It's Official

Back in October the Head Cook (my immediate boss) left the job...never to return.  As you may remember, I was hired August 8th to be one of five substitute assistant cooks for the local school district.  I filled in for a gal that held the position of assistant cook for 15 years...she'd had surgery on her foot and was not healing well (she's still out on a medical).  When the Head Cook left I was asked to step in and cover that position because I had a some computer experience and was able to learn their Meal Tracker Program quickly.  The other long term kitchen staff weren't too happy...and who could blame them...I'd only been there for a few short weeks.  I continued to be a substitute assistant cook at that same pay without benefits or perks...but I managed the kitchen, did the government reporting and food inventory ordering...etc.  Several weeks ago the Head Cook position was posted.  I thought long and hard about applying.  Did I really want the responsibility?  No...but I want the extra money, the insurance and the Cal-Pers...so I applied.  I tested (really tough) and I interviewed...Wednesday I was told I had the job.  How does the kitchen staff feel about it...too soon to tell.  One assistant cook is furious and I'm not sure if she'll get over it.  I'm okay with that.  There's no rule out there that everyone has to like me...they do have to do the job they are being paid to do.  Is she good at her job? I really can't say...as an "old-timer" she's become lazy and takes advantage of the new/younger girls by passing her work projects on to them.  I'm going to have to keep a close eye on her. Another thing that has her dander up is my decision to get away from heavily processed foods and utilizing more local, fresh ingredients....that includes a bit of scratch cooking (she insists we don't have *time* to cook).  Only a few of the staff actually COOK  at home!  The rest are Heat and Serve cooks (or drive-thru diners)....so the idea of scratch cooking has caused a bit of shake-up in the kitchen!  Recently I had to teach them how to use their 40 quart Hobart mixer to make instant mashed potatoes:  it had been barely touched in 10 years!!  As you can see, there's lots of room for improvement. Yesterday we started our three week Winter break...that gives me some extra time to re-organize the kitchen, locate some USDA approved "from scratch" recipes and order some fresh supplies.  I'd love to just jump in and start with all my new ideas...but, the sensible thing to do is taking tiny little baby steps...and that's the way I'm doing it.  One new item every week or so...like adding local shredded carrots and toasted almonds to the salad, Spanish rice using local rice, tomatoes and peppers and maybe some baked local butternut squash.  It's gonna' be a challenge...life is never boring for me...I'm looking forward to the new direction my life has taken.  No worries...I'm still gardening, raising my chickens and bees, making cheese, spinning and weaving and canning...those things are a part of me...this new venture is *funding* my little farm!

The First of The Christmas Cookies

Some years I bake for the holidays almost every day from November 1st until January 1st...this won't be one of those years.  I hope I will be able to find the time and energy to at least do the family favorites.  Today I planned on making four types of cookies and banana nut bread...I made thumbprint cookies.  I spent the morning trying to figure out how to get my AOL account *un-hacked*...what a pain...I have (had) over 5,000 contacts in my address book (most from my real estate days)...I'm down to about 200...way too many IMHO.  I hope I managed to apologize to everyone that got the Viagra ads (damn).

Thumbprint Cookies

cream together 3 sticks of butter (1 1/2 cup) with 1 1/3 cups of sugar and 2 egg yolks

add a teaspoon of liquid flavoring/extract  I used Vanilla in my first batch and

Fiori di Sicilia in my second batch (mmmmm)

Sift together 3 1/2 cups of all purpose flour (I use home ground hard white with a bit of rice flour)

add a teaspoon of baking powder and a teaspoon of fine salt....mix together and then add to the creamed butter/sugar mixer.

mix...making sure to scape the sides of the bowl

I'm a fan of parchment paper so I line my big cookie sheets, then spray with Pam (I have a homemade mix).  I have a small cookie scoop and I make balls out of the dough, put them on the sheet and then press my thumb into the dough.  I bake at 350 for 10-12 minute.  Slightly browned on the edges.  I put the baked cookies on newspaper or parchment and then before they cool I add about a 1/2 teaspoon of one of my homemade jams or jellys to the indentation.

one family favorite down...a dozen more to go!

HACKED!

Just a heads up...if you get some weird emails from my AOL address...just DELETE...it's not me....I've been HACKED.  Cleaning up the mess right now...should be finished soon.  Wish me luck.  I've had AOL since it's inception and this is a first! Damn!

Dark Days Challenge: Week One

Taken From The (not so) Urban Hennery post:
Dates



The challenge runs from Sunday, November 27th, 2011 to Saturday, March 31st, 2012.






What’s the Challenge?


Cook one meal each week featuring SOLE (sustainable, organic, local, ethical) ingredients, write about it on your blog and email your happy recapper a link to your post. It’s really that simple, but at the same time, it can really be that hard.

What does local mean?



Traditionally, local food challenges call for a 100 mile radius. Winter time is more difficult in many climates, especially if you’re new to eating locally, so my default winter definition is 150 miles. You can choose to make your radius smaller or slightly larger as you need. Typical exceptions to the local requirement are oils, coffee, chocolate and spices. If you’re making fewer or more exceptions, please note that on your first post.



I'm going to try and stick to a 50 mile radius...shoot, I live in the Sacramento Valley for crying out loud...EVERYONE that lives in this Valley could and SHOULD easily meet this Challenge.



Part of me thinks: Don't Do This.  Not because it will be difficult..it won't...but because I will need to take the tiny bit of time to post my part of the Challenge...and let's face it...since August, I've been lacking a bit in the blog posting department. 

As my long time readers know, most of the food my family eats here at the house has been grown/raised by us or close neighbors. It's not all certified organic...I don't agree with the newer certification process...I make sure my food is BETTER than what the USDA certifies. I'll note when the product is CERTIFIED organic. I cook from scratch and enjoy doing so. I feel a bit like I'm cheating on this Challenge ...it's much easier for me to go in the pantry or freezer and find something locally grown than it would be to go to the grocery store or a fast food drive-thru...who knows, they may just have to disqualify me!!  For more information on the Dark Days Challenge or to sign up go to the following blog: (not so) Urban Hennery.

Breakfast: No pictures...toast with butter and honey...fried egg with bacon...
Toast: homemade bread with locally farmed wheat (I grind my own grains), honey (mine)...butter from a Glenn County Dairy...bacon, the hog my grandson raised and the egg from one of my hens.

Lunch: No pictures: Turkey salad sandwich, sweet potato fries and water.  Turkey my son raised last year (frozen leftover), homemade mayo with local sunflower oil and my egg, homemade bread made with local wheat, my homegrown sweet potatoes fried in the sunflower oil.....gosh I'm eating too much fried food!  We are sunflower growers and have an oil processing facility a couple miles from the ranch.  I can get as much bulk cooking oil as I would like.    I  have 6 olive trees and I get local olive oil from the Nichols Estate experimental farm (UC Davis)...less than 4 miles from the Ranch.

Before Dinner Snack
Pedroza Cheese (Local and award-winning)
And Home Cured Olives

Now let me explain...my electricity has been on and off here at the house for a week...we had a water pipe burst in the basement and the water got into the fuse box that covers the back half of the house: the part we live in: kitchen, home office...laundry room. I have only read a handful of blogs in the last few days and the Dark Days Challenge was one I missed...so forgive me not having pictures of breakfast and lunch.  I do have dinner pictures...I'm taking them, then running over to the Ranch office to download and put together a post.  For more information on The Dark Days Challenge hop on over to the Not Dabbling In Normal or The (not so) Urban Hennery blogs.

When I Set Up For This Shot I Thought I
Would Be Fixing Potatoes...Nope, Didn't
Want Any More Fried Food

I Switched To Rice...Yep: We Grow Rice
Organic and Conventional

One Pound Of Maltby's Grass Fed Beef Burger
Not Certified Organic...But Locally Grown By A
Very Ethical Rancher...I Drive By His Well Cared For Herd
Every Day...The Ladies and Their Calves Should be On
Posters They Are That Gorgeous

Peppers From My Summer Garden

 Premier Mushroom's BabyBella's From The
Farmers Market...Canned By Me

Added Chunky Chopped Homegrown Red Onions
Mixed Well With Hands...Oops I'm Missing Something



Yes, I Make Lea & Perrins...NOT!! But, it's
A Salisbury Steak Must-Have: Does The Organic Stuff Taste
As Good?



Wish You Could Smell This: Yum-Yum!

Gravy With Mushrooms

Salisbury Steak, Steamed Rice With Mushroom Gravy
And My Son Sam's Certified Organic Green Beans

What a dummy!  When I first read about the Dark Days Challenge I assumed it would be a whole day of cooking SOLE food...boy was I wrong...sorry...it's just one meal!  But, bear with me folks, I'm going to post a whole day of SOLE cooking....execpt that organic thing...I promise it will be naturally grown by me, my family or close family friends...over 99 per cent of my food has a face!  Execpt my daily one cup of coffe..that will be Fair Trade.

WOW...That Was Fast!

Seriously!? The looooong weekend was not long enough!  It's Sunday evening and I'm here tearing up newspaper strips to feed my worms watching the "Walking Dead"...now what does that say about me?  I don't watch television very often...PBS and the History Channel...and I do watch Gold Rush and yell at the guys about how stupid (shame on me) they are.  For those of you that haven't read this blog from the beginning I actually own a 5" Keene gold dredge and use it.  No men on my dredge team, just five over fifty old ladies having a hoot of a good time...any way the guys on Gold Rush piss me off...but I love watching the show.  And now I'm watching this Walking Dead program and then sharing with my two boys; who also love the show.  Oh well, I guess I could be doing something less productive: REALLY?? Like what is less productive than watching the boob-tube?  Well, I am tearing up all of the old newspapers to feed the worms so they can poop out castings to enrich my garden that feeds my family...yep, that's my story and I'm sticking to it.

Worked in the garden, as planned.  Pulled out the poor zinnias and tomatoes.  Picked the last of the peppers, pulled a huge carrot for tonight's dinner and added celery and potatoes.  The celeriac looks good, the herbs are thriving and the spring bulbs are sprouting.  This time of the year is my favorite for gardening.  No watering, no bugs, no heat stress and lots of leeway when it comes to harvesting.  The lettuces, carrots, kale and chards are sweeter.  The ground is so easy to work.  I just plunge my hand in the moist soil and plunk down a nice transplant...broccoli, a cabbage or cauliflower.  The potatoes I missed in the summer harvest have continued to grow and have gifted me with some lovely *new* potatoes.  The earth smells so good...a mist hangs over everything.  I just love it.  Tomorrow I will be too tired from work to do much more than feed the chickens and gather the eggs, but by Wednesday I will have caught my second wind and will be able to actually go sit in the garden with a cup of tea and not feel like there's just too much to do to be lolly-gagging around.  I look forward to Wednesday...and the coming weekend with the garden.

Tomatoes Before

Tomatoes After

Celeriac

Carrot

Pulled Out The Poor Zinnias, Too

Peanuts! Yes I Grew Peanuts! Now What?

Harvest: Peppers, Carrot, Celery, Green Onions
New Potatoes...Looks Like Stew For Dinner!

Thanksgiving Surprise

WISHING ALL A FRUITFUL AND JOY FILLED

THANKSGIVING!

I'm very lucky...the last two years my daughter-in-law and youngest son have hosted Thanksgiving.  I will be bringing mashed potatoes, deviled eggs and "pumpkin" (butternut squash) pie.  I'm looking forward to this afternoon's dinner and being with my immediate family and my daughter-in-law's family, too.

This morning, as I was putting the finishing touches on the deviled eggs I noticed one of my black Wyandottes had a couple small dark sparrows dogging her...I'd never seen that before...so I put on my glasses and stepped out on the deck to get a closer look...by golly...my hen had two tiny little chicks!  Several weeks ago I noticed one of my hens was missing. I forgot to shut the gate the night before and I figured a coyote or feral cat got a hold of her and she was chicken dinner...I really wanted to kick myself.  She was one of the ten new hens I'd raised from chicks and I really didn't want to lose her.  Well, surprise! surprise! surprise!  Two new chicks to add to the flock!  Gosh I hope they are not roosters!

Surprise!!

Mommy and Tiny Babies

I've been way too busy at work. Thank goodness it's slowed down in the garden and the *home-front*.  I have plenty of canned goods, meats, and food storage to get us through the winter..I don't have time for grocery shopping.  I've been organizing the inventory at the school's kitchen, doing an accounts audit, and some major deep cleaning.  I have not been hired as the Head Cook...I am still the substitute assistant cook...they have not posted the Head Cook job availability as of yet...but they will, and I plan on applying.  In the meantime, we have discovered a number of things had not been taken care of for a very long time...so we've rolled up our sleeves and are getting to work.  I for one am very grateful for the extra few days off for the Thanksgiving holiday...I'm beat.  I'm working on a new inventory control computer program that is easy for each of us to work with.  I'm using the Microsoft Office Access Program and so far it looks pretty good...just takes up too much of my time at home.  The program should save us quite a bit of time in the kitchen...the record keeping is overwhelming...I don't get to spend much time in the kitchen cooking.  I have implemented a mini self-serve salad bar and a mini self-serve fresh salsa and nacho bar.  We are incorporating more local fresh fruits and veggies and soon we'll be doing more scratch cooking...baby steps, but we're on our way.

Friday I plan on devoting my day to the garden, planting my new citrus trees (lemon, lime and tangerines), moving my apiary to the southern end of the walnut orchard.  I plan on planting several trays of transplants, too...lettuces, onions, kale and celery.



Broccoli, Cauliflower and Lettuces Fenced
to Keep Out The Feral Cats!



The Last of the Zinnias and Tomatoes
Waiting Four Our First Hard Frost!



Time Is NOT On My Side

I'm getting old...I hear myself saying every day: "I was going to do ___________, but I just ran out of time."  The new part time-couple days a month-job has turned into a full time every day job.  The head cook left.  The gal that has worked in the kitchen for 8 years is not able to handle a management position.  I've been put in the position of managing the cooking, inventory and government reporting...yikes!  I'm enjoying every minute, but it does make for a long day. 

My Fall/Winter garden has been planted, but I'm not fussing over it like I did last year...no time.  I put on row covers to protect from frost and netted to keep the chickens out if they escape their chicken run (I have a couple ladies that need their wings clipped...no time.).  I'm picking lettuce, pulling carrots, beets and onions daily.  The hens are laying like crazy: over a dozen a day!  I did freeze 10 dozen eggs for use in the Winter when they aren't laying...if that happens...last Winter I still was getting four to five eggs a day.

We are finally cleaning out my mother-in-law's home.  It's been over two years since her death and my husband is finally ready.  The whole family (those here in California) meet at the house and start packing boxes...it's taking forever!  Every piece has a memory and a story: OMG!  My husband and one son want to hang on to everything...the rest of us just want to keep a few things and get rid of the rest...needless to say, it's been a test of my patience.  Today I'm driving up to my cabin to defuse and relax...the rest of the family will continue to pack up.  My friend Paula will come up late Saturday afternoon and we'll cook, laugh and talk...and watch some great old movies and a couple BBC Mystery series.

No pictures for this post...my camera has died....