Out of Practice in the Kitchen

It's been cold here in H-town lately, well mostly cold with intermittent days of 75 even in the 80's one day. Then a cold front rushes through and we go from 80 to 40 in a matter of hours, maybe even into the 30's. Yesterday was 43 and rainy wet, which is cold. The moist cold will cut through you like nobody's business. Jared's had a nasty cold so I decide its time for a pot of green chile corn chowder. Oh yeah, add chicken. Well, actually I start with cooking a whole chicken and veggies and spices to get the broth, then add back the chicken to make it the whole meal. Everything went fine, well I couldn't find the big stock pot so I put it all in a smaller one and it cooked over but only a little bit. Then you've got to get all that stuff out of the pot, separate what you want to keep from what you don't, strain the broth, and start the soup.

I tell you, I'm out of practice in the kitchen. Everything I grabbed was just too small. When I got to straining off the broth I had more broth than pan and made a huge mess. Spilled broth on the floor, between the stove and the cabinet. The dog rushes in immediately to help with the mess. I used to love to cook and was darned good at it. Then it was just Kim and me and Kim gone a lot and I got out of practice. Now, Jareds back and Kim is home more, only since Ike, we've been eating but not doing much of any cooking, lots of bought stuff, pre-prepared stuff, chicken-pot pies, well its sad but you get the idea. The kitchen was just too dirty for too long and wasn't worth getting everything clean and then doing it all over again day after day. It's a bad scenario health wise but bottom line, I'm out of practice in the kitchen. Guess its time to get my skills back. Kim did better than me recently when she cooked turkey and dressing for Christmas. I'm still waiting for dessert though.

Even with the mess the chowder turned out great. I've got way too much of it but it was great. Its even better the next day. Maybe I won't make such a mess when I'm re-heating it. Well, its off to Miami in the morning.

Here's something really cool. A great article in the Chronicle today on Brian Johnson and Utah. Check it out.

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