Wednesday, October 26, 2016

Three Beautiful Things 10/25/16: Mom Update, Butterflying a Chicken, *Goliath* vs Farm to Table

1.  Christy texted me this morning that Mom had had a rough night, mainly because the hospital staff couldn't open a port in her arm for her antibiotic IV. They worked on it until late into the night and early morning before giving up. It meant Mom didn't sleep well and her arm was sore from all the attempts. It all makes sense to me.  I've been in the same situation myself, but, in my case the staff finally succeeded.

Later in the morning, Mom and Christy called me from the Shoshone Medical Center and Mom and I had a good talk. I know she was tired, but her voice sounded pretty strong and she had a complete grasp of what was going on.  She's taking her antibiotics orally. She is able, with help, to get out of bed and do things like visit the bathroom.  Her infection is getting a little better every day.  Late in the day, Carol sent out a picture of the infected area, and, yes, it is grisly looking, but even in a little picture on a smartphone, I can see it's getting better.

The Deke and I sent Mom flowers and Christy sent me a picture of them and it's a gorgeous bouquet. I couldn't be happier with JB's Country Garden Floral and Gift in Kellogg.

2.  Until this afternoon, I had never butterflied a whole chicken and roasted it flat. I looked at a video of how to take out the backbone, succeeded, boiled the backbone and squeezed half a lemon in the broth it created, and after generously seasoning the chicken with salt, pepper, garlic powder, and thyme, roasted it in our twelve inch cast iron skillet at 450 degrees F with cut red potatoes around the bird. I poured the chicken lemon broth over the chicken about three times while it roasted and was very happy with the flavor this gave the meat and the spuds.  No one was here to eat the chicken. I ate the wings and single slice of breast and I'll take the rest over to the Diazes tomorrow and Molly can build a dinner around it.  This little cooking venture was really fun for me.

3.  I finished watching Season 1 of Goliath.  Then I went back and watched certain scenes again and I will do that some more over the next few days.  I wasn't quite ready to let go of watching this cast at work, especially Billy Bob Thornton. I enjoy very much watching movies and serial television shows (and read fiction and watch/read plays) as a believer. I let the world unfolding in the story be reality and don't weigh the reality created in the story against any notions I might have of what's real in the world I live in.  The words "that could never happen" never cross my mind.  Why?  Because it just did happen, right there in the story! It was fun for me to enter the world and reality of this story, to spend about 7 and a half hours with people the likes of which I have never known, moving through a world way outside my own, facing dangers and dealing with higher stakes in life than I will ever face, I hope.

And it all came to a conclusion and I guess Billy McBride (Billy Bob Thornton) will take on another big challenge if this project is going to have a second season.  I'm curious.

True to form, I did not let Goliath be the last thing I watched before falling asleep. I watched another episode of Chef's Table and learned the story of farm to table pioneer and advocate Dan Barber and his Greenwich Village restaurant, Blue Hill. The episode excited my imagination about possibilities for improving the flavor of what I cook.

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