I have pretty great friends. They’re incredibly annoying and impossibly complicated but great. I often forget that I am so lucky to be surrounded by people who are full of warmth. I forget about all of the love in my life.
But the love is important to remember because otherwise, when a 20-year-old man kills 20 children, it’s difficult to see how beautiful the world is.
Food is my way of giving love. I think that tonight, even more than most nights, it’s important that we all give out love in any way that we can. The dinner that I cooked for the friends that I love was simple. It required only the most basic kitchen tools and took less than an hour.
The main element: prosciutto-wrapped chicken.
I used 4 boneless chicken breasts, 4 slices of prosciutto, 1 cup of mustard, 1/4 cup of balsamic vinegar, 1/4 cup of brown sugar, 1/2 tablespoon of fresh rosemary, 1/2 tablespoon of fresh thyme, and salt and pepper to taste. The chicken breasts were wrapped in prosciutto and then covered in a sauce made by mixing all of the other ingredients in that list. Then it was roasted for 30 minutes at 425 degrees.
I also made roasted grapes and shallots.
I mixed together a bag of seedless green grapes, a bag of seedless red grapes, and 5 thinly sliced shallots. Those roasted in the oven for 25 minutes at 425 degrees.
My second side was sautéed baby spinach.
Over medium heat, I sautéed about a 1/2 tablespoon of garlic and then added 12 ounces of baby spinach. I cooked that until it shrunk and darkened (about 4 minutes). Right before taking it off the stove I added a sprinkle of ground nutmeg (don’t go crazy).
Once everything was finished cooking, my friends and I walked into my suite, sat in a circle, enjoyed the food, and talked about our day. It was a moment of normalcy. It was a moment of love.
Love is normal and that’s why we forget and that’s why it’s important to remember. Most people are filled with love. Yes, there are terrible people but most people are far from terrible. Most people are great, like my friends.
