Our friends Judy and Bruce came over Saturday night for two games of death-match Scrabble. (Okay, I made up "death-match." I wanted to make it sound less boring and middle-aged!) Needless to say, Judy and I each won a game, Gordon and Bruce each did not. Yesssssss! CHICKS RULE.
Judy brought an very delicious lime meringue pie made from scratch with our hens' eggs! It was the fluffiest meringue I've ever had. Just look at how it's squashing down the lime filling:
Judy brought an very delicious lime meringue pie made from scratch with our hens' eggs! It was the fluffiest meringue I've ever had. Just look at how it's squashing down the lime filling:
On Monday, I had the freshest egg I have ever eaten. Went down to the henhouse, picked up a still-warm, just-laid egg, came back and poached it. It was soooooo good, and I'm not even much of an egg lover!
We got about 20 cm of snow yesterday in the first real snowstorm of the season. I found out today that while chickens don't mind a little snow, they look at you like you are mad if you suggest they might like to go out in a raging blizzard. But they do love to peck snow off my boots, as my chicken-savvy friend Amy told me they would:
The scene out back an hour ago:
And the snow drift by the house:
An intrepid hen ventures out of the coop into the barn, but stops short at actually going outside.
Tristan was not amused by today's snow, and was waiting for me to bring him inside the warm house!
What a pair of wimps. Hard to believe that they spent the first five years of their (former) life outside all day, only coming in at night to sleep on a mat! They have gone completely soft.
I gotta go round up my barn-chickens.
I gotta go round up my barn-chickens.
Whoa! That's a lot of snow. All of ours melted in just a couple of days.
ReplyDelete"It's only just begun... to snooooow!" (Apologies to Karen Carpenter!)
ReplyDeleteI don't know why I know this, but I do. Chickens smell nice on a snowy day.
ReplyDeleteBut Chef Nick, look at the restraint you showed by not adding ", roasting in an oven."
ReplyDeleteKnatolee! Knatalie!. Natty! Nat! Nat! You have me all wrong. You should just be glad that you don't have shrimp. How I would fondle their cooking, mentally!
ReplyDeleteNo, really, and this time really, my brother had chickens and I remember their feathery fuzziness and I never, ever considered eating any one of them at any time. At any time. It never, ever entered my mind. Futhermore, it would be cruel.
You know if we had that much snow, the UK would grind to a halt. Last in our town the local council reverted to using table salt for the roads as all the reserves of rock salt had run out.
ReplyDeleteMartin, that is so funny about the table salt!!! You know, clean kitty litter is pretty good for traction too.
ReplyDeleteFurther north in Ontario yesterday, there was a nasty snow squall event that dumped a lot of snow in a very short time. Minden got 100 cm in a day, if you can imagine!!
Chef Nick, what am I to expect from you when I get ducks? Geese? A pet pig!?
Ooh Me and snow do not get on. I'm glad we don't get much in London
ReplyDeleteNice to see your place in a blanket of snow, Knatolee.
ReplyDeleteGrowing up in Montreal, I got used to lot of snow. We really bundled up. Children built forts, had snowballs fights, icerinks in the backyard to skate, skied on the MontRoyal. It was fun! Where I live now, in Toronto, winter is much milder. I'll never forget a few years ago, we had a snowstorm as never before. Mayor Lastman didn't know how to handle that. He called the Army in to get rid of the snow. We were the laugh of the country! Specially Montreal...People were sending us shovels as a joke with lessons how to use them.
Loves me some snow and fresh eggs! In the spirit of the season-It's a Wonderful Life you have there! :)
ReplyDeleteJams, it has not gotten any less snowy since I posted this. In fact, the guy who clears our very long laneway with his tractor has been three times! More snow tonight. Life in Canada in winter!
ReplyDeleteClaudia, I remember that snowstorm in Toronto! I was living in Nova Scotia at the time, and the locals were sure making fun of Torontonians.
Lisa, snow and eggs are good, but you have to make sure you collect the eggs before they freeze. :) Actually, we are doing a decent job of keeping the coop temperature above freezing.