Honey-Glazed Chicken

INGREDIENTS

• 1/3 cup honey
• 1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
• 2 teaspoons dried thyme
• Coarse salt and ground pepper
• 1 chicken (about 3 pounds), cut into 8 pieces

DIRECTIONS

1. Preheat oven to 475 degrees. Line a rimmed baking sheet with foil. In a small bowl (or glass measuring cup), whisk together honey, vinegar, thyme, 1 1/2 teaspoons salt, and 1/4 teaspoon pepper.
2. Place chicken pieces on prepared pan; brush with honey glaze to coat. Roast, brushing twice with glaze (do not baste during last 5 minutes of cooking), until chicken is deep brown on the outside and opaque throughout, 20 to 25 minutes.

Spice

A spice is a dried seed, fruit, root, bark, or vegetative substance primarily used for flavoring, coloring or preserving food. Sometimes a spice is used to hide other flavors. Spices are distinguished from herbs, which are parts of leafy green plants also used for flavoring or as garnish. Many spices have antimicrobial properties. 

This may explain why spices are more commonly used in warmer climates, which have more infectious disease, and why use of spices is especially prominent in meat, which is particularly susceptible to spoiling. A spice may have other uses, including medicinal, religious ritual, cosmetics or perfume production, or as a vegetable. For example, turmeric roots are consumed as a vegetable and garlic as an antibiotic.

Great-tailed Grackle

Behavior

This bird has a large variety of raucous, cacophonous calls, and is widely considered to be a noisy pest species, though its range expansion has not been aided by human introduction (compared to the European Starling). The females can travel in flocks and they share food. When a male spots a female, he engages her by puffing up and gaping his mouth. He then proceeds to make loud calls and follow the female. The female will allow the large males to mate with her; she will usually reject smaller males.

Bare-throated Tiger Heron

The Bare-throated Tiger Heron, Tigrisoma mexicanum, is a wading bird of the heron family Ardeidae, found from Mexico to northwestern Colombia, with one recorded sighting from the United States in Hidalgo County, Texas. It is 80 cm (28–32") in length and weighs 1200 g.

This large species is found in more open habitats than other Tigrisoma herons, such as river and lake banks. It waits often motionless for suitable prey such as fish, frogs or crabs to come within reach of its long bill.

This is a solitary breeder, not normally found in heron colonies. The nest is a small flattish stick platform in a tree into which 2-3 green-tinged white eggs are laid.