Exhausted. Happily, so
in spite of the fact that the day started off with Chris and Lila’s discovery that the chicken tractor was breached in the night and three of the six hens were dead and the other three injured. Effing raccoons are such wasteful bastards. Perfectly delicious chicken and all they do is tear the throats out and leave them to die. Raccoons are the Early Grayce of the four-footed world. Fuckers.
So after cleanup and tractor shoring up, I made the kitchen my bitch.
Things accomplished in my kitchen today:
- two quarts of Korean kimchee now doing their lacto-fermentation thing on the counter.
- decanted the ginger kombucha and started a new batch.
- a pint jar of preserved Meyer lemon quarters (preserved in kosher salt and their own juice), plus a half pint of Meyer lemon juice for the fridge, and a quart of Meyer lemon infused vodka. Two bags of the lemons for $3 at Kreiger’s market. I might need to go back for more of those tomorrow.
- portabello mushrooms sliced, marinated in olive oil, tamari, and balsamic vinegar now dehydrating - just enough to make them taste like they’ve been lightly sautéed, but they still have nutrients intact.
- two sheets of a raw flat bread dehydrating. I’m really excited about this one because I made it up out of my own imagination. It has ground raw almonds, flax meal, toasted sesame seeds, carrot, zucchini, celery, orange bell pepper, parsley, and scallions - all held together with a few Madjool dates, dried currents, olive oil, and tamari that was blended high speed. I will have sandwiches for work this week and they won’t make me itchy and swollen and stabby.
- five sheets of fruit leather dehydrating. Yes, I have a nine-tray dehydrator! Oh, how I love this thing, except for the high-level white noise it creates. The fruit leather is organic pink lady apples, organic kale, and blueberries from my brother in-law’s BB patch with a bit of lemon juice and local maple syrup. Lila will never even notice the kale! I’m such a sneaky mama.
- a batch of peanut butter-oatmeal-chocolate chip cookies made with some almond meal swapped out for some of the flour, and toasted sesame seeds. Good gravy, these cookies smell so good, but they have wheat flour, so they’ll just be for the kids.
- shrimp and scallop posole for dinner, topped with fresh avacado and cilantro, with a scrumptious green salad on the side. Lila is currently bitching about being forced to eat the salad, but you know? Who the hell doesn’t like SALAD?! Besides, there are amazing homemade cookies on the other side of that salad, so whatever, kid. Suck it up.
- four loads of laundry.
- five phone calls with family folk.
What I did not accomplish:
- taking down the Christmas tree. Mauddammit.
Maybe tomorrow.
