About Animals. One Being a Dead Chicken.

To acknowledge the time gap or not to acknowledge? 

Consider it acknowledged. 

I have been sick all week. I mean the lie on the couch producing piles of crumpled tissues kind of sick for much of it. I've taken a push broom to my schedule every morning for four days indiscriminately clearing the decks of all activity, including work, parties, appointments, and even a job interview.  I realize that four days does not a week make, and my husband would argue the reason that I have been sick for six days, in fact, is largely due to my not clearing the first two days of all I should have. I have no regrets. Sniff.

But here within the confines of home and a sick body, there has still been space for exploration. At the beginning of my confinement, a friend dropped by with a frozen black chicken for me. There's a story behind that. I've been seeing this friend for acupuncture, and one of the things that came up was how my tinnitus is just a constant hum in my ears lately. She explained how in Chinese medicine, this could be an indication of some issues with either the liver or the kidneys, so one of the prescriptions she gave was making bone broth from black chicken. The usual grocery stores I circulate through don't carry such sophisticated poultry, so she picked one up for me, and when I canceled our appointment, she said she'd drop it by on her way home! Holly, you are an amazing friend! 

So I got out said chicken yesterday and unwrapped it to find it still had a head and feet! Not up for chopping through its neck, I texted Holly to make sure it was OK to proceed cooking with the head attached. There are still questions I am not able to answer quickly by googling myself, amazingly! But google did reveal that black chickens, or silkie chickens, have fluffy fir-like feathers, turquoise ears and an extra toe. Sounds kind of mythical! 

A live silkie chicken! https://lookandseen.com/product/silkie-chicken/

In a watery grave with garnish.

I am sorry if that was an emotionally traumatic paring of images. Now here's how it came out after setting the crock pot to cook all night, and then we are done talking about it!

And now as a reward for sticking with a post about cooking an animal carcass, here is a video about a fun (and quite lively) animal named Enkidu whom we get to have around through the holidays while his dad is on vacation!

Enkidu also loves taking long, luxurious naps, as well as conducting lengthy inspections of anything going on in or around the house. The renovations next door have been a big fascination, and of course the crock pot once empty got the full sniff-over.

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays, everyone! Good to be back on here again.