The leader of organized festivities in our  film group, Soiree Du Film, is Robert Bennett.  His setup for Oscar Night is always breathtaking.  Of course it always helps when your partner is the brain behind K Aubrey Flowers and a great Southern cook.  But all of our birthdays have been beautifully celebrated and this year was to be Bob’s year.   Kevin located a balloon shop in Annandale that delivered over 400 helium charged balloons. It does not have a website, but their contact information is worth having, if you need LOTS of balloons delivered and ready to take flight to your ceiling.

The Party Company, 4421 John Marr Drive,  Annandale, VA Phone 703 354 6178

Nils and Sonia along with her mother from Paris cooked the meal.  All I had to do was show up with a carrot cake for Bob. And of course, our videographer extraordinaire, Nils Bertrand made this marvelous video.

Bob’s favorite cake is carrot cake and I have baked, bought and tasted many;  to my mind the winner is this adaptation from an AOOP (Alas Out Of Print) cookbook by Camille Glen titled “The Heritage of Southern Cooking“.  This old girl made her reputation making cakes in Louisville, Kentucky.  Her Golden Cointreau Cake or her Southern Heirloom Cake are both worth another blog entry.  I substitute mascarpone for cream cheese as a personal preference in  the frosting.  She calls this Queen Anne’s Cake in honor of the carrot relative, Queen Anne’s Lace.

1 cup unsalted butter (I use Plugra)

2 cups  India Tree Golden Baker’s Sugar

4 large eggs

2 cups grated carrots (usually 6 to 8 carrots) I hand grate these

on a box grater which gives you a thinner texture than if you did it in food processor

grated carrots the low tech way pays off in texture

2 cups all purpose flour (I prefer Hecker’s)

2 tsp ground cinnamon

1/2 tsp ground ginger

1 tsp Bakewell Cream Baking Powder

1 tsp fine sea salt

1 tsp Vanilla Extract.  For this cake I use Nielsen Massey Mexican Vanilla

Frosting

6oz unsalted butter (10 Tbs)

12oz mascarpone

4 1/4 cups sifted India Tree confectioner’s sugar

A couple of pinches of fine sea salt

2 tsp Nielsen Massey Mexican Vanilla Extract

Preheat your oven to 350F. Grease and flour 2 9×2 round cake pans. Instead of flour, I use hazelnut or almond flour. Also if you have problems getting cakes out of your pans, use parchment circles.  Less stressful…   Cream butter and sugar until smooth and fluffy.  Add eggs and beat until mixture is silky and looks like mayonnaise.  It should fall in a ribbon from a spoon.  Beat in grated carrots

Combine the flour, cinnamon, ginger, baking powder and salt.  Sift before folding by hand  into carrot mixture. A spoonula is  an awesome folding tool for cake batters.  Divide batter between the two pans.  Each should be about 3/4 full.  Place on middle shelf in oven and bake about 30-35 minutes.  Cake should spring back at once when lightly touched.

Cool cake layers 5 minutes before unmolding, then allow them to cool completely.  New to me advice from Camille is that cakes containing ginger often split if they are removed from pans while hot.

With the flat blade of a mixer or in a food processor mix the mascarpone with the butter until it is free of lumps.  Gradually add the confectioner’s sugar, salt and the vanilla.  Mix until smooth.  Chill frosting until it has a good spreading consistency– about an hour.  You can make a crumb coating first,  which will give the cake a more professional look.  Marzipan carrots or spiced walnuts make a nice decoration.  The frosting amount leaves you enough to do some piped rosettes if you wish.

PovertyChicken, salad and bread all on a platter

Bonjour, Cuisinettes!

I travel regularly from Brookeville,  Maryland to your delightful shop for many reasons (copper cookware, sharpened knives, amazing coffee), but chief among them are the Les Moulins Mahjoub Natural Preserved Lemons you carry. I’ve sung the praises of these salty-sour morsels in my blog, dinnerbysusan.wordpress.com, and on the Facebook page of my personal chef business, www.facebook.com/dinnerbysusan.  Here is my  guest blog submission highlighting one of my favorite preserved lemon entrees – a dish I call Poverty Chicken. I hope you enjoy it as much as I and my family do

A couple of decades ago, I found myself in dire straits.  Newly single. Leveraged to the hilt. Living in the “bohemian” (read, low-rent) part of town. I had an apartment that was crawling with termites, a downstairs neighbor who screamed every time I walked across my living room, and a landlord who didn’t think a severely backed-up kitchen sink should be his problem. (“That’s what God made bathtubs for,” he said. “The dishes.”)

I was broke, grossed out and — considering I never knew when the neighbor downstairs was going to start banging on my ceiling — more than a little high-strung.  So I did what any maxed-out, newly single, tenement-dwelling girl would do–I threw a party.

I called my best friend and defrosted a whole chicken. I found some wrinkled oranges and lemons lolling in my refrigerator. A few wilted onion slices and a couple of shriveled garlic cloves. I stuffed the sad, sad savories into my bird and roasted it at 375 degrees for a couple of hours.  It was delicious! And thus was born “Poverty Chicken.”

“Poverty Chicken” is a staple at our house now, but the years have been very, very good to it (and to me). I never stray far from the citrus/poultry combination, but nowadays, my ingredient of choice is Les Moulins Mahjoub Natural Preserved Lemons. You are supposed to eat just the rind, but I gobble down the entire lemon and love every tangy, bracing morsel.

Slice the whole lemon and not just the rind

Les Moulins Mahjoub Natural Preserved Lemons are the show-stopping ingredient in “Poverty Chicken.”  They stand up to the dish’s assertive spice rub and offer a bracng counterpoint to the richness of the roasted meat.  Best, they elevate a humble chicken to something exceedingly special.    Poverty Chicken generously fed those gathered ’round my table in my newly single squat.  It continues to feed my family and friends today, and I hope it does yours, too.

Poverty Chicken with Arugula-Peach Salad & Ciabatta Croutons

1 3- to 4-pound chicken, preferably organic

you can do this ahead or right before basting the chicken

1 tablespoon ground allspice

2 teaspoons cinnamon

1 teaspoon ground cumin

1 teaspoon Hungarian sweet paprika

¼ cup olive oil

2 teaspoons salt

1 teaspoon pepper

1 Les Moulins Mahjoub natural preserved lemon, plus 1-2 tablespoons of the brining liquid

4-6 cups baby arugula

2 peaches, peeled and sliced (or in the fall and winter, use pears)

1 ciabatta roll, halved; each half cut into fourths

1 tablespoon Sherry wine vinegar

2 tablespoons olive oil

Turn your chicken onto its tummy. Using an extremely sharp boning knife or poultry shears, cut out the chicken’s backbone. After the backbone is removed, open the bird like a book. Turn it over and press firmly to flatten. (You’ll hear a dull crack as the breast bone gives way.)

Combine allspice, cinnamon, cumin, paprika, olive oil, salt and pepper in a small bowl. Rub spice mixture all over the chicken.

After you have whisked the marinade ingredients together

Thinly slice the preserved lemon and slip it under the chicken’s skin.

whole lemon slices are slipped in

Thinly slice the preserved lemon and slip it under the chicken’s skin.

Drizzle 1-2 tablespoons of the Les Moulin Mahjoub brine over the chicken.

Place the chicken in a greased roasting pan, and roast at 400 degrees for an hour, or until the meat’s internal temperature is between 160 and 165 degrees. Remove from oven and let chicken rest for 20 minutes.

As chicken rests, brush ciabatta triangles with olive oil and place on a baking sheet. Crisp in the oven 7-10 minutes, until just golden brown. Remove.

After resting (very important) carve into serving pieces

Whisk together Sherry wine vinegar and olive oil in a large bowl. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Add arugula and peach slices to the bowl and toss well.

Pile the arugula-peach salad on a platter. Top with chicken (whole or cut up). Scatter ciabatta croutons around.

Our invitation to L’il G’s Fiesta

When we found out that our grandson, Gregorio Pallotta, was making his debut to North America for his first American Christmas,  we wanted to have a special party for him and his parental units.  No point in having an Italian Buffet or a Southern Christmas  open house.  Instead we opted to have Oyamel cater a standing around celebration, and they did not disappoint.  This was to be a party for babies, children and some adults.

Some fiesta children and adults

And the star of the fiesta arrives…

So first we went to Paperless Post, which I discovered a few years ago in an article in the New York Times.  It is my favorite way of designing, sending and keeping responses for a party.  Paperless Post is more elegant and much less commercial than many of the other Evite sites. I have even used their templates for some customized thank you notes.

Next I contacted Katy Kennedy at the newly formed Oyamel Catering Division (their kitchen is on Eisenhower Avenue which makes it handy for locavore catering ) and she arranged an “ottimo”–direct quote from Gregorio’s father– spread.  Something for children, adults–and all easily eaten while standing around or having a great time with our families.  The team arrived at 3PM,  set up a bar service in the kitchen, were delighted to cook on my 35 year old Vulcan range,  greeted guests,  took their coats (I did get a dress rack from Donna Lewis down the block) served drinks and food to everyone, and were out of the house by 9PM.  When I looked around our apartment, you could not tell there had been a party with almost 40 people.

This is the menu Katy sent to me and I did not change a thing.

A competition between El Salvador and France

Ponche de Granada – this is a refreshing mixture of cranberry tea infused with Tequila and freshly pressed apple cider, and flavored with a bit of ginger Mexican cinnamon and lemon

 Oyamel’s famous Salt air margaritas  need no introduction to anyone who has gone to the restaurant, so I have included the recipe from the Washingtonian in the link.

Mezcal Hot Chocolate – this was served with little glasses of Mezcal on the side of each mug.  It is a rich and foamy Mexican hot chocolate.  Both children and adults loved it as a dessert drink.

Agua Fresca Three Ways was a colorful and delicious solution for both children and adults who did not drink alcohol.

These were refreshing for both children and adults

Much nicer than fizzy water with lemon or lime and obviously we did not have to the dread soda options.

Oyamel’s Guacamole en Molcajete with salsa and chips.  Who doesn’t love a good guac, and theirs is a little different with the queso fresco.  Plus, the molcajete was the biggest one I have ever seen!

The two foot wide molcajete had to filled several times

Gaspacho Estilo Morelia was new to me and it is a unique salad, so much so that I have included a YouTube link (in Spanish but you will get the idea very easily) on how to make this

One of the most unusual taste combinations of the evening

Sopes de Chorizo is a variant on little masa “boats” which are fun to make with children.  We have done them for one of our Cuisinette family get togethers.  Larissa’s recipe, which has been made by little Cuisinettes and Cuisiners makes a nice kitchen project.  And they are yummy.

One of the two types of tacos served

Oyamel’s team also served Tamales de Ranchero (a Mexican version of duck confit in a soft cornmeal pillow) as well as their Shrimp Tacos and and Pork Barbecue Tacos.

Sopes are delcious & easy snacks that you can make with your children

We Cuisinettes are very proud of our cooking chops and share recipes with each other and clients when we pick cookbooks, new products and gear for the shop. But, in gender fairness, I want to give OTBD readers my husband’s roast chicken recipe which gets rave reviews from family and friends. It is SO easy, you will have plenty of time for a little cocktail–or two–before dinner.

The recipe is my husband’s by way of Patricia Wells’ Bistro Cooking. In fact, it is actually her take on the roast chicken served at Chez l’ami Louis, a restaurant in Paris where the dish is served at extortionate prices. Check Trip Advisor for the hilarious disparity in their reviews by both French and American consumers!

My husband has a comical way of presenting the carved chicken (see above). And Bon Appetit without spending 85 euros at Chez l’ami Louis!

If you are short on supplies for this recipe, you can find the following items at La Cuisine:

Duck fat

Trussing needle

Trussing twine

Carving knife

Sel de Guerande

Muntok pepper

Oval platter

Delicious and easy to prepare nine months of the year

Even though I look forward to steamy hot weather in Alexandria, Virginia–think dacquiris,  rose wine,  grilled meats and veggies, crunchy granitas with a dollop of whipped cream–but by October,  I am tired of f having my shirt stick to my body and even the chocolate chip cookie of salads (mozzarella, tomatoes and basil) has had its seasonal run with me.

So while I do the v- e-r -y s- l- o-w transition of summer clothes from my teeny closet to the attic and start hauling down cool weather clothes (hoping that even with moth killer stuff, they have survived),  I can hardly wait to make this dish.  It can be started in the morning and left on the stove (burner off, of course) and finished off for dinner that night– or even better– the next day.  In that case,  stick the pot in the fridge.  One of the reasons I like to do this in the fall and winter  is that we have wonderful local Roma tomatoes. I cook it with canned ones later in the season, but the fresh ones just put this dish over the edge.  I learned from Domenica Marchetti, the low tech but big reward technique of halving meaty Roma tomatoes and holding on to the skin side,  grating them against the large of holes of a box grater.

This gives an extra “oomph”, but canned tomatoes are fine too,

So here is my tried and true, never fail recipe for Osso Buco and polenta. (By the way, I think we have the best polenta in our shop.  It is actually milled in the USA and is non GMO.)  The veal shanks used in this recipe came from Julian Shapiro, the butcher (and fount of butchery knowledge) at Society Fair.

This is for 6-10 (depending on how large your shank bones are and how thick the cut)

8 to 10 veal shanks 2 inches thick

a plateful of all purpose flour seasoned generously with sea salt and (freshly ground, please)  pepper

1/3 cup olive oil (no need to use a really good EVOO, just a decent supermarket one)

4 tablespoons butter

1 garlic clove  peeled, split if it is a large one

1 large peeled  carrot finely diced

1 large  peeled onion in same dice

1 large peeled celery stalk in same dice

1 cup dry white wine

1 1/2 cups veal or chicken stock

14 oz chopped tomatoes (skin removed)

Bouquet garni (some parsley stems,  thyme sprigs, bay leaf, pepper corns, celery leaves tied in a muslin bag)

Tying meat for braising improves the quality of the final presentation

Tie each veal shank with linen or cotton butcher’s twine around the middle so that the meat adheres to the bone.  Snip off the long tied string ends.   Turn them over on all sides in your plate of seasoned flour.  Heat your combination of

Floured shanks will help make the sauce thicker

olive oil, butter and whole peeled garlic clove  in a pan that is large enough to hold all of them in a single layer.  (This is where you will see the advantages of thick gauge copper or aluminum).  You do not want the garlic to turn brown, just move it around until the butter and oil heat to medium before you put the shanks in.  Turn the shanks over until each side is  well browned.  Remove them from your pan and discard the garlic.

Not seared, but golden brown is how you want the shanks to look

Add the diced carrot, onion and celery (the Holy Trinity of braising) to the pan and cook over medium heat without browning for 6 minutes or so.  Then turn up the heat to high and add the wine, and allow it to cook off the alcohol for about 3 minutes.  Add your stock, grated fresh tomatoes or chopped canned tomatoes and the prepared bouquet garni bag.  Season with sea salt and freshly ground pepper.  Taste for your preferred flavor balance and then add your shanks.  Shanks should stand up in a single layer.

My favorite Mauviel pan for so many recipes

Cover and simmer for at least an hour.  Meat should be tender, so it may take longer.  You can remove the shanks and increase the heat so that the sauce thickens and then return the shanks to the pan.  Discard the bouquet garni and taste the sauce for salt and pepper adjustment.

I served this normally with our Polenta from India Tree, but rice or a pasta dish is lovely as well.  A salad after this and a simple cake dessert with fruit is all you need.  I do a grappa cake with a somewhat seasonal fruit compote, which I will reveal in another blog!

Ready to munch….

I LOVE October! … the harbinger of my favorite season, FALL!  Warm, sunny days and crisp nights… Wonderful memories of heading back to school and coming home to the smell of freshly baked cookies…chocolate chip cookies.  My mom did not put cookies in lunches; they were treats when we came home.  My sister and I sat around the kitchen table and ate them and told Momma about the day.

I love these cookies for all the wonderful things they bring to mind and how wonderful they taste.  My mom made the delicious recipe on the chocolate chip bag.  This recipe has evolved from my having baked thousands of them…and the little tweaks that come from experience and finding La Cuisine and Nancy.  I love these cookies for the yummy richness that comes from using the best ingredients.  They are not cloying; they are a rich, chewy – soft inside and crisp outside.  We serve them to guests for dessert with coffee, a big red wine, port or a glass of milk!  Ingredients matter in baking and cooking – use the freshest, highest quality ingredients you can find and you will be rewarded!

Organize and measure your ingredients…

Sliced cold butter

1 cup chilled unsalted butter, cut in small pieces

1 cup packed India Tree Dark Muscovado Sugar

1 cup packed India Light Muscovado Sugar

2 large cold eggs

3 teaspoons pure Madagascar vanilla (or vanilla bean paste)

1 teaspoon French almond essence (optional)

1 teaspoon kosher salt

1 teaspoon baking soda

2 ¾ – 3 cups Antimo Caputo  all purpose “00″ flour

2 cups (12 oz) chocolate chips – I use Michel Cluizel Mangaro Noir Mini Grammes

Step one:  In a medium size mixing bowl, combine the flour, salt, baking soda and chocolate chips.  Chill in the refrigerator while you mix the other ingredients.  Mixing the chocolate chips and with the dry ingredients in advance helps insure the chocolate is well distributed.

Dry ingredients with chocolate chips but no sugars

Step two:  In the bowl of an electric mixer, combine the chilled butter and sugars.  Mix on medium slow speed until just combined.

Lightly mixed butter and sugars

Step three:  Add the eggs, and then add the vanilla and almond extracts.   Please note it is very important to use chilled ingredients and not over mix the ingredients at this stage.  If the butter gets too warm or breaks down, the cookies run. This is very important; I do not cream the butter and sugars. This photo shows you how the mixture should look at this stage.  It is just right for adding the dry ingredients…

Step four:  With the mixer on slow, add the dry ingredients until well combined but do not over mix.

Step five:  Remove the mixer paddle.  Then cover and chill your cookie dough for at least 60 minutes.

When ready to bake, preheat your oven to 350 degrees.

While the oven is heating, scoop your cookies onto silpat or parchment lined cookie sheets.    I use a 1.5” ice cream scoopwhich makes 32 very nice size cookies.   Please cook no more than eight cookies on a sheet and stagger the dough-balls as shown.  This allows the air to circulate creating a crisp crust and a wonderful crumb.  If you use a different size scoop, you will want to adjust your cookie dough layout and baking time accordingly.

Nicely shaped scoops of dough on silpat lined half sheets

(Please note if you would like to have fresh baked cookies at a later date, freeze the dough balls in a large freezer storage bag.  Remove the number of dough balls out you would like to bake and arrange them on the cookie sheet when you turn the oven on to preheat.  The dough will have thawed sufficiently to follow the baking directions.)

Bake for 15 minutes, you will see the edges of your cookies have just started to turn a lovely brown.

Remove the cookie sheets from the oven and allow the cookies to cool on the pan for 10 minutes.  After 10 minutes, remove the cookies to a cooling rack.

Then eat or share them before you eat too many!!

To all of us at La Cuisine, the month of September means local figs (and also better not- so- local ones)  There is even a giant fig tree two blocks up from the shop in a side yard of a Georgian house which is now an office building.  And we have been known to snatch a few when we run errands. So here are a few ideas that we have loved from some cookbooks we have featured in our shop:  figs wrapped in prosciutto and then grilled quickly–arugula, sliced figs, Parmesan shavings, thin slices prosciutto, culatello or speck, drizzled with walnut oil and sprinkled with your best quality aceto balsamico, with maybe a little sel de Guerande over the top.

But so far the best fig dessert I have ever done is the one from Patricia Well’s  first  cookboo0k called Bistro Cooking.

It is really an easy to do fig jam in a slightly precooked crust.  I use a different crust than the one suggested in her cookbook.  The crusts from  The Zuni Cafe Cookbook are really good.

Her proportions for a crust are  1 cup or 4.5 oz all purpose white flour, an optional 2 teaspoons of sugar and 8 tablespoons of cold salted butter.  For a flakier crust you can add a trickle of very cold water.  Mix your flour and sugar in a wide bowl.  Cut your butter in slices lengthwise, then mix it in with the flour until you have rough pebble shapes.   For a flakier crust, dribble a a bit of cold water over the mass.  Then form a mass, and reshape it into a disk.  Wrap in Stretchtite and refrigerate until firm.  Freeze it if you are not going to use it within a day.  Allow it to come to room temperature before rolling out. Roll your circle around your rolling pin and unroll it over your tart pan.  It is best to refrigerate this type of crust again before baking.  If baking without the filling, use ceramic pie weights to help the tart maintain its shape.  Place them on a foil or parchment inside the chilled crust.

But back to the recipe of this sublime fall dessert:

2.2lbs fresh figs of your choice, they can be mixed.

3/4 cups India Tree Golden Baker’s Sugar

1 Mexican or Madagascar Vanilla Bean, split lengthwise

Partially baked tart shell approximately 9″ in diameter

Whipped cream with a taste of vanilla and powdered sugar

Fig mixture simmering in a copper fait tout

In a heavy saucepan, combine figs, sugar, vanilla bean (you can scrape the seeds into the fig jam at the end before discarding the split hulls) with 1/2 cup water.  Stir to dissolve the sugar and bring mixture to a boil over medium heat.   Lower to a simmer as you do not want the sugar to burn before the figs soften and cook.  This should take about an hour.  Do not allow this mixture to scorch.

Preheat your oven to 375 F.  Spread the cooled fig mixture into the partially baked tart shell.  Bake about 20 minutes.  Allow to cool before serving with a scoop of vanilla flavored  sweetened whipped cream.  A rich vanilla ice cream is not a bad second choice.

Fig tart slice ready for a very happy diner

I understand that service in a coffee bar here can be spotty.  I am okay with that,  if they wash out their machines and don’t make coffee flavored milk.  So the winners in the service division were the employees at the Starbucks on the corner of Union and King.  Plus there were some tables outside.  Coffee in a ceramic cup rather than paper actually tastes better (I know, I know, there is a difference, believe it or not).  And these folks did a great job when they had ceramic cups available.  Coffee  andpastries were better at Pain Quotidien , another chain with all the right slogans.  Actually I was ecstatic when they opened one on the corner of King and Washington Street.

But now it’s a new morning in my neighborhood of make believe.  We finally have an attractive venue that is open at 7am, has outdoor seating,  the most fabulous Italian style coffees, to die for croissants, lovely fruit salads,  AND freshly squeezed orange juice.  The scones  and biscuits which have been a work in progress are really good too.    It’s called Society Fair at 227 South Washington Street and is the newest addition to the Evel Empire, or as they prefer to be called, “EatGoodFoodGroup.   Their phone numeber is 703 836 3247.

Meet Portia, their extraordinary barista, and pick up one of Nathan’s pastries (he makes the best bread in Old Town).  Sometimes they have his ethereal doughnuts.  I inhaled mine before I could take a picture of it.  All the images of cappuccini here were ones that she made.  She currently offers caffe shakerato, the perfect morning cooler in our 95 plus temperature and humidity.

If you go later, introduce yourself to Julian, who is a real butcher.  Candid and talented,  Julian will sell you meat the way a butcher does in Europe.  His house made pates and sausages vary from good to out of this world…just remember that he buys from small farms where livestock is sold whole.  So he uses everything from nose to tail.  He always has cuts that are almost impossible to find such as pear and spider steaks.

I am happy and all is good in my neighborhood of make believe.

Nancy

We made it!

The gals caught up on all the TV they missed and I was happy to have a bed. (note to self: next time
I will fork over the money for  a sleeper car from Chicago to Montana)
After a couple more bottles of Cerdon it was lights out.
We checked out and on recommendation from the front desk had a very hardy
breakfast at the Town Pump Country Skillet, which for your reference is located at 311 Main Street in Shelby and their phone number is 406-434-2175.  We then drove to a store called Pamida 15 1950 West Roosevelt Highway (also in Shelby that stocked a little bit of everything. Booster chairs were purchased and now we were ready to begin our drive south to Helena.

Montana Appetites

The drive into Helena was mind blowing. Our first stop was at Murdoch’s
Ranch & Home Supply ) for cowgirl hats, of course.  Our
second stop was a special treat for 3 very patient little girls who had
been in the car way too long.  Carousel Ice Cream shop has a great variety
of homemade ice cream and also an indoor carousel.

After a ride on a wolf, a rabbit and a grizzly bear and some ice cream we headed to Stephanie and Ricks house.

Miss Rodeo of Virginia one day

We gave our buddy Teddy lots of hugs and kisses, toured the beautiful
house, unpacked and settled into our rooms and checked out the wall of
mountains in the backyard. The girls found a creek, a trampoline and
horses and ducks as neighbors.  We enjoyed a bison steak later that
evening and Stephanie’s macaroni and cheese  with lots more
Cerdon and, as Mellie and Liz called it, sprinkling cider.

The next day, our 1st full day in Helena, Stephanie took us to Exploration
Works, () an interactive museum for children of all
ages.  We spent most of the day jumping into simulators, putting on puppet
shows, and exploring all sorts of other fun exhibits. On the way back to
Stephi’s we were struck by a deer. Yes, the deer actually struck us.
Everyone was all right, except for the deer.  More Cerdon followed, just to calm the nerves.

Childrens Museum was just one of many treatscalm the nerves.

Stephanie’s daughter April, her boyfriend Richard , and Kollie their
border collie, were waiting for us. Kollie, entertained us with her
antics chasing and leaping for her frisbee. The girls also wowed us with
their trampoline tricks. All those acrobatics  really gave us quite an
appetite. We enjoyed dinner on the screened in back porch with an amazing
view of the mountains and clear sky.  Six days in, so far so good.

Posted by Larissa

Growing up in suburban Columbus, Ohio, I never really saw a pig in my future. Granted, there were pigs, cows, and horses galore in Ohio, but none in my neck of the woods. Fast forward to a rather bizarre move westward to Montana, and some very special new friends, and we have been gifted a pig!

It all began when our wonderful friends Bud and Laura decided to raise piglets for food this year. Laura asked me for name suggestions,  as apparently there is an unwritten rule that they have to be named after food if you are eventually going to put them in your freezer. I suggested Pattie and Link and she loved it. So it was to be. 

On the day of the piggie pickup, I got a call from Laura telling me that I had to come up with another name. Why? Because they had purchased a ”gift” piggie for us! Thankfully they would raise it on their ranch, but we would have visitation rights. Well, not very original, but my Dad’s favorite Looney Tunes character was Porky Pig, so we called her Porky.

When we went over to meet her, she came right to me for a neck scratch. (She is the one on the right in the photo.) She was precious, but then they all were.

I had hesitations about getting too attached, but I soon got it. These little pigs had a wonderful life. They ate good organic food, we would go over on weekends and feed them all sorts of things…corn, melon, squash,  apples, and of course their favorite, beer. How they loved the beer! They would run around and play, and were literally smiling.

When the sad day came for the butchering, we were okay with everything. They weren’t standing shoulder to shoulder in a feed lot, they were kept clean and well-fed, and the whole experience was full of good Karma.

We now have a freezer full of the most wonderful pork I have ever tasted, and with every forkful we have memories of our delightful days spent with Porky.