Welcome to Mountaintop Quilting Studio

This is where you find me exploring a variety of creative adventures mostly about but not limited to quilting. I'm a firm believer that one increases their creativity by being open to and playing with a variety of cretative endeavors ... at least that my excuse for today. Enjoy your sourjourn through my studio playroom. May you find encouragement and inspiration, and on occassion, a little pin-prick that may be thought-provoking or spark your imagination. Thank you for stopping by.

Seven days if you take something to ease your pain and misery or a week if you do nothing. That's what they say about treating a cold. I'm in my 3rd day ... only 4 more days to go. I washed my hands frequently, didn't touch my face with my hands, but Luci and Colin still got me with their colds. Sharing is soooooo nice, isn't it :)

I did some reading about chicken soup and colds and it turns out it is not a myth. There is actual benifit in eating chicken soup when you have a cold. So I've been eating my soup morning, noon, and night. And truth be told, I do feel better afterwards. According to the research the chicken broth has anti-inflamatory properties which cause the nasal cells (and I suppose all cells) to shrink or not be as inflamed making it easier to breathe. I also read that if you include a bit of ginger in your recipe it also helps to "warm your inards" easing the accompaning achy feelings.

Homemade chicken stock is the best and easiest to make. I like to use the bones left after roasting a chicken. I simmer them in water for about half a day. I usually add some chopped onion, garlic, celery and carrots to the mix. After simmering, strain the mix, skim any fat away off the top, and freeze. Then you're all set for the next time you're fixing a recipe calling for chicken stock or the next cold rolls around.

My chicken soup recipe is pretty basic ...

• chicken stock (about 1 quart)
• bits of chopped chicken (sometimes I use canned, sometimes I will chop and freeze bits left over from a meal in small baggies, and sometimes I will grab up the special priced sale chicken packages at the local super market and cook them up.
• 2 carrots (chopped into bite size pieces)
• 3 stalks of celery (chopped into bite size pieces)
• 1 medium onion (rough chopped)
• 2-3 cloves of garlic (mashed)
• season with parsley, thyme, salt and pepper to taste

All ingredients are placed in the crock pot and simmer away. For a change of pace I add noodles (I like the curly rotini kind best) and dumplings. A little variety is always good.

And so it's a quiet time here in the studio right now. Must still take Miso for her daily walks - life is just eaier if you keep the puppy in her daily routine. Other than that, it's kind of nice to veg out on the couch working on my English paper pieced hexxie flowers, catching up on old movies and an occassional nap here and there.