Wednesday 30 March 2011

chooks, cake & pickle...

Yep, that's exactly what I've been up to this week.
We've increased the flock up here on the hill. Six gorgeous barnevelder ladies are now gracing us with their presence. They're a bit unsure & like to stay together, but I'm sure they'll settle in soon enough. Ruby & Blondie are very unimpressed & have resorted to chasing them & pulling out their feathers. OUCH!
I love to watch them fossick in the grass, their feathers are so pretty.
I've made cake. It started out as Pear Harvest Cake, from Coming Home to Eat by Jude Blereau. It was all going peachy & swell until I cut up the pears to find that they were yuck. A last minute grating of some apples saved the day & the cake was crowned Apple Crumble Cake! Delicious! We ate it warm with cream. What do I mean ate it... we're still eating it... it's huge.

Too much rain & not enough sun makes for very green tomatoes.
Have you heard of this age old adage?
I may have made it up... but it's true. So what do you do when the sun don't shine? Why you make green tomato pickle of course!
Overcooking & caramelising the sugar is completely optional. Lucky for me, it's still tastes good.
I just realised there are air bubbles in my jars... is this bad? I'm off to google it.
What's happening in your kitchen at the moment? Have you had any near disasters lately?

5 comments:

Kate said...

My your new chookens are gorgeous. I think we are in desperate need of some fancies.
And you know I have had some near kitchen disasters. Story of my life. But thanks to one of yours, I remembered to take the cake out of the oven today where I had been warming it up at lunch before I put dinner in.

Cat said...

They are beautiful hens. It's hard for the new ones coming to a new home, hens are very territorial I was surprised to see that with our girls too but they are all friends now:) The cake looks delicious. In the kitchen at our house my big girl has been doing some baking since she is on holidays, it's lovely to see her enjoy cooking and we love all her chocolatey cooking. :)

Tania said...

Very fine looking chickens there! I thought Pear Harvest cake looked familiar, then I realized I have that cookbook and made that recipe once. It was rather yummy too I might add. I'm no expert on preserves, but it might be best to store them in the fridge with the air bubbles.

celia said...

Your new ladies are beautiful! I love their gorgeous brown tones. Cake and pickles too - gorgeous autumn-hued post, Kitty! :)

Maxabella said...

I just lost myself in your post for a minute there. I can't think of anything more lovely than watching my chickens and then stopping for a piece of that pear cake! Yum and YUM! x