Blogging?

So it seems that everyone is blogging these days. I may be a bit late to the game (oh so typical!), but am totally inspired by Dooce who seems to have made a living writing about, well, nothing much! I thought, hey, I can do that too!! (The blogging part, not the making a living by blogging part.) So, with no expectations other than that of filling some time that would otherwise be spent on facebook, the Jersey Shore, or in a crossword puzzle, I decided to try blogging. This is one of about 4 blogs I created today in a fit of blogosphere frenzy, the others have to deal with preemies and cooking and living generously....all interesting to me, but I am not sure anyone would really want to read them...which is part of the purpose of a blog, right?...to have readers (kind of like if a tree falls in the woods and nobody is there scenario....if you write a blog and nobody reads it, is it really a blog?). Anyhow, without getting too deep into the philosophy of the damned thing, I started to think about what I want to write about or rather, what I don't want to write about. I love my friends and their families and their children and their jobs and their neuroses all dearly, but I don't think the blogging world needs another frantic mom talking about the joys and challenges of marriage/motherhood/working/not working/balancing/not balancing/child-rearing/husband training/chronicling every precious and precocious thing that junior did that day. Don't get me wrong, I enjoy reading all of these quirky annecdotes and amusing escapades, but does the blogosphere really need another harried mother?? Enough already! My life as mom is certainly as interesting/challenging/rewarding, but I have decided that this blog is tasked with getting me out of that space, if even for just a moment!

So, back to square one, what the hell do I blog about? What do I find interesting? What do I turn to for an escape for a few minutes? What would enrich my life if even in the smallest way? If you know me, you are probably thinking, here it comes, yoga.....but, haha, you are wrong, however, I do have to allude to yoga to get to my point...so......enter Yoga newsletter. My peeps at Breathe put out a great little newsletter each month and my favorite section is the playlist---a featured yogi shares his/her favorite tunes to flow to. I love these unsolicited suggestions of great music and find myself instantly turning to itunes to look any unknown songs up....and when I hear a good one, it is like a little treasure, an unexpected gift that I have been given. Such simple joy!! AHA MOMENT! I love learning about what other people like-- music, food, clothing, kids stuff, new products, etc. and I love to share what I like. I get excited to share a new song that makes me sing out loud or moves me to tears, a great t-shirt that is figure flattering and comfortable or a pair of cozy sweats you can wear around town without looking like that mom (you know who I mean!), a yummy recipe that I have just discovered and has in some way made my life easier, a fabulous new perfume/lotion/soap, a great new book shared with the kids or just for me, a yoga pose that makes me say aaahhhhh....and the list goes on and on! So, think Oprah's Favorite Things, or Martha's Good Things, but from me..woman/mom/wife/sister/auntie/friend who is also a dynamic person who has her own interests and really wants to get back to them and would love nothing more than to share them! I am sure there are similar blogs out there, but this one is less commercial and more personal, from my heart and soul to yours!! And so, in an attempt to live generously, regain a few cerebral moments and to write about things I like, love and may at times be wholly obsessed with, I give to you 365 days of my favorite things (cue Julie Andrews)!! Some big, some small, some more expensive than others, some absolutely free....I hope that you love some of them as much as I do!!

And so, without further ado, favorite thing numero uno a true gift from my heart and soul to mark the birth of my blog: Baba's Homemade Chicken Soup.



Homemade Chicken Soup aka The Golden Broth of Life.



On a day like today, when the snow is falling, we are all sniffling and sneezing and it feels like winter will never end, it is more than appropriate to share a tried and true family recipe and one of my absolute favorite things in life....my Baba's Chicken Soup (Baba=grandma). Family lore has it that my mom's mother, Anna, worked as a nanny for a well-to-do Jewish family in NYC when she was in her 20's. They taught her how to make the most delicious, clean, wholesome foods....the best of the best? Her Chicken Soup. This soup is such a winter staple in my family (my mom, her sisters and all of their children) that it has taken on a cult following all its own...outsiders just don't understand the obsession with this soup.....that is, until they have tasted it, and then they are converted! I promise you, once you make this healthy, nourishing, delicious soup, it will quickly become a winter staple in your family!! And yes, we do refer to it as the Golden Broth of Life!

No magic, no special ingredients. Culinary skills needed--boiling water!

This truly is a gift that I am sharing with you!!!



Baba's Chicken Soup

Ingredients:
6+lb stewing hen---get this from a real butcher, like Sam, not your grocer. Don't get a roaster or a "whole chicken cut up" it has to be a stewing hen (I have used a roaster before if it is very fat, but the stewing hen is the best!). Try to be kind and request a free range chicken fed a vegeterian diet...avoid chickens fed any type of growth hormones....cruel to the chicken and cruel to you! You can ask the butcher to quarter or half the chicken, or keep it whole, it really doesn't matter. Just make sure that he includes all of the innards as they add major flavor to the broth.

Mirepoix

Celery (with the leaves)
Curly Parsley
5-6 Carrots
Large cooking onion

Kosher Salt
Fine Egg Noodles


Make it!

1. Clean the bird. Rinse it under hot tap water. Place it in a good sized stock pot (8 qt) and rinse it a few more times with cold water (ie: fill the pot, dump and repeat).

2. Fill the pot with cold water just enough to cover the chicken. Place it on the stove and bring to a boil.

3. While water is working to the boil, clean your veggies well. Peel and cut the ends of the carrots, peel the onion, and make a bouquet out of the celery and parsley. Separate the celery and use it to encircle the parsley bouquet (kind of like stuffing the celery). Tie the celery bouquet with white thread or cooking string---this is to help keep the soup clean and will avoid the celery and parsley from cooking apart. You could also place the celery and parsley in cheese cloth....but there is something about the art of tying the veggies together that makes this special!

4. Before the water comes to a boil, you must skim the scum. With a soup spoon and a mug, dredge all of the frothy scum that rises to the top of the soup ....imporant to get to it before the soup comes to a rolling boil!

5. Once the scum has been skimmed, reduce to a simmer, drop in the onion, carrots and place the celery/parsley bouquet on top. Sprinkle in a bit of Kosher salt, lid and simmer for about 5 hours. I usually get this soup on around noon to be served for 6pm dinner...this is the key, let it cook, cook, cook for full flavor!

6. Before serving, dispose of the onion, celery/parsley. They are too overcooked to keep as part of the soup, the carrots can be cut up and added to each bowl. Pull some pieces of chicken out and place on a separate plate to be eaten separately or to be added into the soup. Serve by ladeling the soup through a hand strainer over fine egg noodles (pennsylvania dutch or manischewitz) or matzo balls (again, manischewitz mix or from scratch) . You want to use the strainer to catch any chicken bones, etc. Salt and Pepper to taste

6. Chicken soup is always better the second day. To store, strain the soup into a storage container. Select the chicken meat you want to keep and store it separately (you can add it back to the soup as you serve, or use it for other recipes like chicken salad). The next time you take the soup out of the refrigerator, you will notice the fat has formed a film on top...skim it off before re-heating the broth.

VIOLA!!! Baba's Homemade Chicken Soup!! I truly hope you enjoy!!

Check back tomorrow for another of my most favorite things!