Tip: Bring kitchen implements to your summer program

Two days ago, all the restaurants were closed for the holidays, so I decided to make myself some chicken and rice soup for dinner. I recently read Mastering the Art of French Cooking by Julia Child from the Texas Tech library, so I was feeling pretty chef-like. Problem was, we didn't have any measuring cups/spoons, so I kind of had to wing it with all the food measurements. The recipe wasn't that hard (for an amateur cook such as myself), but I still screwed it up by putting in WAY TOO MUCH RICE. It ended up more like a chicken-y sort of porridge? I still thought it was quite delicious and it only took around a half an hour to make, so I'll leave the recipe below. I'm still not quite sure what my measurements were...

• (around 3/4 cup of) baby carrots
• (1/2 of an) onion
• (1-2 tbsp of) some sort of oil
• (around 3-4 cups) low sodium chicken broth
• (lots of) cooked chicken chunks (because I really like chicken!!)
• (less than 1 Chinese takeout container of) cooked rice (unless you want your soup to turn into porridge)
• (1/3 cup) milk
• salt and pepper to taste

1. chop up the baby carrots into small pieces
2. dice the onions
3. heat the oil up in a pot on high heat
4. throw your carrots and onions into the pot
5. worry because you may have thrown your vegetables in too early and it is not making the satisfying sizzling noise you see on food network
6. when the vegetables start sizzling, kind of toss them around with a wooden spoon until they are soft (turn the heat down to medium for this step so you do not burn some onions and have to fish them out. or maybe just throw your carrots in first and onions a little bit later?)
7. add your chicken broth and rice to your soft vegetables and wait for the pot's contents to boil
8. when it boils, turn your heat down to medium and cook for 10ish minutes, uncovered
9. add your chicken and milk and cook for another 5 minutes
10. ta da! chicken soup/porridge!!

If you ever end up going to the Clark Scholars program, I highly recommend bringing kitchen tools so that you won't starve when all the restaurants close ;-; By this I mean:

• pots + pans
• stirring utensils (wooden spoons)
• spatula (for pancakes)
• toaster oven (you can split a $25 oven from Wal-mart with your other Clarkies so that each person only has to pay around $2 each)
• oven mitts, if you get the toaster oven
• microwave safe bowls
• mugs
• spoons + forks
• cutting board
• kitchen sponges
• dishwashing detergent
• drying rack
• tin foil
• chopsticks!

Hope you are successful in all your food-related endeavors!

Truly,

Lucy