Free Range Friday

The universe seems to be conspiring (it had all night to plan) to lure my mind onto food strewn paths. First it was my brother, sending me a link to an online Asian food grocer. Then I got my daily Food Porn email with Pacific oysters on the half shell in all too glorious living color, then an update from Closet Cooking about a kimchee and egg salad sandwich.

Something you won't find in any Culebra market

Luckily, it's way too early for me to start drooling over any kind of food. Later in the day I'd have to make something to eat right NOW and of course, it wouldn't come close to any of these things. Since I don't truly believe in coincidences (way too easy, these things must have some deeper meaning if I just worry it like that last bit of meat on the bone), I'm looking at making something from the Farther East today. Let's see if the veggie guy can help me out as the larder, though not close to bare, leaves out a few simple things that would work for a meal. How can I not have chicken around? Even though yesterday in Milka's the butcher looked at me and held up two lovely chicken breasts (I thought we were flirting).

Yesterday was a big adventure in Chicken Land, speaking of same. These with the feathers though. I realized something was wrong with all the cheep cheeping and found that Mama had dug a hole on the side of the coop and one chick had hit the road, to his regret. I understood the feeling oh so well...we chased each other around the coop awhile, the back full of snaggy thorny sharp things so don't ask about the scratches.

La MJ gets the next round

 I made the hole bigger and tried to trick him into using it. No dice. Even CWIM got in on the act, though her intentions were not quite honorable, I'm afraid. Finally I remembered the bird netting some chicks got caught in a while back and ripped off a piece. In seconds I had a frantic chick looking like a pelican caught in an abandoned fish net, except the chick was being rescued, not doomed. I got the hole covered back up and the chick out of the netting. It raced up the limb to where Mama and its sibling were tucked into a nest (by now it was dusk). He hopped in and ran under her wing, his head poking out through the feathers, a masterpiece of cuteness that made it all worth doing. Sort of.

Stay tuned for whatever the day brings, life and food wise. It's Culebra, where anything can happen and occasionally does.