Lake Manatee State Park, Bradenton, Florida
One who had escaped came and reported this (Lot’s captivity) to Abram the Hebrew. . . . When Abram heard that his relative had been taken captive, he called out the 318 trained men born in his household . . . pursuing them as far as Hobah, north of Damascus. He recovered all the goods and brought back his relative Lot and his possessions, together with the women and the other people. ~ Genesis 14:13-16 Abram has come to Lot’s rescue, much as God rescues us. And it won’t be the last time he intercedes on his behalf.
I found a place to get my hair cut! It’s not a Helix cut, but it still turned out well. She added more layers and thinned it out. Much better! At least until I can get to Celeste back in Ohio in May.
There was a lot more shopping to do. Not that we needed a lot of stuff, but we needed several more stores – Sally’s, Aldi’s (We’re looking for their teriyaki sauce, which we still haven’t found. We settled for their honey sesame, and will keep looking.), Kohl’s, Bath and Body . . . the kind of shopping I used to do on Fridays when I was working. 😊
As a reward for Blaine, and also as a pre-Valentine’s celebration, we ate lunch at Carrabba’s. We’ve not been to one for a very long time. It used to be our favorite place to eat, until we switched to The Bistro in Green. Today’s meals were sooo good! And of course, there was the bread. And the salad. And their chicken soup is phenomenal! I’ve actually made it a few times. It takes some time and effort, but it’s worth it! Hmmm . . . . might have to dust off that recipe sometime . . .
Chicken Bryan, Marsala Steak, Spinach 
Chicken Trio, Garlic Mashed Potatoes
We like to walk off a meal like that, so we’d saved our WalMart shopping for after.
And that’s it for today. Check out the soup recipe if you want.
CHICKEN SOUP (Carrabba’s)
1 whole chicken (about 4 ½ pounds)
1 large yellow onion, finely chopped
3 celery ribs, cut into ¼ inch diced
3 carrots, cut into ¼ inch diced
3 green bell peppers, cored and cut into ¼ inch diced
3 medium baking potatoes (russet), peeled and cut into ¼ inch diced
1 can (14.5 oz) diced tomatoes in juice
½ C. chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley
4 garlic cloves, chopped
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 C. ditalini or other “soup pasta”
Place the whole chicken, onion, celery, carrots, bell peppers, potatoes, tomatoes and their juices in a large soup pot and add enough cold water to cover by 1 inch. Bring to a boil over high heat, skimming off the foam that rises to the surface. Add the parsley, garlic, 1 T. salt and 3/4 t. pepper.
Reduce the heat to medium-low. Partially cover the pot and simmer until the chicken is falling off the bones (about 2 hours). Using tongs, transfer the chicken to a large bowl and let cool for about 20 minutes. Keep the soup in the pot simmering.
Remove the meat from the chicken, discarding the skin and bones, taking care not to mangle the meat and keeping it in neat pieces. Tear or pull the boned chicken into large bite-sized pieces. (We prefer hand-pulled chicken to chopped chinks.)
Meanwhile, bring a medium saucepan of water to a boil over high heat. Add salt to taste. Add the ditalini and cook according to the package directions until tender. Drain well.
Using a large slotted spoon or a potato masher, mash some of the potatoes in the pot to lightly thicken the broth. Add the chicken and pasta to the pot. Season with salt and pepper.
Serves 12-15