Chicken Soup for the Soul

It’s a good day.  I’ve got a chicken in a pot, simmering away the stress of the week.  If you don’t cook, I implore you — go out and get a plump chicken, a large onion, a couple of carrots and a sprig of dill.  Then head into your kitchen, fill up a large pot with water, put the ingredients in, leaving the dill for later and bring to a boil.

As the water comes to a roiling boil of chicken and vegetables, think about how good your house is about to smell and imagine the troubles of the week floating up and out with the comforting aroma of home made chicken soup as it wafts through the air.  As soon as the pot is boiling dial down the heat to a simmer and let the troubles of the week drift away.

I’m not in the part of the world where it’s bitter cold, with snow and ice on the ground, where a pot of Kosher Penicillin cures the ills of a winter weekend, but the promise of comforting, “brothy” chicken soup is what will make my first weekend alone in Honduras the kind of healing break needed after 7 high octane, people-filled weeks here.

This 1 Weight Watchers point, 42 calorie steaming hot bowl of soup can take me to a stress-free place where everything is right with the world.  I wish I had someone to share it with other than Larry the Lizard, email, spreadsheets and deadlines in front of me, but I have a feeling the smell of “home” will draw some of my new neighbors into the hallway wondering just what kind of magic is happening in my apartment.