We Got Snow!!!!

They have upped the winter weather advisory to a winter storm warning.
Looks like we have about 6 inches so far, and no sign of letting up. 

This is our second storm - the first one, on Thursday, Dec. 27 gave us 8 inches, less than the 12-14 predicted.

This one was predicted as 2-4 inches.

Tommy loves it! 

 

Pork Pies

Pork Pies



We thought it might be fun to make some pork pies, following and emending various recipes. 

Filling
1.5 kilos of pork, 500 g coarsely ground and the balance cut into 3/8" cubes
1 tsp thyme
2 tsp sage
2 tsp ground pepper
2 tsp salt

Pastry
500 g AP flour
200 ml water
175 ml suet, melted and finely sieved-- being unable to find any leaf lard here abouts, although the butcher's assistant at the local supermarket suggested I look in the produce section
2 tsp salt

Jelly
2 pigs feet
1 medium onion
1 medium carrot
a dozen peppercorns
1 celery rib
salt
pepper

Roll out a pie-sized piece of pastry and manipulate it into a cup.
Put in a bit of filling and add a top and pinch it together.
This is not a delicate crust!
:~:
 Brush the finished pies with an egg wash. and bake.

When they are cool, you can add jelly.
We did on one, but decided it is not necessary.

Delicious.

With some cider and cheddar cheese, it makes a fine meal.

 

Shrimp Soup with Bean Threads

We started our Christmas Eve dinner with soup.

This was delicious.
I used the stock that had cooked the shrimp.
There are slices of ginger, and at the last minute, I added onion tops.
and added the bean threads.

 

Delicious.

BTW, I experimented with ginger storage.
The best is to peel and slice it and put it in a jar, add vodka, and refrigerate.
This ginger is from the summer, and it was fine.

Christmas Eggs

The chickens are still laying a few eggs a day.
We noticed some are small and pink.

Actually, we weighed the eggs to see how puny the little ones are.
The little pink one in the far row weighs 50 grams.
That qualifies it as "medium".
:~:
The far left in the front row is 73 grams.
The far right in the front row is 72 grams.
Those guys are "jumbo".