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Friday, December 14, 2007

I got nothing this morning

I feel like crap this morning.

Started coming down with it last night, went to bed early hoping to sleep it off. No such luck. Might be a touch of the flu or something. Headache (not migraine, thankfully), chills, vaguely sore throat, skin feels sensitive, and some other symptoms which I'll just leave unsaid. Took some 'cold and flu' Dayquil, see if that helps.

It's weird because I rarely get sick, and I really haven't been out and about - so I have no idea where this came from. Probably my kid, middle schools are like a CDC incubator. I'm not a good sick person, I whine and moan and expect people to wait on me. I'm just not used to being sick. I used to take every shot the Navy offered. When I was on my way to Iraq I got every inoculation there was, I was the first guy in line for everything: small pox, the anthrax series, you name it. Also had a couple of those Gamma Globulin boosters. I didn't have so much as a sniffle for two years afterward.

I didn't get a flu shot this year, I meant too, but I forgot. I'm still getting used to being a civilian. In the Navy, we'd have the Corpsman come out to the command with his box-o-syringes and give everybody the shot. This year it was up to me to remember - and, of course, I didn't. Too late now, damnit. Just another thing I miss about the military.

Anyway, don't expect much from me today, unless I start feeling better. Despite feeling like crap, I have to be out in the shop, no choice, I'm on deadline and I have a number of projects that have to be finished. Once I get that done, I'll probably end up on the couch with a bowl of soup and the copy of Lamb, which I got from Nathan and which I'm looking forward to.

21 comments:

  1. Shouldn't operate machinery with the 'Quils (day or night). Just saying. Hope you feel better after the sawdust and woodchip infusion.

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  2. That book has magic healing powers. Get right to it.

    I'd send some of my homemade kreplach soup, but it doesn't travel that well.

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  3. Steve, you have a point, I'm being careful, and the major power work is done, mostly I'm doing finishing work today. Don't have the energy to stand in front of the lathe anyway.

    Nathan, I'm more of a traditionalist, i.e. chicken noodle. Then again I'm not really sure what Kreplach Soup is, sounds vaguely jewish, which interests me. Because I love ethnic and/or regional foods and more importantly, as most people know or should know, ethnically jewish food has magic healing powers. Do tell more, what's kraplach soup?

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  4. Nathan, never mind. I looked it up in my soup book (I collect cook books, I used to be a professional chef, long, long ago). Sounds excellent. Extremely so. I like anything with homemade egg noodles. I often make my own noodles for chicken and noodles and for chicken soup. In fact, I have all the ingredients on hand for kreplach soup, I believe I shall make some. Feels much like a soup day.

    Also I see that it is the traditional soup for Yom Kippur.

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  5. Feel better!

    It's a soup day here, too - snowing and such. Clam Chowder was the winner.

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  6. I'm not a good sick person

    Who didn't know that was coming?

    Feel better soon, Jim, and tell us how the kreplach soup magic works out.

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  7. Jim, I don't know which recipe you're using, but when you make the filling for the kreplach, grind up and mix in just a little bit of chicken liver. Just enough to taste but not overpower.

    I, too will be interested to hear how Alaskan Goyisha Kreplach turns out. Post the recipe you use, please.

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  8. Clam chowder is big hit around here as well. I make chowder from scratch, my own cream new england style (hate the Manhattan style, hate it). Won a few contests with it. And potato, potato and leek, chicken noodle - soup is kind of a thing with me. Also chili, my wife's Cajun recipe, won a few contests with that too.

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  9. Still feeling like crap, just in case you were wondering.

    Nathan, just saw your comment. will post how it comes out. Got another hour or two in the shop, then I'll come in and take a whack at it. Let you know how it comes out, also I'll put the recipe up - unless you want to pass me yours?

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  10. BTW, I've never used a recipe for Kreplach, I just throw them together the way I used to watch my grandmother do. My filling is ground beef, chicken liver, celery and onion pureed in the cuisinart, salt and pepper.

    I just looked at a couple of recipes online just out of curiosity and they got part of it wrong. They say to boil the kreplach for 20-30 minutes...wrong, wrong, wrong. Drop it in the boiling chicken stock and as soon as they've floated to the surface and stayed up for a minute or so, they're done. Take them out and put them in a bowl with a little of the stock and then cover with a paper towel. spoon a little more chicken stock over the paper towel and then refrigerate the bowl of done kreplach. Only put as many at a time as you want back in the soup and only for long enough to reheat them.

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  11. My GF just asked hollered from the other room, "What are you doing?"

    I said, "I'm online teaching a retired Navy Chief in Alaska how to make kreplach."

    She said, "That's nice, honey."

    I luvz me the interdweebie.

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  12. I'd be interested in seeing all the recipes for all the soups myself. Though at the moment clam chowder interests me most - usually when I have a hankerin' for that I've just gone the route of Campbells (though usually I spiff it up with herbs and spices and other veggies and often pasta).

    Hope you feel better soon.

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  13. OK, plan B.

    Neighbor just called me in a panic. Chimney fire, she's home alone, hubby is a miner and gone for the next two weeks out in the islands. Got the fire out without problems (I have some experience in this particular area). Got to keep an eye on it for a while.

    Back in a bit. MWT, I'll put the recipes for those soups later on this afternoon. Can't stand thought of Marine Scientist eating canned, yuck, chowder.

    And then if there's time, kreplach. Oh and give your GF a squeeze for me, Nathan - she sounds like a keeper.

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  14. Well, there is the version where you place the pot of chicken stock on a grate that you balance on top of the chimney over the fire. This is called multi-tasking.

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  15. pot of chicken stock on a grate that you balance on top of the chimney

    Well, it was a two story climb up a ladder in subzero weather and then up a snow and ice covered roof. And did I mention that I still feel like crap? I figure it was a big enough pain in the ass without balancing a pot of soup in the process. Think I'll stick to the stove top for now :0

    Chimney fires are a common part of life in rural Alaska. No joke, they can burn your house down pretty damn quick, you bet. I got it taken care, no damage. Just going to need to sweep the chimney before she uses the wood stove again.

    Kreplach waits until tomorrow. too late today. But, I am going to make it, because it sounds most excellent.

    I'm curious, is there any kind of traditional food that you eat with the soup? As I said, I love to try ethnic and/or regional foods - especially old world family type foods. I tend toward foods you don't find in American restaurants - Spanish (NOT Mexican), Dutch, Irish, and Icelandic. Of course, Nathan lives in New York (Ok, Brooklyn, but from where I sit it's all the same thing) so he probably has Spanish, Dutch, Irish, and Icelandic restaurants within walking distance - something to be said for the Big Apple.

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  16. Most traditional recipes you'll find will have you end up with a thin broth with just some carrots and celery tossed in. Maybe a little bit of chicken. This is served as an appetizer before any kind of meal. Probably brisket with some kind of barley side dish.

    Myself, I throw so much chicken and veggies in that if I messed with the soup's viscosity it would be stew. Meal all by itself.

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  17. BTW, that whole excuse about fire and icy roofs and ladders and crap?

    Slacker!

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  18. I'm with you on the stew style, that's how I like things too - that's how I'll do it. Though, I'm a fan of brisket and barley too, being Irish and all.

    As to the slacker part, I'd have much rather been in the kitchen than on the neighbor's roof. It's like minus ten today, couple that with the chills I'm already having and, well, I'm done for the day. But, yeah, I am probably a slacker - I'm retired, it's my job. Bawhahahahaha!

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  19. One of my culinary goals this winter is to make a different kind of soup each weekend. I love making soup but need to broaden my horizons.

    So I've done tried and true, like potato, broccoli cheddar, cream of mushroom, chili, chicken noodle... but also working on some new ones like chicken tortilla, black bean mole, shrimp bisque.

    I'll have to add kreplach to the list, keep us posted on how it turns out!

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  20. plus, chimney fire equal creosote, don't want that messing up the spice balance.

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  21. yeah, creosote flavored soup - not so much.

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