Quality (Part 2)

Our neighbors have hens.  Many hens.   They have free reign of the yard, which strikes me as the ideal scenario for a hen.  In return, the hens provide a lovely service to the neighborhood.

Every once in a while a sign magically appears in front of a little shed on their property that says "Eggs $3.00".  Inside the shed is a mini refrigerator  Inside the refrigerator are anywhere from one to six cartons of eggs.  On top of it sits an old canister where you are asked to leave your $3.00.  (Is there anything more country-quaint than an "honor system" for freshly laid eggs?)

It's a rare treat to see the sign, so we tend to stop and buy eggs even if we don't really need them.  And once the sign goes up, the eggs tend to go fast.  We've occasionally made the mistake of seeing the sign on the way to town, and deciding we'd just stop on the way back home.  Well, the eggs have a way of disappearing before we make it back. 

The eggs themselves are gorgeous shades of whites, browns and greens.  Surprising to those of us who grew up on store-bought eggs, they vary pretty vastly in size and shape.  Once cracked, you'll find they have rich golden yolks, and beat the hell out of anything you find in the supermarket.

Quality

Bar Centrale's beloved gatekeeper Mary gave us a bottle of this imported-from-Italy extra virgin olive oil as holiday gifts.  It is a lesson in the impact of quality ingredients.  It takes "bistro vinaigrette" to a whole new level.  We are nearing the end of our bottle, but there is ONE place it can be purchased stateside, though it's a splurge.  

If you do purchase a bottle, take Mary's advice: "Don't even think about cooking with it!"

Kristen's Watercolor

When Kristen said she was going to go outside to paint, I think I imagined something like this:

Well, it turns out the girl is a master watercolorist.  She painted this incredible rendering of the house in one sitting:

Best of all, she gave it to us to keep.  It is getting framed and will be displayed proudly.  It's lovely having talented friends.

Olive Oil & Coconut Brownies

Heaven help us.

...and they all lived happily ever after

Update to yesterday's post: all is right with the world again, so feel free to enjoy yourself a nice big slice of Coconut Cake guilt-free!  How easy was that?

To Barefoot or Not to Barefoot

The Barefoot has had a rough week (no comment), but that is not why we chose a Mark Bittman recipe from his How To Cook Everything Vegetarian for dinner last night.  It was because our houseguest, Pamela, is a vegetarian, and his book offers a gazillion options.

Jon and Pamela tackled his Tofu Provencal.

It was delish (in a tofu kind of way)!

Andy, still sympathetic to Barefoot, payed her homage with her iconic Coconut Cake -- which was also delish (in a pound each of butter, cream cheese and sugar kind of way).

The thaw!

Just weeks ago we were snowshoeing.  

And now the same view looks like this:

Pepper project

Andy's parents brought up bushels -- literally! -- of produce from a farm in Florida.  The overwhelming majority of this produce was peppers.  Very hot peppers.  Hundreds and hundreds of Scotch bonnets, habaneros, and other assorted, blistering peppers.  We were faced with a dilemma.  What does one do with a lifetime supply of peppers, all mere days away from shriveling up and rotting?  We decided to make pepper relish.  Having never done this before we kind of winged it, so I can't really provide a recipe.  I can tell you we diced many peppers (note to self: next time wear gloves), some onions, used plenty of vinegar and plenty of sugar.  Well, the result was pretty damn good!  

Soon it became clear that we were facing another dilemma.  How do you use somewhere near a gallon of pepper relish before it goes bad?  There were only two options: start eating pepper relish for every meal or figure out some way to preserve it.  So we purchased canning supplies and followed the directions very closely (kind of a delicate process, actually).  We anxiously awaited the "pop" that tells you the vacuum seal has formed.  The minutes felt like hours, but finally every last jar popped.  We breathed a sigh of relief.  Waste not, want not.

Fish and chips

It is always a special occasion when Evans comes to visit, so a special meal was in order.  Evans is one of those non-meat-eaters you've read about in lefty rags like the Village Voice (or Artvoice), but she does eat fish.  With all the rampant Anglophilia that takes place at Rogershire, good old fashioned fish and chips seemed like the perfect choice.  We turned to Barefoot's Parker's Fish and Chips recipe, and it was a smashing success!  We made homemade tarter sauce.  Evans cooked up a side of mushy peas.  We even bought a growler of English-style ale from the Hyde Park Brewing Company.  Everything was veddy veddy British! 

The finished product:

Baked goods

The holidays are all about indulging, and what is more indulgent than an unlimited supply of baked goods?  By New Year's Day, our kitchen table looked like a bakery case.  Here is a small sampling of the deliciousness.  

Jon made Barefoot's amazing Banana Crunch Muffins.  They are best right out of the oven, and really ought to be eaten within 24 hours of baking (preferably with a cup of coffee).  

John made Baked's Cowboy cookies, which were to die for!  (Note: they all disappeared when John and Kristen packed up...hmmm...)

Kristen and Andy made chocolate meringues, so gluten-free Kristen could join in the indulgence.  The idea was to approximate the chocolate meringue cookies at the Wild Hive Cafe, which are so dense they taste like brownies.  They came out more like, well, meringues.  But they did the trick.  We will keep trying.

In addition to the pictured treats, Jon also made a huge, experimental batch of Barefoot's Dried Fruit Cookies, substituting Lagavulin for the sherry.  It was amazing how much that one change threw off the flavor.  Lagavulin's signature smokiness made the sweet treat almost savory.  Still good, but kind of weird.

And John made a batch of some kind of gluten free cookies from a store bought mix that no one besides Kristen went for.  She insisted they were delish.