Ellington

I am sunburned, exhausted and very full because I just got back from the U.S. Virgin Islands. I think the number of meals I ate was greater than the hours of sleep I got, but it's all good. That's what rum … I mean coffee … was for.

Going back over my notes, I could see the progression of my meal adventuring. My first meal was a basic grilled-shrimp salad with vinaigrette—amazing, but safe. It's something I might order in a restaurant in the States on a Friday night. By the end of the trip, I was trying blackened calamari (no breading, mind you, to help disguise those rubbery tentacles) and sautéed conch, which is the meat that comes out of those big, pink, curly shells that everyone has in their guest bathroom. I even tried foie gras, but felt too much PETA-guilt. I had to chug a glass of water before I felt cleansed. Oh yeah, and dessert helped.

I had more desserts in that week than I've probably had my entire life. My traveling companions yelled at me when I mentioned I might not get dessert one evening. I'm telling you, people get cranky when their sugar rations go down. I was about to be voted off the Virgin Islands for my bad decision.

When it was time to come home, I was relieved. The food was amazing, but three amazing meals a day for seven days straight was almost too much. My body was probably 50 percent mercury from all the fish I ate.

Back in the South, the temperature was significantly lower than it had been in the Virgin Islands. My husband almost called his attorney when I suggested that we turn the heater on for a little bit, just to curb the chill. I had to settle for a sweatshirt and down comforter. If we owned them, I would have also used a hot water bottle and blowtorch.

Even though I was having Caribbean withdrawals, I was also craving some of my favorite flavors: lemon, onion and rosemary. This chicken and rosemary recipe is always a winner, and if you can find fresh rosemary, definitely splurge.

Lemon/Rosemary Chicken

1 whole fryer chicken
1 lemon, cut in half
1 white onion, cut in half
2 tablespoons olive oil
Salt and pepper
Good handful of fresh rosemary

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Wash the chicken and remove any giblets from the body cavity. Trim off any excess fat (but be sure to leave the fat on the breast portion.) Rub the entire chicken with the olive oil, salt and pepper.

Place 1⁄2 of the lemon, 1⁄2 of the onion and the fresh rosemary into the cavity. Lightly oil a baking dish; place the chicken into it, breast side down. Squeeze the juice from the other 1⁄2 of the lemon over the chicken. Sprinkle with salt and pepper.

Bake 80-85 minutes, basting occasionally. (That's when you scoop the juices out of the bottom of the pan and pour them back over the top of the chicken, which keeps the meat juicy.)

To test if the chicken is done, twist the leg. If it twists easily, the chicken is done. Take it out of the oven and let it sit 10-15 minutes before carving and serving.