But I'm Still, Willin'

Fairly Quick Chicken Cacciatore

• Roll a pack of chicken legs in seasoned flour and brown in olive oil before setting aside
• then add chopped mushrooms, onions, carrots, garlic into a deep pan in the chicken fat.  
• After the vegetables are cooked through, add a huge tablespoon of tomato paste, cook that a bit until browned
• then, add back in the legs and all juice, a can of whole tomatoes, oregano, some stock, stir and stick in oven for an hour at 375.  
• Ten minutes before finishing, I added a bag of frozen spinach (optional).

This is a quicker way to get to the end but if you leave in the chicken fat, it has all the richness and is not missing the depth of a wine sauce.  The other shortcut was getting the polenta mixed and bubbling before also throwing it in the oven to finish out. It's remarkable that on the stovetop, you must stir constantly in order to achieve a creamy velvetty consistency, yet in the oven it just occurs.  A good stir, a dollop of butter and cheese if you're sexy, afterwards and it's finished.

This was the day after my 60th birthday and for anyone heading to one of these milestones, I am here to report, as you might imagine if you stopped for a moment to consider it's just another day, nothing really changes.  There was a slight fear of death approaching the door to serve me papers the days beforehand, so there was unnecessary stress build-up.  I also thought that I'd awaken to an entirely different mind.  Turns out, no. Surprise silly girl, just like 50, outside of a handful of people, the world could care less that you're older and you shouldn't either. 

   

But more than the day itself, it is a new knowing that you are no longer of interest to 87% of the population. A harsh new reality, but I'm here to tell you that can be like the fond at the bottom of your pan.  At first you think it's all burnt gook but you add a little liquid and it's flavor gold. I'm serious about this.  Being slightly invisible is a hidden perk when slinking through life!  But you do work harder to be heard, which is slightly irritating. Old Jewish ladies like me more and more but that's about the extent of any new popularity.  I too care less and less about the thoughts of others, but there's no denying my star is fading.   I have a marked signpost of the time left to accomplish whatever the hell I'm supposed to do here.  Time is running out, in other words.  And the scariest thing is that I have no more idea of what that purpose is, then when I was 4. But my will is good.  

Keeping track of friends gets tougher as we age too, like galaxies drifting apart.  Maybe that's because at this point, we all realize we have to do life on our own. But at least we can try to be of some help or support to each other.  Yep, it's a new chapter, another decade of mystery.  A whodunnit film, a comedy play, a bad TV sitcom.  It's a life.