Laughter

Last night we babysat for Nathan & Katie's three kids. It felt normal, and good, though I was exhausted at the end of the evening. Sidney was born in early June, just as my cancer had decided to blossom in several locations, and over the summer I had a lot of treatment, brain radiation, bone metastasis pain, angioplasty, lung fluid drained, just seemed like everything hit me at once like a ton of bricks and I was overwhelmed. My back pain is bad enough that I couldn't hold Sidney, then I lost my right lung when it didn't re-inflate after surgery. I'm a mess, really. But last night the kids got dropped off while their parents went out to eat and we had fun.

Sidney was actually awake for quite a while and I talked to her and gave her a bottle and she had a poop explosion out the back of her diaper so I got to change all her clothes, too. I'm almost embarrassed to say what a feeling of accomplishment I had that I could do this all by myself, that's how weak I've been.

Grayson is not quite two, but he's a sweetheart rough-houser. And he loves his Pa-pa (Greg) like you wouldn't believe. He and Greg built a fire in the woodstove, and Grayson kept going down in the sunroom to check on it. He loves his racecars, and over the years of garage sales I've got a collection of matchbox cars that he heads straight for. Nathan is Papa (say poppa) and Greg (grandpa) is PaPa, with equal stress on both syllables. But to keep the sound different, Grayson tucks his chin down and lowers his voice to say PaPa.

Annabelle is three, four in February. She's a woman in charge, make no mistake! She insisted on having a bath before getting her pajamas on, and of course Grayson wanted to get in, too. So I settled on the toilet seat with a glass of Gentleman Jack and they had a blast making tea, drinking coffee, making potions, giving shots, squirting each other. When they started taking turns pouring water over each other's head and giggling, Greg had to come and see what was going on. We all had a good belly laugh and it felt so good. It was a grand time until Grayson pooped in the water and we had to re-lather them and switch to the shower. Greg held the hand shower down low for them and Grayson just squirmed and writhed in ecstasy.

I've been down in the dumps, I admit it, even though I'm quite a jokester it's hard to laugh through discomfort. The month of clouds and rain we've had doesn't help, either. Those kids were a good dose of medicine. Laughter increases endorphins, which are a mood enhancer and pain reliever. There's laughter therapy that you can pay for, where you force a belly laugh without the involvement of humor. Look it up on YouTube, there's a yogi that'll show you how it's done. Somehow, I just can't get into that, even though "they say" that the physical benefits are the same as for real laughter. My kids are worried about me, and it's turning them serious when they're around. I don't know how to take my kids being serious. Enough of this! Time to laugh!



HOW TO COOK A CHICKEN

One of the handiest things to have as a base ingredient is a boiled chicken, and the broth from the pot. Everybody needs to know how to do this, because it's simple, and as long as you plan for the steps, it's easy.

Whole chickens are cheap by the pound. So buy yourself a fryer, and reach in and pull out the paper wrapped giblets. Open it up and take out the neck and gizzard for the pot, (not the liver) or if you don't want to mess with it, I'll forgive you if you throw it away. But you know I would never do that, even if I just fried it all up for the dog.

You'll need a big, deep, pot, and if you don't have one yet, you need to get one. I have an eight quart pot with an insert that I use for pasta and for things like boiling a chicken, because I can lift out all the goodness and leave the liquid in the pot without needing to strain it. If you don't have an insert just use a big pot, but think about getting one because you're going to be boiling a lot of chickens and it's really a timesaver.

Into the pot, add about three inches of water, a quartered onion or two, a couple stalks of celery cut into big chunks, and a couple of carrots, also in big chunks. If you have herbs in the garden, good ones are thyme, rosemary (not too much), sage, and parsley. Oh, parsley, sage, rosemary, and thyme, Simon and Garfunkel must have been cooking a chicken! Put them in the pot with the chicken, whole, and about a tablespoon of salt and a big grind of pepper. Bring to a boil, turn down to low, and let it simmer on the lowest heat you can manage, with the lid on, for 45 minutes or so. Then, turn off the heat and let the chicken cool in the liquid for at least two hours.

You can see that this is a proposition that is great for a couple of days, even though the time involved is minimal.

When the broth is room temperature, you need to pull the chicken out, and the other solid stuff. This is where the insert comes in handy. Get a pie plate or something similar to put the chicken on. The veggies have given up their goodness, they go into the compost. The broth now needs to be chilled overnight or for several hours so it can be defatted. If you don't have room in the refrigerator for the pot, the best container is a plastic pitcher - probably a gallon size. Let it chill, the fat will solidify on top, and you just lift if off with a spoon. You'll probably need to strain the broth before you use it - use your own judgment. You can also freeze it. I use quart freezer bags, I stand them in a big measuring cup to fill them, and just put them carefully in the freezer. When they're frozen, use a magic marker to label with name and date.

Now, back to the day before, and the chicken. The chicken is on the pie plate, smelling heavenly. You'll need a bowl for bones and skin, and another for the meat. Just use your hands, it pulls right away from the bones and you can scrape all that good meat away from the ribs. Your dog will be at your feet. That's all there is to it! And what can you do next????

Chicken enchiladas
Chicken soup
Casseroles
Chicken salad
Sandwiches
Chicken and dumplings
Chicken and gravy over biscuits. Yum.
OK, I'll admit I don't know all the things you can do, because we almost always make enchiladas or chicken salad.

When I have fresh made chicken stock, I'll make risotto lots of times. This week I made chicken noodle soup with the chicken and the stock. It's been that sort of fall weather.