca en agrodolce.