Elegant Blessings

 Ahhh...this picture kinda looks like my road. Maybe a little more colorful. But the same beauty, nonetheless.

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  It's a beautiful rainy fall morning here on Honeysuckle Hill. About 40 degrees, so not too cold. I've been out to let the chickens into the run, pulled the row covers off the garden beds (we're down to 2). The others are cleaned up and ready to be mulched for the winters nap. The Irishman spent some rather productive time out there this weekend, considering that we had Things To Do. lol  He also made some repairs to the chicken run cubby hole--let me explain that our chicken run is a re-purposed dog run that is butted up to a garden shed.  There is a cubbyhole on the side of the shed where they used to keep puppies (I'm guessing)...it's a little square, about a 3x3 foot cube. Just a little place to get out of the rain.  Anyway, the chickens had torn up the floor of it and pecked through to the ground. I was worried about possums or raccoons getting in there from under the shed.  So--he fixed it, with a new floor and some reinforcing boards.

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  Had a lovely time at a friends this past Saturday for a fall potluck and bonfire. Saw some great folks I don't get to see often.  It was a diverse group of people and yet we all got through an entire evening with no arguments, no hurt feelings and NO discussion of politics. Thank God.  We were there for over 6 hours, which is a long time for me to be anywhere. lol  Got home around 11 PM.  Sunday was a pretty laid back day for me, as all the standing and sitting and walking down the hill and up again a few times at the bonfire put me in a world of hurt by Sunday morning. Oh well. It was worth the price to get to socialize and be with friends. We took my baby sister out for lunch yesterday and she and I spent some time together chatting before I headed home for the couch and  a heating pad. lol  And I holed up the rest of the day. It was chilly yesterday, but not too bad. Then when the sun went down, it got downright cold.  Coupled with the time change and it getting dark so early,  it felt like a time to hibernate and lay around with a good cup of tea and some comfort food. I couldn't decide for the longest what I wanted to make/eat for supper. I sort of wanted soup or chowder or something. The Irishman nixed almost every idea I came up with, lol.  Sometimes with a shake of his head, sometimes with a raised eyebrow.

  Here's what we wound up with. A dish called  Trouchia.  It's basically a frittata, an unfolded omelet of sorts. But this one was so awesome, and I made Mary's scones to go with it, along with some country gravy.  The dish itself is almost (but not quite!) caramelized onions,  minced garlic, ribbon sliced chard (or kale, if your husband goes out to the garden for chard and comes in with a big bowl of kale...sigh....) 6 eggs, shredded parmesan and romano cheese (recipe called for gruyere and parmesan but I didn't have that, and this was a great taste anyway).  You cook the onions until translucent, then add the garlic and greens. I added about a teaspoon of honey, to sweeten the kale a little, since it wasn't chard (lol). Cook this until tender and then add fresh ground black pepper and sea salt.  I did all this in my big cast iron skillet, by the way.  It is a well seasoned skillet, so I wasn't too worried about the eggs sticking badly, even with all the cheese. I scrambled the eggs up nicely, added about a cup of the parm/romano mixture and then poured it into the skillet, over the top of the greens/onion mix.  I used EVOO to saute the stuff in, and added a little extra before pouring the eggs in. Give it a little stir to combine things nicely, then turn down the heat and let the eggs set. Top this with shredded parmesan cheese, and stick it under the broiler a few minutes. Oh. My. God.  I made some country gravy to go over the biscuits while this was cooking and the result was magnificent. The combination of those onions and the slightly sweetened kale was to die for.  The next time I make it (and there WILL be a next time...) I'll take pictures of it before it comes out of the skillet. It was gorgeous. The bottom is a golden brown, the top is gratineeed and it is a sight to behold.  Here's what leftovers looked like this morning...(It was prettier hot out of the oven...) But still nice.

 Good stuff...

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   Gonna be a laid back kind of day, I think.  I have a waffle iron that I need to take back to Goodwill...won't heat up. Thought I was getting a deal, lol.  I might wait and take it tomorrow though, since I'm gonna be out and about anyway. I'll have to see how I feel. I was up til all hours last night, hurting and not wanting to go in there and rock and roll and wake the Irishman.  I finally gave in and took a pain pill and went to bed about 2:30. Feeling a little rough today, but it will pass.  Didn't help that I only got about 4 and a half hours of sleep...but I can take a nap if I want to...or if I need to. And the way I feel right now, I'll probably need to.  I also want to go to the little country store here in  Woodburn (where I live) and get some more honey. They have a 6 pound jar for 18 dollars and it is really good. That's a good price around these parts I can't  remember if I told you about that honey--it's local (within 65 miles) and tastes really strongly of lilacs. Or something...but I'm pretty sure I have decided it's lilacs. lol  These people buy lots of bulk natural foods and distribute it locally to markets, to the health food store and lots of places.  It's an interesting little business they have going...and seem to be successful enough at it.

  Okay...I might do laundry, or I might just go lay down a while and see how I feel. The doggles are all sleeping here inside where it's warm and dry.  Most all of their cat friends are too.   It's a low key morning here at the Hill....hope you all have a wonderful day.....


Namaste.