It's FRIDAY night!

Dinner at our place on Friday night: pan-roasted baby carrots from our garden; cous-cous (made with beefstock, garlic, scallions, sweet peppers, and mushrooms); sirloin steak (organic, farm-raised) grilled (marinated in our dry rub and mushroom soy). Dessert was a fresh fruit salad.

Find A Hawk

Our resident Cooper's Hawk, perched anonymously in the crabapple tree by the bird feeder. Discreet as he is, there were NO birds in the feeder after he silently landed!

Thursday Night Salmon

A wonderful dinner on a cold Thursday night. Pan-seared salmon filet (marinated in lemon/ginger) and topped with a white wine/dill/pan sauce reduction. Blue fingerling potatoes, sliced and pan-seared with garlic and shallots. Home grown broccoli and cauliflower, steamed with salt, pepper and cilantro. All served on our favorite Blue Fish Platter. Note the side of fresh baked bread and olive oil for dipping. Mmmmm.

A Poem to Share

The Farmer’s Pavane

Old beige skeletal

unharvested corn stands defiant,

braced against December snows

Green harvest machines

have rooted, unmoving, silent

where they were left last week.

Wondering hopeful horses

look out of their barn

waiting release to paddocks.

Cows lowing patient

huddle for the warmth

with sisters in the barn.

Village residents flock

to the barnlike church

and huddle with their brethren.

The soul

of the farm

mourns.

A Few More Pots

On the left is a set of really cool porcelain cereal/snack bowls. All wheel thrown, with happy colors to brighten the day.

On the right is "Homage Mecanic" ... now with a cheerful, whimsical flower.

More from the Kiln

THE WESTERN JUG!

Proudly standing at about 22" tall, this coil and throw stoneware jug, built by Phyllis, is a totally functional whimsy.

New Pots! New Pots!

New from our kiln yesterday: the HOLEY BOWLY!

Rich created this awesome bowl using slabbed stoneware, hand-punched holes and a lot of patience. This piece is approximately 12" across. The glazes are food safe.

Holey Bowly!

Drama In The Snow

Seen in our front yard today:

Weekday Dinners

We are having a GOOD FOOD WEEK! We wanted to share our dinners with you all.

Tuesday, I selected the protein:Tuna steak. I pan seared a mushroom soy marinated tuna steak in my grill pan. The tuna was served over arugula, drizzled with a ginger sauce. Our sides were home-grown (from our freezer) broccoli and organic polenta with sun-dried tomato spread.

ON TO THURSDAY:

Tonight, Dad chose the protein: Boneless, skinless chicken breast. He marinated the breasts in our own juiced lime juice and garlic. My turn came next, and I lightly dusted the chicken breasts in a panko/wheat flour seasoned mixture, and pan seared them, using white wine to prevent stickage (is that a culinary term?) The marinade was added to the pan after the chicken was removed, and we deglazed with white wine and chicken stock, and reduced the liquid. The chicken was served over mixed Spring greens, again using the the ginger dressing.

Winter Friend

Meet my moose. This is my favorite Winter bookmark. Everyone deserves a bookmark that they love, don't you think?

Enterprising Senior Chefs

Last night, we had salmon on the menu. Yawn, you say? No! Not when 1/2 of the team, whose initials are Richard, maintained for the last 20 years or so that he "DOES NOT LIKE SALMON!".

Willing to try this incredible fish once again, I, his wife and the resident fish chef, was looking for a way to prepare a dish that would have a 'wow' factor. Then, an idea flashed in my brain: smoked salmon, like on a grill, but done on the stove! Like they do on the Food Channel.

I grabbed my trusty Wok ($10, 15 years ago at Cost Plus World Market...they don't make 'em like this anymore). I lined the wok with Heavy Duty Aluminum Foil (does this need to be capitalized?), added a goodly handful of soaked hickory chips, a cake rack for the fish, and a lid from another pan that fit exactly. I turned up the heat, waited for 'smokeage' , and then tossed in some dried sprigs of rosemary. On went the fish, that had been marinating in citrus and pepper. In less than 20 minutes, we had an AWESOME entree of smoked salmon! And...Rich LIKED it!

NOTE: I did occasionally sprinkle water onto the chips. There was not a bit of smoke in the kitchen, either. I had been concerned that 'Shriek', our smoke alarm, would object to this cooking method, but he never noticed. The wok is fine. I am going to use this method again...maybe also for veggies! Happy cooking!

Stealthshroom

Our wonderful mushroom farm had finished producing, but there was the empty box. The box full of wonderful, earthy-smelling, composty stuff. Stuff BEGGING to be used. So, I did! I took scoops of the good, friable, crumbly mixture and treated my Christmas cactus to layers of delight. The cactus showed gratitude, by sending out a second set of buds (I should mention that my Christmas cactus is really a Halloween/Thanksgiving cactus...it's unclear on the concept).

Today, I checked the buds and found: The STEALTHSHROOM!

We plan on harvesting this shroom for our Super Bowl Dinner. Why not?