There are phone calls you don’t want to get. Like the ones that come from the neighbor that feeds your puppy and checks the horses mid-day (hi Katie!). Yesterday, I got one of those calls with the sweetest message that “everyone’s okay, well mostly, but call me as soon as you can”. So I knew not to panic, but still, a call at work!?!
Hank! is an enthusiastic hen chaser, to the point that we’ve been keeping him out of their yard (well, also because he got coccidiosis from eating chicken shit). I’m always telling people that safely having dogs and hens is all about training, desensitization and fencing. Guess I need to take my own damn advice.
Turns out that one of our Ameraucana hens flew out of the hen yard and into the backyard. And the phone call from Katie was to tell me that she got concerned about Hank! after he wasn’t interested in lunch but was all bloaty like he’d eaten. A glimpse of feathers in the backyard sent her on a walk around and that’s when she found the hen… The one that Hank! had caught, killed and mostly eaten.
How do we know it wasn’t Jake? Well, we don’t 100%, but in 4 years he’s never caught or killed a hen, so we’re pinning the blame squarely on Hank!
Let’s just say that when a ~20 pound, 12 week old puppy eats the feathers, backbone and internal organs of a hen… it does foul things to his digestive tract. We refused to give him any sympathy since he did it to himself, but we did keep a close eye on him just in case. He’s fine, but the hens are currently locked up in their very secure inner yard until we figure out how to deal with the situation.
My plan to make it for Anita and Cameron this weekend was initially dashed when Anita told me that Dungeness was out of season in the Bay area. However, when we got to the Ferry Building market we not only found beautiful sweet corn, we found fresh picked crab (I forgot to ask if it was Dungeness). Game on.
Of course, then the panic about which recipe to use started. I couldn’t remember where I’d seen the recipe the week before and I’m not sure why, but it kind of paralyzed me. I wanted the soup to be as delicious in real life as it was in my mind. Finally, after remembering that it was Food & Wine I went to their website where I found the winter version and then the version that I used as a starting point for ours.
In the end, it was so good that I was tempted to lick the bowl when I finished. If I hadn’t been so full from the delicious burgers and coleslaw that we had with it, I would have gone back for seconds in a heart beat.
This summery soup tastes like it has cream or, at least stock, in it (even Anita was fooled) but doesn’t have a drop. Even better, it’s simple to make, relying on the freshest highest quality ingredients you can find rather than skill.
Butter :: 2 tablespoons
Onion :: 1 medium, diced small
Carrot :: 1 medium, diced small
Sweet Corn* :: 5 large ears, kernels cut off the cob
Garlic :: 1 large clove, finely minced
Bay Leaf :: 1
Water :: 3 to 4 cups
Salt & Pepper :: To taste
Chilled, Picked Crab** :: as much or as little as your wallet can bear
Basil :: a tablespoon or so per bowl, sliced thinly
Begin by melting the butter in a heavy bottomed medium-sized sauce pan. Add the onion and carrot and saute gently so that they soften without browning. This will take 5 minutes or so.
While the onions and carrots melt, cut the corn off the cob and mince the garlic. Then then add it to the pan. Continue the gently saute until the corn has softened, another 10 minutes or so.
Add the bay leaf and salt and pepper to taste. Add enough water to cover the corn – use closer to 3 cups of water if you’d like your soup thick, 4 if you’d like it a bit thinner. Bring the soup to a boil and then turn it down to simmer for 7 minutes or so to finish cooking the corn.
Take the pan off the heat and let the soup cool down a bit. You’re going to eat it slightly warmer than room temperature and it’s significantly easier to blend it when it’s not crazy hot. Now is when an immersion blender is useful, although you can use your regular one as well. Puree the corn soup until it’s smooth and creamy. Let it cool a bit longer while you slice the basil.
Ladle the soup into bowls and then top with crab and basil. Then prepare yourself to resist licking the bowl.
* We used white corn, but I’m sure that yellow would work as well. You just don’t want SUPER sweet ears.
** We used pre-cooked crab. If you use live crab you’ll want to cook it, chill it and pick it first.
I’m not sure what happens at your house before 7:30 am? Around here, it’s a lot. On Sunday morning, I happened to have my phone in my pocket and decided to do an “early morning in the life of” photos.
I’m a lazy stall cleaner. Monday through Friday, Katie (our fantastic neighbor) cleans stalls for us. I do them Saturday and Sunday and usually try to make two days fit into one wheelbarrow load, stashing the half full wheelbarrow in the barnyard over night. Unfortunately, on Saturday night Travis was clumsy and tipped it over. I couldn’t see well enough to clean it up (it was late) and so was greeted with it and the freshly dried fly masks early in the morning.
Whiskey is an ambler. Once he has his fly mask on he just slowly ambles out of his stall and says good morning.
Travis, on the other hand, is a dasher. He comes out of his stall like a jack out of its box and heads straight over to see if it’s a pasture or a barnyard day. It was a pasture day, so no hello from him.
George likes to grab a good morning belly rub so usually comes into the barnyard and plops himself down.
Hank! had followed me to the barn, and tried to convince George to play with him, but George wasn’t interested in the least.
Mike and Jake came out to join us and we took a trip out to the new manure/compost bunkers that Mike built to dump that pesky wheelbarrow. Look how big Hank! is getting!
A rat, and family, has moved into the broiler shed (we use it for storage the rest of the year) and Mike is determined to get him out before winter arrives. I like to pretend he’s hunting wabbits because the whole idea of rats in the shed skeeves me out.
After all this action, we went inside and made ourselves some coffee and a big country style breakfast. I’m really a night owl at heart, but somehow my morning routine makes waking up worth it. There’s something peaceful about the farm (and world) early in the morning. Evenings, with egg collecting, weeding, harvesting are wonderful too, but if I’m not careful I’m going to find myself becoming a morning person after all.
Mike and I celebrated our 6th wedding anniversary this past Saturday. We were married at the Admiralty Head Lighthouse on Whidbey Island with 16 very special people in attendance. After the ceremony (and a quick climb to the top of the lighthouse) we celebrated with dinner at the Inn at Langley.
Ever since, we’ve talked about going back for our anniversary “sometime”. This year we finally managed to make it happen. After a day spent working on the farm, we showered and got all gussied up and drove down to catch the ferry to eat our mostly sustainable, local dinner. Four hours and 7 courses later we felt well celebrated and thoroughly spoiled.
The menu was similar, but also very different than it was in 2004.
The corn soup was “lick your bowl” good, the salmon was amazing, the lamb made even a lamb-ambivalent like me drool and the cheese course was surprisingly delicious. Perhaps most fascinating was the BLT-H2O Inermezzo. It was all the flavors of a BLT (well, minus the bread and mayo) in a shot glass. It really did taste like fresh tomato, smokey bacon and spring lettuce. Was strange and wonderful all at the same time.
And dessert. Wow. Dessert. I’ve never had huckleberries like that before. It was simply mouthwateringly good. I’d go back just for it again. The huckleberry balloon (frozen and hollow), the huckleberry gelee that looked like egg yolks, the lemon curd. Wow.
We weren’t able to get a room at the Inn (they were full) so after our dinner we laughed and chatted our way back to the ferry and made the drive home. The horses were thrilled to see us and it was nice to wake up in our own bed after all.
It was a fantastically expensive, wonderfully indulgent way to celebrate. If you ever have the opportunity, Matt Costello and his staff are well worth the visit.
Last weekend our good friends Ron and Mia came over for dinner after choosing a black lab puppy. They happened to mention (like 18 times) that there was one male puppy left and wouldn’t it be fun to have brothers. We’ve been casually considering a puppy since we lost Sam last summer (he was 13!) and decided that this litter sounded like a good one.
We drove out last Sunday to meet the puppies and decide for sure and then this past Saturday we drove back to pick up our very own puppy Hank! And yes, Hank! will always have an exclamation point after it.
Jake’s not quite sure what to do with Hank!, who’s only 7 weeks old, and so far pretty much just casually tolerates him. We’re getting glimpses of how much fun they’ll be having in a couple of weeks, but right now little tiny Hank! is a bit intimidated by 120 pound Jake (and I don’t blame him one bit!).
We of course were tricked into believing that Hank was going to be a champion sleeper by the first night when he quietly crawled into his crate and woke us up just twice to go out to pee. That illusion was shattered by 2 hours of crying last night – from 2:15 to 4:15 am. Hopefully tonight we all get a bit more sleep…
Of course, we’re integrating him straight into life on the farmette. Tonight, after work, the dogs and I headed out to supervise Mike while he worked on our new manure/compost bunkers (yay!).
I felt a bit guilty just watching Mike work, but hey, supervising all this cuteness is hard work!
So far, having Hank! has a been a good excuse for all of us to take a nap in the grass for no other reason than to keep him company.
I know what you’re thinking, that summer came weeks ago on the Solstice. But here in Seattle summer rarely shows up before the 5th of July and this year was no exception. We spent the 3rd and 4th in down vests and long pants, enjoying the long weekend but wishing it was warmer. Then, predictably, on the 5th summer came roaring in with temperatures in the 80s and 90s last week.
Yesterday was a gorgeous day. I started it off with a riding lesson on Travis that went really really well. Then I came home and made 14 half-pints of strawberry jam (best ever) and 7 half pints of raspberry jam while Mike was off at the bow range with friends. We wrapped up the day with an impromptu dinner party with good friends. It was the perfect way to spend the first real Saturday of summer…
We started off with Mojitos made with the mint that’s taken over the raspberry row (never plant mint somewhere it can’t take over). The guys were hilarious trying to use Anita’s recipe read on my iPhone. One of the funniest scenes in this kitchen, ever.
The steaks were good, the potatoes well cooked, dessert was fantastic but the star of dinner was a broccoli salad that I haven’t made in years. I was at the farm stand on Friday and they had the cutest little broccoli heads for sale. I bought some on impulse and then remembered the curry broccoli salad that I used to make every summer. I didn’t have everything on hand and so I improvised a bit. I think this version was better than the old one. We all agreed that it’s a recipe that we should make more often.
*****
Curry Broccoli Salad Serves 4-6 as a side dish
Bacon – 4 strips, cut into 1/4″ slices
Broccoli – 2 medium heads, cut into small florets
Spring Onion – 4 small, sliced in half and then into 1/4
Dried Cranberries – 1/2 cup (can substitute raisins, dried cherries, etc)
Mayo – 1/2 cup
Cider Vinegar – 2 Tbs
Sugar – 2 Tbs
Curry Powder – 1 to 2 Tbs to taste
Fry the bacon until crispy, then drain and set aside to cool. In a medium sized bowl (glass or metal) mix together broccoli, bacon, onion and dried cranberries. In a separate small bowl, whisk together mayo, vinegar, sugar and curry powder. Add dressing to broccoli mixture and stir well to combine. Cover and set in fridge. Best if made several hours ahead and flavors are allowed to meld. Even better left over the next day if you can manage to keep people from eating every last bit.
We added nine Speckled Sussex pullets to the flock this spring, and at 20 weeks they’re just about to start laying. I can’t wait to see what color eggs they really lay.
I really adore these new girls. Their plumage is quite beautiful – deep brown feathers tipped with iridescent green splotches and a small white dot.
They’re quiet and calm, friendly and sweet. They’re also very compact and heavy bodied for their size. Now if only they’d learn to sleep on the roost bars instead of piled into a corner in the bedding…
They're delivering our new washer/dryer today. Ironically our old dryer has started working again so we're just going to store them for now.
about 6 hours ago
from Twitter for iPhone
Recent Comments