Mr. Sun

I got my wish and we have been visited by some bright and warm afternoons the last few days. Ahhhh, sigh of relief. I think it had a positive effect on more than just me. The boys have dived deep into the land of Two Territory and there are some days that feel unbearable. But the Sun seemed to warm something inside of them and today they played contentedly as I researched some new soup recipes and finished up work 'paperwork' (quotes due to the fact that it is all computerized now....why can I love blogging so very much and despise work software with the same fervor?).






It seems we are all coming down with the much Tweeted about virus sweeping my peers, runny noses and headaches and sore throats are abounding. Not the best way to greet the Sun, but then neither is soup. I just knew I needed it today. Have you ever heard of Avgolemono?


I had not until I googled 'chicken lemon soup'. It is a Greek dish and sounded just right. I used the recipe here with plenty of modifications. I am sure it would work fine as written, but here is what I did ::

:: I used a whole chicken and lots of water to make the stock, added some peppercorns into the stock and let it simmer two hours.

:: I chopped onions and carrots and sauteed in olive oil for a few minutes, added the rice and sauteed that a few minutes then covered it with a few inches of stock and simmered 20 minuted until the rice was tender. Then I added the shredded chicken and a whole bunch of shredded chard.

:: I upped the measures for the egg mix-in to 3 eggs and almost a full cup of lemon juice (fresh squeezed from our finally producing lemon tree). I was nervous to try the method of tempering the eggs then adding it to the soup.

It was not hard at all. I used plenty of stock and whisked it slowly into the egg mixture, making sure the stock was warm, not boiling from the pot (you can see the reserved stock I left on the side for this purpose).

Here is the soup pre-egg...


And now post-egg. Yum.


It was so so good. A little labor intensive, but so good. I highly recommend you try this if you have some runny noses in house. It has the chicken, the lemon and the good warmth any sick person needs. I made a mess of the stuff and see myself eating it for lunch tomorrow. I am not sure how it will reheat, but there is adventure in that, right?

Since there is no new crafting I will leave you with a few brilliant pictures Tim captured of the latest version of the boys, what we are calling Owen v2.18 and Mason v2.18 after one of my favorite Mama's monikers of her twins...

Man, that husband of mine can catch a shot.






We call this Mace 'crazy Eye' Malone.