around here {still}

baking history :: cheater chicken soup {life}

I was never a big Chicken Noodle Soup fan growing up. We were a Campbell's condensed soup family (Come on now, it was the 70s. No judging.), so give me Chicken and Stars any day. I remember, sometime in elementary school learning a song called "Chicken Soup with Rice" and my dad bought cans of Chicken with Rice after that. I don't know, the ratios always seemed off. Too many carrots (of cooked carrots, I am also not a fan), not enough chicken, noodles too gummy and hard to eat. No, for me, Chicken Noodle Soup never completely caught on.

However. I get it. I get that there's not much more comforting that the bland, barely spiced bowl of warmth that is this soup. Something subtle and easy on the tummy. So when we were all under our rock last week it was the first thing I thought to make us. There are a gazillion ways to make Chicken Noodle Soup and get it rich and flavorful, to elevate it to an art. Was I prepared to do that? Uh. No. Heck, even now I'm still contemplating a nap at any moment. I needed something easy, comforting, nourishing, flavorful (but not too flavorful), and did I mention easy? Here's what I came up with.

Cheater's Chicken Soup

1 Whole Rotisserie Chicken
1 chopped veggie pack: carrots, onion & celery
olive oil
sherry
chicken broth
egg noodles
fresh ground pepper

Saute´the vegetables in the olive oil in a stockpot over medium heat until soft. Of course you can chop an onion, a carrot or two and a few stalks of celery, but I was looking for maximum easy so I grabbed the pre-chopped pack that our grocery store carries. While the vegetables are sauteíng, shred some of the chicken from the rotisserie chicken. I ended up using maybe a cup and a half of both white and dark meat as well as some of the skin.

Once the vegetables are soft and just beginning to brown, deglaze the pan with some of the sherry. Add the chicken and enough broth to reach the volume of soup you desire. Bring to a slow boil. Once the soup is boiling, add the noodles and cook until just tender. Taste and adjust seasonings. With the chicken and broth, it should be plenty salty, but you may want to add more sherry and some fresh ground pepper.

Serve with warm rolls to sop up the broth. And feel better!

baking history :: cheater chicken soup {still}

Weekend Recap, February 25 edition

1. Finally eating | 2. Sick-week watching | 3. Back where she belongs (lap) | 4. My guys | 5. Oyster shell recycling | 6. Big kid | 7. Another view | 8. Dirty Buffalo, Callum gets to his favorite wing restaurant. He's all better! | 9. Foggy Sunday | 10. Our girls | 11. Muffins by request | 12. Make up work | 13. Oscar salad | 14. Will | 15. Wine and dip for the awards

So. What did you guys think about the Oscars? Kind of a snooze, I thought. When I watched Seth McFarlane announce the nominations, I felt like he was singularly unfunny, and nothing really dispelled that opinion last night. The Michelle Obama part was pretty cool, though. I vote for Tina and Amy next year.

We all focused on recovery this weekend. I'm still fighting an upper respiratory thing, and I'm debating heading to the doctor today. I am getting better, but I'm not well yet and it's been three weeks now. But the doctor is a haul from here and it's such a hassle. This shouldn't be a decision, but for some reason, it is. We stuck with bland food Friday night but braved an oyster roast/fundraiser for a friend of ours who is running for local office on Saturday. The event was held at one of my favorite locations in Norfolk (see that view in #7? not shabby) and it was a misty, cold and drizzly day. To my mind though, this is the quintessential Norfolk oyster roast: steam rising off the grill, trays of hot oysters and rolls of paper towels, bottles of hot sauce on all the tables. It should be chilly and misty (and if the crowd is small enough, there should be bloody marys, but that's for another day). There was a pig at this event too and live music doing Grateful Dead covers. It was a great afternoon, and we were thrilled for our friend. Thrilled for our city too, to see so many young adults come out and get involved in the civic life of our community. That's exciting.

I've been working on a river series of photos in my 365, and my original goal had been to get a shot of the river from its vantage point near our home on Fridays because my commute is shifted a bit to allow me the time. Callum's ski accident a couple Fridays back messed up that plan one week in (this is how things always go for me!), so I got a shot Saturday that week. Okay, so maybe weekend river shots? Because this Saturday I missed too, using this shot instead. Sunday morning, I woke up to early fog. Nobody else was up, so I threw a coat on over my jammies and snuck down to the river for my weekend shot. I'm glad I did it, but I was sleepy for the rest of the day.

Poor Callum stayed mired in make-up work all weekend, but I made him muffins, and Neel hung our Valentine's gift: a photo of all three of our girls, each as their best selves.  And then we come full circle, back to the Oscars. We watched with our neighbors who have a new baby. Pizza on the grill and some salad. Some wine and dip and catching up. Slow-moving Sunday. Those are the best, aren't they?

I can't thank you all enough for your sweet and funny comments about our recent travails! I'm hopping on to respond to all of your comments now, but thank you, thank you. We have one more week to get through before Spring Break...I think we might just make it!

Friday, February 22, Our Week of Woe

Oh hey! Has it been a week already? Dang, time flies, right? I'm going to abandon my normal Five Things format (because counting is still tricky) and fill you in on how miserable things have been around here over the last week. Because I love you all, I won't tell you just how miserable.

So. Where to begin? How about with the last thing I said to Callum as he dashed to the car on his was to go skiing exactly seven days ago. "Don't get hurt." See, here's the thing. A few weeks ago a buddy of his got hurt snowboarding and it made me think. What would we do if Neel got hurt? Our nearest skiing opportunity is three hours away, and since Blanche (our Mini Cooper) doesn't go on the freeway (she's in pre-retirement), we're down to one car when he's gone. If Neel gets hurt, how do I get to him to get him home? But these guys ski every year, they're seasoned pros. It'll all be fine. Right.

So I relished about four hours of alone time before heading to the grocery store. Halfway there, at a long light, I thought, I'll just shoot those guys a quick text to see how it's going and remind them to take pictures. When I picked up my phone there was a missed call from Neel and a text message that read: Please call me. Callum answered the phone, crying. "I got hurt." I had to pull off the road to sit and hear all the details, and once I did I went to the grocery store and, in something of a fog, bought a ton of junk food to treat my boy when he got home.

Here's what happened. On their first run (of course), Neel was a bit ahead when Cal swerved to miss a skier who was moving more slowly in his path. In a narrow part of the trail, his skies hit some rock and down he went. Neel didn't think he saw the accident but realized later that he saw Callum's skies fly off. They tell me you have to hit pretty hard for your skies to fly off. When Cal didn't get up, Neel made his way back up to him and flagged down an attendant. At first look, it was his knee. He must have hit a rock right on the knee cap because his pants were torn, he had a laceration right on the patella and the knee was already starting to swell. In comes the snow patrol (Shep!) and after checking Callum's knee and his wrist, which he only later realized was hurting, they splint him and wisk him off the mountain in something called a dogsled off to the hospital. That's where they were when they called me. So those guys faced the long drive home, with Callum splinted in the back seat. I called the pediatrician and stocked up on junk food.

The knee looks ugliest, but the wrist has been more troubling. No fracture on the X-Ray, but a severe sprain and bruising. He's in a brace for a week. We're lucky. The leg could have been broken in the fall as could have the wrist. Worst was the disappointment of missing skiing. Two tries now, and no luck for my guys.

By Saturday, my upper respiratory cold kicked back in full force. As I thought about writing my Monday post, I was planning to self-flagellate over the fact that I hadn't heeded my own (let's face it, somewhat strident) advice to rest when you start to get sick. I thought the cold was the issue. But by Saturday night, Mr. Norovirus knocked on our door. Ever heard of the Cruise Ship Virus? That's it. Having a husband who is an infectious disease expert can be handy at times like this. I'm going to skim this part, except to say that starting around midnight on Saturday I experienced possibly the worst 36 hours of my life. Here are some things I learned. 1. I don't like ginger ale, except in Pimms, which isn't really appropriate when you're throwing up at 3 AM. 2. There is very little more comforting to me than a hot bath. 3. Ice chips really do help when you're nauseated and scared to drink anything. 4. I have the most amazing husband and son a woman could ask for. I barely remember Sunday, which is good. Neel stayed home on Monday while I continued to sleep.

By Tuesday my tummy had settled down, but my sinus problems were back full force. Slept all day Tuesday. Callum got home from school on Tuesday, and right before dinner he threw up. Around 1 AM, he and I were dozing on the bathroom floor when Neel came in to say, "I have it." Boom. Boom. Boom. Our whole clan, down for the count.

I still took pictures every day. Cheated and used my phone on Sunday and Monday to capture these shots of my faithful nurse Lucy the Beagle. She barely left my side. Neel missed his first work for illness in the ten years we've been here. We both figure we lost about nine pounds. Callum has missed all week of school. I made a cheater chicken noodle soup yesterday (I'll have a recipe next week for you.) and so far none of us are too rocky. Fragile maybe. In the midst of it all Callum accidentally used Neel's toothbrush and then Neel accidentally used Callum's. And somewhere we have a dead animal in the roof or walls of the house. Nice.

Thank you so much to all of you who checked in on me. This is my first time sitting in a chair all week! It was simply beyond me to look at the computer, much less respond to all your wonderful notes. I know you understand. I have never been happier to see a week end in my life. It can only get better from here, right?