Brrrr

Fourteen degrees below zero this morning. I waited until it got to a balmy five below before I went out to feed the chickens. Some of the pullets haven’t caught on to using the nest boxes yet, preferring to drop their eggs in a corner of the main area. And this morning, one of those eggs was cracked right down the side. Sure enough, it was frozen solid. I threw it out. The floor of the coop is not exactly clean.

So cold that an egg froze solid in the coop

We had frozen fog again this week. A couple of weeks ago, we had five cloudy, foggy days in a row. This time, the fog burned off, and the hoar frost sparkled against the blue, blue sky. Beautiful, if chilly.

Hoarfrost against a blue sky

And what says winter comfort more than braised meat? I made a pot roast Thursday following a recipe for hunter-style short ribs. I tromped through the drifted snow to the high tunnel to see how the thyme looked. It looked pretty good! A bit red at the tips, but still green underneath. I used it.

Thyme from the high tunnel

I browned chunks of pot roast, sauteed mirepoix, deglazed with red wine, added thyme, dried-and-soaked morel mushrooms, tomato paste, garlic, and paprika, and braised with equal parts red wine, chicken stock, and the mushroom soaking water. It was worky but totally worth it.

Pot roast

Yesterday, I made lemon chicken using Ina Garten’s recipe via my friend Nancy. It was written for a whole 4-pound chicken, butterflied. Four pounds? Ha ha ha. Not in this house this year. I split a 7.5-pound chicken in half. I’ve said it before, but it bears repeating: no one needs a seven-and-a-half pound chicken. We need to butcher a week—maybe two—earlier.

Lemon chicken

It turned out well, but needed more time to get done.

This week, we defrosted and finished the last of the Linzer Christmas cookies and January pumpkin bars. These are fine desserts in their own way but seriously lacking in chocolate. You know what that means! I can bake again! I tried another sourdough recipe, this time for a sourdough chocolate cake.

Sourdough chocolate cake. Interesting.

It’s interesting, a word that is not necessarily good when used in reference to food. It has a definite sour taste to it.  Not sure I’ll do it again, but I can definitely eat it. Especially with the fudge frosting. I had a bit of white buttercream left from (embarrassing to admit) the first round of Christmas cookies in early December. I tried a drizzle on top to be fancy. It was a failure, but at least it’s out of the refrigerator.

Jane called about 4:00 to report that she is home from Florida. Soon we will once again be without cat and turtle (tortoise). Dutchy has spent the last two days sitting in her water dish. Hard to know what turtles think about. She does move occasionally, so I’m pretty sure she’s still alive. I’ll be glad to not worry about her anymore.

Dutchy camped out in her water dish

The Superbowl is looking like the dreaded “defensive struggle.” How boring. And both teams are red and white. Pfft. I usually like to watch the commercials, but so far I have only learned that there are a lot of very strange movies coming soon. I am such a curmudgeon.