Well it was SO cold. It never even reached above Freezing Point yesterday. And the day before yesterday I overdid it just a little. So I had to have a rest day which means no sitting down, no bending over and no lifting.
My kefir mother had been working for 24 hours so I made a big loaf of wholemeal, flaxseed bread and smelt it rising then cooking from the couch. I find it does the best if I put it in the cold oven and then turn the oven on to cook it. It seems to complete its last rise very vigorously that way.
Then I lay on the couch and ate hot bread with butter and great gulps of hot tea because that is the best way to eat bread.
Then I decided to experiment some more with an oat base for a custard pie. This is an apple rosette custard pie with a gluten free oat, walnut and honey base. The base was almost lovely. When I make it again I will write down what I do, so I can share it with you. The custard was lovely too. But the apple rosettes were horrible. I am still working on this recipe too.
Because it looks so good.
Then I spent some of the afternoon back on the couch reading about kunekune pigs. I hope this link will lead you to a wee video of kunekune. They are just so cute I can’t bear it! This is a pig that could come in the car to the old folks home with me. I have discovered a breeder in Illinois. Oh Dear. It would be a pet though and you know how I am about pets (I know, I know – with three dogs and four cats, three peacocks and those guineas!). I pretend not to have pets!
Then I called a local sheep man I have just discovered and asked him if he wanted Hairy Maclairy. He said he will come and have a look and seemed very positive. Yay for Hairy who has been lonely on the other side of the fence. He is too rough with Mama, and has been head butting Daisy. He needs bigger pastures and more girls (who he is not related to). And I can get a new ram from the new sheep man next year. This fellow raises organic lamb for restaurants in chicago.
Then I laid on the couch and did some research on what legumes we will sow into the patches this year (I want ones with flowers for the bees). And John has requested a small turkey for next years Thanksgiving so I needed to do some research on that.
Then I got John to drive me down to the newly reopened local pub and asked them if I could put a bucket in their scullery to collect scraps for the pigs and the chickens. And the man in the kitchen said, yes. I told them all they have to do is put the full bucket outside in the tile I provided (so it does not become a target for dogs or wind) – out on the footpath and I will swap it for a clean one. It is called curbside pickup. And is legal. The man looked bemused but did a lot of nodding so I think we are clear.
Then home again, (I can ride quite well in the passenger seat of the big red truck) I ate the Irish lamb stew that John had cooking on the woodstove all day. And then went to bed to lie down and research nothing.
It was the day of small successes. But not a day of pictures.
Very cold and windy and grey.
Have a lovely day.
your friend
celi
The Kitchen's Garden 
86 responses to “A Day on the Couch”
Me thinks a day of rest and lamb stew prepared by Our John were much needed. Stay warm. Extremely cold here in Minnesota.
Funny how our bodies tell us loud and clear when we have overdone it, isn’t it? Loved the custard pie. Still trying to convince DH that we need a pig…..any pig. Ya start out small, yes? Eventually we wind up with a Sheila before DH even notices? Dream on, Emily. lol
Snowing today and poor DH is digging out a sewer pipe that is clogged with tree roots. Couldn’t happen in the summer, could it?
Eating and resting on couch….wonderful!
Your days of no activity are busier than my ALL activity days! Um, you could have taken at least one picture of Boo and Lady Marmalade. 🙂
oops sorry!! (laugh!) you and your sweetness.!. c
Well I guess my darling Hairy McLairy is bound for greener pastures! I will mourn his leaving as he has such an expressive face, so photogenic. And how he loved Daisy, always peering into her place as you milked her. and I’m so sorry he was too rough with Mama.
we will follow him across to his new home and you will see that he will have many new mama’s, sadly he was fighting daisy too and he is at the same height as her udder which is not a good place to be rammed.. he has gotton very big, and my place is just too small for him.. but he is a good boy and because he can climb fences he will have left behind a few lambs! I might see if i can borrow a ram for a few months from my new sheep friend.. c
and full and busy day for someone who was taking a day of rest! heh heh
I work part time for a caterer and we collect all the scraps from each event for one of our staff members animals. It was for the pigs all summer but now that they have acheived bacon bliss, I think we’re feeding other animals. We still call them the pig buckets though.
Oh Cinders, those lil piglets are beyond adorable…can you imagine what one would like like standing next to Sheila?? Photo of the year, I think! 🙂 One of my goats has wattles…we call them goat jewelry! 🙂 So glad you are getting some pub scraps for your crowd…hope you at least had a pint while you were there! 🙂 And also glad you are still resting your bum…as I mentioned before…it will be alright in the END! 🙂
the bar stools were very comfy!.. c
Your custard pie looks gorgeous! Why didn’t you like the rosettes? That sounds like a lot of moving around for someone who should be resting their tailbone…..
I was inside though!.. c
What a lovely useful day you had, despite it being a rest day. Everyone used to have pig buckets by the side of the road during the war, picked up and emptied by a lovely Shire horse and cart, which we used to follow with a shovel and bucket – another sort of recycling. That pie looked beautiful. Good luck with finding a decent new home for Hairy McLairy, who is not from Donaldson’s Dairy!
ViV xox
The man comes to see him next week, hopefully he will bring his trailer, i am looking forward to seeing the big field he is released into.. c
Enjoy your time shopping, I hope you will have someone to carry the bags.
I did a search for the pie and came up with this: http://lickthatspoon.blogspot.co.uk/2012/10/apple-custard-tart-of-roses.html
I hope it helps.
thank you, though I do like to invent my own recipes it is great to have some pointers!! especially when it comes to making the roses.. c
I’m with you on the invention, It was the apple roses I was thinking about. I think it was the apple skins in your version that put you off. I love baked apples, I would core them and score the skin round the middle. The upper skin would partly collapse in on the flesh. I discovered the peeling the top half of the apple gave a much better finish.
We raised our turkey for the table this year…he came in at 65 pounds. But let me warn you…turkeys can be HUGE delightful and wonderful pets. He hung out with us all the time, loved taking walks with the dogs and I. It was a hard choice to make, but he just couldn’t go on. He was a white-breasted meat turkey and would have died from a heart attack from being over-weight.
Somethings are cruel and humane all at once. I must confess I said a little prayer over him taking him for his 7 months of life with us, that we will always remember him and that I hope his feet are feeling much better now.
Linda
http://coloradofarmlife.wordpress.com
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Holey Buckets Linda! Mine were 35 pounds fully dressed and we had to saw them in half to get them in the oven!!!! LOL That was some huge turkey!!! 😉
He was. We had to make roasts out of him.. Four HUGE roasts.
Linda
http://coloradofarmlife.wordpress.com
that is an enormous turkey, fancy him taking walks with you.. hmm.. maybe I will go back to raising ducks for the dinners.. c
Mmmm….the bread sounds wonderful and lots of butter too!!! Yum!!! And Lamb Stew? I am so hungry right now!!! Sounds fantastic! I am most interested in your gluten free crust! Thank you!
You have been very busy for someone with a sore tushie! LOL
Freezing cold here. 3o below with wind chill. Brrrrrr….too cold to ski and we have all this lovely snow too…sigh…
Having eggplant parmesan for supper tonight. Kevin is having left over Mongolian Beef stir fry and rice for supper.
Two more weeks and I get to see my puppy at a play day! I can’t wait to see her! Very very excited.
Did yoga today. My body was getting stiff so it was time to start getting to it. Rode my bike for 20 minutes. Tomorrow I will do 30. I like to do yoga. Keeps me limber when the weather turns cold.
It’s okay that there are no photos today. It really is freezing outside!!!
Take care sweet lady! (((Celi))) Hi to the fellowship! 😀
I love those pigs!
Maybe you could raise a goose for Thanksgiving – a 10 lb goose has lots of lovely fat for potatoes and cooking, heavy bones and about enough meat for 4 people. It’s self basting, you eat it on the day and it’s gone 😉
Now that sounds like a perfect idea.. I would much rather a goose, turkeys are just too big for me.. c
Geese are splendid watch dogs = (watch geese) you need more than 1; they always let us know when there was a fox on the farm. As to the apples I think you’ve nailed it; as fine as possible (like phyllo pastry sheets) and buried deeper in the custard. Looks so good a pity it wasn’t up to snuff.
Goodness, if anyone deserves a day on the couch it’s you, Celi!
Sorry for the delay Celi, here’s the link where I found my kune kune: http://www.rgbexotics.com/index.html. While I’ve only communicated with them via email I was very impressed. He responded very promptly and is so very enthused about his pigs. He also charges much much less than I’ve seen anywhere (and I’ve been working up to this for quite a while!). i have sent him a deposit for a litter due in March so I should get the little guy in April. Hopefully it’ll be nice here then. My last pig (potbelly) was a house pig but I couldn’t quite convince my John of that so he will reside with the two Nigerian Dwarf wethers, one Sicilian Donkey, four assorted laying hens and two Rouen duck hens – all of whom are pets along with the two dogs and two Mountain horses. Anyway he is in Illinois, south of Rockford, I would guess he’s about as far away from you as he is from me. From his descriptions they would be “wunnerful” as nursing home visitors. I do love pigs!
Sherry thank you so much, the cost of the ones i have seen so far has been prohibitive. Just imagine if we had one each from the same litter! He is about 2 hours from here.. so quite doable as a pick up trip and the piglets are small enough to fit in a dog crate for the journey home. But i have yet to commit myself.. though I would love to commit myself! I will write to him and find out how much they are.. c