June 19th, 2009 / Comments
I was working in my studio when Rosie began barking insistently. Assuming that the big brown truck had come to deliver the new grill for my Electrolux range I went down to check. No truck, no package, no people, and, Rosie was standing at the door to the terrace staring intently toward the weedy hill just past the garden.
‘Must be a deer or maybe turkeys.’ I thought. Following Rosie’s lead, except for the barking, I looked up at the hill and after a moment the sweet face of a Jersey cow munching weeds came into focus.
Cow, cows!
Four of them – two mamas and two calves, but how? we have no cows living within half a mile of us in any direction.
The only idea I had was to phone the non-emergency police number. I explained my predicament and the helpful police officer said “I’ll check my list of missing cows,” quickly followed by, “wait a minute, I don’t have a list of missing cows,” and then came the perfect Vermont question, “Are they bothering anyone?”
An hour later, a tractor arrived, the cows were liberated from the paddock where they had been welcomed and watered by our neighbor, Susan, and led away, back home, up the road, to rest, graze and share the the tales of their adventure with the rest of the herd.
I LOVE VERMONT!
Perhaps my postings about raw milk, yogurt, and butter were the real reason for their visit………
note: If you would like to read about how I used the magic of Photoshop to put the cow in the garden
*click here*.
June 13th, 2009 / comments
At the moment — words fail me.
After a good sleep and with the scent of fresh strawberries in the air, I made a strawberry sandwich for breakfast.
Strawberry Sandwich
I toasted thin slices of Red Hen Four Grain Three Seed bread, smeared it with a thin layer of cream cheese, topped with sliced strawberries and drizzled on a bit of local honey. Divine!
One of the easiest desserts I know is Panna cotta with strawberries, fresh, simple and fast.
June 5th, 2009 / comments
Fresh yogurt cheese is simply fresh, plain yogurt minus the watery whey.
Six Variations – beginning in the upper left, nasturtium petals gave a peppery punch, rose petals added a sweet scent and flavor, chive flowers are pretty but the onion flavor is too strong; bottom row – chopped dried cranberries, (my favorite because they add texture, a sweet/tart flavor and good color), chopped walnuts worked well, and the last, mint leaves gave a fresh scent but the texture of the leaf wasn’t good with the softness of the cheese, (next time, I’ll roll the cheese in minced mint leaves).
Dried apricots, currents, minced fresh mint or basil, chopped olives, diced sundried tomatoes are other possibilities.
Small rounds of yogurt cheese combined with dried fruit, chopped nuts or minced herbs served with crackers make a pretty and interesting appetizer served with a glass of wine.
Here’s how I made the cheese. … read more
May 29th, 2009 / comments
Three gray, rainy, cold days in a row demand action.
A bowl of yogurt topped with warm plums would be delicious and pretty. Here’ how I did it. … read more
May 16th, 2009 / Comments
Yogurt is extraordinarily simple to make. Here’s how I made it. … read more
May 9th, 2009 / comments
Turning heavy cream into butter isn’t difficult. In fact it can happen when you are whipping cream to top strawberry shortcake and the telephone rings. The gift of two quarts of heavy cream was a perfect excuse to make butter.
I used my KitchenAid mixer to whip the cream until the butter was massed on the blade leaving a pool of milky buttermilk in the bottom of the bowl.
I poured out the liquid and rinsed the butter by adding a glass of ice water to the bowl and turning the mixer on low then pouring out the milky water. I repeated this process until the water remained clear.
The last step was to knead the butter over a bowl in order to get rid any water trapped by the butter. That done, I shaped the butter into balls, topped each ball with a viola, wrapped the balls in waxed paper and put some in my refrigerator and delivered the rest to friends with wishes for a Happy Mother’s Day.
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