You know things are getting bad when you find yourself standing in front of a school ranting at a piece of paper taped to the door about a meeting that you are supposed to be at because you are class parent. You thought it was critical to your son’s education that you show your support and dedication to him and to his school, so you raised your hand high enough to be seen and selected and now not only do you have to face the fact that you are lousy at making lists of names and addresses and worse at checking for typos, but you also find out that somebody in charge of flyers on the front door is assuming that five minutes notice is ample time to alert class parents that they have an orientation meeting.
That is so low. Low, low, low. And I told the piece of paper that, and then I went home.
Soup. Brain not functioning? Soup. Memory holes? Soup. Don’t want to go anywhere? Soup.
Chop up a pound of carrots, the inside bits from a head of celery, and two small onions. Heat up a quarter cup of olive oil in a heavy soup pot. Add a few sprigs of thyme a few of parsley (unchopped), and two whole, halved cloves of garlic(unchopped). After a minute, add the vegetables with a little salt and a few flakes of red pepper. Saute until completely soft. Add a finely diced, peeled potato. Move the carrot mixture around to give the potato some room to hit the bottom of the pot. You want to let it get crusty. Add another pinch of salt. When the potato is browned a bit, add 1 tablespoon of tomato paste, and stir that around on the bottom of the pot, right on the bottom, to toast it. Add about four cups of water, and when it comes to a simmer, add two halves of a cleaned chicken breast (leave it on the bone if it’s on the bone), and cover with the lid propped a bit, cooking only until the chicken is done, even still a tiny bit pink. Remove the chicken and allow it to cool. Shred into big pieces, and when you are ready to eat, heat up the broth and drop in the chicken. You can add cannellini to this or dark leafy greens.
Make biscuits to go with it. 2 cups of flour, 2 1/2 teaspoons of baking powder, a pinch of sugar, 1/2 teaspoon of salt. Mix. Rub in 1/2 cup of diced cold, cold butter. Drop on greased sheet pan and bake at 400 degrees.