chicken soup and hospital politics

Chicken soup made from an entire chicken always seemed way too extravagant to me, like lamb done with anchovies. Now I've broken the lamb and anchovies barrier and the whole chicken soup barrier. I think both of them have been for health food reasons. The extra omega 3 boost of anchovies and the awareness of how nutritious chicken stock is.

I bought a fresh chicken from the supermarket. Bog standard cheap chicken - that's the only kind our small town supermarket sells fresh (and even frozen there is free range but not organic). Cut it up roughly and put it in my large stock put with water, apple cider vinegar, chopped celery, carrots, onions and ginger. Boiled it for an hour, lifting the scum off periodically.

Then I lifted out the chicken pieces, cut up the meat and put it in a smaller pot and put the bones into the slow cooker. Then I added enough stock liquid to the small pot for lunch, some fresh chopped carrot and broccoflower in and boiled it a bit more, then added some noodles and then that was lunch for the whanau. Went down well with a bit of black pepper and some tamari soy sauce.

The remaining liquid and veges I put into the slow cooker and topped it up with fresh water and it is still on low now and will go overnight.

I could have stretched the meat further. I made a meaty soup but I could have kept half the meat for a chicken pie. So there are still the proverbial three meals to be had of the chicken doing it this way round.

My other food project today is turning lemon peel into vitamin c powder. The dehydrator is on now. I forgot about the sourdough starter being on the bench and it bubbled and collapsed which means it has run out of energy for the moment so instead of leaving a new dough to rise overnight, I gave the starter more food and I'll have another go in the morning. Sometimes it gets wheat and sometimes rye but it always seems quite resilient and adaptable. The rye adds so much flavour.

I read Knitting by Anne Bartlett today. From the library. I quite liked it. Feministy intellectual world meets craft knitting and grief. Sharon I wonder if you have read it? I'd be interested to know what you think. And anyone else of course.

The lovely Jackie at our local Bernina shop explained to me this morning how not to break needles all the time merely by hemming trousers. Now I have some denim needles for my sewing machine.

Brighid is quite sick. She has stopped vomiting and diarrhoea and the cough is less scary than it was, but she sleeps much of the day. Other people have reported similar symptoms in their local children and it looks like once again she has copped two circulating illnesses at once. But today there were two of us adults and that made much much better.

I weeded the sheeps sorrel out of the punga raised bed and added blood & bone and dolomite lime this afternoon. I found my punnet of purple sprouting broccoli looking a little sad so it is soaking in water now and in the morning, they can have new homes in the big garden. I weeded some more in the old chook run (mostly borage seedlings and what might be cornsalad gone mad and of course oxalis). My bay trees have an affliction. Maybe it is a kind of rust? Not sure what to do about that.

The date has come out for a meeting about agitating to save our local health services, a meeting to follow up discussion at the May Day forum in Blackball. What did people do when there was a meeting about equal access to jobs and health care in 1930s Germany? Was Jesus too busy when people were dispossessed? These are things going through my mind right now. I don't know whether I cannot manage to attend (with the ongoing commitment they will want, need, look for) or whether morally I just cannot not go.

Comments

Sharonnz said…
Oooh...no I haven't...will look out for it.

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