Inspiration Station: "Father of the Bride"

Wow oh wow am I sorry.  I promised you an Inspiration Station post each month and I didn't hold up to my end of the bargain.  Two posts.  That's all I ended up doing.  I could blame it on moving and the lack of kitchen space to make the more intricate recipes I like to include in these posts, but where would that get us?  Instead, I'll shove the excuses to the side and just get back on track starting...NOW.

Father of the Bride (parts one and two) is one of those movies that I will watch whenever it's on tv.

1. The Dish: Apricot Chicken.  Notoriously thrifty George Banks (Steve Martin's character) finally puts his foot down when wedding expenses start getting out of hand.  Instead of serving something fancy, he insists on the "chipper chicken," which I'm sure is the same bland roast chicken served at every banquet hall across America (alongside rice pilaf and a vegetable medley, natch).  My take on simple, cheap chicken is my Mom's recipe.  It's just apricot jelly/jam, Lipton Onion Soup mix (1 envelope), and 1000 Island salad dressing mixed to taste and then poured over chicken and baked in a 350 oven.  Bake it covered for most of time (45 min to 1 hour) and then uncovered for about 20-30 minutes to finish cooking.  George Banks' chicken sounds boring, but this sort of sweet and sour chicken is a great weeknight update.
2. The Doodads: 

• Annie's engagement ring came from a flea market in Italy.  Perhaps look at the internet's own flea market, Etsy, for a unique and inexpensive wedding band like this hammered gold one with inset diamond.
• Brian's gift of a blender to Annie almost brought the wedding to a halt.  My can't-live-without-it appliance is not just any blender but a stick blender.  It's perfect for making soups, sauces, smoothies...just about anything.
• George thinks he got a steal on a genuine Armani only to be told later that Armani doesn't make a "nah-vy blue tux-ahh-do."  Turns out the navy blue tux is kind of in vogue.  Here's a great one in midnight blue from J. Crew that really makes a statement.
• Since George runs a tennis shoe company, good running shoes are a must.  And what could be better than shoes that are customized and all your own?  I'm a big fan of NikeIDs - the possibilities are endless and the shoes themselves are great.