have you ever noticed?

have you ever noticed how people talk about meat that just "falls off the bone"? that's generally considered a good thing, y'know? however, if it happens while you are holding that meat over a pot of boiling-hot water... it can be ugly. i had just fished the chicken out of the soup pot and was letting it drip a little before plopping it into a bowl to cool. (how weird is the phrase "i had just fished the chicken"???) i glanced away to tell my dog to quit trying to insert herself between me and the stove (she seems to think i'm going to drop yummy food on her tongue if she can only get into that magic 2" space) when the chicken began falling off the bone. plop! into the boiling water...
"eeek! hothothot!" i shrieked and hopped away to nurse my scalded hand.
*snurfle*, molly made her move for the sweet spot.

some of the chicken ended up in the bowl (hrmmm, maybe i'm better at basketball than i thought?) whence i flung it as i hopped away from the soup pot. some of the chicken ended up (sans bone) back in the water. luckily for all parties concerned, although molly would argue that this wasn't luck, none of the chicken or chicken stock ended up on the floor. the dog would've much preferred that the chicken had fallen on the floor, even if it did mean burning her tongue on the scalding hot, but yummy, food.

so... my chicken is literally falling off the bone. tonight, there will be chicken and dumplings!

and my hand isn't all that burned. *happydance*