Tuesday, February 28, 2012

snapshots from the weekend

homemade buttermilk biscuits and gravy with scrambled eggs from our hens (i made the biscuits with half butter and half lard that i rendered from a pastured pig. the best biscuits i've ever had!)


surprising saturday morning snow
blankie

snow gone, feeding the hens

turkey sandwich with freshly made red onion marmalade, recipe here from abigail
in the circle

tea break with j crew and a rocky road bar - recipe here from gillian
dinner with candles - my favorite

i also had the pleasure of meeting my friend's brand new baby on saturday. holding a three day old baby is simply amazing.



and the power went out for a bit, so i wasn't able to get this post up until now...


7 comments:

  1. Cassie, you have absolutely made my day, ridiculous as it sounds! I am so happy to have passed on something that someone else might enjoy. Wonderful this this blogging business. And the cherry on the cake? I am sure you will have made Gillian happy too!You must tell me what you think of the marmalade, we haven't tried it yet.
    I think if I had out half as much work into the things i eat as you do we would enjoy our food a lot more round here. Rendered a pig? Did you have it in your garden or get bits from a butcher? I read about this process (on a blog of course) and thought it looked like a very good idea! Right, might let others comment now!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. i'm so glad i made your day! reading these wonderful comments always puts a smile on my face.

      last summer we purchased half of a pig from a local farm. i got to tell the butcher how i wanted it butchered (how thick i wanted the pork chops cut, if i wanted the hams cured or not, etc.). i also requested the leaf lard, which is the best fat surrounding the kidneys. anyway, i cooked the fat down and turned to sort of the consistency of butter. it is amazing in baked goods. here's a good link for rendering lard: http://www.spain-in-iowa.com/2011/02/how-render-lard-the-right-way-snow-white/
      check out the River Cottage Meat Book for ideas on where to get a pig like this in the UK.
      we also purchased 1/8 of a cow and 20 frozen pastured raised chickens. it's the best meat i've ever had. and so handy to just walk downstairs and pull what i want from the freezer the night before instead of making a trip to the grocery store.

      Delete
    2. oh, and the marmalade is amazing! try it! thank you!

      Delete
  2. Lovely pictures, love those pale blue candle holders in the last shot. Thanks SO much for using my rocky road recipe, I hope you liked them. Also - I'd love to know more about your biscuits and gravy. I think American gravy must be very different to British gravy, which we definitely wouldn't eat for breakfast! xx

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. thanks. the candle holders were my grandmother's and i love them. i made the rocky road bars for my friend with a new baby, but we kept a few for us too. i ate the last one last night. so good! dangerously good. i don't know what british gravy is like, but our breakfast sausage gravy is basically sausage, flour and milk. really easy to make and quite yummy. i used this recipe: http://www.smithfield.com/recipes/recipe/old-fashion-buttermilk-biscuits-with-sausage-and-black-pepper-gravy but i used lard instead of vegetable shortening and i used the best breakfast sausage i could find.

      Delete