Chicken Stew & an Increase in Suspects
I’m trying my hardest to keep believing in the upward spiral of recovery. A friend of mine introduced this to me. It’s the idea that as we got through recovery after an event, we’re moving in an upward spiral. As we go around the spiral (forward in time) we’ll circle past the same points of depression or lack of productivity again and again, but since we’re moving upward and spiraling outward at the same time, the stretches of time between the bad times get longer and longer. I’m reinforcing myself with this mindset because in these past two weeks, as things were going smoothly and I was being creative and productive, I came across an upsetting piece of news and fell down my catastrophizing rabbit hole trying to research it.
I’m proud of myself, however. I did what research I was able using reputable sources so I could understand things, made myself close the laptop, and go to bed. I refused to let this be one of those times when things were going well that I would crumble due to an unpleasant discovery.
I’ve been finding more times to just sit and read these past few weeks. Just let go of stress and anxiety and read a whole other world. I finished another audiobook on my not-yet-listened-to queue: “Starter Villain” by John Scalzi. A funny quick listen, and a good quantity of cat jokes. I’ve made it to Part Two in “A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder” and it’s getting really good. More suspects, conflicting witness statements, lies being uncovered: all good mystery fodder. And speaking of fodder…
Two days ago before noon I was making the grocery list and mentioned to husband I might grab ingredients for stew since it was so early. I could throw everything in the crock pot when we got home from the store and let it cook all day. He suggested chicken stew, which I had never had before. My family were a beef-stew-or-bust household when I was growing up, and after my husband got me to try lamb, we found a good lamb stew recipe we like, but never had I ever come across chicken stew. We took to the internet to scrounge up a good recipe, hit the store, and several hours of stewing and a plate of biscuits later, dinner was ready. It was quite good. I would add more spice next time I make it (two teaspoons get lost in four cups of chicken broth), and cut the recipe down further unless I’m planning to freeze some, as I had to do with this batch. Had the refrigerated portion of the leftovers for lunch today, and stew is always better the second day. Topped it with one of the leftover biscuits, which gave it a very chicken-pot-pie-minus-the-cream vibe. Will need to remember to make more biscuits when I defrost the freezer portion of the leftovers.
