Cooking Class: Omelets

We live to eat around here, cook most everything from scratch, and of course use lots of eggs. Omelets can be a bit challenging, and not just in the culinary sense; it is not entirely clear what the correct spelling may actually be-for now we'll use just one 't'. This recipe is virtually bullet proof, but in the event that Mistakes Are Made, a segue into scrambled eggs is always a viable option and has the additional advantage of avoiding that whole spelling issue.

Fluffy Omelets

This is just the basic technique. Prepare your fillings in advance and keep them warm; get creative, but moderation is advised-a little goes a long way.

Serves 4 - 6


Ingredients:

1/4 cup cream
A dozen yard eggs
4 Tbs butter
Salt/pepper
1- 2 cups of grated cheese


1). Heat oven to 350, place a rack in about the middle;

2). Whip the cream and set aside; don't try to use the stuff in the spray can, it will result in a segue;

3). Break six of the eggs into a clean bowl and add a pinch of salt and pepper. Whip until doubled in volume; be patient, it'll take a couple of minutes;

4). Melt 2 Tbs butter in a non-stick skillet over medium heat;

5). While the butter melts, combine half the whipped cream with the eggs you just whipped up, blending thoroughly; pour into skillet, swirling pan to distribute evenly;

6). Cook 2 - 3 minutes, until eggs begin to set;

7). Sprinkle about 1/4 cup cheese over eggs (trying not to deflate them during the process);

8). Place in oven for 5 - 10 minutes, until eggs begin to brown at the edges;

9). Remove from oven and sprinkle with another 1/4 cup cheese; add your filling to one half of the omelet;

10). Cover pan and let sit for about 5 minutes;

11). Carefully slide the filled portion onto a plate or cutting board; even more carefully, fold the remaing portion of the omelet over filling;

12). Garnish as desired. It is considered completely fair and lawful to use the garnish to disguise evidence of any breaks in technique.


Now you can slice the omelet into two or three sections and serve; repeat the process with remaing ingredients.

Below is a picture of the finished product; this one's filled with guacamole and garnished with fresh pico de gallo. By way of full disclosure, serving this with bacon and toasted sourdough is delicious but may well result in a visit from the Food Police:

Spring

Has sprung here in The Great State of Confusion-we really feel bad about all that nasty white stuff y'all have to deal with up North, really, we do. No need to wait on April Showers around here:

Moving Day!

Today the chicks finally got to move out of the washtub (oops, I meant to say brooder) and into their intermediate housing. They'll stay here for several weeks-basically until they won't fit anymore and hopefully have graduated to adult food. It's actually a rabbit hutch, but it works very well for raising up chicks.

The Baby House is located inside Cluckingham Palace, which is a High Security SuperMax facility. It has a cozy bedroom with plenty of room for growing chicks yet small enough for them to cuddle up and stay warm on the soft shavings. They will pass through an elegant archway into a spacious dining hall with room for half a gallon of water and about three pounds of chick food. It's set up for easy cleaning, and as importantly, the youngsters will be in full view of the adult inhabitants. In a few weeks when the chicks are released there'll be little or no feather picking or pecking.

Here's some pictures of them exploring their new home; they look pretty excited to be big kids now:

In Other News

We have a Winner! The Great Musical Fish Project will now move on to the state competition; video at eleven. For now here's a photo of the Mad Scientist and his Fascinating Fish:

An Exciting Discovery

These Dewberry blossoms are out in The Orchard today. It's just about the right time; the excitement is because there are more blooms in this photo than we saw during all of last spring during The Drought to End All Droughts.

(Dewberries differ from Blackberries in that they have a trailing rather than upright habit, and are usually sweeter).

Something to Ponder

The rake went missing yesterday. It's bright red and should be pretty easy to find. It was eventually located:

How the Donkey Got His Cross

There are many versions of this legend, this one is probably the shortest.




Everyone knows that the little gray donkey carries a cross on his back.

The story is told that the little donkey that had been Jesus' mount on Palm Sunday, came
to the hill of Calvary. Seeing the tragic event occurring there, he wished with all his heart to
be able to carry the cross for Jesus, as he was the proper one to carry heavy burdens.
The donkey turned his back on the sight, but he could not leave because he wished
to stay until all was over because of his love for Jesus,

In reward for the loyal and humble love of the little donkey, the Lord caused the
shadow of the cross to fall across his back and left it there for the donkey to carry
forevermore as a sign that the love of God, no matter how humble, carries a reward for all us to see.



The cross is referred to as a 'tear mark' and all donkeys (not just gray ones) have them though sometimes they can be hard to see, Some donkeys also have horizontal stripes on their legs; these are said to be reflections of the fronds in the street on that Palm Sunday. It's hard to see in the pictures, but our Bells has these markings.

Chick Update #2

It's been 72 hours plus and all the chicks are doing great. The later delivery date is probably the difference-we usually get them a few weeks earlier.

They should be ready to move this weekend but it appears the monsoons are to return, which will make getting the chicken house ready rather challenging. Chicks are remarkably robust little fuzz balls but they are susceptible to cryptosporidiosis, an infection spread by chicken poop. To avoid losses i move them into a spotless, disinfected coop with brand new bedding throughout. They also have a medicated feed which is probably adequate protection all by itself. Once they're about 12 weeks old their immune systems have developed enough that crypto is no longer a threat.

We feed Purina, but there's lots of other brands available:

Chick Update

At about 24 hours post-installation all the chicks are downright vigorous and healthy appearing. So far, so good!

The Donkey Department, Part Two

So, donkeys being excellent guard animals, it was determined that we needed a full sized, spotted arse to deal with our Bobcat infestation. Dolly has the intention but fails on execution because she's, well, miniature. My friend The Commandant found an adorable, fuzzy, spotted Jennet on Craigslist. Being easily influenced we hooked up the trailer and went to take a look. There in the front yard of an expensive home in an upscale neighborhood were two emaciated donkeys, clearly in the later stages of starvation. Into the trailer they both went, and as you can see, they are now fat and happy.

Bells is the larger brown donkey. She's about three or four years old and was always very tame and friendly. She likes beer, especially a good Oatmeal Porter at the end of a long day repairing fences or clearing brush. She has the tear mark and some rather primitive markings on her lower legs, probably a lot like the donkey that Jesus rode. (that's a good little story, worthy of its own post).

Jewels is now just about two years old. She had never been touched, let alone worn a halter or had her feet trimmed. She would be on the other side of the pasture if she even thought you might be looking at her. She now brays and runs to the barn as soon as she hears the porch door. She's bigger than Bells and still hasn't grown into her knees; she'll be a big strong girl one day.

Hopefully we'll find time to teach them to drive; they would really love to have a job and help us with our work. They would do it even if there wasn't a beer at the end the day, that's just the Donkey way. I think Donkeys were around during that whole caveman time when dogs were being domesticated-it certainly would explain the enmity.

Donkeys bond for life and these two are inseparable; they are purported to be half sisters but of course there's no way of being certain. Jewels would not have survived without Bells regardless, and i am thankful we were able to save them both. The Donkey Sisters will stay together here in their forever home, just like all the rest of our 'Special' Animals.

Chick Daze

This years batch of babies arrived today, and everyone appears to be in good health, although we usually lose one or two in the first few days. They'll stay in the 'brooder' for a week or two; once they have real feathers and can regulate their body temperature they'll go in the Baby House, a secure hutch inside Cluckingham Palace. By the time they have outgrown their nursery, the flock will have accepted them and they won't get beaten up when they are finally released. Pecking Order is real, and it can be quite dangerous.

It's difficult to get decent pictures in the brooder because of the heat lamp. The chicks need to be at 95F or so for their first few days. Big batches of day old chicks are shipped in small boxes; this allows them to maintain adequate warmth. After they hatch, the chicks will have about 72 hours of reserve before they must eat and drink. This allows the hatcheries to ship them all over the place-it wouldn't work a few days later though.

The white chicks are Leghorns, they are extremely productive layers of white eggs. The ones with racing stripes are Easter Eggers, they lay lovely tinted eggs of all colors. The plain buff ones are Rhode Island Reds, very productive layers of brown eggs. The dark gray chicks are Cochins-or at least I think that's what they are.


Update: Review of the hatchery account has revealed that the gray chicks are Light Brahmas, very friendly layers of brown eggs.

Rufous

Gets a coat. He's a growing boy and it's almost Hot again; spending a lot of $$ on outerwear seemed unreasonable. Fortunately Wally World has provided-it's 45F and raining all this week so Roof is thrilled to have his very own jacket.

Gotta love the Village People look......fur trim and all

The Donkey Department, Part One

Let's start with Dolly, she's been here longest and certainly is most troublesome. She's a Sicilian donkey and is miniature, as many animals that originate on islands are. Before coming here she worked in a therapeutic riding program where she got lots of treats, thus her little weight problem. She's extremely friendly and like all donkeys craves our attention.

Being in possession of special powers, she can walk right through six strands of barbed wire like it isn't there, can limbo under anything higher than about six inches, and excels at opening latches and turning on faucets. Dolly is very protective and doesn't tolerate canines in the pasture; fortunately she doesn't mind them in the yard-fortunately because she's forever apparating herself into said yard.

She can eat an entire patch of broccoli, bales of Apple Mint, or small citrus trees without adverse effect, and keeps us all on our toes by carrying off or chewing up any unattended cell phones or tools. Dolly is our Herd Leader. The big yellow horse thinks he is, but he's just wrong.

Monsoon Season

Well, it's still raining, enough to delay putting out the tomatoes as the soil is just too wet to work. But a flash of inspiration has provided both protection from the Flock O'Felines and a properly controlled environment for seed starting. Wonder what the penalty is for possession of that last item?

Hot Arrives Early

And we are very busy at Higher Ground. The tomatoes will get put out tomorrow, the sugar snap peas are reaching out for their fancy eight foot tall pea fence, and the pole beans are about six inches high. The carrots and beets are a bit behind and it looks to be another Potato Famine in the making, as the seed still hasn't arrived. There's citrus to prune, hives to inspect and boxes to be added, Noble Steeds to be whipped into shape and Cluckingham Palace to be readied for this years batch of chicks.

Then we can get started on the Chores.

Here's the tomatoes carefully documented progress, over about three weeks, and yes, the kitties scrambled them up, they are Mystery 'Maters now: