Back to work... wishing I could stay home another day and then some

Oh well, not all wishes come true and that one certainly didn't but it's okay. I always have something to look forward to when I'm at work - going back home at the end of the day!

The weather was beautiful, the birthday party was fun, the smoker was fired up and smoking, the target practice went pretty well and all the food was great! I guess I could stop there for those of you who don't like it when the posting is real long (Dizzy Debbie), but then those of you who prefer it never end wouldn't be happy and you by far outnumber her... lol  So, here goes.

The weather really was very nice all weekend long. I was able to roll the windows down in my car again after not being able to during those hot days of summer. We had temperatures in the high 70's to mid 80's during the day and in the high 40's to mid 50's during the night. It was a little chilly for me Friday and Saturday night but not to worry as I always have my gray jacket with me so I can get warm if I need to. This week they're predicting upper 80's to low 90 degree temperatures but they also say it's going to rain most every day. That usually keeps things a little cooler.

When I got home Friday, the guys were celebrating Jeff's birthday. His party wasn't until Saturday but his real birthday was Friday so it goes without saying that the party had to start Friday. We sat around on the porch and looked out over that spectacular view all the while enjoying the sunshine and the cool breeze carrying the very slightest scent of the Fall weather to come.  The peacefulness is indescribable. You'll just have to come visit and experience it firsthand.

We were up before sunrise Saturday morning and I had a laundry list of things to do - as always! I actually stayed on task and got a bunch of things scratched off my list this time. I had all that hog fat to render, about oh, say 3 or 4 loads of laundry to get done, bird feeders to fill, chicken feet to go in the pot for chicken broth, clean sheets to go on the bed in the spare bedroom, and dirty rice to make for the party. On top of all that, we still had lots of pork to bag up and get into the freezer. Whew, just writing it makes it look like a lot to do but I had 3 days to do it all so I wasn't worried.

I started the first load of clothes, made breakfast, cleaned up the kitchen and filled the bird feeders. Those little birds are quite vicious when it comes to protecting their territory. I was watching them while I was hanging out the clothes and I mean they were going at it. Two of them were fighting so much so that they ended up down on the porch with one standing on the other! Seriously, they were so tangled up that they actually fell off the porch and were still tangled on the ground. I was standing at the clothesline end and there must have been 6 or 8 of them alternately buzzing the feeder. They chirp and tweet and sound like helicopters when they fly by my head. The tree by the clothesline is one where they sit and wait until they can get back to the feeder so I was able to more closely observe them. Some are brown with white on the inside of their tail feathers, probably female. Some are a shimmering, bright, yellow-green color and are likely the males. They fight with abandon when it comes to letting another near that feeder. It's kind of comical to watch. 

I can tell they are getting ready to depart for their winter flight to South America because they're starting to pack on some weight. Indeed they are looking fat! LOL Just like a skinny person, when a little, tiny bird gains weight it's easy to recognize. Us fatties don't really show a gain until it's like 20 pounds... ha ha ha! Soon they'll be off and I'll be missing them until they return in the springtime. I'm hoping some other birds will come during the winter so I have my other bird feeder already hanging off the back porch in anticipation. I had to hide it from Rebel - if you read that post, you know why and it was pretty darn funny. I'm kind of surprised he hasn't found it yet but he doesn't hang around the back porch much so that's probably why.

I made my dirty rice to take to the party. I use the box but I always add to it and what I add depends on what I have available. This batch came out exceptionally well due to the addition of some fresh pork sausage along with the ground chuck. I had a cayenne pepper from the last basket delivery so I chopped that up in it, I added a few splashes of my Trappey's Bull Hot Sauce and finally a couple spoons of a cilantro base called Recaito. Don't ask me how to pronounce it, I have no idea, but I use it all the time. It's always in the Spanish section of the grocery store if you go looking for it. It's good in beans, rice dishes, soups, etc. The dirty rice made the whole cabin smell simply delicious! Oh my - yes it was super-duper tasty and just a little spicy! Wish you could have shared it with us. Off to the party we went.

There were lots of people already in attendance when we arrived. Pee Wee and Daryl were both there, which is kind of unusual since one of them has to run the bar. Wally asked her who was running it and she said she closed it so they could both go to the party. How bout that? Well, everyone who would have been at the bar was at the party anyway so it was a good business decision on her part. The guys were frying catfish, frog legs and french fries, the party-goers were all mingling about and pick-up trucks were backed up into the yard, tailgates down and filled with coolers.

I never liked frog legs before because they always tasted like lake water to me but these definitely did not. They were seasoned with cajun seasoning and battered in cornmeal before being fried. I have to admit they were very good as frog legs go. Daryl tells me the difference is that they came from a pond rather than a lake, I'm not sure of the difference between a pond and a lake other than the size but he says frog legs from a pond are sweeter. Okay. All I know is that they were good and I would eat them again.

All the food was good and the dirty rice was a big hit. As always a couple of people wanted my recipe. They never believe it when I tell them it comes from a box. The karaoke was hilarious and the dancers even more so. We danced in the grass under the moon and stars, we met new people and thoroughly enjoyed ourselves as the night wore on. Well, you know how we are, we aren't much for late night hours anymore so we headed for home around 10:00 or so. That was pretty late for us!

Sunday dawned and it was a brisk 57 degrees outside, brrrrrrr  :)  The animals needed watering, there was more laundry to do and fat to render into lard. I got the fat out and started cutting it up and adding it to my big red pot (thank you Neccy and Jack) and turned the stove to medium heat. I added the little bit of water it calls for and left it to do its thing. Which is to say, the fat begins to melt down, the water begins to boil and eventually evaporates, the sound of it cooking changes to a crackling sound and then, after about 45 minutes, it's done. It has to cool down for a little while but then it gets poured (very carefully) into a cheesecloth lined colander.

My first batch was just so, so. I think I let it go too long because the cracklins were dark brown when they should have been a very light beige color. They were also soggy and terrible tasting. Batch number two came out perfectly! Nice, crunchy, salty, cracklins and doughy, soft, white lard. I ended up with about a gallon of it and there's still  more to come. I'll be donating some of it to Daryl's dad for letting us use his place for the processing of the piggy. I took pictures but for some reason they aren't being accepted by my email. I'll try again tomorrow.

We salted the ham, bacon and jowls and let them sit out on the bar until Monday when we planned to put them in the smoker. We wanted to keep them in the salt longer than that but they ended up getting frozen so we were limited. We bagged up the hocks, the shoulders, the ribs, the tenderloins and the sausage. I'd say there's enough pork in that freezer to feed an army - especially when we added the bacon, ham and jowls to the mix.

I was able to get all my laundry done while the fat was being rendered into lard and I got my chicken broth started. It seems I'm busy in the kitchen all day but really I'm not. I'm all over the place due to being easily distracted from one room to the next. The chicken feet look so gross that it's hard to believe they can turn plain water into something so tasty and healthy. I added my vegetable scraps and some salt and pepper and let it do its thing too. That batch cooked for about an hour and a half and was then poured through the colander and left to jell/gell (?) for however long that takes. Like I said I'm easily distracted so I don't really know how long it takes. Once cooled and jelled, into the freezer bag it goes in anticipation of chicken noodle soup to come! Woo Hoo!

The scraps go to the dogs, who without realizing what they were, completely devoured those chicken feet. They did leave the end of a zucchini in their bowl but not to worry - Rebel was right there to eat that for them. Ha!

We had ribeye steaks, cooked on the grill, with sauteed peppers, mushrooms and onions. We opened a jar of my Zellwood Sweet corn from 2007, poured it into a pot and heated it on the grill too. I brought place mats, plates, knives and forks to the picnic table and we dined like royalty. I should have taken a picture of us! Darn my forgetfulness. It was a very productive day, a filling supper and an evening of relaxation for me and my honey. I just don't see it getting any better than that - but how many times have you already heard me say that? lol  We watched what we could of the race before falling asleep. I think Wally might have made it to the end but not me. I crashed out and it felt good!

Monday - time to get smokin!! lol Daryl got to the cabin around 7:30am. They got the smoker going and the ham, bacon and jowls loaded into it while I made breakfast. We were having venison cube steaks, biscuits, brown gravy and cantaloupe. I had to feed them good knowing they would probably be out at the smoker for the better part of the day.

I had a little decoration hanging on the front door that was representative of springtime. Since the weather is indicating Falls approach, I figured it was time to change it out. I bought a new decoration at the dollar store for $3.00. It has a little scarecrow, dressed in blue overalls, sitting on a wooden fence that has a sign on it proclaiming "Happy Harvest."  He has on a straw hat and a checkered shirt. Aw - how cute!

Wally showed me a tree where some leaves had already turned red so I got the loppers and went and cut off the little branch. It's sitting on my kitchen table in a mason jar with a little water to, hopefully, keep it fresh for a few days. This is going to be fun, fun, fun!!

I finally got in some target practice. I used Wally's gun and out of 7 shots, I hit four in a really close pattern, two very close to the bulls eye and one that would have been a gut shot if it was a real deer I was aiming at. Not bad for having not shot in about 4 years. I used ear plugs for the first few shots then decided to try it without them. Quickly I learned what a mistake that was and went back to stuffing my ears. I have an orange hat so all I need now is my orange vest and I'm ready to go hunting... too bad I have to wait until November. lol!

I had the pleasure of slicing the bacon slabs into strips and the same goes for the jowls. All that pork served to make me very, very hungry! We all shared some of those seriously crunchy cracklins that came off the jowls, even the dogs got a few of those treats, and then I bagged up the rest for later - we were in cholesterol overload just from the taste testing. It tasted GOOD I tell ya!! :) like gold candy!

Wow - that was a lot of stuff for you to read. I hope you enjoyed your Labor Day weekend as much as I did although I'm quite sure yours was spent much differently. Indeed, who would have ever thought I would spend one like I just did?  :)

If you're going to the Oriole's and she happens to be there, please give Kat a birthday hug for me. Happy Birthday Kat!

While the quote is unrelated to the posting, I still thought it was pretty good... see what you think.

"No one can say the egg industry isn't brutally efficient. With the ten largest producers controlling 135 million hens, they can poison millions of people in a single swoop." Tom Phillpot