Thanks to you buddy

Every one I know works really hard. Well, almost everyone I know. But in every situation there is determination, or drive, or just habit.  Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday. Repeat. Repeat. TGIF. Oh here comes Monday, and we do it all over again.

I don't know why or how we all do it? For money? Of course. We all have to eat. For love? Let's hope so. I was told that if I could find a way to do what I love, and do it well, the money will follow. Sometimes, I don't even know what I love.

But I know what I do. I take cupcake orders and I cook for a family. I love to see what other people do. Delivering the mail. Serving food. Serving drinks. Artists. Cutting wood for sheds. Taking account for other peoples income. Settling cases. Developing pictures. Running a business. Growing and standing behind bunches of collards.

I like to think we are all searching for the opportunity to do what we love. But in the meantime we keep on doing what we do. We work.

But aren't we really all just working for each other? I just thought of it that way. I serve coffee to the boy at the art store next door and little cakes to every craving woman on the planet. My sister brings someone that much needed drink after a long day. People need accountants, tattoos, even lawyers, and people need their Starbucks. I in particular, like to get my Starbucks on. And I will always appreciate a farmer. Especially when I get a big bunch of collards at the farmers market for just 99 cents/lb, and they look killer and will feed me for days. So, aside from the moo la, there are perks. They are there in you and in me, and in everyone else.

And at the end of the work day, we always know how to find something that makes us forget it ever even happened. Tonight, for me it was a kitchen spa from the steam of the pressure cooker and taking a run with Nelson. Who, don't you know, has the hardest job of all. Just being a dog is exhausting, how else do you explain all the sleeping! 

Call me what you like, but read more to see the recipe for the chicken soup with collards and give yourself a steam facial.


Ingredients:
Serves 2, with leftovers

1 T. butter or olive oil
1/4 yellow onion, chopped
3 garlic cloves, finely chopped
3 carrots, peeled and chopped
2 bone in chicken thighs, with skin for flavor
8-10 collard leaves, chopped
4 of 5 whole peeled canned tomatoes
water
1 whole lemon, juiced
1 whole lime, juiced
1/2 t. red pepper flakes
1 t. salt
pressure cooker

I love cooking with a pressure cooker, it cooks things in just a quarter of the time that it would normally take to be good, and it's a lot cheaper than a day at the spa. The recipe is written according to the pressure cooker I use at home. It may differ from yours or from the one you go out and buy. It was found at the Flea Market in Raleigh, and bought for just five bucks. I am lucky to be able to use it. It is possible it is from the 1950's.

Method:

First if you can remember, salt your chicken all over, an hour or so before you begin.

In pressure cooker, saute onions and garlic in butter or oil on medium heat. Add carrots, chicken thighs, collards, and tomatoes to pot. Just barely cover with water. You never want to go over three quarters the way full of liquid in the pressure cooker. Now add your lemon, lime juice, red pepper flakes, and salt. Turn heat up to high and bring to a boil. Once it begins to boil, put the lid on the pressure cooker and seal it up.

Test gauge to make sure it isn't clogged and allow steam to come out for a second as proof. Keep the heat on high until pressure starts to release, it will take about five minutes so don't go any where! Then cut your heat to low and let it go for an hour. Now you can walk away and watch tv or something, just be in ear shot, in case it needs you.

After an hour, release all the pressure and carefully give your self a steam facial. Make sure the steam is coming out smooth with out liquid splatters before you put your cheeks close! It is ever so extremely hot inside that pot! Let the smells relax you.

Remove lid and allow soup to cool a bit. And with tongs, you can pull out the chicken, remove the skin and bones, and return the meat back to the pot.

What a way to end your day. Enjoy.