Still in constant pain, still sleeping almost more hours than I’m awake, but I did manage to make chicken soup with a fowl I found in Market Basket. Love that store. Haven’t seen a fowl in years. Why a fowl, you may ask? Old chicken, tons more flavor, just needs long slow simmering. Yum. Chicken soup is easy. Large pot, chicken, water, onion, celery, carrots, peppercorns, cloves, bay leaf, garlic. Bring to boil slowly, skimming, then simmer low a couple of hours depending on size of bird. Set bird aside, strain broth, chill and defat. Debone bird. That’s it. I did not debone the bird. I barely had enough strength left to cover it and put it and the broth in the frig.edit: Parsley. I forgot Parsley. Fresh, if possible.
You can use the meat for salad, add it back to broth, sandwiches, whatever. Add noodles, chopped veg, whatever to the broth for soup. Or just drink it hot. Tasty.
After a few miserable days spent wishing I had someone to HELP, I rallied and determined to do it myself. Unloaded dishwasher, spent some recovery time with laptop, reloaded dishwasher, repeat laptop time, cleared a counter, laptop, moved toaster oven, laptop…Then my mouse died. Not the battery, the mouse. Found a corded one in my stash, but it only clicks, won’t move the cursor. So need a new mouse. Thus typing this one-fingered on my phone while laying on the couch with Gertrude sitting on me. Fun times. Well, okay times, anyway.
It’s 2017. Let’s hope this year is better than last
Here’s Gertrude. Just pretend you don’t see the disaster my flat is right now. Thank you.
strangely peculiar 
Lovely Gertrude. Give her a pat from me, I miss my old friend Cuddles. That’s the proper chicken soup! I used to make it with the excess roosters on the farm. Lovely broth. Here’s my chicken soup, Chinese style (real chinese from Yunnan, not fake restaurant). Use chicken broth like yours. Add spring onion chopped small, a small chopped chili (as hot or mild as you like) and some shredded veg. Maybe some shredded chicken meat. While it’s cooking, cook some Japanese soba noodles (my favourite) or whatever other fattish noodles you like, separately. Put cooked noodles in a large bowl and the soup on top. Yum yum.
I got a new mouse for Christmas! So much better. Corded, too, I don’t like the other ones that much, not tough enough.
Tried to reply from my phone yesterday. You can see how that went. Got a new corded mouse today, so yay laptop. LOL Your soup sounds good. Going to try it next time. A fowl is also called a ‘stewing hen’ so not a rooster. We kept chickens when I was growing up and lived with my grandparents, and my grandfather, who was an excellent cook, made the best chicken and dumplings ever. He would chop the head off the chicken, put it in a covered roasting pan, and set it on the roof above the back door overnight. Roof sloped, so it was just reach up for the pan. Killing a poor hapless chicken should not be a fond childhood memory, but I loved watching it jump around headless in the big oil can (food oil). Yes, I’m weird. I’m over it. LOL
I love soba noodles, too.