March 9, 2008

• Chicken soup for snow storm

  We had another snowstorm over the weekend.  I’m sick of this.  While I don’t really mind the snow, it’s the
  crazy drivers out there that drive me nuts. 
  Yesterday morning, I ventured out to the neighborhood supermarket.  It was already snowing hard.  The first intersection I came across is a four
  way stop.  The side streets in my area
  are narrow with lots of parked cars.  Something
  told me to hold off a bit.  Sure enough,
  some idiot flew past stop sign and zoomed right across me.  If I didn’t pause for that couple of seconds,
  I would have seen what my airbag looks like. 
  Thanks to the guardian angels that ride with me all the time.      

   The fire alarm went off in the building last night.  It sounds like a dentist drill for
  giants.  The shrill piercing sound can
  penetrate even those with hardened ear wax. 
  We’ve only had one minor kitchen fire in the condo and many false
  alarms.  I wasn’t going to take any
  chances.  The condo board always tells us
  to go downstairs.  Usually I just head
  down, wait for the firemen check out the alarm and go back up stairs when it’s
  all over.  In the past month or so, I’ve
  been thinking of putting together a bag of essentials.  This would contain the things I absolutely
  must save in case of a fire.  

  Of course, I never got around to it.  So when the alarm rang, I looked around – I saw
  my laptop from work, some of my books, my camera and cellphone.  I grabbed my cellphone, my camera and stuffed
  it inside my knapsack.  When I got
  downstairs, I was the only person with a knapsack.  Do any of you know what you would take with you in case a fire broke out?
  

  Most people stayed in their units.  One resident even met her guest downstairs
  and walked them up to her unit.  Some
  people had their pets with them.  I met
  one of the residents here who’s also real estate agent.  We chatted for a while about our
  building.   Just for fun, I asked how much the penthouse
  units were going for.  He said the last
  one sold for over a million dollars.  He
  told me that penthouses can go for about $200 sq ft depending on the location
  and the building.   I guess I won’t be purchasing one of those
  units in my lifetime. 

   After the firemen gave us the green light, I went back
  upstairs and finished cooking.  I made
  some chicken soup and beef stew (not pictured) for tonight’s dinner.

  Here’s the chicken soup.  I used a whole chicken.  I also found another chicken carcass from a roast chicken that I had sometime ago in the freezer.  I threw that in too along with the usual spices and a couple of bay leaves.

  

  

  

  • 3:40 PM
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