Jamaican Me Hungry For Jerk Chicken

One of my favourite things about our kitchen (apart from the various appliances) is the stick-on blackboard I got from Indigo.

The best.

I've always had a weird love-affair with chalk boards and this one, stuck up on the cupboard, allows us to write down grocery needs, what we're making for dinner, and more recently Beatles song quotes.

It started with 'Love is all you need' (potentially my next tattoo) and has continued from there.

Here's yesterday's quote

* Mom: please don't hate on the grammatical error in 'Todays' special. There WAS an apostrophe but it has since eroded and I only realized it once I posted the picture.

In other news,

the Jamaica countdown in single digits has begun!

We depart next Thursday, putting the countdown at:

8 DAYS

(including today)

I love me some jerk chicken and I have been amping up my workouts and eating much healthier in anticipation of the 5-10 lbs I'm coming home with.

For the next week I'll be posting some recipes of the fooods I am excited to try while on vacation!

First up, because I'm most excited to try the authentic recipe:

Jerk Chicken

(from http://www.jamaicatravelandculture.com/food_and_drink/jerk_chicken.htm)

1. Chop up 3 medium onions, 8 cloves of garlic, and 6 scotch bonnet peppers (or use jalapeno peppers).

2. Place in a blender with 2 tbsp thyme, 2 tbsp allspice, 2 tbsp sugar, 2 tbsp salt, 2 tsp ground black pepper, 2 tsp cinnamon, 2 tsp nutmeg, 2 tsp ginger, 1/2 cup olive oil, 1/2 cup soy sauce, the juice of 1 lime, 1 cup orange juice, and 1 cup white vinegar. Blend all of the ingredients together to make the jerk sauce.

3. Rub the sauce onto 4 peices of chicken (breast, leg, thigh, it's your choice) and let the meat marinate overnight in the fridge.

4. In the oven, bake the chicken for 30 minutes, then flip and bake for another 30 minutes. If using a grill, turn regularly and baste with some of the remaining marinade sauce until cooked.

I may try this recipe before I go away. I have a pre-mixed jerk rub but I want to try and make my own jerk sauce.

In hairstyle news, the Lauren Conrad hairstyle (number 6) is pulling ahead of the competitors!

Tonight: Robin, John and I are off to see John's brother in concert! If you recall, he's drumming for a Canadian artist named Jesse LaBelle and they're opening for Emily Osment (Hannah Montanna's BFF and little sister to Hailey Joel "I see dead people" Osment).

I'll definitely be posting some pics from the concert!