Let's see, where was I?

Let's see, where was I?  Ah. Yes.  Doom and gloom, end of the world.
Well, we're still there, but now that spring is here in full force it's not quite such a hard thing to bear.  Yes, everything may end tomorrow, or even later on today.  But isn't that blossoming cherry tree really pretty? 
And, standing here at the edge of the world, I've become a little accustomed to the view. 

In other news, this week's Master Gardener class was the last of my training, and I am now (drum roll please) an official Master Gardener Intern.  The training wasn't particularly hard, but it was VERY intensive.  We were really lucky to have some eminently qualified specialists make the journey to our little town to teach us about soil science, entomology, grafting, and other fascinating aspects of gardening.  We had field trips, too, including an organic produce farm and the most amazing home garden.  I'll tell you more about the latter later on in another post.

Let's see, turkey season is underway.  Yesterday, we finally saw a turkey for the first time this year, but she was a little female and therefore not at risk from us.  Really, though, is any turkey at risk from us? I'm beginning to think not.

I did manage to call in the most gorgeous coyote one evening last week.  He was the reddish-brown of fallen Ponderosa pine needles, and his tail was erect.  He was very well filled out, and had an almost cocky attitude.  This was a far cry from the mangy, slinking, tail between the legs, half-starved coyotes we tend to see in the fields around here.  My forest coyote took my breath away, and he keeps appearing in my dreams.  Maybe he stole a piece of my heart, too? 

I'll try to get some pictures up of our fruit trees tomorrow.  They're all in bloom.  The tulips finally popped open, as well.  Yep, spring is here.  We made it through another winter.

I'm exhausted, so have a present!

What a crazy weekend!  It's only a little bit after 8:00 Sunday evening here, but my internal clock is striking at least eleven dongs in my head.

Yesterday, we (finally!!!) designed and built a chicken tractor for the ladies.  Their pen is quite a mess, considering a winter's worth of snow and ice in now trying to melt each day, but solidly refreezes each night.  Some Brussels sprouts erratics have emerged from the wintry mix, and I can't even tell you the last time we had Brussels sprouts.  Maybe mid-October?  Ewwww... Anyway, I feel bad for the hens.  They want to be in the flowerbeds scratching up the little bits of green trying to poke through. 

"Compromise!"  I keep yelling this at them. "You can have the lawn, but the flowerbeds are mine!"  The gol-durn chickens refuse to cooperate OR compromise, and my blood pressure keeps rising above healthy levels.  Thus, a chicken tractor.  I'll show you some pictures and our plans in a later post.  It's easy, effective, and fairly inexpensive.  Yay, for that!

Today was Mr. Boom's Grandma's 87th birthday.  We all went to lunch at a local restaurant, so I didn't get to make her a cake.  I might take her something later on in the week.  We'll see how the week goes, first...

Also today, we drove up into the hills for a little bit of turkey scouting.  Saw a good dozen or so down low on private property.  The yard of the house was totally torn up from the birds.  I started to mentally design a turkey tractor in my head.  I wonder if the landowners would be interested?

So, did somebody say presents?  Sure!  The Pollinatrix, one of my first readers (if not THE first reader?) of this blog got me into this happy mess. 

I promise to send something I make myself to the first 5 people who leave a comment on this post and who, in turn, promise to make the same offer on their blog. The rules are that you need to make the items personally and send them to your 5 folks within 2011.


So there you go.  Presents!  Just pretend the "strings attached" are ribbons!

September Daring Bakers: Fancy sugar cookies!

Mandatory blog-checking lines:

The September 2010 Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Mandy of “What the Fruitcake?!” Mandy challenged everyone to make Decorated Sugar Cookies based on recipes from Peggy Porschen and The Joy of Baking.

 

Wow, this month's Daring Baker's Challenge was a total blast!

Yeah, I say that almost every month, but this month I really mean it! I reeally do!

It's quite uncanny how each month a new challenge is put forth to us, and so many times the challenge involves something I've seen somewhere that I thought to myself I'd never be able to do at home in my own kitchen, or just never actually tried to do but kind of thought in the back of my head that it would be fun to try---someday.  

 Have you ever been in a bakery and seen the really cute seasonally decorated cookies and thought to yourself that "Wow, somebody's really got an artistic eye--and a lot of time!"?  Well, this month we had to make those cookies.

It turns out that even with only the tiniest dab of creativity, and really not all that much time, anyone can make really cool little cookies.  I had fun, and I definitely want to try again. The flooding technique we used was easy to accomplish.  I actually used little baggies with the tiniest snippet cut away from a bottom corner. By first drawing a line with icing around the perimeter of the cookie and letting that dry, you can then "glop" a bundh of icing in the center of the shape, smoothe it out, and end up with a remarakably professional looking end product. 

Mine aren't quite there yet, but with a bit of practice I think I could be there on my second attempt at these little suckers!


I'm thinking I could get really carried away if I had another baby shower to cater... 

For this challenge, however, we were required to bake cookies our cookies and decorate them in a manner conveying our ideas of autumn.  I therefore humbly submit to you, oh gentle reader:

Turkey hunting...



and 

pumpkin harvesting...



The secret to these cookies lies in creating a tasty but sturdy cookie dough, then cooking the cutouts just until firm (definitely not to the golden state), and then topping with nice basic royal icing.

The recipe with which we were provided proved perfect on both these accounts. 

Here it is, straight from the challenge to you.  I'd love to see what you guys make, should any of you choose to try this out!

Basic Sugar Cookies:

Makes Approximately 36x 10cm / 4" Cookies
200g / 7oz / ½ cup + 6 Tbsp Unsalted Butter, at room temperature
400g / 14oz / 3 cups + 3 Tbsp All Purpose / Plain Flour
200g / 7oz / 1 cup Caster Sugar / Superfine Sugar
1 Large Egg, lightly beaten
5ml / 1 tsp Vanilla Extract / Or seeds from 1 vanilla bean

Cream together the butter, sugar and any flavourings you’re using. Beat until just becoming creamy in texture.

Tip: Don’t over mix otherwise you’ll incorporate too much air and the cookies will spread during baking, losing their shape.

Beat in the egg until well combined, make sure to scrape down the sides of the bowl.

Add the sifted flour and mix on low until a non sticky dough forms.

Tip: I don’t have a stand mixer so I find it easier to switch to dough hooks at this stage to avoid flour flying everywhere.

Knead into a ball and divide into 2 or 3 pieces.

Roll out each portion between parchment paper to a thickness of about 5mm/1/5 inch (0.2 inch)

Refrigerate for a minimum of 30mins.

Tip: Recipes commonly just wrap the whole ball of dough in clingwrap and then refrigerate it for an hour or overnight, but by rolling the dough between parchment, this shortens the chilling time and then it’s also been rolled out while still soft making it easier and quicker.

Once chilled, peel off parchment and place dough on a lightly floured surface.

Cut out shapes with cookie cutters or a sharp knife.

Arrange shapes on parchment lined baking sheets and refrigerate for another 30mins to an hour.

Tip: It’s very important you chill them again otherwise they’ll spread while baking.

Re-roll scraps and follow the above process until all scraps are used up.

Preheat oven to 180°C (160°C Fan Assisted) / 350°F / Gas Mark 4.

Bake until golden around the edges, about 8-15mins depending on the size of the cookies.

Tip: Bake same sized cookies together otherwise mixing smaller with larger cookies could result in some cookies being baked before others are done.

Tip: Rotate baking sheets half way through baking if your oven bakes unevenly.

Leave to cool on cooling racks.

Once completely cooled, decorate as desired.

Tip: If wrapped in tinfoil/cling wrap or kept in airtight containers in a cool place, un-decorated cookies can last up to a month.


Royal Icing:

315g – 375g / 11oz – 13oz / 2½ - 3 cups Icing / Confectioner’s / Powdered Sugar, unsifted
2 Large Egg Whites
10ml / 2 tsp Lemon Juice
5ml / 1 tsp Almond Extract, optional

Beat egg whites with lemon juice until combined.

Tip: It’s important that the bowls/spoons/spatulas and beaters you use are thoroughly cleaned and

grease free.

Sift the icing sugar to remove lumps and add it to the egg whites.

Tip: I’ve listed 2 amounts of icing sugar, the lesser amount is good for a flooding consistency, and the larger amount is for outlining, but you can add even more for a much thicker consistency good for writing. If you add too much icing sugar or would like to make a thinner consistency, add very small amounts of water, a few drops at a time, until you reach the consistency you need.

Beat on low until combined and smooth.

Use immediately or keep in an airtight container.

Tip: Royal Icing starts to harden as soon as it’s in contact with air so make sure to cover containers with plastic wrap while not in use.
 

Egads! A tick! Help! (by Kat)

I would have written about the fantastic hike we took this evening, but I just found a tick in my clothes.

The brain--it has ceased to function.

Doing laundry on hot. Hot!

This really was going to be a very lovely post with photos of wild turkeys and deer.

Shuddering, shuddering, shuddering.

Soon to be showering, showering, showering.

I really hate ticks.

Turkey Pot Pie (by Kat)

There's a first for everything, and here's my first pot pie!

Thanksgiving wasn't at our house this year, so no turkey-day leftovers, but I did purchase a turkey on the cheap last week and cooked it up. That was on Sunday, so we ate leftover turkey up until Thanksgiving.

Then on Thanksgiving we had non-leftover (original?) turkey at my husband's folks' house.

Then I nibbled on leftover turkey at Bet's Thursday night. Friday night, we had the most delicious turkey noodle soup.

Saturday night was pizza! Then home on Sunday to finish up the pre-Thanksgiving turkey leftovers...

Just as there's a first for everything, there's also a second. This was only the second turkey I'd ever cooked. It came out juicy enough for the first evening, but was pretty dry after that. I knew that tonight, the final night of this turkey, I needed to make something really moist, and the pieces needed to be small. That nixed the typical turkey divan, and inspired me to try pot pie.

First step, cut up the happy carrots, two potatoes, and a couple leeks,
then saute them up with some olive oil, salt, and pepper.

Add diced up leftover turkey and a bit of parsley from
this summer's garden, dried but still very green.

Add a bit of stock (this was from Better than Bouillon).
Thicken with some cornstarch.
Adjust the salt and pepper.

While the meat heats and the sauce thickens, roll out your pie crust you
made in the pre-first-step step.
Does that make sense?

If Rorschach was female, we'd have pie crust blots, not ink blots.
Surely I'm not the only person to have thunk that thought, right?

Taste the sauce one more time, add sage and salt, think about a splash of wine,
decide the crust will melt if you take the time to open it now.
Decide to serve the wine with dinner, instead of in dinner.
Bake at 400F until the crust is yummy looking (about 40 minutes).

The flowers on this pie plate always make me smile.
It's not really pretty when combined with the drooling....

Let sit for a few minutes, then serve.
Please don't be like me and forget to serve the wine.