braised chicken thighs with castelvetrano olives & toasted almonds

I love having yearly Sister Visits. She is a teacher in Northern California, which means when she flies to NJ in the summertime, it's for an extended period of time. We share a love of food and trying out new dishes. This summer, she brought along this recipe, created by the owner of Barbacco, a trattoria in San Francisco. 

 Lots of garlic, to be simmered in olive oil

Bright green Castelvetrano olives

 Toasted Marcona almonds

Savory elements of the braising liquid

almond brittle {sms}

Candy making is new to me.  Read: I've always been afraid of boiling sugar.  (I'm also afraid of power tools, but that's because I fear drilling a hole into my finger or sawing off a limb.)

These past few months, I'm proud to say, the candy thermometer and I have become acquainted.  It ain't so bad.  Caramels, pralines, toffee; bring it on!  This week's Sweet Melissa Sundays Baking Group pick was Peanut Brittle.  I'm glad JoVonn picked it, so that I could put the thermometer to further use. After reading about the trouble some had with Melissa Murphy's recipe, I decided to go rogue and change some of the measurements.  I checked out Hanaâ's recipe, as well as one at Allrecipes.  Visit JoVonn's post for the original recipe, and see the other yummy brittles that the bakers made.