The Stars and the Cookie Jar

I don't know when I started doing that; it seemed like the ultimate expression of quizzicality, which is now a word. Do y'all want to see a cookie from The Seal Wife? It's either that or a recipe for chicken.

Oh, both?

Okay, both...

            The Green-Eyed Leah came ashore by moonlight, and down from the decks stumbled the man who would be my husband. I decided, by the way the white smoky light limned his dark hair, by the salt-cut cast of his features, that he should be mine. His beard was stiff with the night’s cold spray, and his eyes were weary; under a red web, they were sharply sparkling as coal.
            His name was Thomas Merrow, and I knew that without asking. His boat was new and fine, every pin gleaming, every rope sure. She had a black hull with a lady’s green eyes picked out either side of her prow, in the old fashion; she would cut through the water and bring luck.
            She would be a jealous mistress, and keep her man at sea.
            I never stood with my bare feet planted against the rock and sway of her smooth decks; my hands never held to the soaring lines like rough heart-strings. Thomas was adamant in many things, and the first I knew was this: no woman would go aboard the Green-Eyed Leah.
            I stood on the moon-etched sand and waited until he had rubbed his hands clean on a rag. Then I went to him, and kissed him. It was my first lie. 

And, apropos of nothing, chicken!

This goes well with herbed couscous and green beans. [If you're drinking coffee, go with Kenya AA, for the citron notes. If the coffee doesn't reek lemon and grapefruit as you grind it, chuck it out. It's gone stale.]

2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
4 snapped sprigs fresh thyme
1 lemon
1 clove garlic, minced
1 tablespoon butter
2 tablespoons olive oil

Heat oven to 425F.  In a ceramic or Pyrex baking dish, coat chicken with olive oil. Pat thyme and garlic down into chicken. Slice lemon into thin rounds, and cover chicken with lemon rounds (probably 4 per chicken breast). Wash your hands. Dot each slice of lemon with butter. Put the dish in the oven and bake 30 minutes, or until chicken juices run clear, not pink. Take the lemon rounds off the chicken, unless you have a pathologic liking for lemon; reserve the best-looking lemon slices for plating. Scrape up the browned bits and juices to spoon over the chicken, plate and garnish with a roasted lemon slice each, and pass a dish of Kosher salt at the table.