Bird watching and chicken noodle

By Micah Drew, Jordan Hansen and Keila Szpaller

“The moment that I find out that I’m a Republican, at the same time, I find out that I’m a fake Republican.” — Giuseppe “GMan” Caltabiano, who bested state GOP Chairman Art Wittich in a committee precinct seat election.

Look, I know it’s early June, but some recent rainfall (did the governor have something to do with that?) and me turning on my heat for a night or two put me back into soup-season mode for a moment.

If there’s one thing I like, it’s a good soup. And if there’s one soup I feel pretty confident making, it’s the most ubiquitous of them all — chicken noodle. There’s no secret recipe here, nor is it likely much different than something you’ve made in the past.

But all the same, it holds a special place in my heart. It’s easy (and I personally think fun) to whip up, and there’s something about the smell that always is simply good. Noodles, vegetables, chicken and heated water have been consumed together in some form for thousands of years, which really brings that point home — when it’s good, it’s good.

I’ll get into ingredients here in a second, but I’ll have to warn you — I’m a vibes chef, and amounts of ingredients absolutely change. Also bear with me, this isn’t a recipe I’ve actually ever put in my book.

But, generally:

To start, I throw in the garlic and onion in the bottom of the pot that’s been lightly coated with oil and let them simmer for a bit. After those are close to sautéd, I throw in some water and chicken stock and get that close to a boil. I then add the bay leaves, spices (which I routinely add more of throughout this process) carrots, and a few minutes after that, the celery.

This is where it gets fun. Once I add the celery in, I bring the water to a boil, and I throw in the raw chicken. I do this for a couple of reasons — one, being that I like shredded chicken, and two, I like it as an additive to the chicken stock. Once the chicken has been boiled to a place where it’s done, I shred it. This is about when I add the mushrooms. I put the chicken back into the pot, add the noodles, let them boil.

As the noodles draw water, I add chicken stock or water to replace, and once I’ve sampled a couple noodles to see if they’re done or not, I lower the heat. I’d add that I’m stirring pretty consistently throughout this process.

Anyways, that’s how I make chicken noodle soup. And the note on the stock — I try to keep a bag in the freezer filled with vegetable offcuts and if I snag a rotisserie chicken, the bones and leftovers from that. When you get a bag full, cook all that down until you have stock, strain it out, and you’ll have a pretty dang good soup base.

~ Jordan Hansen

For a political reporter on Election Day, most of the workday hours are filled with waiting— for the polls to close, for results to trickle in, for races to be called.

On Tuesday, faced with a decent amount of downtime in my afternoon, I decided to walk the long way to my local polling location to drop off my absentee ballot and, armed with a pair of binoculars, decided to turn it into a birding expedition.

This is not a normal occurrence for me.

The context: Last year someone recommended a two-hour documentary to me, which you can view for free on YouTube, called “Listers: A Glimpse Into Extreme Birdwatching.”

The film follows two young brothers who, on a whim, decided to try to become birders and spent a year living out of a van, traveling the country to see as many birds as possible in that time and meet the enthusiasts who do so more regularly.

It’s an irreverent, hilarious (said of the Scarlet Tanager, “it is not as beautiful as Scarlet Johansson, but still beautiful”) and informative film with stunning cinematography of Evening Grosbeaks, Long-billed Curlews, Snowy Owls, and some 576 additional species.

I had been rewatching the film in bits and pieces while sitting on my bike trainer during some rainy days over the last week, and figured, ‘I can probably find a few birds between here and my polling booth.’

Thus began a .5 mile meander across town, which took … a very long time. I saw many birds, identified some of them, and overall had an extremely enjoyable outing in nature. It was a nice reprieve from thinking about poll numbers, dark money and inter- and intra-party spats.

Among the 19 species I could positively identify on Tuesday was the Rufous Hummingbird, pictured above. I saw five of these small orange guys, and I must say, they are fun to watch buzzing between tree branches.

Do you have a favorite neighborhood birding spot? Or favorite neighborhood bird? Or bird in general? Let me know! [email protected].

~ Micah Drew

Today’s recommendation comes from reader Denise Boggs, who recently finished “American Tiger” by Adam Skolnick and LOVED it. 

“If you love tigers, little girls with fantastic imaginations, and excellent writing read American Tiger. Adam Skolnick took a real story and turned tragedy into triumph.”

Got a pitch? [email protected]. Happy weekend!

~ Keila Szpaller

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