Recap: I was dreaming of a kitchen counter covered in these

So we got some chicks

Then that cute fluffy yellow one died. 

Panic!  Terror!

Okay, fine, we moved on. Then we got this one, you voted and her name became Ingrid.  And life was good.

Our backyard had become one of my favorite places.  We would sit outside, watch the chickens and admire our partially done fence.  We even got a pool!

That is not us, and those are not our kids

Kyle and I were in the pool enjoying ourselves when we heard it.  I had heard it earlier in the day, and was worried but brushed it off.  When we heard it again, I did some quick internet research.  Jackie, who was supposed to look like this:

(this is a hen, FYI)

instead looked like this:

(and, of course, this is a rooster, also FYI)

Shiiiit.

From that day forth, the glamourous Jackie O was now referred to as Jack Kennedy.  To keep our neighbors happy, the next day he flew the coop to a nice couple in Brooklyn Park who told me they would be using him for breeding. (Fingers crossed for you Jack!)

And then there were two.

To be continued...

You may remember my post from around this time last year when I wrote about the fabulous experience I had with Kyle and my parents at the Minnesota version of Outstanding in the field.  We were fortunate enough to experience the dinner once again, for what I can only hope is a newly formed tradition with Kyle and my parents. 

This year, similar to last, my parents, husband and I packed into a four seater Toyota and travelled west into what I consider uncharted Minnesota territory.  This time we were farther south, and stayed on a highway I was relatively familiar with, until we passed all the expensive Excelsior houses and spun around in a rural round-about.  "How civilized" my mother commented.  I was gathering excitement for our upcoming meal; wondering who I might know, how things would be different from the year before, and of course, what we would be eating.  As we slowed to approach the would be dinner site (Star Thrower Farms) , I jumped out of the car to grab some pictures and cleverly ran into my lovely friend Kathy, who just so happened to be the woman who earlier this year introduced me to the wonderful world of foraging.  Having not seen each other for months, we gabbed about how good it was to see the other again, until I realized I had all but abandoned my dinner guests to chat.  I trudged along to meet up with the rest of the crowd and get my hands on some of the first treats of the evening. 

First up, charcuterie compliements of celebri-chef Mike Phillips.  His work at the Craftsman has been well regarded in the Twin Cities, but is about to partake in an new adventure called Green Ox, creating salumi for the masses (!!!!).

This year's event was notably hot and humid, compared to last years breezy, overcast and ultimately electrified experience.  We stood around and chatted sipping on our aperitifs of Minnesota made vodka and refreshing prosecco. Jim Denevan (founder and ah-mazing artist chatted with us a bit, giving us a breakdown of how it all began.  Soon there after we were introduced to farmers Deborah and Scott Pikovsky and took off to enjoy a tour of the farm.

The tour involved meeting some of their Icelandic sheep, their many rams, the milking room (including a not-to-be-messed-with guard llama) and my favorite: an amazingly well preserved old barn with gorgeous interior architecture.  Finally, we headed down the hill towards the massive linened table set for 150.  Jealous yet?

The guest chef this year was again Scott Pampuch, owner and chef of The Corner Table and the man behind the locally based Tour De Farm.  His experience cooking with local food is quite extensive and it showed clearly throughout every course.  Up first was a salad of grilled sausage and peaches, mizuna and kohlrabi purée with a sprinkling of lamb pancetta served with a Rush River Double Alt beer.  The peaches were sweet, the lamb sausage earthy, the mizuna added a slight spice, the kohlrabi purée was smooth and creamy as silk, pancetta crunchy and salty and the beer bitter.  Not a bad way to start off an amazing meal. 

Up next was a lamb tamale made with Kathy's foraged black trumpet mushrooms and Riverbend farms cornmeal, dressed wtih greens, pickles and oh-so-hot hungarian wax peppers.  Amazing.  Gorgeous.  SPICY!

Phillips and Pampuch sprinkle sheep queso fresco on a lamb tamale salad.

The sun seemed to be lowering itself in the sky at an alarmingly slow pace, but fortunately two of the dishes were paired with rosé, my all time favorite way to beat the heat.  Well.  That and sitting in my newly purchased backyard swimming pool.  But that's a story for another time.  We followed up the tamales with a simple dish of grilled lamb, potatoes, baby carrot and onion. When well executed, the easiest dishes can beat the most extravagant any day of the week.  

Nothing better to beat the head than a cool, tart palatte cleanser.  This consisted of goat yogurt paired with ground cherries served on what were at one time the floor boards lining Chef Pampuch's attic.  Absolutely stunning.

The palatte cleanser came in quite handy as the next course consisted of a rich and flavorful lamb loin, heart, kidneys (blech!) and tongue.  I'm the first girl to step up to the organ meat plate, but the kidneys were way too much for me.  I'll take liver any day of the week though and I wonder who got to eat the lamb sweatbreads? Hmmmm.....

At this point it was time for a break and some good digestion.  Mom and I hit the Biffy's (seriously the nicest port-o-john I have EVER been in.  It flushed!  And had a pump for water!  Very ooh-la-la in the land of portable toilets) and I became infatuated with OITF's vintage bus. 

We rounded out the evening with some lovely desserts.  We started with the best dessert of all: cheese, berries and honey.  But soon enough the sun passed beyond the trees and the cheese had been consumed. A quick round of sweet corn ice cream followed, which we enjoyed as the bugs began their twilight assault and quickly devoured our legs. It was time to go.

Thanks to everyone who made that lovely Saturday night possible: The lamb, the farmers, the land, the chefs, the line cooks, the dishwashers, the foragers, the diners, the crop mobs, the organizers and everyone in between.  It couldn't have happened without you. 

Martha and Tom are a pair of Twin Cities food bloggers (I definitely recommend their blog, appropriately named "Martha and Tom") that suggested an engagement session at the farmers market.  There are many more to come, but I needed to get a few edited so they could announce their engagement to the internet.

Someone pointed out to me that fasting is the reason to schedule your appointments very early in the morning.  Well that's all fine and dandy, but also the reason I had this appointment to begin with: my last appointment was at 8:45 and due to a bit of sleeping in, traffic on 35, and a tight schedule, I arrived at 9:05 and was told that was too little, too late.  Hence, the reschedule (over a month later might I add). 

The blood withdrawl went as planned, I was poked and prodded and looked at, and was sent on my merry way.  This is when things became problematic. I'm going to go as far as to say my brain doesn't work at all if I don't eat breakfast.  I was in Edina and couldn't for the life of me figure out where I was going to go eat.  So I just got in my car and drove, ending up at Costco in The West End of St Louis Park, and tried every sample they had to offer, hoping it would sate me enough to make a fricken decision.  On my way out I saw a Panera bread sign and thought to mysef "FINE!" 

Sometimes being a stubborn ass isn't worth giving up decently okay foodstuffs.  At least it would be consistent.

As I walked up to the door all I could focus on was the poster depicting what looked to be a Caprese salad and then there, on the menu it was listed "Tomato, Mozzerella and Basil Salad"... aka, suburban caprese.  Fabulous.  I ordered that along with a Black Bean soup and took my seat at the counter waiting for my buzzer to buzz.  As I approached the counter I knew something was wrong.  That was a big bowl of lettuce, topped with mealy tomatoes and THREE fucking balls of fresh mozzerella.  I'm fairly confident there was actually more fat free Italian salad dressing on that salad than there was mozzerella.  And of course, croutons.

WHY DO PEOPLE MESS WITH PERFECTION?  CHEESE, TOMATOES, BASIL!  IT'S SO FUCKING EASY!!!!!!! And the black bean soup?  Of course.  OF COURSE they put a 1/2 cup of cumin in their Black Bean soup and lunch was rendered inedible. Fortunately for me they gave me a half pound chunk of multigrain bread which I slathered with three teenie tiny packs of butter so that I could get the energy to walk out of that place, leaving piles of terrible food just sitting on the counter. 

Needless to say, I haven't really recovered from my lunch experience.  I'm still hungry, but have no motivation to eat, or perhaps fear that anything I do eat will be as utterly disappointing as that ridiculous lunch.

Now, I know what you're thinking:  "What a fucking snob, eat your shitty salad dressing like a big girl and shut up already."  I would like to point out that I truely enjoy about 10,000 things that don't make me a goddamn snob.  So I'm putting together a list to keep me in your good graces after I just chewed out Panera.

1) MSG.  I love the stuff.  It's like crack to me.  Give me a bag of Cool Ranch Dorito chips and that bag WILL be gone, regardless of size.  This actually probably encapsulates a lot of trashy items I like, but Doritos and Earl's really take the cake here.

2) McDonald's

Though I dont' actually eat there, I would eat the hell out of a Filet'o'Fish any day of the week.  And McDonald's breakfast?  Don't even get me started.  Fat? Sodium? Cholesterol?  Bring it on.

3) Shake'n'bake

Pork chops, specifically.

4) Ranch dressing

On anything.  Including Pizza

5) Tostidos Salsa con Queso

This is almost as bad as Ranch.  Eggs, chips, burritos, straight out of the jar...

6) Lalli's Pizza in Milwaukee, WI

I haven't had this in years, but I still dream about it

7) Pickles wrapped in cream cheese and ham

8) Mini corn dogs

9) Strawberry Quik

10) BBQ meatballs

There, okay? I like disgustingly tasty things.  Now somebody get me some wine.

I haven't yet blogged about our csa, or how amazing it is... but I promise you I will, and that it is indeed amazing.  We went with Riverbend Farms this year and they are simply wonderful, if not simply for the unique things we've gotten so far: corn meal AND turtle beans from last year's harvest (!!!)  I really meant to keep some of the turtle beans for us to plant our own beans next year... but then I forgot to save a few and they all got soaked along with the edibles.  Oh well.  This meal was incredible, not just because I used an entire tub of mascarpone cheese in the polenta, or because I cooked the beans in my favorite Italian fashion, but because aside from the salt, mascarpone cheese and oil, every ingredient came from within 80 miles of our house.  Locavore-ism at its very best (and most delicious).

I made the beans in the same fashion Kyle and I learned five years ago (has it really been that long?) while living in the hills of Italy:

Rince your beans well, and pick through them to sort out broken beans and pesky stones.  Soak your beans in cool water with about an inch of water covering them (add more water as the beans will absorb some).  Cook them in their soaking water with a few cloves of garlic, add salt and stir every once in a while until the beans are the right consistency for you.  I like them just past al dente so they still have a tiny bite to them. When they're done, drizze really good olive oil and serve with crusty bread  Holy cow it's sinful, not to mention incredibly healthy.  You can use them at every meal (they were quite lovely with CSA eggs fried and their yolks oozing onto the beans) and they keep in the fridge until they mold or smell funny, but I can pretty much guarantee they won't be around long enough for you to get to that point, so just keep using them until they're gone. 

This polenta was absolutely fluffy, perfect, sinful and divine.  I was literally in love.  If you can get your hands on homegrown corn meal, do it now and do it fast.  Little chunks of whole squeaky corn REALLY brought the dish together.  For one cup of corn meal, I used 4 1/2 cups of 1% milk with a 1/2 cup of half and half (this is what we call improvising when you don't have whole or 2% milk on hand). 

Ingredients:

1C cornmeal

4 cups whole or 2% milk

1 tub mascarpone cheese (12oz ?)

Salt to taste

Two cloves of Garlic (or five garlic scapes) minced

Bring the milk and garlic to a simmer and slowly add the cornmeal over medium heat, whisking constantly until well incorporated.  Stir once every 5 minutes until it reaches the consistencey of apple sauce, about 30 minutes.  Serve immediately. 

The first few days they were outside (or even a full week) they were pretty hesitant to spend time out on the grass, but are now out there rooting around looking for things most hours of the day.

Last Friday, Kyle came home from Egg|Plant, an urban farming store in St Paul that has everything one could need to raise a backyard chicken, with a pretty decent sized box in his hand.  I had sent him there to pick upsome chick feed and what does he come home with? 

A baby chicken. 

What?!? 

Okay, she's not exactly a baby chicken, but a pullet... two weeks younger than our own, and a Buff Orpington by breed.  I was less than pleased about the prospect of a newbie as I've read horror stories about new, younger chicks being integrated and ultimately being pecked to death by their head master (in this case, that would be Jackie O). But the store owner had only the one little girl left and was about to be reduced to begging on Facebook, convincing Kyle to take one for the team.  

Not knowing what this little lady's fate would be, we didn't name her concerned we'd have another burial ahead of us.  The first few days we were on edge;  Jackie O. reared up, poofed her neck feathers and showed the new girl who was boss... but pecking never ensued.  Two nights ago I opened the coop to find all three girls nesting together in a little ball of chicken fluff, and all of my worries melted away.  Yesterday was the first day they all scratched around the run together in perfect harmony, and we're ready to give our little blondie a name.  We've come up with a short list, and would love you to help us out.

HOLY SHIT!  I can't believe this is all coming together.  I get to see my first proof pages tomorrow... and then we all have to wait until October before holding this beauty in our hands. Remember: Christmas is only six months away.

"So Kate, what the hell?  You just get a couple of photo gigs with the City Pages and Heavy Table and forget about the people who helped you get there?"

No!  No, I haven't forgotten you!  There's an explanation that I've completely neglected to mention to you.  An AWESOME explanation, at that!  Back in January you remember this post, where in exchange for taking pictures I was able to enjoy the new winter menu at a place called Heidi's.

And then this happened in February:

Which was quite sad, really.

But Stewart and Heidi really appreciated the work I had done for them back in February, and it just so happened that Stewart had been approached about writing a cookbook and asked me to be the photographer.  Uhhh... What?  I'm still in disbelief about the whole thing, and as of next Tuesday, the entire thing will be wrapped up.  Hence, the absentee blogger.  I can't share any images with you from the book, but I can tell you the food is delicious and that I'm very proud of the work I've done artistically (and of course I'll encourage you to purchase the book come October).  Until then, I'm working on getting back into the cooking and photographing groove I've been missing out on a personal level for the past few months and bringing you the snobby food posts you've grown to love from yours truly. 

Monday, May 17, 2010

First things first: I've started a Formspring.  If you're not familiar, it's essentially an easy way to ask a person questions.  So if you're interested in raising chicks and have a question, ask away. Wondering what the inedible strands you have to get through before eating the heart of an artichoke is called?  Inquire here! (It's actually called the "choke" if you were curious).  Need help on your algebra homework?  I'll take a stab at it.  Let me be clear that even if I don't know the answer to your question, I probably have an opinion about it and will gladly share that with you and the rest of the world (you're welcome in advance). 

Our little ladies are a week old today, and they've grown QUITE a bit.  You can't really tell from the pictures how much they've progressed, but their body sizes are quite a bit larger and they are much more sturdy on their feet. They aren't particularly, you know, smart, but since their brains are about the size of a pin-head, I think they're doing pretty damn well. 

Hermione's feathers are really starting to form on her wings, and there are a few pin feathers forming on her butt.  Jackie's are forming well on her wings, but there are little tufts of down in between each one (or maybe that's a feature of her breed?  We'll find out) and Judi remains to be at the bottom of the totem pole in size, feather development... and then there is that whole pasty butt thing.  It is getting considerably better (only a little in the morning, no more butt soaking) and I'm hoping it will be gone entirely by the end of the week.  There really is nothing like looking at a multi-purpose vent first thing in the morning to really bring a romantic side to chicken rearing. 

------

That's as far as I got.  I'm still sad about Judi, and have kind of detached myself from the other two.  That being said, my anxiety dreams about the cats becoming locksmiths and entering the hen room over night have ceased: apparently I now know how to deal with the loss of a chick and my psyche rests. 

We cleverly (thanks Peter) raised up the waterers so the dummies can't poop in their water dishes any more, and we've changed their bedding twice.  I'm really excited to give them some spinach one of these days (and even give them a little time outside!)  and we bought some parakeet gravel for them to help aid in the digestion of real food.  

Hopefully I'll get over our minor hiccup soon and bring a little more substance to the table.  Until the, RIP Dame Judi Dench.  You were really cute.

Dame Judi Dench is tiniest of the lot, the loudest of the squakers and has a fun little condition called pasty butt.

Yes, we just got into a hobby that involves the words both pasty and butt being grouped together.  Awesome.

Pasty butt, as I understand it, happens when little chicks poop and it doesn't fall all the way to the ground, getting stuck in their down and causing blockage... kind of like the worse dirty diaper you could imagine.  So far, blockage has not been problem for the distinguished lady (which is a good thing, because blockage equals bad news) but we have been pretty diligent about wiping off her butt with a warm wet towel every few hours.  We know she can poop (she seems to do that a lot actually) and we're hoping it will go away within a week.

Dame Judi Dench is a breed known as Salmon Faverolles She already has feathers on her toes (!) and will have a muff and beard.  Totally adorable.  It's pretty clear that, as mentioned on My Pet Chicken, that she is at the bottom of the pecking order.  And yes, there actually is such a thing.  We're hoping she will lay creamy colored eggs in great numbers.  She does NOT like being held. 

Jacqueline Kennedy Onnasis (or Jackie O) is at the middle top of the pecking order.  She has cute markings on her face and body, and doesn't like to sit up straight for the camera.  She's a breed known as Silver Laced Wyandotte.   Her eggs will be a boring brown color, but she will make up for it when she gets her big-girl feathers, which will, as her name suggests, be shimmery silver.

Hermione Granger is a proud and true chick.  Known as an Easter egger, she isn't a true breed, but has roots stemming from the Araucana breed, which will enable her to lay blue, green or pink eggs(!).  She's established herself at the top   middle Edit: (Jackie O is now in charge, Kyle claims it has been this way all along). of the pecking order, and because she is, well, a hybrid, we don't know what she'll look like when she grows up, but we're definitely hoping for the common Araucana ear tufts (I already think I see them forming).