Leon

Megan gave me one of a series of cookbooks from the U.K. restaurant Leon - it's designed and written really well and comes with pull-out charts, maps and stickers

I made their black-eyed peas with spinach and lemon - super yum

Boss Milk

Today I visited the farm of my milk supplier Eddie and his family in Marion, Michigan.  He is an Amish farmer and has a beautiful small farm.  We also met his wife and 7 children.

Five gallon milk pails drying on the rack - he also has a 700-gallon bulk tank for the milk

Farm dog Scout - I was yearning to pet a dog this week

Some of their18 dairy cows - they were friendly, curious and well-cared for

This is Red Streak, who came right over to say hello

Billy the friendly goat

Hello Mr. Pig

Scout's sons, two border collie puppies

Beautiful baby cow

Some of their 60 chickens

Half a gallon of raw gold

make sure your Kurtas are all tight

Pengie's Love Trough

The hen house is inside an area of the big barn that has old animal paddocks, a water cistern and several wooden feed troughs.  Penguin the rooster has taken to getting busy with the ladies down inside the feed troughs.  Here he is on the edge of one of the troughs with one of his harem, Butter.  He even had a threesome in there last week.

Hey baby...my place or yours?

 

la French pizza oui

Pissaladiere is a kind of onion, olive and anchovy tart that is salty-licious

her life in tags

A collection of Pucci's dog tags

Her grave marker 

Pucci walking the Brooklyn Bridge - New York City 2000

Pucci

1997 - 2012

cock-a-doodle update

He's come a long way since his first efforts - Penguin greets the day!  I film these out in the hen house in the early wee hours, which is why the picture is so dim.  Penguin being the handsome dark knight that he is doesn't help things, either.

glittery

I put sparkle cupcake stickers all over everybody's names on the 60-day challenge poster at the yoga studio

let's eat out

the menu at the Fraternal Order of Eagles, Traverse City

Kingsley Ethiopian

Another vegan Ethiopian freak-out:  a little too too spicy mixed vegetables, collard greens, and red lentils all on top of an injera bread

Little Falls box of goodness

My farmer mentors John & Mary at Little Falls Farm in Bolsters Mills, Maine sent me a box of amazingness from their farm - from left:  dried garlic (they grow great garlic), goat cheese, goat milk soap, dried hot peppers, and a bag of castor bean seeds

John & Mary make 'Riffle', an aged, raw goat's milk cheese that tastes similar to Gouda 

The castor beans were the most intriguing part of the gift - castor beans grow into beautiful flowering plants and the seeds come encased in these spiny, thick pods, also known as 'tick seed'.  I wrote to Mary with lots of questions about growing them, as castor beans are processed to make castor oil, and the poison ricin is part of the waste “mash” produced when castor oil is made.

As you sow, so shall you reap

“We always attract into our lives whatever we think about the most, believe in most strongly, expect on the deepest levels, and/or imagine most vividly. When we are negative and fearful, insecure or anxious, we often attract the very experiences, situations, or people that we are seeking to avoid. If we are basically positive in attitude, expecting and envisioning pleasure, satisfaction, and happiness, we tend to attract and create people, situations, and events that conform to our positive expectations. So, consciously imagining what we want can help us to manifest it in our lives.

- Shakti Gawain

buttery orange

This weekend I made Saveur Magazine's orange sticky buns - I added walnuts to mine - recipe here:

http://www.saveur.com/article/Kitchen/saveur-100-orange-buns

Holman hospitality

needlepoint welcome ( I ♡ their cherry wallpaper)

Jenny, German short-haired Lovehound,  enjoys a butt rub

Laurie's husband Tim's home-smoked fish - best I've ever tasted - he brines it, then smokes it into divinity

Laurie's vault - she is the canning guru

This past Summer the Holmam farm celebrated it's sesquicentennial anniversary - here is an old family photograph of their ancestors harvesting corn - in wool clothing

huevo nuevo

Two of the young hens have started laying eggs!  They're so small and cute.  Different breeds of chickens lay different types of eggs, so I think it must be one of the Butters and one of the Grays.

who slept here, Dear?

When I woke up yesterday I found these huge impressions in the snow with lots of deer tracks coming and going from them.  I think it's where a couple of deer hung out during the night.

I happened to be lying awake and heard something hit the house a few times - a gentle thud or like something grazing the facade.  It sounded like deer - they like to sample the low branches on the cedar trees - and it looks like they enjoyed some dinner and a nap.

Gregory Blackstock

Super friend Jen sent me a book of illustrations by the artist Gregory Blackstock.  I love his work and his subjects include a lot of animals, birds and tools.  And clowns and Presidents.

they grow up so fast

Almost 6 months old, Penguin has grown into a really handsome rooster - I want to enter him in the Northwest Michigan Fair.  I love his tail feathers and iridescent-black coloring.

He is also huge - look at the size of him compared to his harem, who are all average, normal sized hens. 

hot foot

snow carrots

Laurie dug me up some of her multi-colored carrots from beneath the snow for New Year's - I roasted them in olive oil, orange juice, garlic and balsamic vinegar

the polar plunge

Yes we did - on New Year's Day

Power yogi Shannon and I dove in - it was 34 degrees that day and we wore our yoga clothes, shoes and ear plugs.  It doesn't count unless you go under, which felt like biting into ice cream.  The plunge was exhilrating, thrilling and we loved it!

Happy Hogmanay

Lang may your lum reek!