yawn, damnit!

that lump is a horse. the horse is not dead, it is tired. there is an on-going joke at work because people call in to report dead horses in our fields. sometimes they call us directly, sometimes they call the town police. i wonder how many calls a month the five-o get regarding our animals. "excuse me, officer, but there are cows blocking the road at..." "i'd like to report a horse, it is running thru my yard. yes i understand it is two in the morning...". no wonder the animals get so tired that they keel over and sleep, they have full schedules of fence tipping midnight escapades!
speaking of sleep, although i have been slacking a bit on my posting, i really should be in bed right now instead of spending time on this silly thing. plus i have a book i am very excited to start and i know that my alarm is going to seem very, painfully, early at this point.
g'nite.

humans, ugh.

in the past week two people i know have had their dogs stolen from them. this makes three friends who have had this happen to them within the past 6 months. how are people capable of this? it really is like stealing a child. i like to think of myself as a peaceful person, but everyone has a limit... and stuff like this make me wish very painful things on the type of human who would act in this way.

feeling like may

monday night we welcomed a new addition to our farm famly, a little bull calf. as far as i know he is still without a name... but, if it comes up for a vote i am going with "brian".

i have also had baby squirrels run wild in front of my car the past three days on my way to work.

babies!

sunday baking

after a lovely sunday dinner of bbq chicken with the family we enjoyed these moist little nuggets for dessert. the remainer will be heading to work with me in the morning... and maybe i might even share!

Apple Muffins
(from smitten kitchen)

1 cup whole wheat flour
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon cinnamon
1/2 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup dark brown sugar, packed
1 large egg, lightly beaten
1 cup buttermilk
2 large apples, peeled, cored, and coarsely chopped

~ preheat the oven to 450°F. prepare 18 muffin cups with papers

~ mix together the flours, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon

~ in a separate bowl, cream the butter and add the granulated sugar and 1/4 cup of the brown sugar. add the egg and mix well.

~ mix in the buttermilk gently, being very careful not to overmix.

~ stir in the dry ingredients and fold in the apple chunks.

~ fill muffin cups, sprinkling the remaining 1/4 cup brown sugar on top.

~ bake for 10 minutes, turn the heat down to 400°F, and bake for an additional 5 to 10 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center of a muffin comes out clean.

~ cool the muffins slightly before removing from the pan. then cool the remainder of the way on a rack.

a new favorite veg.

i do love my meat, but sometimes there is nothing more comforting that a big bowl of vegetables...

Celery Root Puree

2 celery roots, peeled and cut into small chunks
1 tbs white rice
1 (or 2) cloves of garlic
1 1/2 c milk
salt and pepper
1 tbs butter

~ put the celery roots, rice, garlic, and milk in a saucepan. season with salt & pepper
~ bring to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer 15-20 minutes, the roots will get tender
~ in a food processor, add butter to the milk-root mix and process until smooth
~ season with salt and pepper and serve

this is very good with pork tenderloin, but this time i served it with a pile of vegetables (eggplant, zuchinni, mushrooms, red peppers, onions, tomatoes, garlic) that i cooked in a 350 degree oven after tossing them in a little olive oil, salt, pepper, and chili flakes. it was a very cozy meal.

how to stop drinking, part one...

... take your friend to the emergency room after he puts his face through a giant window.

this technique is sure to help you stop drinking, at least for the evening since i am pretty sure the er would have frowned upon the bringing of beverages into the waiting room.

they do not however have any problem with yo-yos. keep that in mind, and in your purse...

sunny still!

what kind of freakin' restaurant puts a hippo head (albeit a fake one) right above where people eat?! don't they know that hippos fart out of their mouths? a little research people!

holy cow!

i sound all twitterpated lately. i guess i am suffering a bout of spring fever. the good kind. the my body has more vitamin d than it is used to and i am abnormally cheery kind. so maybe suffering is the wrong word...

trees are budding, flowers are blooming, and i saw a bluebird today. all of which i can watch and enjoy just by stepping out the door at work. and we have sheep! how could i not love it!

... if only i could bring the dog with me on a daily basis, then it would be perfect!

well, i'm off to bed to watch an episode of the x files and then sleep. i was up late last night getting my corner gas fix. i love that show. i miss the canadian stations i could get living in bellingham; sitcoms, drama (pronounced with a long "a" sound!), even the news was better.

spring, spring, springform

here is a receipe for something that i made two weeks ago. unfortunately since i had not yet started this little blog thing i was not thinking about taking pictures of it to post with the receipe. but at yesterday's lovely get-together, with a dear friend that i do not see nearly enough of, we inevitably spent some time talking about food, and this cake in particular... be warned though, this is incredibly rich and it can make ones whole house, and office, smell deliciously and distractingly of chocolate!

Gateau Lawrence
(from My French Kitchen)

6 1/2 oz bittersweet chocolate (70% cocoa)
12 tbs room temp. butter (unsalted, duh.)
2/3 c. sugar
1 2/3 c. ground sliced almonds (next time i make this i am going to be sure to grind them slightly longer, since they do sub for the flour in this)
4 large eggs, seperated

for the icing:
3 1/2 oz bittersweet chocolate (70% cocoa)
3 tbs butter

~ heat the oven to 300 degrees f.
~ line a 10 inch springform pan with parchment paper
~ chop the chocolate into small pieces and melt double boiler style in a heatproof bowl over a pan of water
~ cream together butter and sugar until soft and creamy
~ add almonds, egg yolks, melted chocolate (slightly cooled), and beat until blended
~ in a seperate bowl, whisk egg whites until stiff and then fold them into the batter
~ pour into springform and bake for 35 mins., the cake should be lightly crusted and springy
~ cool before removing sides of pan
~ once cool evenly spread top with the chocolate and butter that you have melted together in the same manner as before
~ to serve, slide the cake off the parchment paper onto something pretty

oh happy day...

happy family. happy friends. cute babies!

nine-thirty and counting

this is simon and the hippo. they live on my desk. it has been a very long day. and it is not yet over. i love simon, he makes me smile.

so close, so very close...

i was just one game away from winning the ncaa bracket pool at work. one game! it was nice to be on top, even if just for a bit.

maybe it is spring fever

i really don't need to be starting a new blog for myself. but at the moment it seems like just the project i need to further put off the work i should be doing. the mini-series marathon (i got commanche moon from netflix) and receipe trial just was not enough distraction for the day. plus, i have not been taking many photos lately- not that i am in need for new ones to keep the other blog updated. i guess i finally decided that if i started posting with more words i could share some of the other things i have been doing and making.
today i made hungarian shortbread. one can never go wrong with shortbread since it is basically butter. and i finally got to use the fancy raspberry jam that my aunt got me in france. while the receipe calls for 3/4 c. i decided not use quite so much once i opened up the jar and realized how freakin' sweet the stuff was. tasty though...

Hungarian Shortbread
(from saveur)

2 cups flour
1 tsp. baking powder
1/8 tsp. salt
1/2 lbs butter (unsalted of course)
1 c. sugar
2 egg yolks
3/4 raspberry jam

~ sift together flour, baking powder, and salt
~ cream butter with a hand mixer until light and fluffy
~ add sugar and yolks, mixing until sugar is dissolved and mix is light
~ slowly add flour, until just mixed
~ divide dough into two balls of equal size. wrap in plastic wrap and put in the freezer. freeze from 30 mins. to 3 hours
~ preheat oven to 350 f. grease 10" springform pan with butter
~ grate one of the frozen dough balls with a large holed cheese grater. lightly press pieces evenly into the pan.
~ spread jam over first layer of dough and repeat with second frozen ball
~ bake until golden, about 25-30 mins.
~ let cool completely, remove from pan, and slice into wedges.