It’s salty and tastes like chicken. You really shouldn’t need any other excuse to make home-style chicken soup, but here’s a top 5 list just in case you aren’t convinced:

1. As mentioned a couple days ago, it cures colds. No really, inflammations of the nasal passages are soothed by scalded rooster.
   
2. It’s the number one comfort food in the US, apparently. Right next to a good naan bread, I’m sure.

3. There are starving kids in new Jersey. Eat your soup.

Alright nevermind, I just got bored of that list. Here’s the recipe for extremely inexact, home-style soup. If you want scientific measurements, this isn’t the recipe for you. The idea is just to add stuff ’till it looks right and then heat it ’till it stops poisoning you.

• In a big ‘ol pot, stick: four or so chicken thighs and legs w/ skin, about four sticks of chunked celery with the tops on, four (give or take) chunked carrots, maybe two large chopped onions, a chopped parsnip of any size, and a handful of fresh dill weed. I mean it about the parsnip. Toss in plenty of chicken broth.
• Cover and simmer for, say, 3 hours. Or so. Fish out the bones and skim off the fat. Eat what’s left over.

Not enough that your food should be lukewarm, filling, and vaguely tasty? The true connoisseur requires more out of her dinner- she requires

The other night I came home, out of the bitter cold and falling snow, and (predictably) wanted dinner. Since it was so cold and nasty out, I did not want to go to the store to buy ingredients, and so I just started looking through my cookbook collection for ideas. One jumped out at me: crab cakes.
Being a good almost-Bay-Area kid, I love me some crab cakes. The problem, of course was that the only listed ingredients I actually had in my kitchen were oil and green onions. So, as per my usual M.O., I decided to improvise. What follows is my version:
1 can white albacore tuna, drained.
1 habanero pepper, chopped.
3 green onions, chopped.
Garlic salt.
Fresh ground pepper.
1 tbsp mayo.
2 tbsp grapefruit juice.
Half cup of walnuts, powdered in your food processor.
Shape into ball. Sautee in oil until brown, bake on a greased pan at 450 for 7 min on each side. Garnish with Old Bay Seasoning.
I recommend that you use 2 eggs instead of the mayo, as that will ‘glue’ the cake together better. For those who keep such things around, a sprinkle of breadcrumbs would help too.

Been outside recently? By choice?
It’s nasty out there. Can’t get off work, can’t ski, and the snowballs won’t pack. These are the days when you drag the stereo into the kitchen, close the door, and heat the oven.
Scones
It’s pronounced Skahn, no O. Rhymes with nothing I know of. Overheard at the family reunion:
“Aye…you *can* call it a skown…but only if you’re poncey. Or English.”
“How can that be?” you say, “When I was in England everyone called it a Skown!” (1)
Yes, they did. But scones aren’t English. You’re thinking of crumpets.
Dry:
2 cups all-purpose flour
2-1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
3 tsp white sugar
2 tsp brown sugar
–1/3 cup walnuts, chopped finely (optional)
3/4 tsp ground cinnamon
1/8 tsp nutmeg
1/4 cup butter (cold)
Wet:
2 eggs
1/3 cup milk or cream
Topping (2)
2 tablespoons butter (melted)
2 tablespoons molasses [or treacle, better yet, Lyle’s Golden Syrup- ejg]
Directions:

• Preheat oven.
  
• In a bowl, combine flour, sugars, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, and walnuts.

• Cut in the butter until the mixture looks like coarse crumbs. (3)
• Put the eggs and milk into the flour bowl, and stir until it’s just mixed.
• Pat it into an 8 inch round on a floured surface (between 0.5″ and 1″ high).

Don’t knead the dough–you aren’t making a yeast bread. Because they’re quick-breads scones get their lift from the carbon-dioxide released from the baking soda and their texture is a result of the butter melting and leaving little pockets.(4)

• Brush or dribble the topping onto the dough circle.
• Cut the round into eight wedges.
• Separate the wedges and place them onto a greased cookiesheet. (5)
• Let the little wedges rest on the cookie sheet for 10 minutes.
• Bake at 450 degrees(6) for 13-17 minutes, or until golden brown. 7)

Store them in a paper bag on the counter. If they get dry just toast ’em. I like to layer the bottom of the dough with raisins before I press it into a round.. When you press it out on the counter the raisins stick into the bottom and cook into the scones.(8)
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(1) In hindsight this could have been directed at Z. It’s not.
(2)You don’t have to use any topping but if you don’t you should coat the top of the scones with melted butter. It will keep them from getting dry flaky skin.*
(3) I use the weird sex-toy looking wire thing on the right. I strongly reccomend buying one for all your butter cutting needs**
(4)If you knead the dough the warmth from your hands will melt the butter and you get something between matzo meal and play-dough.****
(5) Better yet, don’t ruin your girlfriend’s expensive cookie sheet. Throw down some tin foil or a high-temp silpat, as the molassas has a nasty tendency to spill and burn.
(6)That’s 232 degrees for you Continental folk.
(7) Toothpick test!
(8) Others like to put walnuts into the dough or chopped candied orange rind (sourer is better)
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* Think of it as lubriderm for your baking
** It’s called a pastry cutter and they come in cut sheet metal or wire. You could also try to cut the butter into the recipe with a pair of knives. You can do anything if you try long enough… [I’ve done it and it’s not that difficult -ejg]
***If you’re having trouble with your piecrust (also an un-yeasted bread type thingy) try rolling it out on a cold surface. The butter will flatten into sheets without melting into the dough. In the dripping height of summer in DC I have resorted to freezing the rolling pin and setting icepacks on the counter until it’s chilled.