Peace In The Valley

Well, as some of you know I had 3 guineas (a roo, One Toe, and two hens, Two Toes and Geraldine). The chickens and guinea's were all raised together and roosted together in the evenings. The guinea's followed me around where ever I went and never roamed out of the back yard.

It is spring and breeding season. The guinea's were 4 times the size of my bantams and began to pick on the bantams unmercifully. Poor Ozzie got bloodied up one day and I put my foot down and had to put my big girl panties on and make a decision that I didn't want to make. I had to send the guinea's to freezer camp. I called the neighbor who gave them to me and he came to get them. I can't process them or eat them (especially when they were my pets) so they went to my neighbors freezer camp.

Now there is peace in the valley once again and my chickens can come out and play safely. I took them some tomato treats this morning and everyone enjoyed their special time. The lightest one in the front of the photo is Gordon, the little peep that Harriet hatched (September 18) and raised. So lucky that she turned out to be a little hen. Harriet still knows that Gordon is her peep and takes care of her, never letting anyone bother her special Gordon. Everything is good in the chicken world here. Ozzie takes care of his hens, Harriet keeps June in line and Gordon, well, lets just say she runs off the yard birds...

Try A New Meal For The New Year

A SPECIAL NEW YEARS MEAL

Try something new for the new year. Here is a meal that will make memories and impress your guests.

Today on the menu is:
Asparagus with Hollandaise sauce
Pommes Anna
Ocean Perch with orange slices, butter and rosemary in Papiotte


A PICTURE OF OUR FINISHED MEAL




FIRST GATHER YOUR INGREDIENTS



CLARIFIED BUTTER

This will be needed for both the Hollandise sauce and the Pommes Anna. It can easily be made in the microwave. You want clarified butter because the burning point is much higher when used in cooking. I usually keep some in my fridge for when I need it. It will keep well for a couple of weeks.

You will need:
3 - 4 sticks of unsalted butter (not margarine) cut into cubes and placed into a microwave safe dish.



Place in microwave on low heat and gradually melt butter a little at a time. It will separate and look like this from the side after it has cooled.



The top will look like this.



Once cooled, gently ladle the fat from the top and discard.



After, pour the middle section (the clarified butter) into a separate container for use, being careful not to pour in the bottom section of the butter.



HOLLANDAISE SAUCE

You will need:
1 cup clarified butter, warm
1 T water
2 egg yolks
2 T freah lemon juice
Salt to taste
Dash of Cayenne pepper

Place egg yolks and water in a stainless steel bowl and beat well.



Hold the bowl over a hot water bath and continue to beat until tick and pale yellow.



Take the bowl off of the heat and slowly beat in the warm butter using a wire whisk. Add the butter, drop by drop in the beginning. Once you see an emulsion forming you can add the butter faster. Beat in the lemon juice and seasonings. Taste and adjust seasonings to your taste. Keep warm.





ASPARAGUS

You will need fresh asparagus for this dish. I prefer the little one's because of the tenderness.

Hold the asparagus by the spear and the cut end. Where it bends and snaps is the separation point from the woody tough end and the tender end.




Place in a steamer and steam until slightly tender. It is best when it still has it's beautiful bright green color and not mushy. It will have a lovely and flavorful crunch to it when eaten.




POMMES ANNA

You will need:

Potatos, peeled and stored in water before slicing
1/2 c. clarified butter
Salt and pepper

Slice the potatoes very thinly. Do not soak in water after sliced. In a heavy saute pan or cast iron skillet, spread half of the butter. Lay out the potatoes in a spiral covering the bottom of the pan with a nice design. Season. Here is a picture of the start with a slice of potato in the center.



Spread out the rest of the potatoes evenly and season. Put the rest of the butter on top of the potato cake.



Cook the potato cake on top of the stove until it begins to brown. Finish cooking in the oven at moderate heat (about 325 - 350). When the potato cake is vooked all the way through, remove from the oven and carefully invert onto a plate or sheet pan.



Allow to cool and then cut into wedges. Heat in a hot oven just before serving.



TO MAKE THE OCEAN PERCH EN PAPIOTTE YOU WILL NEED:

Ocean Perch (or other firm fleshed fish)
Fresh orange segments
Salted butter
Rosemary sprigs
Wisked egg white
Parchment paper

Fold a piece of parchment paper and cut out a half heart shape. When you open it, it will look like this:



Now place your fish on one half of the paper and layer it with the orange segments, butter and rosemary.



Next, use your egg whites to brush around the edges to act as a glue to hold the parchment paper together.



Begin at the top of the heart and brush with whites and fold over the cut/open edge.



Continue until you go around all of the open/cut edge.



Now just give a light brushing to secure the open/cut edge.



Bake at 450 degrees for about 20 minutes. The packets will rise with the steam. Serve the parchment packets to each guest and allow them to cut open their packet and enjoy the steamed flavors. Make sure to let them know ahead of time that the packet will produce steam once opened.

I hope you give these dishes a try this year and enjoy them. I wish for all of you a delightful and prosperous 2010 with many happy endeavors. HAPPY NEW YEAR FROM ME TO YOU!!!

The three L’s: Life, Love and Letting Go

For some time now, my beloved companion, Hannah (a German Shepherd Dog) has had some problems. It started with a limp last year and after X-rays, we found that she was having a degenerative problem along her vertebrae (neck and back) as well as some joints. We knew that her body would gradually give in to the degeneration. Not what we wanted to hear, but had to deal with and unfortunately Hannah had to live with.

In January, Hannah tore a cruciate ligament on her left knee and had to have that knee repaired. After the surgery it took some time to recover. It was a struggle, but she was a trooper, never complained and her knee healed nicely and was in good working order.

Last month (November) she tore the cruciate ligament on the other knee and had to have that one repaired. Not really a surprise, since this knee had to bear the weight of the other during the healing process. She was a very active dog. This knee was beginning to mend nicely.

Last Tuesday evening (December 1) I had a really bad night with Hannah. Upon coming home that evening, my husband was on the floor with Hannah and told me that she had gone down and couldn’t get up. She couldn’t use her front legs to walk. Hannah wasn’t paralyzed, she could move her front legs, but from the pasterns down, her front legs didn’t work. The next day wasn’t much better, the vertebrae problems in her neck had come to a head.

My husband and I knew this day would come, yet we avoided the conversation in hopes that it would not rear its ugly head. It had now knocked on our back door and we had to answer it. This knock happened much sooner than anyone had thought and it was loud.

I asked my vet come out and evaluate the situation. We decided to try a steroid treatment to see if we could get her joints to work again, if at least for a little time longer. It was the time that we so desperately wanted. We had 24 – 48 hours to keep our fingers crossed, pray for a miracle and hope that the drugs would work.

I slept on the floor in the evenings and either sat or lay next to Hannah during the day to be by her side. I tried to let her know that she was unconditionally loved and to make her worn out, deteriorating body comfortable. This was for 3 days and 3 nights. I tried to keep a constant vigil for her. If I got up for any length of time, I made sure to be close so that she could see me or have my husband sit with her so she wasn’t alone. As time went on and as fate would have it, she would gradually lose the use of different parts of her once able body.

At one point, when I was lying beside her, she was dreaming and I could see her legs move. I know she was dreaming of running. I hope she was dreaming of catching a squirrel or running off the vultures or crows as she used to be able to do. She was always the fastest dog in our house, with the speed, agility and athleticism of an Olympic champion and could catch a squirrel in a heartbeat. She was also a master guardian to my goats.

Through Hannah, I have learned the selflessness, devotion and love that a dog has for its owner. No one has said it more eloquently than George Graham Vest in a speech he made to a jury in 1870 in Warrensburg, Missouri. He lost a beloved Foxhound, Old Drum, from a neighbor viciously shooting it. The dog was more than a hunting dog to Vest, he was a family companion. Vest took the neighbor to court and won. Originally Vest was a lawyer and later became a senator. Here is his closing speech. I think it is worth a read:

SEPTEMBER 23,1870
Gentlemen of the Jury: The best friend a man has in this world may turn against him and become his enemy. His son or daughter that he has reared with loving care may prove ungrateful. Those who are nearest and dearest to us, those whom we trust with our happiness and our good name, may become traitors to their faith. The money that a man has, he may lose. It flies away from him, perhaps when he needs it the most. A man's reputation may be sacrificed in a moment of ill-considered action. The people who are prone to fall on their knees to do us honor when success is with us may be the first to throw the stone of malice when failure settles its cloud upon our heads. The one absolutely unselfish friend that a man can have in this selfish world, the one that never deserts him and the one that never proves ungrateful or treacherous is his dog.
"Gentlemen of the Jury, a man's dog stands by him in prosperity and in poverty, in health and in sickness. He will sleep on the cold ground, where the wintry winds blow and the snow drives fiercely, if only he may be near his master's side. He will kiss the hand that has no food to offer, he will lick the wounds and sores that come in encounters with the roughness of the world. He guards the sleep of his pauper master as if he were a prince. When all other friends desert he remains. When riches take wing and reputation falls to pieces, he is as constant in his love as the sun in its journey through the heavens. If fortune drives the master forth an outcast in the world, friendless and homeless, the faithful dog asks no higher privilege than that of accompanying him to guard against danger, to fight against his enemies, and when the last scene of all comes, and death takes the master in its embrace and his body is laid away in the cold ground, no matter if all other friends pursue their way, there by his graveside will the noble dog be found, his head between his paws, his eyes sad but open in alert watchfulness, faithful and true even to death."

When I would leave Hannah’s side for more than a few seconds, she would try to gather her broken body to follow me. She didn’t want to leave my side, even though her body failed her. All she wanted the most in this world was to be at my side. As her body became weaker and couldn’t lift her head, she would lap water from my fingertips to drink. In her last hours, I realized that I could steady her head up on my knees to offer her bowl to drink by herself so she could feel a sense of normality. She still wanted her water, food and treats and we gave them freely.

In the end, her mind was solid, her spirit was strong as was her love and loyalty. All she wanted was to be by my side, and since her body wouldn’t let her, I brought my body to her as she would have done for me.

We lost the battle, but know that we took every avenue we could. On Friday evening, I placed Hannah’s head in my lap and my husband and I, along with our caring vet, peacefully let her go. We all told her that we loved her, and I do feel that she felt she was surrounded by the unconditional love that she gave in this world.

Hannah was born December 31, 2002. She was a Christmas puppy. I decided to wrap her in a green Christmas themed blanket that had reindeer and Christmas trees on it. When we have had to bury dogs in the past, I have wrapped them in special blankets and had flowers in the yard to place on top of them in their grave. Some might think it morbid or silly, but I want them to leave with beauty surrounding them. It is something that eases the pain of my loss. I didn’t have anything in bloom this time of year so I went out and purchased a beautiful novelty Poinsettia to place in her grave with her. I carefully cut the flowers and leaves from the plant. I thought it would be perfect for her. My husband reminded me that we had a Christmas cactus and that it was starting to bloom. I looked at it and there was one single bloom. The rest were blossoms. I decided to pick the one full bloom to represent her life and some blossoms to represent her life cut short and not fully realized. She is now surrounded by them and is resting peacefully.

In memory of Hannah, instead of giving her a solemn funeral, I decided to celebrate her life. I bought my husband a brand of ‘dog’ labeled beer and myself a bottle of ‘dog’ labeled wine. I didn’t care if we liked it or not, it was going to be in celebration of Hannah’s life, and how we came to love her along with all of her special attributes. I told my husband that when he opened a bottle of beer, he had to say one thing that he remembered about her that he loved. The same thing went for me. If I poured a glass of wine, I had to say one thing that I loved about her. It made our loss, the loss of a beloved companion a little easier to process.

For my special Hannah:
Run as fast and swiftly as you can my beautiful girl as you used to be able to do, and continue to catch squirrels while you wait for me to cross over the rainbow bridge with you by my side.

An early Christmas gift from me to you

I'm trying this for the first time. A giveaway collage sheet. I've made it on a Corel Draw program and think I have it figured it out on my computer so I can send it in an 8 X 10 sheet to you. It is all from a Palmer's Method handwriting book. Each piece that I have on the sheet is handwriting that are practice samples. My goodness...lots of practice for me to become this good at handwriting. Back in the day, it was very important to have beautiful handwriting because everyone wrote letters and notes by hand. Now we just type in letters in our computers and we are done. No more handwriting skills for us. I thought these might make some neat backgrounds in artwork.

If you would like a copy of this sheet, please respond to this post and let me know your email addy and I'll send it to you. All I ask is that it isn't sold by you (shame on you if you are so tacky), but is used in your artwork to trade. You can contact me at barefoot (dot) chef (at) yahoo (dot) com to privately give me your email addy.

Happy Halloween

May your cauldrons be full and for those of you goolish gosties out there, witches and wicked pumpkins, as well as things that go bump in the night, I wish you a safe and happy Halloween. As for us...Darla is just going out as Underdog and fighting all of those who rob and plunder...

Let's Get Cookin'

I've not posted any cooking recipes and I like to cook. Shame on me! Today we will cook a dish from the 'Gumbo Shop' in New Orleans. You can substitute shrimp for the crawfish if you can't find them and use your favorite ham instead of the Tasso.

For those of you who aren't familiar with Tasso, it is a very spicy piece of pork. According to Wikipedia, Tasso ham is a specialty of Cajun cuisine. It is a spicy, peppery version of smoked pork made from the shoulder butt. In this case, "ham" is a misnomer, since tasso is not made from the hind leg of a pig. This cut is typically fatty, though leaner cuts are often used and have a great deal of flavor. The butt, which will weigh 7 to 8 pounds, is sliced across the grain into pieces about 3 in / 7.5 cm thick. These are dredged in a salt cure, which usually includes nitrates and sugar. The meat is left to cure briefly, only three or four hours, then rinsed, rubbed with a spice mixture containing Cayenne pepper and garlic, and hot-smoked until cooked through.

Tasso is not typically eaten on its own. It is used in dishes ranging from pasta to crab cakes, soup to gravy. Appropriate to its roots, tasso is most often found in recipes of southern or Cajun/Creole origin, such as jambalaya.

This is a dish that I made and served at my wedding...and yes, I used crawfish and tasso...

PASTA WITH CRAWFISH AND TASSO

1 pound pasta, preferably imported Rotini or Fusili
4 tablespoons butter
1/4 pound tasso or smoked ham
1 1/2 cups shallots, chopped
4 cloves garlic minced
2 cups heavy cream (whipping cream)
1 teaspoon white pepper
1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1 pound peeled crawfish tails
1/4 cup parsley

First, gather your ingredients:

Cook pasta according to package directions, being careful not to overcook. Rinse in cold water and set aside.

Melt butter in a large skillet. Cut tasso in a 1/4 inch dice. Saute in butter until lightly browned. Add garlic, stir and cook for one minute. Add shallots and cook until tender.

Add cream, white pepper, cayenne and salt. Bring to a boil and cook about one or two minutes, or until slightly thickened, stirring often. Add crawfish (or shrimp) and parsley. Stir and cook for 2 or 3 minutes. If using fresh shrimp, make sure the shrimp are cooked through. This is what it will look like before adding the pasta:

Add pasta*, mix in well and cook until pasta is heated through. Serve immediately.

Makes 4 - 6 entrees or 8 - 10 appetizers.

*The sauce will thicken when the pasta is added and should also be slightly spicier before adding pasta.

Enjoy!


Oh, and I did post about 'Chicken Creole' here: http://barefootchef.blogspot.com/2008/07/feel-like-cooking-lets-try-chicken.html

She Had A Secret

Yesterday was a scary and mixed emotional day. While doing some dishes I looked out and saw Mr. Fox about 30 yards sitting and eying my chickens. I ran out the door yelling and screaming and he ran off. He was really quite a beautiful animal. A deep rich red with a beautiful thick bushy tail and the striking white tip. But the fact is that foxes and chickens don't mix unless you want the fox to have a fresh chicken dinner.

It was a rainy kind of day with the rain starting and stopping. My husband went out during one of the dry times and then came back in to get me. He couldn't find June anywhere. She was nowhere to be found. I went out with the special chickey bread that they all love and called. Only the guinea's and Ozzie came. No June. I looked and looked for her. No sign of her. I finally gave up knowing that the fox got his dinner. Poor June. What a horrible fate for her. My heart was very heavy.

I kept going out and looking for the fox to show up again. As I was looking out my back door watching Ozzie and the guinea's hunt and peck, from out of the garden area sauntered June. WHAT? She just waltzed over like nothing was wrong. I yelled and told my husband and he wanted to know if I was sure. Um, yes, I do know what June looks like. He came over to see her and asked where she came from. I told him I didn't know, just from the direction of the garden. I had looked over there but never saw her in the garden. I went out to give her some chickey bread that she had missed out on and then went to my sewing room to do some work.

I got to thinking...I bet she had started laying, after all, her waddles and comb are a deep red, indicating she is ready to lay and she has been giving me the "I'm going to have an egg" talk and then the "I've had an egg song". I kept telling her she was lying to me. After all I had looked for an egg and never found one. And when she didn't come for the call of a favorite treat, something was up.

I put on my muck boots and went to the garden. It is grown up now and is in desperate need of attention. What do you think I found? Not one egg, but 8. Yes, you read that right 8 eggs! I have the picture here to prove it.

You can see the one clean egg. That is the one she was laying while she went missing. The others are dirty from the rain and mud. I can't believe with all this rain, she lays there. I need to come up with a plan to get her in a better area if she will cooperate. I'm not sure if she is laying every day, every other day or what. For now, I took the fresh egg and put it in the fridge. The others are still there. I think I'll take an egg out and put a golf ball in it's place each day. Maybe that will trick her and the eggs don't go rotten and smell there. Hopefully she won't try to go broody on me this time of year.

At least for now, we still have our little June Bug. All is right in our world. Here is a picture of a young June.

In The Eye Of The Beholder

Beauty, that is. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder and in this case...this is beautiful (to me) or comical, whichever the case may be. This is One Toe, my male guinea at 3 1/2 months old. He really is quite comical to look at and along with my two guinea hens, they are the three stooges and comical relief around here. One Toe's waddles just shake and wiggle as he wanders around the yard looking for bugs. You just have to shake your head and laugh at he and the other guineas following my little bantam chickens around. I don't know if they have really figured out if they are guineas yet. I'm not sure if I'd like to look like One Toe or not, but I sure would love to have his eye color!

Now here is a video of the silly young man taking a dirt bath. Notice how lovely the dirt makes a white bird look...

A Mothers Love

Well, Harriet finally did it! She hatched an egg and became a mom. My husband named the egg before it was born and the name he chose was Gordon. Not sure if this is a girl (pullet) or boy (cockerel), but it sure is cute. This is a picture of Gordon peeping out from the warm comfort of his/her mom's wing. Mom has been busy keeping Gordon warm and trying to teach how to eat and drink and this little peep catches on fast. Amazing how nature works. Yesterday I offered Harriet her favorite treat of crickets and little Gordon dived right in. Harriet helped break up the cricket and Gordon was a little pig, loving every bite. Gordon is all of 2" tall when standing upright so is a tiny peep. We certainly are hoping this little peep grows up to be big and strong, just like his Bantam parents.

Here is a picture of the egg Gordon came out of next to a quarter for reference...

She Wants To Be A Mom

Well, guess who thinks she might want to be a mom? My special little Harriet! That little hen just has my heart. I never thought I would ever be so in love with a chicken!!! I knocked her crate over while she was laying the other day with her in it and she didn't leave. Her little pet carrier (crate) is on top of a plastic milk carton and I was in a hurry, trying to cover her to protect her and her eggs from the rain. She has fussed at me over the last two eggs she laid. I didn't realize that she was beginning to be broody (wanting to set her eggs and be a mother). She has never fussed at me before. She has been staying with her just laid egg longer and longer and then when she leaves has been coming back once to sit on her egg for a while. Yesterday she only had her golf ball and got on it for a long time. I realized that she probably wanted her eggs to take care of. I had 3 in the house I was saving for the neighbor's incubator to try and hatch and I took out the golf ball when she took a break (it was totally warm from her!) and gave her the 3 eggs she had laid. She stayed on her eggs all day and when I brought out crickets that she loves so much, she wouldn't leave her eggs. When she did take her little break to potty, drink and eat, I brought crickets out especially for her. After a little stretching of her legs, she went back to her eggs. We brought her carrier (now bungeed to the milk crate that I knocked over) and put it in the pen where everyone roosts for the evening. I wanted her to be safe, or as safe as she can be. It goes back out in the morning and we will up her up in the evenings. She never moves while we move her crate! I don't know if she will/can hatch all, or one or none, but I am giving her the chance to be a mom. She want's it, and I want it for her. Just think, I could be a chicken grandmother!

Here is a video of her and what she does all day long...