Chicken Monday: 11/30/09

Even though we're well into fall, there's still a lot of activity in the chicken pen here at the Happy Kitten Cottage.

Everyone's still eating well and looking beautiful. (From background: Henrietta, Leroy, and Big Chicken #2.)


Isn't Leroy a pretty bird? He certainly thinks so. He's also King of the Coop, much to the chagrin of Big Chickens #1 and #2.


But B.C. #1 is still gorgeous, even if he's not Chief Chicken in Charge.


Leroy had just started another "cock-a-doodle-DOOOO" when I snapped this picture. The sunlight makes his feathers all the more beautiful—he's so glossy.


Look at those tail feathers!


I've seen some gorgeous fabric, but nothing comes close to the iridescent greenish-black of Leroy's tail. His body is mostly a dark reddish-brown, with the feathers on his neck and head a different, more fiery red.


And the girls (Henrietta, Ernestine, and Pearl) are still laying eggs, against all odds. By late November, most chickens stop laying for the winter season and prepare to molt (lose feathers and grow new ones)—except these chickens. My Aunt Becky, who lives in southern central Michigan, says her chickens stopped laying almost two months ago. Other than the fact that Small Town is 900 miles south of Becky's farm, and that my hens have a little more daylight to keep them egging it up, I can't figure out why my girls are still laying this late in the year.

But it doesn't bother me! Especially not during holiday food prep!


This egg contained not one, but TWO deep-orange yolks, and went into the Corn Souffle. (The dark orange is from the high amount of living greens that my chickens get; more beta carotene equals healthier hens and eggs.) My hens are bantam-sized, and the egg itself was about two-and-a-half inches long and rather pointy on one end. Looking at it made my lady parts hurt.


I hard-boiled another egg to chop up and put in the cornbread dressing (I'll post a recipe if you want it—every Southerner has her/his own way of making it). The yolk, while not orange after cooking, was still a startling bright yellow, which you don't often see in eggs from commercial farms.

Why, thanks! I think I will!

Thanksgiving finds Mom, Steve, and me at Waffle House. Pixie and Guy arrive this evening, and our Turkey Day feast will be tomorrow, so we're not at all disappointed with waffles and hash browns today.

HAPPY THANKSGIVING 2009!

Hold on, kitteh! Mom's workin' on that pie!

Hope you're all having a wonderful Thanksgiving. Pixie and Guy fly in this afternoon, and our family's official Thanksgiving dinner is tomorrow.

Ask Mom™ : Turkey Day Edition!

It's been a looooong time since Ask Mom™ was last featured here on E&P, so what better time to bring it back but Thanksgiving?

Face it: it's MOM's advice you want when you're faced with an undercooked turkey, a pie that just spilled its soggy contents into the bottom of your oven, relatives who've been drinking since 9:00am (and it's now lunch time), and a house full of screaming kids who don't ALL belong to you so you can't exactly get away with slapping the hell out of them. Well, okay, so that's MY example. I was channeling Mom there for a second. [ahem]

Today's food-related question comes to us from Angry Professor, who's a longtime Ask Mom™ reader and question-sender-inner.

Dear Mom:
I know I already got my few moments of your time, but I hear you're an awesome cook, and I would like to know how to make a fruit pie crust so that the bottom gets cooked. "Crispy-cooked" probably isn't possible, but "not raw-like-dough" would be good. I don't make fruit pies any more because of that damned bottom crust.
Sincerely yours,
A.P.



Dear A.P.,
Oh, ye of little faith! You CAN make good homemade pie crust—it's not that hard, provided you have a decent recipe. This recipe is for smaller pie pans; for bigger ones, like deep quiche pans, you'll need to follow the recipe on the back of the Crisco can. But for now we'll just do a 9" pie crust. So here's what I do, works every time.

1-1/2 cups PLAIN flour
1/2 cup vegetable shortening (like Crisco)
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 cup ice water

• In a big bowl, cut the shortening into the flour mixture with two knives or a pastry cutter. (I always use the knives—it's cheaper and I know how. One knife in each hand, draw through the Crisco scraping against each other. Don't be shy. After a few swipes you get the rhythm and it's easy.)
• Then add salt and ice water (be sure it's REALLY COLD and not just cool-from-the-tap water).
  
• After the flour and shortening are all cut together, I start mixing with a fork and then finish up with my hand when the dough gets thicker. However, DO NOT PLAY WITH THE DOUGH! The longer you mess with it, the tougher it'll be. And the warmth of your hand can start melting the mixed-in shortening.
• Roll it out thinly, 1/4" or less.
  
• Gently ease it into the pan, and trim edges if you want to. This crust is so good, if you have some left over you can sprinkle it with cinnamon and sugar, bake, and then eat it as a snack. Kids will nearly shit themselves trying to get to it.
• If the pie directions call for you to have a pre-baked crust, go ahead and bake.
• As to too-juicy and soggy: reduce the juice in the pie filling. Easiest way to do this is add cornstarch. (You can use flour, but it makes the filling opaque, which you DON'T want.) Start with a couple tablespoons of cornstarch added to COLD liquid. If you mix cornstarch with hot liquid, it WILL lump.)
• The trick is to get the bottom COOKED/DONE before the juice has a chance to soak in. If your recipe calls for 350 degrees, make it 425 for the first 15 minutes, and then reduce back to 350 for the rest of the cooking.
• Don't let the filling sit in the crust any longer than you have to. Have everything ready to go when you put the filling in the crust: oven nice & hot, timer set, etc.
  
• Cover and don't screw around with the edges or the top. We aren't creating a work of art here—we're making a pie.
  
• Now that you've made your first homemade pie crust, you can forever dispense with the ready-made crusts you get at the store. I mean, my dogs WILL eat a store-bought frozen crust....IF they've been without food for 24 hours, and they aren't paying attention to what they're eating. Then they give me this look: "Are you trying to poison me?" and then sit down and lick their butts to get the store-bought-crust taste out of their mouths. YEEEECH! That, or they go eat "cat crunchies." Both work really well to get rid of a bad taste. For dogs, anyway.
• HAVE FUN! And remember, you Southern cooks: PLAIN FLOUR.
  

Do you have a question for Mom? Just ask it in the Comments section of this post, or e-mail it to me at misskitty_ep[AT]bellsouth.net. And remember, no question is too outlandish to Ask Mom™. She'll answer them all.

It's not easy being Squirrel

Two days 'til Thanksgiving, and Squirrel is incredibly disappointed in the entire holiday season scramble; another EPIC DISAPPOINTMENT. It's tough being Squirrel when everyone and everything let you down. [deep sigh]

View from the bridge of the Starship Crete

A recent series of mishaps—the last of which included a fellow truck driver dragging his trailer across the front of El Seebeno's parked truck, completely tearing off the front end—have culminated in Seeben's being assigned another truck. A brand-new truck, at that!


"Captain's log: Hard as a rock." (Thank you, Seeben.)

El Seebeno had to watch three training videos before management would even give him the keys. He says the "bells and whistles" on this state-of-the-art vehicle are giving him fits, but he's slowly getting used to what every little "ping!" and "rrrrnk!" is supposed to mean.


The compartment above the C.B. radio is meant for maps, fuel cards, log books, and such trucking-related stuff. Seeben's got all that stashed in there—and, of course, the plush stuffed Siamese kitty you see here. Seeben says it reminds him of the late, evil Skooter, and of big, tubby, sweet Yoda—and keeps him company until he gets home.

Fall color—but not from tree leaves!

Today is November 21, but for this Kurume azalea in my front yard, it's April 21. Weird weather here in Small Town: low 60s and rainy. Where's the cold weather?!?