Long weekend

All I wanted for my nice long weekend was some R & R. I wanted to read and relax. The only strenuous thing I had planned was going to the gym and cooking a few new dinner dishes.

So Friday night was Japanese Night. Holming made my favorite tuna tartare dish served in wonton cups with a bit of sashimi. And, I made his favorite dish Katsudon. Which is a bowl of rice topped with breaded pork cutlet and egg. I’ve never made it before but am now adding it to my favorite list too.



The next night we made pizza (of course from scratch!!). Now, we never eat pizza in the Lee house. I can count on one hand how many times we’ve had pizza in the 7 years we’ve been together. I decided it was time to start enjoying our own pizza. And yes, we made our own pizza dough….



….and pulled out our home-jarred tomatoes from last summer for the sauce….



Topped it with cheese, artichokes, red onions, black olives (on my half only) and sausage (handmade but, not by us….that’s our next project)



And voila! It was pizza.



The next day I made a ham, ricotta and tomato calzone with the leftover dough. No photo to show but take my word, it was very good too. It was a weekend of firsts.

And finnaly, to end my nice relaxing weekend, I dropped a 20 pound weight on my foot while at the gym!!! Oouchy! So, I’ve spent the last day and a half with my foot elevated. Not sure if all 3 of my left toes are broken but will soon find out when I can actually put a shoe on and see a doctor. On the positive side, I was able to finish my book and start a new one which is what I really wanted to do this weekend. Guess Holming is on dinner duty for the next few days.

The Newbies

A week after Coco, the ex-battery hen died, I went out and bought some new additions to the flock. I originally wanted seven in total but things didn’t work out the way I planned.

Ever since I had decided I wanted to keep backyard chickens, I had always wanted an Araucana breed. This breed has a unique eggshell which is tinted a bluish-green shade. I decided this was my opportunity to get one. I searched everywhere and found one lone Araucana from a breeder out in Hoe-O-Tainui,Tahuna - Central North Island (is it just me or can you not pronounce that either?). She had promised all her other Araucanas to other buyers and only had one left. I had to act fast!

I happen to drive out on the wettest, stormiest day of Winter (it felt like). Can’t believe how far ( about 3 ½ to 4 hrs round trip) I had to drive to collect one bird. She had better lay some beautiful and tasty eggs!

Very long story cut short, I ended up with the Araucana and an Andalusian because you can’t just bring one chicken home and introduce it to the others. All hell will break loose!

Meet the newbies!



Now you can’t just throw them in the run without a protected introduction. They will need to be isolated but in sight of the others for a week or two to get the elders used to the newbies. Notice the upside down box under the coop? Yeah, that’s their classy hotel for the next few weeks. Hey, at least they are being protected from the Winter elements and the older hens…. for now!

Stay tuned for their progress.

All in a weeks work

Most of my followers wouldn’t know that certain type of chickens (especially layer hens) stop laying eggs in the Winter due to less sunlight and colder weather. I was mentally prepared for that.

Out of my four chickens (one passed away a couple of weeks ago), only two are laying- the two black Silkie crosses. My other two, the Pekin bantams, are 10 months old and should have been laying ages ago (most chickens start to lay at about 18 to 20 weeks). However, I have researched this type of bird, and it seems as if they start laying (come into season) a bit later than a usual hen because they take a bit more time to” mature”. This can be at 5 months or 1 year of age.
The week before my trip my girls didn’t give me a single egg. It was most disturbing. I thought, well, good time to go on holiday….

This week, just look…………….
I have a new layer in the group!!! Just found a new egg in the nest this morning. The tinted egg, in the left front corner, is from one of my Pekins. I just don’t know which one. I can only guess that it’s Snowballs because her comb is a darker shade of red than ChaCha’s. That’s a sign of a hen that’s in season.

I can’t wait to try that wee little egg tomorrow morning.

Making Raviolis

This is the first time in about a year and a half that I have brought out the pasta maker. I have tried and tried again to make the perfect ravioli and have just about given up. A lot of recipes say you can just use wonton wrappers for the pastry but, I don't think it tastes quite right and it definitely doesn't feel authentic.

So, I tried a new pasta recipe and hired a really good assistant....

First, I prepared the dough an hour before I needed it. I left it to stand, covered with an inverted bowl to let the gluten relax. This was a new step from my past tries.

An hour passed and it was time to get the pasta maker and the assistant in the kitchen.



This is not a one person job although I'm sure some little Italian ladies would tell you different. We must have run the pasta dough through the machine about 15 times. Each time it got thinner and longer.

Once we had two long sheets we dropped the mounds of filling in the center of one sheet.



Then topped it with the second sheet



Now, it's a tricky process to get all the air out of the ravioli. Air pockets increase the chance of the ravioli breaking while boiling.



Next, we needed to cut the pasta with a cookie cutter. As you can see, I don't have a cookie cutter so I used a coffee cup. Note to self... must buy cookie cutter ASAP.



And, voila... It's raviolis!!!



Here is a photo of the cooked version.



They were spinach and ricotta raviolis with a basil oil. All in all, these were the absolute BEST raviolis we've made thus far. The pasta texture and flavour was perfect. I'm very keen to try making raviolis again in the very near future with my handy helper.

Been and Gone

It's been a while since my last post. I thought I would wait until we returned from the States to say hello again.

Our trip home to the US was so amazing thanks to all my amazing family and friends. It always feels like I never left and we all just pick up from where we left off the last time we spoke. That is such a blessing.

So, our trip ended up a bit longer than we planned and more expensive in the end. We were stuck in Melbourne, Australia for five extra days due to volcano ash from Chile. I will spare all the details as to how much and stuff but, at least we were able to spend extra time with Holming's sister, husband and baby. Things could have been a lot worse.

In the end, the dog was well looked after thanks to the LeFevres; the cat and chooks were cared for thanks to a house-sitter that was able and willing to stay the extra days.

Thanks to you all for making our trip happen. I've just posted what few pictures I took on my Picasa album.