I had such a lovely evening at a friends’ home Labor Day weekend, the last day of what many of us think as the end of summer. The food was wonderful: appetizers that included roasted tomatoes on good bread, carrots and cherry tomatoes with a dip, a pasta salad with vegetables from Libby’s garden and a pure summer with salmon on the grill.

And, not to forget: a lovely bottle of white (Libby says she buys her wine on how pretty the label looks) and a really nice pinot noir from Oregon (I buy my wine from Divine Wine in East Lyme, where owner Ken Turcotte chooses for me, since I know virtually nothing about wine).

Over dinner we talked about food. Libby hasn’t eaten sweets for 22 years; Lee is a vegetarian but does eat fish and I try really hard to buy local and seasonal. We began talking about our last meal on earth. For Libby it would be fresh tomatoes and lobster, Lee figured it might be pasta and for me it would be a great hamburger.

Lee listened as Libby and I talked about where might be the best hamburger. I’m in love with Westbrook’s Haywire, Libby says she hears Michael Jordan’s 24 is great, and I agreed but mentioned that even I can’t finish 24’s burger.

When I was ready to go home, Libby added to my stash of Trader Joe’s big paper bags (for detritus from my cats’ litter box) and a frozen packet of what she calls the best applesauce ever. Before I left my garage, I thought about tomorrow’s dinner and took out some chicken from the freezer. This morning I put my Instant Pot on the kitchen counter to make a new recipe for chicken in the slow cooker, added the ingredients and turned it to eight hours on low. If you are reading this, you know the recipe is great.

Slow Cooker Chicken Congee

Adapted from Real Simple magazine, September 2018

Yield: serves 8 (will freeze well)

2 bone-in, skin-on chicken breasts (about 1 pound)

8 cups low-sodium chicken broth

1 cup long-grain white rice

1 13.88-ounce can of coconut milk, well shaken

3 cloves garlic, finely chopped

1 3-inch piece fresh ginger, peeled and thinly sliced

2 tablespoons granulated sugar

1 teaspoon kosher salt (I always use sea salt)

1 bunch of scallions; 2 sliced, remaining left whole

Cilantro, roasted peanuts, toasted coconut, sriracha and lime wedges, for serving

Place chicken, broth, rice, coconut milk, garlic, ginger, sugar, salt and whole scallions in a slow cooker, stir to combine. Cover and cook until chicken is falling off the bone and rice has a porridge-like consistency, 8 hours on low or 5 hours on high.

Discard ginger and scallions. Transfer chicken to a cutting board and shred meat; discard skin and bones. Stir chicken back into rice mixture.

Top congee with sliced scallions, cilantro, peanuts, coconut and sriracha. Serve with lime wedges.