Liquid Gold and Tiaras

So, what does a sane person do on a day when it's 89 degrees out, sunny and gorgeous?

She stays inside and makes chicken soup!!!!

I told you, I can be a bit touched sometimes.

Well, I did get out bright and early today (11:30am) and hit the Greenmarket. My goodness, that was just temptation in the Square. Mostly in the forms of herbs and berries. I bought: strawberries, blueberries, peaches, dill, a small turnip (for the soup) peas in the pod, a fair sized mango, potatoes, and shallots. Oh, and purple scallions. Yum.

Then my friend Stephanie, another makeup artist, called and asked if I wanted to grab some lunch. That's Steph over there. Well, she called as I was shoveling in leftover fried rice from yesterday's impromptu early dinner at a noodle shop with Miss Jessamyn. So, I said, go grab lunch, come on over and we'll get some iced coffee and go out and enjoy the day some more. Then I hung up and continued watching Gilmore Girls.
So, Stephalump (really, I mean this with all affection. You should hear what she calls me) came by, and we headed out. She had this idea that she wanted a turtle, since you can paint the shells and make it look fabulous. I came up with the name Tiara the Turtle. If the turtle's a boy, then she'd name it Tiara the Drag Queen Turtle. Cause, you see, we're hip modern metro gals like that.

Anyway, off to the Petco, where we realized that A) turtles need to live in water, and B) which would entail buying an aquarium roughly half the space of Steph's apartment. And tortoises (which live on dry land) are like eighty dollars. So, maybe a hermit crab?

Went upstairs, ooh and ahhed over kitties. She said she couldn't be the typical single Jewish girl in New York City with a cat. I stopped speaking to her for a good fifteen minutes after that.

So, then some shoe shopping, bought some undies, blah blah blah, we parted ways, I went home to mess up my kitchen.

Typically, I was missing a few key ingredients for chicken soup, like onions and celery. Whatever. I had bought a kosher chicken and some extra necks (for flavor. Once, I made a chicken stock from nothing but necks, backs, and wings. It was one of my best efforts). I have this theory that chicken soup tastes best when made from kosher chickens, which, other than Empire, is difficult to find in the city. So, la, when I had gone to Jersey for father's day, I bought chicken.

Instead of celery and onions, I used elephant garlic, a turnip, baby carrots, dill, and a few bay leaves. Liquid gold, I say. Mmmmmm.

And, I had to get all creative and render up some schmaltz and greblens. Which, is chicken fat and the fried chicken skins. Sorry, my vegetarian friends. So, that's done. And done, literally. Greblens are infamous for not lasting ten minutes beyond cooking time. They are just too damn tasty.

Then, I had all this leftover cooked chicken. Which I put thru a food mill. Apparently, food mills are for fruits and veggies. I did not know this, and damn near broke my wrist and took half an hour to grind up a single chicken's worth of meat. And that took up a quart container. So, now I have a quart of ground chicken. Two words: empanadas, and dumplings. That'll be tomorrow. Jessamyn, what's a good wonton wrapper? I know you know.

Dinner Invite! Miss Jo is coming over for dinner tomorrow, but I have enough for one more guest, if you'd like to join us. By tomorrow, I mean Thursday, the 22nd. Which, depending when I finish typing, will more likely be today. Anyway, on the menu is: Skate with brown butter sauce over black rice. And fresh peas with mushrooms. Jo is providing dessert. Leave a comment and I'll get back to you. This is nothing formal, just me, cooking up some fish. Using up some fancy expensive butter. Tra la la.