And tonight finds me getting ready to go outside for chores after work... made a big bowl of homemade matzo ball soup - I just learned how to make it after visiting the 2nd Avenue Deli in NYC when I was down there with Benn to visit FIT and it is total comfort food - all of my family likes it - even those that grew up on corned beef and cabbage and stew...).
4 matzo crackers ground up fine, 4 eggs (from my Thanksgiving chicken coop cleaning - the reward was a dozen beautiful eggs), 4 tablespoons chicken broth, and 4 tablespoons schmaltz - mix all ingredients to make a paste and let it set 15 minutes so the cracker meal soaks up the broth and schmaltz (schmaltz sounds better than saying chicken/turkey FAT). I bake a chicken or turkey to get the schmaltz, which is rendered chicken or turkey fat (I have not made it the "proper" way in a skillet but my method works - if someone wants the "gribenes," get them at the 2nd Avenue Deli
). When you have the drippings for gravy from the baked chicken or turkey, chill it and it will separate... schmaltz on the top - drippings on the bottom for gravy. All this from a non Kosher cook.:biggrin2: My sailing partner and his wife were impressed and gave me even more pointers on perfect matzo ball soup as that is their heritage.
Wet your hands and make small balls out of the paste that you will drop into the boiling chicken stock, then turn the broth down to simmer. I cook it for about 20 minutes and the cooked matzo balls will grow in size and float. It doesn't last in my house - when it is cooked - it is GONE as folks are lined up for it - Andy and Greg were the first ones to get a cup and ask for seconds. Add cracked pepper to the paste for a chicken soup that will clear out the sinuses - I am staving off the flu and colds with this stuff (and my hand sanitizer!).
My oyster or clam chowder recipe will be next... too much salt water in my veins to totally rely on venison and pheasants (we raise pheasants and do hunt whitetail deer and consume them...I have some good recipes for venison and pheasant and have yet to have a "bad piece" - we have a good processor here in town... even my mom who loves her beef (I don't like beef or pork products) could not believe how tender and mild the steaks I brought for Thanksgiving were. From her, that was a BIG compliment. My stepdad liked the venison, too - he still cannot believe that I like hunting but I told him I like to know what I am eating and where it came from.
Back to the farm... It is snowing here and Quinn not only rolled in something very foul (prior to the snow sticking) and evil smelling but he carried in clumps of it on his coat. The pond is frozen so he will have a quick date with the hose when I fill the water buckets in the barn. He looks pretty smug with himself tonight.
Even the cats caught a whiff of him and ran for parts unknown.
While Roxanne and Remy's anticipated Checkered Giant litter did not materialize, I do have some new bunnies coming in on December 19th - as I have been trying to develop a new herd of Hollands. I have a beautiful orange buck, a drop dead gorgeous broken tort buck and two tort does coming in. I have always been partial to the oranges and I am hoping this beautiful boy will help me produce a bright orange rabbit - I have only seen one Holland with this beautiful color - it was an intense, rich orange with white around her eyes and in the places the white should be... but she never produced a kit and I was on a waiting list for anything orange she produced.... In any case I am grateful to the breeder I am working with - I have been lucky to work with two talented breeders over the years.
I am hoping the broken tort will help improve some of Juno's faults and the new does will help work with Axel (and the kits Juno produces with her new suitors) as he has produced show winners for his former owner. He is still is my Prince Charming of the rabbitry - he still holds on to the grass ball I bought him as a toy... and he uses it to get my attention. Juno and Juliette have decided grass balls should be consumed ASAP... why not as Mom will get more for us... my Checkered Giants will be getting theirs soon.
So, my hands are blistered from cutting wire and building more hutches and I have to make a trip to the feed store to get more water bottles and hopper feeders but it is worth it.
My entries are in for the January 3rd show...
On the horse end of things Saoirse has learned how to "shake hands" on command and she is such a snuggle baby... she loves to be scratched and groomed and wil stand while I brush her without being tied. I like my horses to like me handling them...when they have to be crosstied for tacking up or clipping they know about that but grooming should be something they look forward to, want to have done and enjoy and when they see the brushes, I have them waiting in line.
It is funny but they will also wait "in line" to see the farrier or veterinarian... my horses are strange in that they crowd around the farrier or vet and watch their friends get worked on to the point of being a pain in the "arse"...(nudging the farrier to see what tools are in his pocket... or the vet to see what she has going on and who she smells like based on her other barn visits and even those here who get stuck with a needle STILL hang around to see what is going on, or to reassure the others that it is all OK and that being curious is worth it. Freedom surprises me the most as she was quite ill a few winters in a row and needed sedation to swallow a NG tube for an impaction colic (like stasis in bunnies), even sustaining a bloody nose in the processyet she is the first to seethe vet on her own terms.
I had a former farrier (retired) tell me that I had the most relaxed bunch of horses he had ever seen. My girls are all allowed to see and touch each other and they are not territorial about their space - Freedom will let Saoirse drink from her water bucket through the gates - and I try to include everyone in on any training that goes on. Any horse I break to ride is done among the company of their friends... until they are ready to venture out on their own, like Weatherly.
And, my cup of tea is empty... must change from work clothes to barn clothes and enjoy the lake effect snow and cold.
Life IS good.
Denise
