We're Talkin' Cake

I decided that we would stay home on Thursday.  We would not get in the car all day.  It is so rare that I am able to do this, to just stay put.  We did it!  It was a hot day with a nice breeze, which meant that it was much more pleasant outside than in.  Especially since I decided that we would bake.

We made the pound cake, and it was just as good as I remembered from when we made it the first time.  I discovered this recipe when Becca needed to bring food to her English class.  Her class had just finished reading To Kill a Mockingbird, and each student was asked to bring a food item that was mentioned in the book.  I thought this was a really fun way to bring this era to life for the students.  We decided to make Cracklin' Bread and Pound Cake.  The Cracklin' Bread was corn bread with BACON added to it.  I think that bacon should be a food group.  It is probably one of my most favorite foods in the world.  Not only was bacon added to the corn bread mixture, but the grease was left in the iron skillet, the batter poured into that, and the whole concoction was baked in the iron skillet.  The bacon grease sizzled around the edges of the batter, making it super crisp and light.  Yum.  Decadent.  Probably Not Healthy At All, especially if one isn't doing hard physical work every day like people did back then.

I digress.  On to the pound cake.  Did you know that the name "pound cake" originated in the early 18th century?  It was so named because the original recipe called for a pound of each of the ingredients:  butter, sugar, flour, and eggs.  That tells you how rich this is.  It is also moist, perfectly dense, and delicious.  You have not experienced pound cake properly if all you have tasted is the store-bought cardboard loaves from the supermarket.  When we were searching for the best way to make this, I knew that the Queen of Butter, Paula Deen, would be the one to have the best recipe, and I was right.  Her recipe can be found here, and at the bottom of this post.  Be sure to check your stock of ingredients, because you might not have 5 eggs left in your carton, or a half pound of butter!

You might be concerned about the shortening called for in this recipe.  Yes, you can find organic shortening and avoid the potential GMO contamination.  Hurrah!

We put fresh blueberries in half of the cake, but they didn't really add anything to it.  I think what I should have done was save those berries to put on TOP of the cake.  This is something that would hold up well for a strawberry shortcake, or be awesome served with any type of berries.

We also made the black bean and corn salad.  We had run out of tomatoes (and I was not making a trip to the store for anything that day!) so we used canned diced tomatoes we had on hand.  They were an adequate substitute, but I wouldn't recommend it.  Not if you love fresh the way that I do.  (Come on, tomatoes, start ripening faster in the garden, okay?)

Here's Paula's recipe.  Remember it takes 1 1/2 hours to bake, so plan ahead and enjoy!

Mama's Pound Cake
Paula Deen

Prep Time:  15 minutes
Cook Time:  1 hour, 30 minutes
Serves:  16 to 20

1/2 pound (2 sticks) butter, plus more for pan
1/2 cup vegetable shortening
3 cups sugar
5 eggs
3 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for pan
1/2 teaspoon fine salt
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1 cup milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

With a mixer, cream butter and shortening together. Add sugar, a little at a time. Add eggs, 1 at a time, beating after each addition. Stir dry ingredients together in a bowl and add to mixer alternately with milk, starting with the flour and ending with the flour. Mix in vanilla. Pour into a greased and floured tube pan and bake for 1 to 1 1/2 hours, until a toothpick inserted in the center of the cake comes out clean.

Cats, Raccoons and BATS, Oh My!

It was Sunday night, and I stepped out onto the front porch in the dark, looking at the bright moonlight and the moon shadows all around.  Then I heard this odd squealing and squeaking, an animal in distress.  I asked Becca to hurry outside with me to check on the Americaunas, because the sound came from that direction.  The chickens were fine.  I looked around, but could see nothing moving.  Becca said she saw eyes gleaming in the garden area.  A large animal.  I started over to see what might be there, but she was frightened, because she said it was big - possibly a coyote.  I turned and came inside.  She later heard scratching at the outside of the house, and I figured it was raccoons or Star Kitty.  Monday morning, I discovered I was right.  It was raccoons.  They'd found a trash bag I'd stashed outside to take down to the can the next day and tore into it, in addition to pulling the cover off of the compost bin again.  Wednesday night, I saw one jump out of the compost bin when I came outside.  I'm not too worried about that.  I can easily put the lid back on in the morning, and they don't make a mess in there.

Monday dawned cold and windy, and surprised me with a little bit of rain as I started the morning routine.  I decided to make the pound cake and put two sticks of butter on the counter top to soften so we could make it.  It was well away from the edge, but when we came back inside from evening chores, I noticed one was missing.  There's only one thing that could do that, and apparently Breezy was in such a hurry she even ate the paper on it!  That was the last of the butter, so we had to wait to make the cake until after we went to the store next.

Star Kitty is getting mischievous in his old age.  He's about 10 years old and rules the outside of the house.

He doesn't like dogs much, having had Breezy chase him the same day we brought her home.  (I hate it when people tell me a dog gets along well with cats, and then have that not be true!)  The only time Star has had a recent problem with Breezy was when he sneaked inside the house and she went after him.  I pulled Breezy off, Star ran back outside without any injury, and Breezy's face looked like a pincushion.  Breezy is always on leash outside because she likes to run off.  Duncan is better behaved, so he gets to go outside without his leash.  This means that when Star knows Duncan is coming out, he hides.  Duncan likes to chase cats, too.

Duncan is another dog that I was assured got along well with cats.  I saw him interact with the family cat before we brought him home.  Apparently that cat was grown when Duncan was a puppy, and liked to beat up on him.  So Duncan respected that cat.  He probably developed a resentment toward cats, because he would really prefer to chase them!  He does that every chance he gets, but Star is too fast for him to catch.

Star has started messing around with Breezy when I take her outside.  He used to stroll around about 10 feet away as she did her business, and just watch her.  This drove Breezy crazy and sometimes she wouldn't do what she was supposed to because she was so distracted by the cat.  Recently, Star has started coming closer to Breezy.  Sometimes he'll walk right up to her and touch noses.  Breezy stands there all tense, wanting to chase after him, but knowing that she can't get anywhere.  Wednesday morning, Star did this again.  He walked up to Breezy, touched noses with her, and then walked away.  What he did next had me laughing out loud.  Star walked back up to Breezy, and ... tapped her on the side of the face with his right paw before walking away!  He also likes to taunt her when she's in her outside crate, making her crash against the side and bark loudly, then sauntering away.

Wednesday afternoon, we had plans to meet with a dear friend of mine for lunch and a shopping trip.  I've known her for 22 years, first professionally as staff at opposing counsel's office, and we grew to be friends.  I haven't gotten to see her often enough, and am so happy for our recent reconnection.  She invited us to her beautiful home for lunch and wanted to take Becca on a shopping trip to get new summer clothes.  Since I am still unemployed, she knew that I wouldn't be able to do anything to help Becca this year.  We had a wonderful lunch together, visiting and laughing and cuddling with her sweet cats.  The shopping trip was a blast, and Becca found some really cute clothes that will take her well into school, as well.  Between the two of us, we were able to combine sales with senior discount and a coupon and the total savings was well over 50%.  It was a magical day, and we are so blessed to have her in our lives.  I am really looking forward to seeing her again.  It seems that I always leave wanting more time to talk!

When we got home, Becca hopped out of the car to get the mail.  As I waited for her, I heard a scream.  Sometimes she messes with me, but this time she came running back to the car.  "There is a BAT at the mailbox!!  It hissed at me!!"  I was confused.  A bat?  She was afraid to go back.  I asked her if it was inside the mailbox, and she said no, it's on the ground.  She didn't see it, and accidentally touched it with her foot, and it moved and hissed at her.  I think I would have screamed, too!  I went over to take a closer look, and sure enough, this huge bat was spread-eagled on the ground in front of the mailbox.  It must have been injured, perhaps by a car.  I snapped this picture while Becca pleaded with me not to get too close.

I am making the picture larger so you can see it better.  I've never seen such a large bat in Sonoma County, and it is at least three or four times as big as the little one we found inside our old house.  I very carefully reached around to get the mail out of the box, and texted Bette to warn her so she wasn't surprised when she got her mail.

The garden continues to grow beautifully, and it's exciting to see the tomatoes start to bear fruit.  It was especially exciting to see a glimpse of orange Wednesday night, and know that we'll soon be able to eat these!

Thursday morning was bright and sunny, with the nearly full moon still hanging clearly in the sky.  Lily, the LaMancha goat, has been a real pistol the last few weeks.  While she normally waits for me to pick up her leash after I put Salsa on the milk stand, she has been nibbling at greens and then running away just as I get close to her.  She runs into the large pen with the dwarf goats and then plays keep-away.  Thursday morning was the worst by far.  She was running full speed and playing with Moonshine.  This meant that all four goats were running madly around, jumping up to head butt each other, and then running away from me while I was trying to remove leashes and grab Lily to put her in the other pen.  I eventually got hold of her, but she was such a pill that when I untied the gate, she knocked the post out of my hands.  That meant a section of the fence was flat on the ground, and Moonshine decided that it would be fun to walk out.  So now I have Lily on leash and Moonshine loose.  Because Lily is so much bigger and harder to handle, I decide to put her away and then catch the silly little wether.  By the time I get Lily in, I see that Moony is standing on his hind legs, with his head inside the grain bucket attached to the milk stand in front of Salsa.  I always worry about this because if Salsa tries to head butt him and knocks the milk stand over, she could be seriously injured or killed.  I ran to them to get him away.  He took off running, though luckily toward his pen.  He looked like he was about to take off, so I squatted down and stuck my hand out as if I had something in it.  He came close enough for me to catch, and I was able to put him back inside.  Because the goats are so full of energy, I may go ahead and put them all in the larger pen together today.  Hopefully I can get some video of their antics to share.

Plants & Critters, Music, Another Failed Recipe, and a Broken Ice Cream Maker

Just a few things of note this weekend, which overall was pretty quiet.

Friday morning, as I walked through and watered the potted plants, I noticed several odd-looking mushrooms had sprouted in the pot containing the peppercorn plant, literally overnight.  Here's what they looked like.

You can see there's still a little dirt on top of them.  By 11:00 am, the tops were bent over, like they were wilting.  We left to see a movie with Amanda, and by the time we got home, the mushrooms were completely crumpled and wilted.  None of the other plants had these in them at the time.  I bought three plants from the same nursery, planted them in pots at the same time, using the same bag of soil, so this one seemed to be unique.

After the movie (MIB3 - a fun one), we came home to a kitchen horror.  A tiny drop of something had been left on the counter top, and that invited in a massive, and I mean MASSIVE, swarm of black ants.  I've never seen so many, and once they found that one spot they mobilized and went to every vulnerable spot in the room.  The cereal box - outside into the garbage.  Granola bars sealed in ziplocs, even.  Gone.  The garbage can.  Out.  These ants were the fastest I have ever seen.  They seemed to be on meth, or to have little jet propulsion packs strapped to their backs.  It took 24 hyper vigilant hours for them to be gone.

No, there are no photos of this disaster!

Saturday morning, I was surprised to see two mushrooms in the tea tree pot.  Again, they sprouted overnight and were gone by afternoon.  This plant is from the same group as the peppercorn, so I'm not sure if the spores came from the nursery or the soil.  Interestingly, the wild ginger plant seems to be immune to this, as nothing has shown up in that one at all.  They haven't came back in the other two plants, either.

Becca was treated to her first big concert by her sisters on Saturday.  It was called BFD and featured many of her favorite bands.  This was an opportunity for her to do something Major as a teen, and she was so excited the night before that she couldn't sleep.  I brought her to Jessi's house in the morning, and reiterated that she was to stick close to her sisters!!  I even offered to send the magician's handcuffs that Becca has with them, but they didn't want to do that.  With promises that they would check in regularly by text, I left for over 24 hours to myself.  A rarity.

I found a potential job listing and worked on the application packet for most of the morning.  It's such a different world these days, a far cry from when I used to submit a resume or fill out a single-page application.  The screening process is like a final exam, with the attendant attention to detail and focus on doing your very best.  You know that you won't get a "passing grade" unless you are able to get through this written exam and then pass the oral.  I took my time and got it all right, printing the packet for delivery on Monday.

It was HOT in the house by the time I finished, and I wanted ice cream.  There's nothing better than homemade ice cream on a hot day, so I decided that I'd use the electric mixer because it's smaller and I didn't have someone to help me crank the other.  We haven't used this since we acquired the antique hand crank a couple years ago, but I knew where it was and the canister was frozen, so I pulled it out and got it started.  About 20 minutes later, I noticed it had mysteriously stopped cranking.  I worried that it had frozen too quickly and had jammed, but it was still barely frozen.  I pulled it apart and checked, trying to get it started again.  The motor wasn't working, and I couldn't figure out how to fix it.  Well, I guess that means hand crank from here on out.  I put the canister and mixing blade into the freezer and set the timer so I'd check and stir it by hand every 10 minutes.  Eventually, I was able to finish the ice cream, and regretfully tossed the old mixer.

I felt guilty making ice cream without Becca, but know we'll have a chance to do more together.  She was having fun at the concert, so I didn't feel too bad.  I wondered if I should write about this in my blog, and decided to go ahead and do it, because she doesn't read my blog.

As the weather cooled, I decided to try a new cake recipe.  This one sounded good - Vanilla Blueberry Butter Cake!  I had fresh blueberries and wanted to give this a go.  Unfortunately, it turned out dense and flat, the best part being the blueberries.  Normally I'd tell you where I found the recipe, but I only do that if it's good.  Not only because I want you to have a good experience, but I don't want to trash-talk other bloggers.  It might have been a mistake in the recipe.  I noticed there was no salt or baking soda included in the ingredients, and that might be the problem.  In any event, I learned something from the experience.  I now know how to make my favorite pound cake with blueberries in it.  Now THAT is something to look forward to!  When I make it, I'll be sure to share the recipe.  We made pound cake for Becca's English class last year, and it was da bomb.

I had the house to myself.  I didn't have to go anywhere.  I could do anything I wanted to, and I decided to do something that I rarely allow time for.  Piano.  I have a beautiful Baldwin Hamilton that I love to pieces.  It as a story behind it that I may share at another time.  I think it'd been a year and a half since I played, and even then it was at the request of the kids at Christmas time, without having played for a long time before that.  I love the sound of this piano, and there's something special about the "real thing."  I just don't get along well with electronics.  I've often thought it would be nice to have a standard-looking piano that was digital, so that I could plug headphones in and play whenever I want to, but I just don't want to get rid of this one, and ... there's a connection to the instrument emotionally that you don't get with something that's plugged in.  I can't explain it, but perhaps if you play, you know how that feels.  I pulled out the music for some old favorites.  I looked hard at the music, familiarizing myself again with the sharps, flats, where the keys were.  I was surprised that it was more difficult this time.  I stumbled through the first page, and then felt my hands becoming more confident.  By the time I was finished with the song, I felt an incredible happiness as my muscle memory took over and I played as if I'd been doing it all along.  Each song was like that, but I went through them several times, and left the keyboard feeling as if I had accomplished something special, looking forward to the next time with my old friend.  (Then went straight to the computer to find a local piano tuner!)

The kids didn't get home from the concert until 2:00 am Sunday morning.  Becca spent the night at her sister's house in Windsor, and they both texted to let me know they were home safe.  They slept in and took their time Sunday morning, and Jessi brought Bex home that afternoon.  It was fun to hear their stories and their experience at the concert.  Becca had a blast, and is looking forward to doing this again with her sisters.

As we were moving the chicks into their box for the night, I asked Becca if we should try integrating the flock again the next day.  She said yes.  Then after a couple of moments, she said that she read my blog.  I asked which one, and she said the last one, about Memorial Day week. "You know, the one where you said I freaked out."  I was worried she'd be upset that I wrote about her, but she was fine with that.  She told me that reading that and my explanation about the chicks helped her understand the situation better, and that she was ready to help them make that transition.  Wow - what a great feeling!  I felt so connected with her, was so proud of her maturity and ability to communicate with me.  It seemed as if that, plus her experience going to the concert, had brought a new maturity to her, and we had a good evening together.  She's growing into a really incredible young woman.

You know what that means though, right?  I thought I could talk about the ice cream and broken appliance without her knowing about it.  She might read this blog post.  If she does, here's what I have to say.

Hi, Becca.  I'm sorry about the ice cream maker. Do you want to hand crank some with me?  I love you very much, and am so very proud of you!!

Memorial Day Week

Monday was the Memorial Day holiday.  We flew the flag.  We meditated on what it all means.  Well, although I was mindful of the reason, meditation meant that one of us slept in, and the other ended up taking a nap on the couch in the afternoon.  You guess who did what.  It was a lazy and relaxing day, with just the usual things that needed to be done.

We made up for things on Tuesday.  After Bex got up I said it was time to put the chicks outside, and suggested that we integrate the flock today.  As usual, Chilly was on Becca's shoulder and was going to go in last.  I put the first Rhodie in with the Americaunas, and Zeus immediately started making noise and chasing it around.  I had expected this and knew that the four new chicks "against" the two - or possibly even just Zeus - would work things out.  Becca Freaked Out.  She was so upset and uptight that I decided to wait and educate her further on what was going to happen, and how I expected it to play out.  I reminded her that she was upset when Lily and Salsa fought as kids, and she said, "Salsa is STILL mean to Lily!"  Yes, but they've worked it out.  This is going to take more time for Becca than I think it will for the chicks.  I may have to do this on my own when she's away with a friend, or when she's with her sisters for an upcoming concert.

Yes, you might say I am a pushover.  But I know how to pick my battles, and this was one that wasn't worth "winning," and wouldn't have taught anyone anything.  I think it's as important to the chicks that we be calm and confident as it is for Becca to have that same calm confidence.  Anxiety and fear is contagious.  That's the last thing animals need when adjusting to a new situation.

The next thing on the agenda was to shave Duncan.  Well, not exactly shave him, but take the clippers and trim his long Scottie locks.  He's recently started pulling his hair out again, and because his diet is stable I don't think it's allergies, but perhaps the heat.  We put him on the milk stand (just as a table, we didn't put his head in - his legs are too short!), and took the shears to him.  He is such a good boy about grooming, having obviously had regular experience before becoming a country dog who isn't pampered as much.  I'd share a picture of him, but the bald spots on his sides are too hideous to preserve for posterity.  Let's just say that I didn't butcher him badly, everything looked close enough to even, and he seems happier.

We then took a run to Sebastopol to help my brother out with some gas.  It's hard to deal with a holiday weekend when you've lost your job, the unemployment check is a day late, and you have a job interview but not enough gas to make it.  I'm not in much better shape, but had a little more wiggle room and could lend him a hand.  Isn't that what family is all about?  We take care of each other.  While we were in Sebastopol, I discovered that the Frizelle-Enos feed store had organic chicken feed for much less than I've been paying elsewhere, so we picked some up.  We also took a run by the grocery store and then headed back home for more ranch adventures.

No wildlife on the driveway this time, though we did see a turkey take flight and then glide across the driveway ahead of us as we left.

Becca bathed the dogs.  She did it outside.  They were not so thrilled with the cold shower, though I'm sure it made them feel better overall.  At least I hope it did!

Luna got her head caught in the fence again, so while Becca got her out I installed the new battery.  There's lots of oomph in that fence now, so I noticed all of the goats were staying well away.  Good goaties.  For those who don't know, that electric fence doesn't zap like a horse fence would (and those are scary), but it's more like a strong static SNAP.  Since goats explore first with their noses, it does tend to get them to stay away.

We took the 25 pound bag of chicken feed and put the contents into its container.  I asked Becca to throw the large brown paper bag away while I fed the chickens, and she decided to ... put it on her head like a hat and make the dwarf goats run around.  I love watching the goats run, especially Moonshine, who bounds like a deer.  At one point she asked if I had scissors handy, and I said I didn't.  Then I told her about the Unknown Comic, who used to wear a bag over his head with holes cut out for the eyes and mouth.  She said, "That's what I wanted to do!"  Ah, the simple pleasures of life.  The things those with a youthful spirit can do with a paper sack ... or box ... or anything that just requires a little imagination and joy.

We had too much scheduled on Wednesday (Becca got to visit with a friend for the afternoon) to integrate the chicks, though I wanted to - soon!  I want to be home for the entire first day so I can intervene if any of them get hurt.  We will probably do it this weekend.  Even though they are only in the house overnight (for their safety), that is still too much.

Thursday morning, bright and early, I started to move the chicks outside and discovered that they had dumped their water overnight, soaking the bottom of the cardboard box.  I needed to transfer them to another box before taking them outside.  At this point, I am REALLY looking forward to flock integration!

We had a big afternoon planned for Thursday - my niece's high school graduation at Analy High School in Sebastopol.  We left early and were able to get there in plenty of time to find a good parking spot.  It was close to the wire when my oldest daughter and her husband arrived, but they were able to find a spot near us.  And near the livestock.  I've mentioned Analy before, but I am always happy to visit there.  The solar panels over the student parking lot are a reminder of how forward-thinking this school and district is, and I love the livestock area where students keep sheep, pigs, chickens, goats, and even a calf.  The calf spent a lot of time "talking" loudly as we stood near the pen and watched the animals.

The ceremony was what you would expect.  I was surprised that there wasn't much new offered in the way of speeches.  I suppose the high school experience hasn't changed much, or maybe tradition dictates what people talk about at these events.  The band was good, and the choir amazing.  I was very impressed, and it made me want to be in a choir again!  The students tossed tortillas and pitas like Frisbees from their seats during the event, as well as beach balls and, yes, the inflatable doll.  Overall, it was a fun time and we were happy to see Kaila through this rite of passage.

We'd realized while we were at Analy that we'd forgotten to put the chicks inside before we left.  Their pen is not very secure and I don't feel comfortable leaving them outside after dark.  I would hate to come home to see feathers everywhere and the carnage that would be waiting within if that happened.  Chilly also has this bad habit of sticking her head through the fencing to peck outside the enclosure.  We had 1 1/2 hours to get home, take care of business, and then get over to Santa Rosa for dinner reservations at a Japanese steak house style restaurant.

We took the back roads from Sebastopol, through Forestville, to home.  There's a bridge built in 1902 on the way - one way traffic only - named Wohler Bridge that crosses the Russian Ruver.  It is a picturesque spot, and my own daughter and her then fiance (now hubby) took some of their engagement photos on it.  They walked out onto the bridge and moved over when vehicles needed to cross.  Now let me tell you what happened Thursday.

We pulled up to the bridge and paused to check for traffic before going across.  There was a truck on the bridge.  It was slowing.  A woman was walking from a nearby parked car, camera in hand, onto the bridge.  It's a classic pickup truck, totally restored, cherry red and white.  Out from the driver's side comes a man in a tux, salt and pepper hair and beard.  Out from the passenger side comes a woman in an ivory lace wedding dress. Probably a second wedding, congratulations.  Hurry and get your shot, and have a good life.  They strolled to the front of what is probably the groom's pride and joy.  The photographer took her sweet time, taking shots, walking over to them to show them the shots, then taking more.  They started walking and I thought, "Good.  They're done."  They walked past the truck doors and beyond the truck to mid-span of the bridge.  Now I'm getting annoyed.

A convertible blue Mustang pulls up behind me with two men in it.  Okay, now the pressure is on as traffic is building.  I can see another vehicle on the other side of the bridge wanting to cross.  The Mustang pulls up next to me and I explain they're taking wedding photos.  These guys had NO patience.

BLAAAAAAAAAAAAAST goes the Mustang's horn.  BEEP BEEP BEEEEEEEEEP!  "Come on!  If you want to stop traffic, get a Sheriff!"  BEEP BEEP BEEEEEEP!  The groom smiles and waves.

Then the couple starts walking again.  "Good.  They're done."  They walk to the OTHER side of the bridge and the groom sits on the railing.  We are 10 minutes into this at this point.  This makes the guys go ballistic.  Curse words start flying from the Mustang and threats to "f--- something up if I have to come out there."

Two more cars pull up behind us.

I am thinking it would be kinda funny if the groom fell off into the river, but then his truck would still be blocking the roadway.

He gets off the railing and promptly trips over his bride's train.  I giggle a little.  I can't help myself.

"Good.  They're done."

They walk to the front of the truck for more shots there.  OMG!  We are 15 minutes and counting.  My time to get to Santa Rosa is seriously dwindling.

They FINALLY get into the truck and pull most of the way off the bridge.  Groom leans out the window, smiles and says, "We just got married.  Thanks for waiting."  I grit my teeth as I think, "It's not like you gave us any choice," and have to squeeze my way by him to get onto the bridge.  The vehicle on the other side isn't waiting, and he doesn't enter the roadway until I'm mid-span, so we have to squeeze by each other on the one-way.  The Mustang is behind me, and they turn left onto Westside while I turn right - we both wave as we leave.

We had serious problems getting everything done in time to make it to dinner for our reservations, and we just couldn't move fast enough to make up the lost time.  While we're on the freeway, my mom calls Becca to find out what we want to order.  Thank goodness I'd checked out the menu beforehand, so I knew - and she was able to place our order for us.  We finally arrived at Kimuri, which is a Japanese steak house type of restaurant, where the focus is the food prep at the table.  The two men preparing the meals were entertaining and funny.  We had a great time celebrating Kaila and Shane's graduation, and Kaila and Timothy's 18th birthdays.  Everything worked out after all!

Silly Goats, Fudge Failure, a Fawn, and a Favorite Recipe

Most weeks there's at least one thing unique, funny, or (rarely) scary on the ranch.  This week was no exception.

I often take a look at the goats from the front porch of the house, to check that they're okay, and to see what they're up to.  One of the things I really enjoy is watching them romp and play together.  Most of the time they're walking around or lying in a dust bowl they've created in the sun.  Earlier in the week when I went to get the goats out of their pen, I noticed that Luna had gotten her head stuck in the fencing.  The battery has died and I haven't taken the time to put the new one in yet, because they typically leave the fence alone.  I guess they figured it out.  This is the goat who recently lost her horn, so she has this sharp little tip protruding that's weak and sensitive.  I discovered that she had actually put her head through one square, and then another, and another, so she was pretty well tied up in there.

I found the outermost strand and started to work it slowly over her head.  She was calm to begin with, but as soon as she felt that she was being released, she suddenly started tugging and tossing her head, pulling backward.  She was so frantic to get out that the taunt cord skimmed over that horn hard, and she started to bleed.  I couldn't remember if flour was the go-to styptic when one didn't have styptic powder to stop a bleed, so I ran in to check in with Jessica (who was tutoring Becca on algebra) and see if she remembered.  She didn't.  I'd remembered cayenne, too, but Jessi was worried it would sting.  I did a quick internet search on my phone (thank goodness for smart phones!) and decided to use baking soda (cayenne and flour were also mentioned).  Luna wasn't bleeding badly, but I wanted to stop it so it didn't get worse.  I put some baking soda on the bleeding, and amazingly it really did stop!  I thought that perhaps she'd learned her lesson and wouldn't mess with the fencing again.

I was wrong.

On Saturday, I knew something was wrong when I saw her lying down facing the fence, all alone.  Typically she is with her brother or mom, but they were lying together on the other side of the pen.

When I got closer, I saw that she'd done it again.  At least this time it was only two squares and not three.

The goofy goat again went through her yank-hard-and-freak-out routine, but luckily didn't hurt herself.

We've been putting the four youngest chicks outside in a small pen next to the Americaunas, who are two weeks older and yet still much larger.  For a week now we've let them get to know each other slowly, and now that it's time to try putting them together, it's hard to do, because I know there will be pecking as they establish order and I don't want anyone to get hurt.  It will probably all go smoothly, but you never know.  Saturday night, Becca and I were taking the chicks out to put them into their box to go indoors, and Becca put Chilly (because she's so "chill" aka calm) on her shoulder.  I asked Bex if she was going to put Chilly in the box and she said no, she wanted to hang out with her for a little bit.  It's amazing how trusting this chicken is of Becca and how she seems to enjoy her company.

(Bex is not always thrilled when I take her picture.)

While I was getting the box set up inside, I asked Becca to fill their water tower.  While she was walking back with it, I heard her talking to Chilly, who had started chirping loudly, saying, "Well, if you would stay on my shoulder, you wouldn't have a problem, would you?"  When she walked in the room, I was surprised to see Chilly sitting on her head!

Now, I've seen parakeets and cockatiels on shoulders and heads, but this was a first for me.  I couldn't stop laughing!

After we cleaned up and finished the rest of the chores, it was time to make dinner.  We'd decided earlier to make the farfelle (bow-tie) pasta with grilled chicken and herbs, and most of it was prepared.  All I had to do was put all the ingredients into one bowl and add the lemon vinaigrette dressing.  This is one of my all-time favorite meals during the summer.  What made it really special this weekend is that all of the herbs are growing at my house, so I walked out to the garden for parsley, cilantro and basil, then to the back for tiny baby arugula and some mint leaves.  I "wing it" with the amount of herbs in this recipe.  I used to pack them into measuring cups and do exactly what the recipe called for, but found that there were really too many herbs in it, so I grab some handfuls and put in what I have or what I feel like.  The recipe is simple and is at the bottom of this post.  Enjoy!!

When we were at the country fair Thursday night, there was a booth there selling homemade fudge.  I decided that I wanted to make fudge.  Sunday morning was the time that I set to do that.  Everything went well until the end, when I realized that I had to beat the candy mixture with a wooden spoon "vigorously and constantly" for 5 to 10 minutes.  Huh?  I did my best.  Becca helped.  It wasn't forming properly, so I put it under the mixing stand, and still couldn't get it to the right consistency.  I finally gave up and put it in the pan, hoping it would set a little.  It tasted good, but pretty much needed to be eaten with a spoon.  Until I start lifting weights and become proficient with beating things with a wooden spoon, I'll search for a recipe I can handle and will let you know when I find it.

Later that day, we needed to make a trip to town.  I always keep an eye out on our long driveway for wildlife that might find its way in front of my car.  We've driven behind coyotes, a bobcat, quail, a fox, and narrowly avoided being run into by a large wild pig.  (The quail are especially funny.  They jump out in front of the car and run madly, quickly turning their little heads left, then right.  I don't know if they're looking back at me or if they're looking for an escape route.)  As I drove around a bend I saw a small animal bouncing in front of us.  At first I thought it was a long-legged hare, and we were excited because we haven't seen those often.  Then the creature paused briefly to turn and look at us.  It was a tiny fawn!  We could see the little white dots on his backside and it's long ears, held straight out to the sides like airplane wings.  Then it turned and started hopping quickly again.  We lost sight of it around another bend and it must have taken off into the brush because we couldn't find it.  We'd really hoped to get a picture, but it wasn't meant to be this time.


It was only Sunday night of a three-day weekend, but already it was feeling like summer had been here for a long time.  I'm sure that at the end of it we'll wonder where the time went.  We're enjoying the days together and are trying to plan at least one project a day. 

Grilled Chicken With Fresh Herbs and Farfelle
From Cooking Fresh magazine - Spring 2008

Kosher salt
12 oz dried farfelle pasta
10 Tablespoons olive oil
2 large boneless, skinless chicken breasts
Black pepper
7 Tablespoons fresh lemon juice
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1/4 cup packed fresh parsley leaves
1 cup packed fresh cilantro sprigs
1/2 cup lightly packed fresh basil leaves, torn
1/4 cup packed fresh mint leaves, torn
1 cup packed fresh arugula (tough stems removed)

In a large pot, bring 6 quarts water and 2 tablespoons salt to a boil.  Add the farfelle and cook until al dente, 10-12 minutes.  Drain the pasta and toss it immediately with 1 tablespoon of the olive oil.  Let the pasta cool completely in the refrigerator.

Heat a cast iron ridged grill pan or an outdoor grill.  Brush chicken with 1 tablespoon olive oil.  Grill chicken until golden on one side, 4-5 minutes.  Turn the breasts, season with salt and pepper, and continue to grill until golden and cooked through, another 6-8 minutes.  Let the chicken cool and cut it on the diagonal into 1 inch strips.  Set aside.  (I use a George Foreman grill and skip the olive oil, seasoning before grilling.  I set the timer for 10 minutes and check if it's cooked all the way, and it usually is.  Fatter breasts might take a couple more minutes.)

In a large bowl, whisk the remaining 8 tablespoons olive oil with the lemon juice, garlic and cumin.  Season to taste with salt and pepper.  Add the farfelle, sliced chicken, parsley, cilantro, basil, mint and arugula and toss well.  Season to taste with salt and pepper.  (I deviate from this, too.  I mix the dressing in a smaller bowl, and add the chicken and herbs to the pasta, which was already cooling in the large serving bowl, then pour the dressing on top.  Easier to toss that way.)

Put the salad into a serving bowl and serve immediately.

Serves 6

This is Mostly About the Parade

This was a bit of an "off" week for me.  Not a lot happening, and not a lot of energy, so no adventures in the kitchen or much else happening.  It was Becca's last week of school, so she had a lot of projects to finish and studying to do for finals.  It looks as if we have made it through her Freshman year.  Now to figure out what to do with the summer.  We are looking forward to it!

We had a real treat on Thursday evening.  Bette told us about the upcoming Healdsburg country fair and parade.  I didn't even know there was one!  We met up a little after 4pm and the three of us headed into town to watch the parade.  We had hoped to avoid the street closures, but ran into them, so took some back streets to get to as close to the midpoint as possible between the parade route and the location of the little country fair.  We pulled out folding chairs and walked downtown, finding a spot saved for Bette by friends just across the street from Flying Goat Coffee.  Bette treated us to burritos from El Farolito - a great little Mexican restaurant near the square - and we sat down to eat dinner and watch the people as they gathered for the event.

I had expected the parade to last maybe a half hour.  I was surprised when I looked at the time afterward and realized it'd been nearly 1 1/2 hours!  So many fun floats, and such a sweet small-town atmosphere, with families gathered together, kids riding their bikes and skateboards down the open streets before the parade started. All the little organizations that make up a small town, from the Shriners with their gong ...

... to lots of antique cars ...

We were disappointed that the high school band wasn't marching, but we were happy to see and hear them...

Many of the floats had someone either handing out or tossing candies.  This was the most interesting, from I believe the FFA float ...

What's a small town parade without tractors?

And cute cowboys with their sons on their laps driving them?

Then there was this classic beauty on a body shop truck.  I would hate to crash this! 

You just cannot have a parade in Sonoma County without Snoopy...

Even a fire engine got into the spirit of the western theme.

Just to dispel any rumors that Ford stands for Found On Road Dead - they stand the test of time!  (My Taurus is nearing 242,000, on our way to the quarter million mark.)

A small town parade has to have the mounted color guard!

This display of Old Glory preceded a large collection of antique military vehicles.

EVERYONE likes to be in a parade...

Beautiful gowns, beautiful horses...

And finally a video of the much-anticipated "dancing horses."  You'll hear the crowd shouting at them to not walk in the center of the road, onto a metal plate that had given other riders scary problems as their horses' metal-shod hooves slid on it like ice.  One man ignored the warnings and showed off.

After the parade was over, we walked back to the car to drop off the chairs and then over to a small field where booths and "jumpys" and inflated slides encircled a crowd there to enjoy some more festivities.  We walked through the animal exhibits, looking at the pigs, sheep, goats and cows who would be shown in the coming days.  Then it was back home to care for all of our own little critters before getting some sleep.

Sunday, Sunday, SUNDAY

I typically post about the entire weekend together, but it became clear on Saturday that this Sunday deserved its very own spotlight.  Soooo much was planned, which meant that much more would occur that was unexpected.  It always seems to be that way.

Our friend, Kyla, is a REACH helicopter crew member.  (Their website does not explain the acronym, but other sources indicate Redwood Empire Air Care Helicopter.) As a nurse and emergency medical provider, she rides in that copter on life-saving missions.  I found out on Saturday that Kyla's REACH team was going to provide a demonstration at the Graton Fire Department's annual pancake breakfast.  As a child whose father was a volunteer firefighter in rural Colorado, I have fond memories of these breakfasts.  As a child of a military family with an uncle who was career Air Force, AND my dad also working for the space program, I have fond memories of air shows.  When I have an opportunity to support a small fire department, especially this 100% volunteer department, AND see the REACH land, you betcha I'll be there.  I made plans Saturday night to meet up with daughter Amanda and her friend Ashleigh bright and early the next morning.

Bright and early is a normal weekday routine, but since Becca had risen early on Saturday, too, I wasn't sure how this would play.  She was eager to go, and although we hit a couple of snags and were behind schedule, we still arrived at the fire station at just after 7:30 am.  I was surprised to see how busy it was, and that we'd need to go to the old station and catch a shuttle.  That wasn't a problem, parking was easy, and the volunteer who drove the full-sized yellow school bus shuttle was friendly.  I got to tell stories to Becca about riding the school bus when we lived in Franktown.  Everyone was in a good mood, and the quiet of Graton on a Sunday morning really struck me.  I liked the peaceful feeling.

I'll be honest about the breakfast.  I've had lots of pancake breakfasts and know what to expect.  I'm not sure what they did to the eggs, but they tasted a bit odd.  I ate a little, but hated that I tossed most of it.  The rest was what I expected, good hearty fare, eaten at long tables with folding chairs, set up in the bay where they keep the fire engines.  There were lots of people talking and laughing, a large group of Boy Scouts and other volunteers to help keep things going smoothly, and the line grew longer throughout the morning.  Amanda and Ashleigh arrived not much later, and we ate and filled out our raffle tickets.  Yes, we each put an entry in for the chain saw, in addition to the "adult box" for the wine and over-21 prizes.  Wouldn't it be funny if one of us won the saw?

Checking the time, we knew Kyla was in the air, and went outside to get a good spot to watch the landing.  A figure was spray-painted on the ground in orange, and firefighters were hosing down the area around it.  I wasn't sure why until the copter landed, and then it became VERY clear.

We got excited, seeing the red helicopter coming in, and then watched it circle around.  The pilot was observing the area to make sure that it was safe to land, and he radioed down to ask the firefighters to ask some people across the road to move.

Then he began his descent to land ...

As the copter descended, wood chips and bits of grass started flying out from the spray-painted target.  THAT was why they'd hosed down the area - to help keep a serious debris storm from happening.  As the copter was circling, we had noticed that the doors were open, and they stayed open as they landed...

We remembered Kyla telling us that one of her jobs was to look back and let the pilot know when the wheel was on the ground.  We didn't realize until this moment that that meant she had the DOOR open to do so!  No wonder it was such a challenge!

Finally, it was on the ground, and we had a chance to go say hi and take a closer look at the copter.

Mandi has the up close and personal shots.  I was too busy looking and talking to take pictures.

We visited for a while and looked at some of the equipment, then, after determining that the Boot Barn was closed until 11:00 am, Becca and I headed over to Windsor to meet daughter Jessica and her friend Erica at the farmers market.  We always have such a good time there.  Though I only bought a few onions, it was just as fun, if not more so, to see what Jessica was finding.  She came prepared for her weekly grocery shopping, and also found some great plants and bulbs.  Erica's bouquet of sweet peas smelled as sweet as their name, and we had a great time visiting and walking through the market.

After we'd made the circuit, Becca and I headed down to Santa Rosa's Boot Barn to find me some new cowgirl boots.  Remember that Breezy ate half of one of my boots about a month ago?  My girls are the best, and they gave me a gift certificate to Boot Barn to find a replacement pair for Mother's Day.  This was the day to go take a look.  I think I tried on 10 pairs trying to find the right one, and finally saw one that fit the budget AND my tastes AND my feet.  Even though this means breaking in another pair of boots (my old ones had been as comfy as house slippers), I am tickled to have these.  It is so worth it!

I was going to re-post the picture of the half-eaten boot, but it's just too heartbreaking to see again.  I'll focus on these pretty and durable things.  Notice that I photographed them over Breezy's outdoor crate.  NO TOUCHY!

I was really tired at the end of this running and walking around.  I took a little bit of time to rest and then got busy again.  We put the chicks outside again next to the Americaunas to continue their get-to-know-you routine.  It was nice to have Becca's help.  I had hoped they would be able to integrate after just one more day, but it was pretty clear that Persephone and Chilly, of all birds, (named because she's so "chill" when you hold her) were not getting along through the wire.  We'll have to see how this plays out.

We had used the Sonoma Chicken Salad all up by now, and I really wanted MORE, so I decided to make another batch that afternoon.  That meant turning on the oven to cook the chicken and toast the pecans.  The house got a LOT hotter than it would have, but it was really worth it.  I increased the pecans to one cup from the 3/4 in the recipe and ... yeah, yum, just right.  I thought about adding some freshly chopped onions, but I really like the flavors in this as is, so I'm gonna leave it alone.

I stepped outside later and I noticed that the light looked ... funny.  I can't even describe it, but you can just tell when something is off.  I looked at the time and realized it was 5:40, and the eclipse was beginning!  We gathered cameras and tripod and headed out back to take a look at the show.  I was really disappointed that my camera didn't have enough freedom to really set it to get some good pictures of the eclipse itself.  I guess that's what happens when you leave your eclipse photography research to the time of the eclipse.

I did get some pretty cool pictures of the crescent light filtering through the leaves ...

 And a few fun shots.  These weren't what I was looking for, but turned out pretty.

After the eclipse excitement was over, it was time to feed, move and milk the goats.  Becca went in to the pen with the dwarf goats while I was tending to the adult chickens, and asked me if I knew Luna had lost her horn.  I said, "NO!  Is she okay?"  She was.  Even though all the goats were disbudded so they wouldn't grow horns, Luna had a partial horn that had grown out and curved over her right eye.  It was close to the skin but not pressing into her face, so I had let it be until I had a chance to consult with a vet about whether it would be okay to leave or if we should remove it.  Apparently she had done something - rubbed, fought with her brother - to knock it off.  The scary thing about goats losing horns is that there is an artery that runs through them and they can bleed out if they break.  Thankfully, the blood supply to Luna's horn was as deformed as the horn itself, and although there appeared to have been some minor bleeding, it was nothing serious.  Becca located the horn in the pen...

And Luna looks much prettier without it!

Luna is going to have to learn to live without her little weapon.  It used to be that if we would lead her by holding onto her collar, she would tip her head back to dig the horn into your fingers in an effort to get you to let go.  It was funny how she kept trying to do that to Becca last night, and it just didn't work ...

Here's to a great week ahead.  Finals week for Bex,and then summer vacation.  Hurrah!

Odds and Ends and Escape Attempts - Both Caprine and Fowl

Thursday flew by, mostly consumed with doing work on a typing job I have at home. (Hurrah!)  I don't think that anything really unique happened at all, except I was happy to learn that Phillip Phillips will be in the American Idol finale.  I know, I live a really exciting life, eh?

The last time I made cucumber melon soap, the imprint stamp in the bottom slipped, so the pattern was off and they were unsuitable for sale.  I melted and remolded the soaps on Friday morning and plan to get some good photos taken (now that I have a tripod) and get those listed at etsy.com.  Typing again Friday morning.  I really enjoy this job and wish I had more of this type of work.  I have some plans to see if I can expand it over the summer.

We got home late on Friday, so feeding the animals and moving the goats to the barn, milking, was all done after dark.  On a warm summer night it's not too bad, and definitely better than rain.  I am grateful to have a good cover over us for milking, and the time was spent pleasantly ... until just about the time Imbri was done eating her grain.  I started to hear the yipping and squeals of coyote pups.  There's something that's really indescribable about the sound of them.  They sound cute, because it's obvious they are trying to be "big," and are learning a craft, but some of the sounds they make are spine-tingling.  Then, the adults joined in.  Typically I can hear one or two groups, but that night I was surrounded.  The coyotes were far away, probably not even on our land, but there were at least five distinguishable areas, and they were all around me.  Their voices soared and the pups went silent, and then after a couple of verses, joined in the chorus.  It's magical and frightening at the same time.  There's a primal instinct that tells you to get the critters and yourself indoors.  My friend, Tammy, described her reaction at hearing these at her old home - and my reaction - perfectly.  "Smiling with goosebumps."

Saturday morning was bright and sunny, with no trace of the fog that had haunted the last few days.  It was still cool as I started the morning routine, but nice and clear, and I smiled really big when I saw the barn door.  Salsa was ready to get out, and had turned the handle open.  There is a lock on the door, but I don't lock animals into a building, in case someone needs to get them out in an emergency.  This is why my dad built a bar to go across the outside of the door.  Often as I move it into place at night, I hear in my mind, "Katie, bar the door," and feel like a pioneer woman.  I decided to see if I could record Salsa playing her game with the door, and it worked.  I had Becca look at this video later in the day, and she laughed out loud, saying that it was funny and kinda creepy at the same time.  Maybe you'll enjoy it, too.

She's a smart goat!  While I was turning off the recording on my phone, she opened the handle again and suddenly slammed into the door.  She's done this before, and the screws on one side of the piece securing the bar come slightly loose and I have to slam it back in. 

Zeus and Persephone have been outside for a couple of weeks now and are settling into their little chicken area nicely.  Although Imbri used to answer Zeus when he crowed, I never noticed Foghorn taking any notice of him, until Saturday morning.  I was working at the computer when I realized that they were answering each other, Zeus crowing, and then Foggy.  That was fun to hear.  Zeus is getting more confident in himself and is really starting to sound like a rooster, instead of a frog trying to croak out a crow.

The plan was to bring the four youngest chicks outside and introduce them to Americaunas.  Becca went on a hike with her sisters and their husbands, so it was me all alone when it came time to make that decision.  I kept putting off doing it, because I knew it was going to be a challenge, moving the box out to the run and physically getting four chickens into a new area.  Suddenly, I heard a huge commotion coming from the room they are in, and - as always - I was afraid one of the many predators in our house had found a way in.  It was Traz doing her normal routine, trying to escape, and getting close.  She has learned that if she flies up really hard and fast, she can dislodge the clothespins holding a section of the netting, and get out.  I decided that it was time to go ahead and put them outdoors, NOW.

It's a large, square box they are in, difficult to handle.  I dragged it at first, and then decided to go ahead and pick it up.  I was afraid of them trying the escape routine into my face while I carried the box, but the movement had them staying close to the bottom and cautious.  Picking them up and putting them into the small run was easier than transferring the food and water.  I got everyone in and secured the bird netting over the top opening, confident they'd be happy enough outside to not try to escape.

I underestimated Traz.  More on that later.

Zeus and Persephone were fascinated by their new neighbors.  They might recognized their chirps, because though they never saw each other, they probably talked like prison inmates through the walls.  Zeus paced back and forth, looking up and down, trying to find a way to get in to see these new chicks in the neighborhood. 

They seemed to all be doing fine, so I went back into the house to work, leaving a door open so I could hear any problems, and doing an occasional head count.  I heard a commotion outside and again leaped up to see what was going on.  I stepped outside and saw ... Traz, out of the pen and perched happily on a bar on the top.  She was comfy, just sitting there, looking at the other chickens as if to say, "Hey, what's taking you so long?  It's nice up here!"  I slowly approached, hoping she wouldn't move, and she didn't.  She stayed still and I picked her up and gently placed her back inside.  Then I put a piece of plywood over the opening.  They stayed put the rest of the day.

I would have taken a picture if I hadn't been so concerned about getting her back in quickly.

The rest of the day was uneventful.  I was able to move the chicks back indoors for the night (they need to be introduced slowly so there's no crazy chicken gang fighting when the new kids move in) and the only sound that night was the beautiful voices of people singing at the retreat center next door.  What a great way to end a great day.

A note on the Sonoma Chicken Salad.  I forgot to mention that I didn't use the poppy seeds in the recipe, and it was just fine.  In fact, I think better, because I'm not a big fan of poppy seeds. 

A Unicorn on the Ranch

Monday this week was a pretty routine day.  I made more hot chocolate mix for the morning mochas, and started another batch of vanilla extract.

I haven't mentioned vanilla extract yet, have I?  It is ridiculously easy, though it takes a long time.  As in three months.  I started the first batch in April and it should be ready on the 4th of July.  Monday's batch will be ready on my birthday.  Happy coincidences!  I decided that the hot chocolate and extract combo would be good gifts.

To make vanilla extract, you take 9 plump vanilla beans, split them and scrape the seeds out.  Put the seeds and pods into a jar and add 1 1/2 cups of vodka.  The cheap kind is fine.  After three months, strain through a fine metal sieve and put into dark-colored jars.  I discovered that vanilla beans can be found ridiculously cheap online.  Spicy World sells 1/2 pound for just under $25.  That's about 30 beans for what it would cost me at Safeway currently to buy four, FOUR beans.  These mail ordered beans came vacuum sealed and were fat and so fragrant I could smell them through the packaging.  I didn't know that vanilla beans didn't normally come shriveled up, so this was a pleasant surprise.

Monday evening, Becca shooed the Americaunas into their coop for the night, and then asked me to hold the lid open so that she could hold Persephone.  She hesitated to pick Percy up, because Becca was concerned about Zeus going after her.  What is funny is that Bex used to hold Zeus all the time (when he was Athena), because Percy was more active and - in the beginning - aggressive.  She hesitated for so long that Percy decided she didn't want to wait any longer.  Before we could react, she jumped out of the coop and flew into Becca's face, then landed on the ground.  She then started walking away as we started to panic.  The last thing we needed was to have a loose chicken at night time!  After just two attempts, Becca was able to pick her up, and I was thankful that she didn't panic and start running away from us.  I would hate to have to chase a chicken at dusk.  After a little bit of cuddling, Becca put Percy back into the coop for the night.  Silly chickens.

We found out on Tuesday that Becca received an A+ on her art final, which she had been stressing over and had stayed up until 1am last week to finish.  Hurrah!

I decided to try making granola bars on Tuesday.  It was another cold, foggy and chilly morning, and the sun didn't break through until 11:00 am.  That makes a perfect morning for cranking up the oven.  I love the granola in the recipe I'd found in Make the Bread, Not the Butter but wanted to make it into bars.  I found a recipe for granola bars that differed slightly in ingredients, so I decided to try combining the two of them.  After toasting the dry ingredients, I heated and then mixed in the "glue", then laid the mixture into a baking dish lined with greased wax paper, pressing it down hard.  It took a few hours to cool enough to cut.  I learned that the recipe (as I modified it) is a bit too sweet for me, and I need to press the granola mixture in HARDer, but they taste good and mostly stick together.  I substituted maple syrup for the honey and think that was a mistake (I just love maple syrup, though!).  When I have a trial run that makes this recipe work well, I'll post it to the blog so you can try it.  The kids (and teachers) love the granola, but unless you're using it as cereal or in yogurt, it's easiest in a brick for snacking.

As I was walking with the dwarf goats to the barn that evening, I was admiring Moonshine's (we call him Mooney) little cowlick in the center of his forehead.  It curves forward like the flag on a quail's head, and I sometimes call him "Alfalfa," after the character in Little Rascals.  As I was looking at him, I noticed a grey area behind the cowlick, and wondered if he'd gotten something on his head.  I reached down to move his fur and discovered that he was growing a horn!  In the center of his head!  As a kid, he had been disbudded (meaning the growth areas for horns were cauterized to prevent them from growing for his safety as a pet animal), and this horn was growing right in between those two areas.  I have a unicorn goat.

The horn is curving back a little, so I doubt it will grow straight forward like the mythological beast, but it is still fascinating.  I don't know yet how or why this could have happened.

Wednesday morning was again sooooo cold and overcast!  The sun is lazy these days and didn't show up until 11:00 am again.  I like to wait until it's sunny to go out and start the sprinklers and do some weeding.  Early in the morning, I kept busy by making some cajeta and starting a new chicken salad recipe.

If any of you have had Pacific Market's Sonoma Chicken Salad, you know that it's something special.  I had a craving for it the night before, and decided to look and see if there was a recipe available that was anywhere close.  I could probably have asked my friend, Tammy, who used to work at Fiesta Market in Sebastopol (before they were bought by Pacific), but I figured I'd try online for something that wouldn't generate 20 pounds or so of salad.

Of all places, Whole Foods Market has a recipe for what I call - and they do, too - Sonoma Chicken Salad.  As I made the dressing, I thought that it tasted just a little different, somewhat sweeter, than Fiesta and Pacific Markets' version. The steps to create this recipe were super easy, and I'd never cooked chicken this way before.  It was easy, quick clean-up, and left the chicken moist, tender and tasty.  I really like this salad (I hate to admit better than Pacific or Fiesta's versions!), so it's definitely going to go into my family cookbook!  The recipe says it makes six servings, but I'm finding it is going a lot further than that.


Sonoma Chicken Salad
Whole Foods Recipe
Serves 6

Ingredients

Dressing
1 cup mayonnaise
4 teaspoons apple cider vinegar
5 teaspoons honey
2 teaspoons poppy seeds
Salt and freshly ground pepper to taste

Salad
2 pounds boneless, skinless chicken breasts
3/4 cup pecan pieces, toasted
2 cups red seedless grapes
3 stalks celery, thinly sliced

Method

In a bowl, combine mayonnaise, vinegar, honey, poppy seeds, salt and pepper. Refrigerate until ready to dress the salad. This can be prepared up to 2 days ahead.

Preheat oven to 375°F. Place the chicken breasts in one layer in a baking dish with 1/2 cup water. Cover with foil and bake 25 minutes until completely cooked through. Remove cooked chicken breasts from pan, cool at room temperature for 10 minutes, then cover and refrigerate.

When the chicken is cold, dice into bite-size chunks and transfer to a large bowl. Stir in pecans, grapes, celery and dressing.

Nutrition

Per serving: 610 calories (390 from fat), 43g total fat, 5g saturated fat, 100mg cholesterol, 500mg sodium, 17g total carbohydrate (2g dietary fiber, 13g sugar), 33g protein

Mother's Day Weekend

Woo-hoo!  I woke up excited Saturday morning for our venture out to Sebastopol.  This isn't going to sound like a big deal to some, but I don't really get out for fun often, and this trip is right up my alley.

Redwood Hills Farm is a local goat dairy that produces amazing cheese.  Our LaMancha goat, Lily, is out of one of their sires, and they have a well-deserved reputation for excellent animals.  In addition, they were the first dairy in California to be certified humane - not something they even had to work at; it comes naturally.  I had heard earlier this year that they have added a camel and are experimenting with kefir and what other things can be made from camel's milk.  They were having an open house this weekend, and I was super excited to be able to go to the farm for the first time!  We invited Sophie to join us, and left early to pick her up and head out into the Sebastopol countryside, taking back roads through Forestville.

As the road narrowed to one lane, I was beginning to wonder if we were in the right place.  There were also no other vehicles on the road.  Had we stumbled onto a private drive?  Then, rounding a corner we saw cars coming from the other direction turning at signs directing us to parking at the farm.  Hurrah!  We'd made it.

We got out among the chickens wandering about and headed over to the barnyard.  The first thing we saw were the kids.  I immediately regretted not having bred Lily this year, because there's just something so RIGHT about having goat kids around in the springtime.

We had a great time hanging out in the kid pens, where the babies wanted lots of attention and petting - which we were happy to provide!

We also saw the nests of what I think might be barn swallows.  Whatever they are, I'd much prefer to have these under my eaves than the yellowjackets!

We sampled cheese, and bought some, along with some delicious kefir.  After wandering through the milk barns and looking at packets of a lotion-making kit, I finally asked someone about the ... camel.  Much to my chagrin, she said that she hadn't seen one, except on Facebook.  Suddenly I realized that it might have been posted on April 1st.  I checked when I got home, and sure enough, I got duped!  Boy, do I feel foolish!  I am usually very aware of the potential for these things on that day, but I guess it made sense (milk/dairy products) AND I didn't expect it from Redwood Hills Farm!  They fooled me; so sorry, no camel pictures today!

Sophie surprised me with a rose plant as a Mother's Day gift, and we picked up a begonia seedling from Redwood Hills, so I have a couple more enjoyable things to plant.  Becca and I relaxed for the rest of the day, and fell asleep on the couches while watching television,.  Lots of fun, sun and fresh air makes us tired!

Mother's day dawned cold and overcast, surprising me with its chill.  After chores, I was working in the kitchen when I heard Zeus start crowing.  Then I heard Imbri reply.  They were doing it again!  I went out to video the goats in the hope that I could catch the conversation.

You'll hear Zeus crow twice within the first 30 seconds of this short video, with Imbri, the mama goat, responding.  The rest of the video was waiting in vain for them to do it again, but you can see Imbri moving in Zeus' direction, waiting for him.  It's so fun to watch and hear this interaction.

When we left the house, we surprised a mama turkey and her babies on the driveway.  We stopped and I allowed Becca to see if she could catch one.  I should know better.  I told her once that if she could catch a lizard she could keep it, not believing she'd be able to do so, but she did.  Here's a picture of the cute little turkey chick (are they called chicks?).

Isn't it just adorable?!  She quickly returned it, and then ran because Mama Turkey came running at her with wings spread and flapping!

Bex and I met up with her older sisters for some coffee and a walk through the farmers market.  We had a great time "window" shopping and wishing we had more cash with us.  It's always such a great way to start a Sunday.  We then car pooled down to my parents' home to spend more time with family and honor my mom.  We had a wonderful visit and headed home so we were back just before dark.  Perfect timing. 

Overall, it was a great weekend and a special Mother's Day.  I am so blessed to have such wonderful children in my life.  They teach me so much, and help me lighten up and laugh in the process.  What great human beings they are.