Home Cooked Dinners, I believe, make the world a better place. The time it takes to do this. The time is the most important ingredient. Time spent standing in the kitchen, salivating at the aromas issuing from the oven, from the cast iron, from the dog sprawled out at our bare feet watching the skies […]
Tag: backyard chickens
Green and Red Chicken Chilaquiles and Chicharrones Tacos
The spice cha-chas on. Red light, green light, red salsa, green salsa…you’ll be doing the Conga at the stove. After I played this oldie music video, I proceeded to watch every Gloria Estefan classic and now all I have is fantasies of doing a karaoke montage of Conga, Turn the Beat Around, and The Rhythm is […]
Why I Love New Orleans on Katrina’s Anniversary and Chicken Fricassee
To be a New Orleanian requires one to harbor a certain philosophical slant. More than once I’ve entertained discussions with non-New Orleanian folk that became arguments at a predictable impasse: why choose to live somewhere that is near-certain to flood again? There will always be another Katrina, they say, it doesn’t make any sense; why […]
Brown Rice Bread and How We Survived the Move
It is fair to say we entirely underestimated the difficulty of moving from Rochester to New Orleans. Entirely. Usually the result of such misjudgments is panic, chaos, and discord. I am proud of the way KP and I have managed to keep cool and to move through the many upsets with grace. I think it […]
Wasabi Steak for a Warm Winter Coat
Time to eat a couple of meals to put on a winter layer. The chickens have so many lessons to offer us. Over the last couple of weeks they have been packing it away to prepare for these frozen months. Yesterday, before it had fallen, you could see the snow looming up there. The sky was […]
Tartine Potato Focaccia
The Roots are not only one of my favorite bands, they are the class of my favorite vegetables. Roots and Tubers (which would be the name of my chickens’ band if only I would let them into a recording studio) are the very last thing the Earth yields before turning to stone for a few […]
Pecan Shortbread with Chocolate Drizzle
Fall colors during an Indian Summer—the chickens are in heaven, frolicking in autumn leaves and striking distinguished profiles for the paparazzi. To a bird, the bilge under the leaves must taste as good as this: Pecan Shortbread with Chocolate Drizzle Adapted from Food and Wine 3/4 cup all-purpose flour 1/2 cup pecan flour or 1/2 […]
Sweet Pepper Bread with a Chicken Report
In the company of chickens, we have lived the last two months in a constant state of awe and pride. I have an ever-so-slight personality disorder with obsessive features which exacts upon me the onus and delight of data collection. I can say with certainty the last two months have been productive in the egg […]
Broccoli Frittata for the MVP
It’s been a strong first week in the nest; a yield of 19 eggs makes me a very, very proud farm mother. Still reeling at the anatomy of these creatures. We feed them back their own egg shells, mixed with Layena pellets and oyster shells to harden their shells. My priest asked if I fed […]
Rustic Whole-Wheat Pillows and Three Hens
I will never again be able to use the phrase “just us chickens” figuratively, because now I actually have chickens. Three to be precise: an Americauna named Betty White, a Lohmann Brown named Lucille, and a Plymouth Rock, my favorite, Quest Love. We rescued these ladies from Farmer Wayne who kept them alive in the […]