If you want to cheer up your kitchen for the evening, do this:
In a skillet, put some sprigs of rosemary, a bay leaf, a minced clove of garlic, and a few tablespoons of butter and olive oil. Cook on low for 5-6 minutes, and then just inhale the fragrance. It’s a chicken sauce.
You can stop there, but to complete the process, dust some skinless chicken pieces with flour, brown them in the pan, then remove them and add a few slices of chopped onion and some mushrooms. (This is assuming you’re cooking for two, but hey; feel your way.) Stir for a few minutes until the mushrooms turn juicy. Add a cup of chicken stock (sorry, you should have been boiling this earlier), add a few squirts of lemon juice, and put the chicken back in. Stir and simmer gently until the meat is cooked.
Yum. This is why you grow herbs.