Something New

A First For Me.

Something New

I did something I hadn’t done before.

I removed some bones from a package of thin-sliced pork chops and saved them for a pot of pork broth for some kind of soup.

I put all the bones with the gristle, fat, and any meat left on the bones into a small pot, added the needed water, set them on the small burner of the stove, and turned the burner on low. It would boil when it got hot enough. I wasn’t in a race with time; I just wanted the bones to separate from any meat left on them. I had plans for this pork broth. I would use it to cook a meal sometime later. I just hadn’t thought that far ahead, but I was sure that it would come.

That is when I remembered the potatoes, the sack of spuds from the food bank. One potato, remember the name “spud”, had sprouted a root from one of its eyes. It was long enough to have shot out a hole in the sack. When I saw it, I knew I would have to take care of them soon, or they would all be too soft to peel with a potato peeler.

Well, I could use the pork broth and the potatoes and make a mess of mashed potatoes, but the word “mashed” stopped me in my tracks. In all my estate sale visits, I had never thought of looking for a potato masher. (I remember as kids, we called them potato smashers.) So no masher, no mashed potatoes, and my mind wandered.

How about just a potato soup, seasoned just right.

I had saved the small box of spices that my wife, Carol, had accumulated in our old house, and had put them in the cupboard in my apartment. I hadn’t tossed them out. I’ll make a try with them.

So, here are the directions from where I was thinking.

First, I separated the bones from the pork chop bone broth and tossed them since I didn’t have a dog that might like to chew on them. I added some water to the broth, set it on a stove burner, and turned it on low.

Next, I made my selections of potatoes from the sack and chose those with the longest sprouts. These would be the softest ones, so I wanted to get them used up first.

Then, I just rubbed off all the sprouts into a small plastic container so I would be ready to use the potato peeler.

The potato peeler did a quick job with the peels, but I needed to finish getting the bad spots and remove the rest of the eyes with a short knife. I then rinsed all three spuds under running water.

Finally, I was ready to cut them down to size, so I got a longer knife for this. I didn’t have any system for this, so they came out in a variety of sizes and shapes, but I thought that if I boiled them long enough, they would all come out soft.

The potato chunks were added to the pot, and I thought to myself, “What do I do now?” “I have never tried to just season food on my own.”

I finally used a little bit of several different kinds that sounded like they would be good. I think I was selective, though, since I didn’t use cinnamon or pumpkin pie spices. I did use a red colored seasoning salt, but I knew it would not be “hot” because Carol could not eat hot, spicy things.

Most of them were now just floating on the surface, so my large plastic spoon for the non-stick surfaced pan came out, and I gently stirred the mix. Soon the whole pot was slightly boiling. I didn’t turn the burner any higher since it had come to a boil.

Some time later, I came and fished out a larger piece of potato, let it cool, and sampled its texture. It was soft and also tasty. I also noticed there was still room in the pot. Could something else be added to the pot? As I thought about different kinds of vegetables, I said “No” to several, including tomatoes, but when I came to corn, I said, “Why not?” Out came the can opener, and a can of corn, the whole kernel kind. I dumped the can of corn into the pot and stirred it with the plastic spoon for the nonstick pan. The pieces of yellow and the pieces of white looked good in the pot, so I let them boil a bit to make sure they were hot and all mixed together.

And in a few short minutes, my new dish, “I mean pot,” was ready for tomorrow’s meals. I turned the burner off so the pot would cool for the refrigerator tonight.

I had a picture of this in my camera, but I could not remember how to send it to my computer. I wanted to add it when I put this on my STUBSTACK.com site: larryewhittington.substack.com

I have moved pictures from my camera to my computer before but never did it enough times to remember the steps. Sam will help me later.

I HAD TO HAVE HELP WITH THE PICTURE. That store follows now, and that will be the rest of the story.

David, my oldest son, had told me of a new Rock Shop on Glisan Street. I decided to take some of my rocks with the “windows” in them to show the new store owner what I had been doing. I had a delightful time visiting with the co-owner. She also loved rocks and any talk about rocks. I gave her the rocks I had brought to do with whatever she wanted to do.

While there, I showed her a picture of myself with my nose all bandaged, and it occurred to me that I had tried to use both pictures in a Substack story but had forgotten how to move pictures from my phone to my computer. I asked her if she knew how to do it. She did and moved the two pictures to my email address so I could work with them. She said, “When you get home, they should be in your email box. She was correct, but I had to reason through, “How do I get the pictures from an email to a picture file and then on to a separate written piece?” As I hope you can see, I got the one picture of the story above. I think I will try to get the other picture pasted below.

I enjoyed writing this and also having the three meals the pot made. Its flavor was very enjoyable. I would just put a helping in my bowl, heat it in the microwave, and enjoy a “home cooked meal.”

8/13/2026

Larry E. Whittington

Two days after I had some surgery done on my nose. Tomorrow, I have to replace the bandage after I clean any leftover dried blood. I am not proficient at moving my hands in opposite directions while looking in the mirror.

Pray for me.

And that is the rest of the story and the pictures. God bless all who got to the end of the story.