If you’ve been hanging around a while, it’s probably no surprise that there’s a huge cauldron of Bird Soup bubbling on the stove. This batch began with what was in the freezer. Roasted turkey legs and bones from Thanksgiving. Assorted carcasses from roasted chickens. A small guinea hen and a package oddly labeled turkey paws from one of my favorite farmers. A few other bits and pieces, carefully saved for the treasures they are. I started last night.
Then, today, a foraging mission to the garden for fresh rosemary and thyme which just happen to be of the antimicrobial sort. Plus onions, garlic, fennel, and fresh bay leaves, all organic and good for body and soul.
Just in case you’re feeling it, click here for the magic recipe. Just substitute whatever bird bones you have.
This is not a time for the freezer to be short on bone broth!
Dave once asked me, on a college break, why I had waited until he left home to become a Jewish Italian grandmother!
We’ll set aside for a moment the possibility that it took that long for me to have the freedom to explore and go with We’re not ready until we’re ready!
On the other hand, my recent DNA test suggests that it’s entirely likely that my ancestral journey had more than a few Jewish Italian grandmothers along the way, which totally works for me!
No matter the history or the genetics, this seems like a time for soup. If possible, enough to share.
It also seems like a time for listening to wisdom. In my world, wise words are volunteering from books that live in my head and from big-hearted folks in the news and from my kids, via the wonders of cell phones.
I dreamed about The Velveteen Rabbit on Friday night. You know the story. I suspect wee are getting real in these days.
“It doesn’t happen all at once,” said the Skin Horse. “You become. It takes a long time. That’s why it doesn’t happen often to people who break easily, or have sharp edges, or who have to be carefully kept. Generally, by the time you are Real, most of your hair has been loved off, and your eyes drop out and you get loose in the joints and very shabby. But these things don’t matter at all, because once you are Real you can’t be ugly, except to people who don’t understand.”
And then a quote from Sen. Nina Turner who is the national co-chair of Bernie Sanders’ campaign:
We are not guided by our fear, but motivated by our fierceness.
And a Facebook video I can’t post here due to technical difficulties which are on the list of things to fix. You’ve probably seen one like it. Bare streets in Italy with quarantined Italian people hanging off balconies, singing and sharing music.
My favorite features a violinist playing Leonard Cohen’s magnificent Hallelujah!
I love the song but it’s way out of my limited singing range and I’m absolutely no violinist. Still, it works and I suspect you can imagine along with me.
Remember to put cobblestones on your Italian streets!
And, when it comes to where you live, get your medical information from doctors and scientists. In the USA, the CDC is a good bet.
If Spring has begun in your yard, consider growing some herbs and veg. Again, a body and soul thing.
If that doesn’t work, check out hamama.com to grow micro greens indoors.
The cool little quilts last for up to a year so if, by chance, you are a little behind, NOW is the time! Mine have taken up residence in the studio where the lights are good.
Err on the side of caution for you and for those around you, but hold on to that fierceness and keep wisely living out of your sense of calling or mission or destiny, with compassion. I’ll be right there beside you.
Next up: InstantPot full of roasted stone crab shells which have been waiting patiently in the freezer for a moment such as this, sheets in the washer, and a cup of ginger tea. Oh! There are also more hot pink sequins to paste! Artwork to follow…