Soup For Lunch

This morning, once I'd read the paper and done the crossword puzzle, I got busy and made a cauldron of Chicken Vegetable Soup.  I start with a recipe called Fast Chicken Soup Base I cut out of the Sunday magazine lo these many years ago because you start with a rotisserie chicken from the store, then you can add all sorts of veggies, herbs and spices according to your taste and what you're in the mood for.  I see that the version I linked to just has the base recipe but the newspaper one had Italian, Mexican, Middle Eastern, with Rice, with Noodles, and another one I can't remember now which is why I cut it out in the first place.  You can start with the basic soup and depending on the pasta, veggies, and spices or herbs you add it's different every time.  It turns out that using the bones and the darkest of the skin (not the flabby, fatty undercooked skin, ick) makes a richer-tasting broth much faster and better than my old "toss a raw chicken into the pot, cover with water, and boil the daylights out of it" method.  I also have an excellent chicken soup recipe from Emeril Lagasse but, kids, I'm usually not willing to devote an hour to deboning a raw chicken and then another hour, at least, to assembling the soup so at times I merge the two recipes' ingredients and get an Emeril-ish soup with half the work.

Here's my fabric haul from Jo-Ann yesterday.  All of the new fabrics will be going into the washer later today so that I can cut them out (at work) over the next few weeks and make even MORE shirts.  I'm going to see about tightening up the neck and lengthening the sleeves on one version to make it a bit more winter-friendly, and I'm going to use the next size up pattern to make a shirt out of the black mesh so it's good for layering over other shirts.

I was happy to see that the birdseed store's annual bulk sale starts today so I'll be tootling over there later for 50# bags of safflower seed, peanuts in the shell, dried cob corn, and a 12-pack of suet cakes.  It'll be almost $100 but it will last almost until next year's sale so it's a good investment.  Plus LC and I need to fill the feeders and soon OJ will be helping too.  We need supplies.

October 29--Carl Schneider, TN-001.  There was a grid pattern mashed into the dead man's left cheek.  Detective Inspector Blair shoved his hands into the pockets of his overcoat wishing he could light a cigarette.  Quitting smoking was a pain and all the no smoking rules were annoying since there wasn't even any secondhand smoke to take the edge off.  The peculiar smell of death should have dissipated but the still damp air held onto it.  He'd forgotten to smear menthol salve on his upper lip before he got out of the car and he wouldn't do it now.  "What do you think made those marks?" Delgado said, shifting his weight and peering down at the still figure sprawled at their feet.  "Well," said Blair, "if my mother were still alive I'd say probably a waffle.  Those things were so tough and heavy they'd have been good emergency manhole covers."  He heard a few chuckles from the crime scene techs.  "But since Mom's been gone for nearly twelve years, I'd guess it was a tennis racquet.  Doctor Doom will know for sure."  "It's not Doom, it's Dohm," said a gravely voice with a slight German accent from right behind him.  "Now get out of my way and let the professionals do their job."  Blair saluted at the gray-haired coroner and turned to Delgado.  "Start going door to door and I'll keep pestering the techs."


I went to the Dollar Tree yesterday looking for some zipper sandwich bags to try to keep my tangle of sock yarns in control.  While I was there a few Halloween things jumped into my cart.  I love the Dollar Tree, especially for cheap holiday decor.  Who can resist a whole store of things that cost a dollar?  Not me.  Time for soup.  The aroma's irresistible.
--Barbara