Three Beautiful Things 01/23/17: Good Workout, Hmm - Overrated?, Maybe a Kitchen Notebook

1. Ahhhh! Back in the pool for Senior Swim today. I think instructor Marsha will be directing our exercises from the side of the pool for a while -- I'm almost certain I overheard her say she had shoulder replacement surgery and her doctor won't let her back in the water just yet.  She gave us a good workout today and I stretched it out from the class's 45 minutes to a little over an hour of flopping around by coming early, exercising on my own, and staying after class to do some agility drills and water sprints.

2. The Budget Savvy Diva entitled this recipe "The BEST Chicken Soup Ever", here. I figured what the hay. I didn't think the recipe looked distinctly superb, but it looked simple, so I gave it a shot. The soup was totally edible, but incomplete. To me, it seemed like a chicken corn tortilla soup with something missing. So, I searched for and found this chicken corn tortilla recipe and from just reading it, I can tell it has more aromatics, more body, and is a more flavorful soup. I will cook it one day and see if my reading is correct. (I just looked up this recipe again and wouldn't ya know it? It's called "The Best Chicken Tortilla Soup" -- not the BEST and not the BEST ever. Just the best.  The best I've ever eaten was at Billy Mac's, so we'll see, one day, how this recipe stacks up!)

3.  This evening, I was browsing the offerings on Amazon Prime Video and found that Season 15, Episode 1 of America's Test Kitchen opened with a demonstration of how to cook -- hold on -- the best chicken stew. Not the best ever. Just the best. I bit and I just might have to see if I can either find this recipe in print or replay it slowly and take notes. Or, I might decide to join AmericasTestKitchen.com for a year -- whatever I do, I'd like to learn more about using anchovy paste and soy sauce, as in this recipe, and other ingredients in other recipes, to deepen the flavor of soups and stews. It might be time to start a kitchen notebook.

Hey! I fouind the chicken stew recipe from America's Test Kitchen. It's right here.