Turkey Thursday.

My alliteration is suffering somewhat,  but that’s the best I can do. 

It’s just a regular day here in Wienerland,  which was also the case back in October for Canadian Thanksgiving.  We’re in a foreign land here kids.

Since 1957, Canadian Thanksgiving always falls on the second Monday of October.   In terms of the weather and whether or not it’s going to cooperate (see what I did there?)  I think I like the Canadian version just a wee bit better.  It gets cold up there you know.   Mind you,  the year that we were in Puerto Rico, it certainly didn’t matter to us that Thanksgiving came along in November,  their weather is pretty much the same, all year around, whether you like it or not.

*chortle*

 

For the last few years before we buggered off to Europe,  for Thanksgiving we would have a gathering at Bronte Creek Provincial Park,  where having a group 30 or 40 people get together wasn’t a problem.  The curious,  and somewhat satisfying thing was,  a little report came back to us that the kids really looked forward to Thanksgiving,  and for a couple of them,  they were the only ones in their entire class that had any kind of enthusiasm for Thanksgiving at all.  Sure made us feel pretty good,  but I kind of felt bad for anybody’s kids who don’t look forward to Thanksgiving.

How much would that suck?

I guess it’s not all that much fun to get dragged off to Aunt Zelda and Uncle Slomo’s and have to sit around and be bored.   With our Bronte Park program,  there are literally acres and acres of places for the kids to run.  Off you go!!  Not to mention the play barn.   I think that was what it was called.  All I know is,  the kids would all vanish after dinner,  leaving the adults to sit and quietly chat.   Bliss.

A perfect symbiotic relationship between Man and Nature in my view.   Not only that, the pavilions that were available had running water,  electric outlets,  and also a fireplace for a fire!   Not just a camp style ring,  but an honest to goodness fireplace.  Chimney and everything.  Nice to have the heat,  not so much the smoke.

I do realise that there was always the issue of squatting at the pavilion from the early hours to make sure you had the place for the day, (first come first serve!) and we would more or less draw straws to see which poor unfortunate person would be sent off to ward off the hoards.   That was still a minor inconvenience compared what we did in previous years.  Cleaning the house for days on end,  trying to locate enough tables and chairs,  and then trying to figure out how the hell to get that many people in the house.    Then of course,  having to clean up and get everything put back over the next day and a half. 

So if the Canadian Thanksgiving were in November?  We’d be screwed.  I’ll stick with October,  thanks.

 

Now,   since we’re not going to be having turkey today either,  I figured the closest I could get in the fowl department was to make chicken soup.

Besides,  it’s easy peasy.

Start with a bunch of stuff:

 

There’s chicken in there,  trust me.  It’s actually better to use as much dark meat as possible,  for the flavour,  but I end up having to buy the thighs and drumsticks together. It seems to work. 

And yes,  I will add water.  Bring the whole concoction to a boil and then let it simmer for a while.  The pot should not be covered!  I have it on good authority that this is a no-no.  Makes the broth turn a dark colour.  I’ve never witnessed this,  since I take the warning of “authorities” seriously.   A key ingredient to marital bliss,  or failing that,  tolerant cohabitation.

 

You end up with this:

 

The only parts that you keep are the chicken and the carrots.  That’s a whack of carrots I know,  but I like them.

I suppose you could put in most anything you’d like,  but we put in carrots,  celery,  salt (sea salt is best)  pepper corns (a few, whatever) a couple peeled onions if small or one big one,  and a bay leaf.   I also put in a clove of garlic,  and this time around I sprinkled in some oregano. 

So after you’ve removed the chicken and carrots,  and strained off the broth,  the next part is kind of tricky,  bordering on painful.

You then remove the meat from the bones and set it aside.  Care must be taken to leave behind any of those little tiny bones that chicken is notorious for,  or any little bits of gristle.   Not good.

If the chicken hasn’t quite cooled off enough,  you’ll figure out the painful part right quick.

I try to have enough broth at this point to be able to freeze about half of that.  Works great instead of water if you’re cooking up rice,  or making say,  leek soup.  I just wish I had more room in the freezer.

At this point, everything gets covered and goes in the fridge.

Then come supper time,  haul out the pot,  put the chicken and the carrots back in,  bring it to a boil,  and add your noodles.

Care should be taken to not add too many flippin’ noodles.  If you add too many noodles,  you’ll end up with something more along the lines of “Chicken noodle stew/gorp” or something like that.  You should NOT be able to set your spoon on top of your soup and not have it sink.  You also shouldn’t have to use a fork.   

I know this.  Don’t ask.

 

So there you go,  “Bob’s yer Uncle”.  Chicken soup.

******

 

Oh, and for those of you south of the 49th,  Happy Thanksgiving!

 

Try not to over do it.

 

Oh,  what the hell,  go crazy.   (just,  no paramedics,  please?)

 

Thanks for stopping by.

 

 

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