CHICKEN AND DUMPLINGS

Tonight we’re having chicken and dumplings. This is hardly something that should be relayed to the news services to be sure. It’s just a fact that after surveying the pantry and refrigerator I had limited resources available to create dinner with and this was what I came up with on the fly. I’m sure it will be tasty. It generally always is. I have been told by more people than I can remember that I’m a better than average cook and many of my recipes are highly sought after when I’m willing to share them. Tonight’s meal will be no different than any other of the thousands I’ve made in my life so far. It will mark no milestone or set some statistical record to be used by politicians, journalists, scientists, theologians, bombastic talk show hosts of all stripes and the quacks who call in with their moronic opinions to validate or invalidate whatever subject is at hand on anything and everything. When the sun rises tomorrow candidates will still be unconsciously proving they’re too stupid to be holding public office at any level regardless of party affiliation, journalists still won’t report the facts in and unbiased manner but spout the opinions of their bosses and themselves, scientists still won’t know much but spent a lot of money finding out they still don’t know anything (I’m still waiting to find out if gnats really do fart and if it could be the next energy supply), theologians will still say that if you read some artifact backwards, upside down or sideways it proves their religion is the true religion and everyone should follow it or get blown up or shot and talk show hosts will still resort to playground tactics to get a rise out of people. The ones who listen to them will still be in line…because they got a card in the mail that said they may have won a new car or a set of steak knives if they get a lobotomy before such and such a date. I’ve been blessed (or cursed depending on how you look at it) with the ability to identify trends before they happen and in most cases have been able to make the most of it. It’s hardly savant like intuition. If it were I would have long predicted my current medical situations and even though I couldn’t have prevented them I might have been able to make them more bearable for my family and myself. I’m great at making lemonade out of lemons but not so great at picking the next Triple Crown winner for this very reason. I can tell you when something is going to be hot, important or work but I can’t tell you how or why…I just know it to be true. I can’t sleep some nights because my mind won’t turn off because everything bounces around in what’s left of my brain at light speed. I have a “pharmacopeia” of pills I take every day to help with that and all they really do is fill my stomach so I don’t need breakfast or dessert and makes me want to take long restless naps during the day yet I can tell you when something is right or “rotten in Denmark”. They do little, if anything, to help me make sense of it all. I’m not really sure there’s anything to be made sense of anyway. So…tonight we’re going to have chicken and dumplings for dinner. I found some chicken in the freezer, some celery and carrots and an onion, salt, pepper and a few spices. They’ve been cooking most of the day and pretty soon I’ll strain the stock, debone the chicken and then add the chicken, a potato, some fresh veggies, cream and a little corn starch into a big pot and let it simmer for a while before I add the dumplings. The kids will disappear for fast food and avoid cleaning the kitchen while my wife and I settle in for dinner and a little TV before I give up and go upstairs to try and sleep. Tomorrow, I predict, will be pretty much the same as it was yesterday.