We are spending a quiet weekend at home, the last of the year. Yes, Christmas 2012 is winding to a close. We enjoyed several days of festivities with my family before John went to Alabama to celebrate with his. He is home after a whirlwind trip. His family’s celebration was a joyful one with four generations (17 people) around the dinner table to celebrate.
Our original weekend plans had us visiting friends tonight for a post Christmas dinner and a competitive game of Hearts (we always loose) but illness on their part has prompted a cancellation. We are okay with it, so much illness (both respiratory and stomach) going around right now. We are less that two weeks away from our departure date for Israel and concerned about catching something before we go. We had a big pot of homemade chicken and rice soup on the stove to take with us tonight when the cancellation text came through so we will enjoy the soup with a loaf of fresh bread for dinner.
The end of the holidays signal crunch time for trip preparations. This trip marks our first foray into the Middle East and will be, by far the most expensive trip we have taken. This will also be our first experience traveling with an organized group. I have been the chief planner and “travel agent” for our previous trips, which up till now have been self or privately guided. The lack of participation in the details has led to a certain detachment for me, a bit of “are we really traveling?”. The reality is that we are leaving soon and we have a few things to do to ready ourselves!
We took a walk around the neighborhood this afternoon. It was cold, misty, overcast and just plain dreary. I loved it, winter is its own special season. Tonight we are having light flurries. The windows of the cars are covered and there is a spotty dusting on the ground. Tomorrow is forecasted for clearing and cold.
(above): The boulevard in our neighborhood, photographed today, a cold, misty, wintery day. In the early 1900’s a trolley ran from downtown through the neighborhood via tracks that once sat in the green space above.
Below are some very unprofessional photos from the soup preparation this afternoon. I have have made it several times in the past and we absolutely love it! The recipe is from Picky-Palate, I do several things a little different.
(left): I use a little more onion than called for and a little less garlic.
(right): The chicken is thin sliced piccata style (sliced too thick in this photo). I pat olive oil, salt and pepper on both sides of the boneless, skinless breasts and then fry (with no extra oil in the pan). This quick cooks the chicken and adds a lot of flavor. I use a package of three chicken breasts.
The chicken is pulled apart with a fork and knife into bit sized pieces.
All the ingredients are added to this old dutch oven (shower gift to my mother 67 years ago, from her mother) and simmered. I use either brown, red or wild rice. In this case I used a combination of brown, red and white. I also use 2-1/2 cups or more of rice instead of the 2 cups in the recipe. The soup tastes best if allowed to sit overnight, although it was pretty darn good tonight!
In closing, below is a view from our front door tonight…the white dots are snow flakes!
Hope you have a cozy, warm winter evening!
-B
