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Aaaah… Valentines Day

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Early 20th century Valentine's Day card, showi...

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OK, we all know Valentines Day is Monday and  I have decided to actually DO something about it.  I’m making plans, I’m throwing caution to the wind, I’m…

Well OK,  let me explain…

Around here we have become very lazy about the celebrating and gift giving.  We, and I do mean me too, never remember with the exception of Christmas, to get cards for each other or little gifts.  Dinner out is saved for Birthdays and our Anniversary, but we still don’t get around to actually going shopping for at minimum a card.

I have decided that this has got to stop!

So starting this year I will be making an effort to remember.  Starting with Valentines Day and all through the year I will be making plans and getting it done.  Ha-ha-ha, it’s a tough job, but somebody’s got to do it so it might as well be me.  😉

So far I have accomplished ordering his favorite chocolates from See’s Candy (milk chocolate Bordeaux, which I happen to like too of course).  I found a card and put it away so he wouldn’t find it (OK, now where was that hiding place…?) why I even got him a new coffee mug from Starbucks!  OK, the card and gifts are covered, so now on to the dinner plans.

Although our favorite place for delicious food that we both can safely eat is the Bonefish Grill in Huntsville, we have two problems…

Valentines Day falls on a weeknight and that is too much driving, well OK, it’s not that far, but it is too much hassle, AND we can’t afford it!

So, I am planning for romantic dinner at home.  I even plan to set the table with the good china and candles!  Can you see me doing this?  Aww, me neither, but I am going to give it my best.  Have to start sometime if I am going to make this a new habit.  Right?   The two main features will be the salmon and dessert, and both came to me from friends on the internet.

THE MENU:

Main course will be Crusty Baked Salmon Fillet from “In Danny’s Kitchen.” The recipe will be modified to use Udi’s Gluten Free bread for the crusty bits but if you follow the link above to the recipe you can make it as he intended.

Dessert will be a cheat on Red Velvet Cake from the Betty Crocker website.(Thanks to Pam and Pee Wee for helping me discover this!)  This too will be modified in the following way:

GF Red Velvet Cake (follow the link above for original recipe)

Cake

1  box Betty Crocker GF Chocolate Cake mix

1 and 1/4  Cup buttermilk (I will start with 1 c. and check consistency, adding more if necessary)

1/2  Cup butter

3  Eggs (from my hens)

1  Bottle red food coloring  (is there a natural, non chemical brand out there?)

1  Tablespoon unsweetened baking cocoa

1  Teaspoon apple cider vinegar (added to first cup of buttermilk when ready to mix)

Frosting

2 Ounces cream cheese

2 Teaspoons milk

1 and 1/2 Cups whipping cream

1/2 Cup powdered sugar

METHOD:

  1. Heat oven to 350°F (325°F for dark or nonstick pans). Grease bottom and sides of 13×9-inch pan or two 9-inch round cake pans and lightly flour, or spray with baking spray with flour.
  2. In large bowl, beat all cake ingredients with electric mixer on low speed 30 seconds, scraping bowl occasionally. Beat on medium speed 2 minutes, scraping bowl occasionally. Pour into pan(s).
  3. Bake as directed on box for 13×9-inch pan or 9-inch rounds. Cool completely.
  4. In chilled large bowl, mix cream cheese and milk until smooth. Beat in whipping cream and powered sugar with electric mixer on high speed, scraping bowl occasionally, until soft peaks form. Frost top of 13×9-inch cake or fill and frost cake layers. Store in refrigerator.

Recommended tip for frosting the cake:  If making a layer cake then chill the layers in the refrigerator for 4 hours, or overnight to firm them up!  (GF cakes lack the gluten found in the wheat flour to hold them together, so i will be making mine in a 9X9 cake pan!)

(*For all you die-hard do it from scratch purists I have included a link for you  to be magically transported to a traditional recipe and a vintage recipe which uses red beets to color that cake: click the photo below)

(this is my dream picture of a GF Red Velvet Cake!)

So what have you planed for Valentines Day?

Oh yes, and because this is a ground breaking new adventure,  I will of course let you know how it all turned out!
1 box Betty Crocker® SuperMoist® German chocolate cake mix
1 1/4 cups water
1/2 cup vegetable oil
3 eggs
1 bottle (1 oz) red food color
1 tablespoon unsweetened baking cocoa
2 oz cream cheese, softened
2 teaspoons milk
1 1/2 cups whipping cream
1/2 cup powdered sugar

//

    Serve with…
    Confetti Corned Beef Hash Confetti Corned Beef Hash
    Total Time: 25 Min
    MORE OPTIONS: 2 3
  1. Heat oven to 350°F (325°F for dark or nonstick pans). Grease bottom and sides of 13×9-inch pan or two 9-inch round cake pans and lightly flour, or spray with baking spray with flour.
  2. In large bowl, beat all cake ingredients with electric mixer on low speed 30 seconds, scraping bowl occasionally. Beat on medium speed 2 minutes, scraping bowl occasionally. Pour into pan(s).
  3. Bake as directed on box for 13×9-inch pan or 9-inch rounds. Cool completely.
  4. In chilled large bowl, mix cream cheese and milk until smooth. Beat in whipping cream and powered sugar with electric mixer on high speed, scraping bowl occasionally, until soft peaks form. Frost top of 13×9-inch cake or fill and frost cake layers. Store in refrigerator.
  5. 2 oz cream cheese, softened
    2 teaspoons milk
    1 1/2 cups whipping cream
    1/2 cup powdered sugar
  6. 2 oz cream cheese, softened
    2 teaspoons milk
    1 1/2 cups whipping cream
    1/2 cup powdered sugar

Claus

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We have two kitties here on the Farmlet. Claus and Little Bit.  I love them both, but it is Claus who has become my kitty.

He is the only cat I’ve ever had that will instantly begin to purr when I say his name.   Although he can be aloof at times, he is after all a cat, the very next minute he will be in my lap demanding attention and he rarely takes “No” for an answer.  He follows me when I do chores, weeding, raking, gathering eggs, etc.  I must tell you of course, that the chickens take an exception to his visits in their run and can become downright peckish when he checks to see what I am getting out of the nest boxes!

Claus was adopted from the animal shelter and at the time we didn’t realize he had a dislocated knee.  It wasn’t till he got a few months older that we began to notice his limp.  We took him to the vet and were told that we would need to wait till he was older for surgery, but that as long as he wasn’t in noticeable pain and could get around OK, then we needn’t have him operated on.  (I had misgivings about that advice)  And so it is, that when he walks he looks gimpy, and yet he’s the best mouser I have ever seen.  I can get him to come running home by calling out “CLAUS KITTY… com’on CLAUS!”  Well, for a gimpy cat, he can race home amazingly fast for dinner and some kitty-lovin’s!

Of course when I want him he’s nowhere to be found!

However, the other night I got lucky.  I started calling for him and Little Bit found him for me!

“Gee, thanks Little Bit!“

“Too… CROWDED…  ergh!  Go AWAY…”

“and stay out!“

“Uh… Mom, maybe you should change her name to Little Brat!”

I love both of my kitties, but Claus is my special kitty boy.

Of Junk Shops and “*Chester Drawers”

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I have a friend named Jayme who is talented enough to be able to see the promise in a piece of otherwise ‘junk’ furniture.  She rescues it, brings it home, and with seemingly little effort transforms it into something wonderful.  Having seen what she recently accomplished with an old chest of drawers she found (click here: Before and here: After for photos), I thought I might go hunting and see if I could find one to put in my craft room and thereby add some attractive storage space.

Well, I visited about four second hand shops, and had all but given up, when I spied just the thing in the back of the store.  Picking my way through the old sofas, chairs, and broken down tables I examined the outside of my find.  Determining that it would fit into the spot I had planned for it I then opened the top drawer intending to check to see how sound they all were.   After all, no sense dragging it home only to have it fall apart!  Right?

That’s when it hit me… the clear and unmistakable smell of RAID!  I closed the drawer and went home.

On to plan B.

*Chester Drawers:  Is what I used to call my chest of drawers when I was little, because that is what is sounded like my mom and dad were calling them.  Later, when I was old enough to get what my parents were saying, I realized that the particular piece of furniture was really called a chest of drawers. So why do I bring this up?  Because in 3 of the 4 thrift shops I visited yesterday they had them labelled as “Chester Drawers.” 😉

A murder most fowl

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The day did not break, it rather came out of hiding.  A slow and progressive lightening of the dark sky which  revealed the morning, and the misty cold rain that came down to  turn everything it touched to a dark and ugly brown.

I went out as I always do at chicken-thirty of a morning, to release everyone, and to put out feed and water.  I told my girls to stay in and stay dry, but do they listen?  NO!  After all they say,  “The bugs are juicier and more abundant out in the pasture.”

Fast forward about 4 hours…

The Guineas (aka: Weechoos) are going berserk, screaming and chattering so loudly I can hear them through the tightly closed windows.  I get up to go chastise them.  Two are strangely huddled against the fence while the one closest to me is running and jumping up on the fence by the window.  She is still screaming and looking at me, then to the other two.  Suddenly, a large shape separates itself from the fence line right above the two Weechoos farthest from me.  It is a hawk!

I stand there thinking I will never make it on time, but turn anyway to run out the door.   Grabbing the broom as I go I head out and begin calling to the chickens in the loudest voice.  I am hoping that the noise will scare away the hawk!  I think it’s working but go out into the pasture to be sure.

I find a handful of my girls and Topper bashing themselves against the chain link fence in blind terror to get back into the chicken yard.  I herd them all in  through the gate.  I keep calling but can’t see any of the rest of my flock.  Finally I see Grayson across the pasture and he is pressed up against the fence in the farthest corner from me.  Slowly I make out the forms of more chickens strung out along the fence line and frozen there.

I look about but do not see any evidence of the hawk, so I leave thinking I have done my job.  I go into the house and to the window.  At that moment I see little Tippy still on the other side of the pasture move, and the hawk is there in an instant!

Feathers fly and I am helpless to do anything for her!  When I am certain all is lost she breaks free and flies 400 feet across the field to get to safety!  I knew chickens could fly enough to get over the fence, but I had no idea that they could do that!

Again running for the door I scramble down the wet stairs in slippered feet, once again I go to the aid of my chickens!  I am yelling at the top of my voice HERE CHICK-CHICK-CHICK!  Repeating it over and over,  as I race to the gate to let them in.  Finally, Grayson makes a break for it and everyone follows his lead, they are running to get to me and I let them into the yard.  Amazingly, they all went directly into the chicken run … that is except for the Weechoos.  They are still outside screaming their wattles off over all the excitement.  I tempt them with scratch and they come in too.

Now I count chicken butts and find:  4 Barred Rocks, 4 Black Australorps, 7 Rhoad Island Reds, 2 Amerucanas, Grayson, Tippy and Topper.  All present and accounted for I tell myself.  Everyone settles down and begins scratching for the feed I scattered down.  I watch them eat paying particular attention to Tippy and Topper.

They are battered and featherless on their backs.  Tippy’s poor tail is gone save one lone feather.  It is pathetic looking, but I tell myself they are OK and the feathers will grow again.

Again I return to the house.  Bringing my computer to the dining room table I sit down to write to you and the Weechoos go off again.  I look to see if somehow the hawk has managed to break in.  No, all is well, but they continue to scream.  Going from window to window I scour the trees,  and then I see it.

The hawk is sitting under the silkies hutch.  It has caught Momma Roo and it is too late.  I run to the door, chase the hawk away, and pick up her lifeless body.

Standing there I agonized over whether to let the hawk have its meal or dispose of her.  I think to myself, If I take her away then the hawk will come again tomorrow and simply take another of my girls. Then I think,  But if I leave it for the hawk, then I’ll simply be reinforcing that this is a meal station.

I carry her inside, wrap her in paper, and dispose of her.

The remaining silkys were in hiding, the youngest in the hutch, Kung Foo Roo in the incinerator, and Lady Roo was nowhere to be seen.  I finally found her frozen in terror behind the incinerator.  I picked her up to put her in the hutch and Kung Foo Roo came out of hiding and attacked me!  A valiant effort on his part, but I was not the enemy.  I understood and forgave his savage blows.

I would make four more trips out to the yard before dark to chase away that hawk.  He was simply not going to take “NO” for an answer, but I managed to keep him off of my Roo.  (I would have put him inside his hutch, but I just couldn’t catch him.)  Now, and for some time to come, I will simply have to keep my birds in their run.  No more letting them out to pasture.  I will have to build them a larger run, and a new one for the silkys too.

A sad day for us here on the Farmlet

The Culprit

How would you have handled this situation?