Today was one of my days off this week, though I spent it doing quite a bit of work. While the cell phone is a lovely invention overall, it makes me far too accessible. I got calls from my secretary, the athletic director, the clerk of the school board, and a technology vendor. I also had to set up interviews with potential history teachers, so I took care of that at various times during the day and kept up with my office email. But, other than that, I didn’t think about work at all!

I could have made myself less available, but the days are ticking away toward my transition to the new job. I still have so much to do, and now only four more official work days in which to do it. Of course, I do have more days between now and August 1 that I could go in, but I’m trying to actually get my contracted vacation days taken (they don’t roll over under my old contract, though they will with the new). Fortunately, I don’t think my activities today interfered much with the main goal of my taking time off: spending time with the kids.

Gym Girl had practice from 9:00 to 1:00 today, so I dropped her off and then headed to the gym myself. I like to work out in the morning because then I have less excuses for not exercising. It’s a bonus that in the summer I don’t even have to get up particularly early to take care of it then. When I got home, Soccer Boy and Swim Chick had actually woken up and were hanging out watching television. I straightened up some so that the maids who were coming in the afternoon would be able to actually clean, and then we went to pick up Gym Girl before heading off to see the Harry Potter movie since the girls hadn’t been yet. Following the movie, we ran to the store to pick up more lunch supplies and a few other things. By the time we got home, Adventure Guy was in and was preparing his beer can chicken to go on the grill. We’ll have that along with the fresh corn and green beans I picked up at the farm stand for dinner.

Here’s the recipe if you’re interested in an easy summer meal.

Beer Can Chicken

1 whole chicken (4-5 lbs.)
1 23 oz. can beer (room temperature)
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 sprigs fresh rosemary
2 tsp. olive oil
1 tsp. dried thyme
1/2 tsp. red pepper flakes, crushed
Juice of 1 lemon

For rub:
1 tsp. paprika
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. fresh rosemary, chopped
1 tsp. dried thyme
1/2 tsp. ground black pepper
1/2 tsp. lemon zest

Combine all rub ingredients in a small mixing bowl. Set aside.

Remove giblets and the neck from chiken. Sprinkle all over with rub, including cavity. Open can of beer and discard half of it. Place minced garlic, roesmary, thyme, lemon juice, and pepper flackes in it. Make sure to pierce two more holes in the top of beer can. Place chicken on top of can.

Preheat grill. Place bird on grill balanced by the beer can. Grill over indirect medium heat for 1 1/2 to 2 hours or until internal thigh temperature is 180 degrees. Remove chicken and let sit (with beer can still intact) for 10 minutes before carving.

Adventure Guy plays around with this recipe some, using whatever herbs we happen to have on hand and substituting tandoori powder for the paprika. Tonight, we threw in some fresh basil, parsley, and some sage because I have a ton of all those growing in my herb pot.