Thanksgiving

This year we had my parents over for Thanksgiving dinner at our house--our real house, not our cabin (maybe one day!).  We wanted to get a local, farm-raised turkey from a local farmer but that didn't work out too well.  Pat got in touch with someone who sells turkeys in the local farmers market, but the farmer waited until Monday to get back to him.  And then it was just a mass email saying they had birds for sale.  Well, by then we had already gotten ours from my mom--she shops at one of those grocery stores where you rack up points and then can redeem them for a turkey, ham or lasagna for free.  So we got our (non-local) turkey for free, courtesy of my mom!  I still consider that working without our mantra of keeping things simple. 

I have to say that this type of behavior among organic growers is not uncommon.  I have noticed an attitude that some CSA growers and organic farmers have...that is sort of like snobbery.  They produce it so you have to buy it right?  It is organic so you want it right?  It doesn't matter if the product is sub-par or the method is sloppy or the transaction is not enjoyable.  Folks, just because you're organic doesn't mean you don't need to also be a good businessperson.  I find it insulting.  As if you don't have a choice, they're the local farmer so you HAVE to use them...not true.  Demand a good product.

Pat de-boned the turkey, a la Julia Child, and gave it a dry-rub marinade.  Before we plan to cook it he'll brush it with Wegman's basting oil which is infused with garlic and herbs.  Then he'll brush it with maple syrup just before it is done baking to give it a golden color.  It is going to be stuffed with stuffing made from his homemade bread too.  That way you cut it like a roulade with no bones in the way and get stuffing with every slice. 

Our free turkey is just about the only thing that came from a store though.  We will have our potatoes, mashed; our green beans, sauteed; our butternut squash, in soup form and pie form; cherries we picked ourselves in the pie...the only things we didn't grow in our menu are some broccoli and some beets that didn't grow well for us this year. 

I plan on taking some pictures so I'll post them later.

Give thanks for the blessings in your life, the people you love and whom love you, and the pets who make your life happy.  I know I do!

Wood stove

We have been spending chilly weekends at the cabin working on shingles and visiting family.  We have been putting the cedar shakes on the front side.  Pat and I did most of it except for the very top rows where we would have to cut each one to the correct length.  We'll wait till we have the chop-saw to do that.  But it is looking like a real cabin.  I love the colors of the painted trim and the cedar shakes. 

We had a wonderful soup supper at an aunt's house.  I made roasted butternut squash soup.  It is a Martha Stewart recipe!  It is a super-easy recipe, but takes a little bit of time to roast the squash (40 min).  Cut a butternut squash in half, tuck 4 sprigs of thyme and four unpeeled cloves of garlic into the cavity and lay it face down.  Bake for 40 min.  When cool, scoop out flesh and peel garlic, discard the thyme.  Process in food processor with about one cup of stock (I used duck stock).  Transfer to a saucepan, add enough stock to get desired consistency (maybe 1-2 more cups), season with salt & pepper.  I love this photo because the color contrasts so nicely with my grandmother's crock.


We have been keeping the chill out with our little wood stove.  It is a Jotul wood stove, a Norwegian brand, that is about circa 1960 or 70.  Apparently, they are made to last.  There is info on the internet on this model and people who have them keep them running forever!  We have put some money into it--we had to get the heat shields on the sides and bottom replaced because they had cracked.  It is just a little thing, but it heats up the cabin nicely.  The pooches love it!  Maggie had her belly facing it the first night we used it.  There is a cool relief picture of lumberjacks on the side.  Pat scrubbed it with wire brushes and gave it a coat of stove black--wow, what a difference!