Merry Christmas

Here's wishing a joyous holiday season to all our readers.  

We don't tell you enough how much we love you! 

We do.

Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas

From everyone at Doe Run Farm...

We let Christmas flow over us this year.

Here's to a very Happy New Year.

Holiday Gift Giving Guide

We are not Oprah!  Nor Julie Andrews.  But these are a few of OUR favorite things.  Any one of them will make you an expert gift giver this holiday season.

 Carolina Wild

I grew up in Alabama with a big ol' muscadine arbor in the back yard.  A Southern grape, muscadines have a really thick peel, a gelatinous center, and big seeds.  Once you break that skin, the taste is unforgettable.  The first sip of Carolina Wild sent me right back to that hillside in Alabama. 

When Dennis and Elizabeth Tracz returned to North Carolina to care for Elderly family, they stumbled across an excellent family business -- Muscadine juice.  And why not.  Muscadines are full of antioxidants, they make a great replacement crop for tobacco, and they remind me of Alabama!  As an added bonus, the company philosophy is ingrained with giving back to the community.

So instead of grabbing up a bottle of wine that someone will simply re-gift the next week, be wild and grab up some Carolina Wild.

The Unseen Bean

Sure buy everyone a Starbucks gift card.  Feel free to be as unimaginative as possible!

Gerry Leary loves food -- he loves the way it tasted, smells, feels on the palate, but he has never seen the food he eats. Leary was born blind. 

One day, Leary found himself in a restaurant with a rock tumble.  At least he thought it was a rock tumbler.  When he inquired, the owner said it was a coffee roaster and would he like to "see" it.  Leary became fascinated with the roaster and set out to get a job roasting coffee. His enthusiasm was not met with the same from employers who simply didn't get it.  Since no one would give him a job, Leary bought his own roaster and taught himself.  He may not see the beans but hears them, smells them and roasts some of the best coffee around.

 You know that old saying, "When life gives you lemons, make coffee!"

Want to be the salt of the Earth this Christmas?  You know we not big on sweets -- our palate goes to the salty and we have a pair of salts for you holiday pleasure.



Omnivore Salt

Angelo Garro is Italian by birth and a blacksmith by trade.  His blacksmith shop is well known in the San Francisco area, but not always for the forge.  In the back, Garro has an industrial stove that rivals many restaurants.  The shop has hosted many a dinner filled with food, and chefs, and wine, and salt.

A hunter and gatherer on the side, Garro often seasons his game and vegetables with a salt and spice blend he learned to make at his grandmother's knee.  Needless to say, everyone who ventured into the forge kitchen wanted their own bag of salt.  Finally, some suggested he sell the stuff...and the rest is history.

We love it rubbed on a chicken for roasting.  Try it sprinkled over olive oil with some crusty bread.  Toss it on vegetables. 

J.Q. Dickinson

For a beautiful finishing salt, look no farther than the green and rolling hills of West Virginia.  While snobs rave about Maldon salt from England, true food lovers rave about the salt from Malden, West Virginia.  Under the mountains of Appalachia lies an ancient, briny sea.  For seven generations, the Dickinson family has produced salt from that sea -- well for a brief period, the salt production came to a halt, but recently,siblings Nancy Bruns and Lewis Payne came back to the family farm and began producing the most beautiful of finishing salts.  A tiny sprinkle on brownies elevated the humble dessert to a show stopper. 

Bloomery SweetShine

While we are in West Virginia...you need a drink.  Nothing is easier on the digestion than a nice glass of limoncello.  Finding a good limoncello outside of Italy wasn't always an easy task.  When Linda Losey and Tom Keifer returned from a trip to Italy, they wanted a nice bottle of limoncello to remind them of their trip.  When they couldn't find one...you guessed it...they started making their own.  They bought a property on Craig's List and set up shop.  Who knew one would find lemons in West Virginia. 

They didn't stop with just lemons -- they have added raspberry, pumpkin, black walnut, and peach to name a few.  Frankly, they have way too much fun for people who are running a business!  Buy, you know that old saying, "When life gives you lemons, make limoncello!"


Cookbook Of The Day

What do we want for Christmas?  Cookbooks, of course.  Head over to Cookbook Of The Day for some great ideas to add to your cookbook shopping list.  Old and new, there is something for everybody. 

 Omnivore Books On Food

Need a really special cookbook.  Something out of print?  Something signed by a favorite chef? Something unusual?   Pop off an e-mail the Celia Sack at Omnivore and your search will come to an end.

Heifer International

Last but not least -- in fact -- last but should be first...

This is a season of giving.  What do you give the person who has everything?  A gift for someone else.  Instead of doing that last minute shopping at the drug store -- log onto Heifer International and make a donation of chickens, or bees, or goats, or stoves and tuck that into a stocking. 

We have always been big supporters of Heifer International, but you live in a community and there are folks who need help.  Drop off a toy, buy a coat, donate to a food bank.  the wold will be a better place and you will be a better person.

Happy Holidays!

Holiday Food Recap

 

Yes, it was a pink disco ball Christmas tree. Even I was shocked! But there you have it.

There was a lot of holiday cooking. There was even more holiday dish washing. I did not keep an accurate count, but I believe I washed every dish in the house at least 4 times...and I have a lot of dishes. My favorite, mismatched Le Creuset pan was often washed 4 time a day itself! I washed so many dishes, I didn't always take the requisit photos, but here goes.

There was fruitcake and...

and more fruitcake.

 

 

Beer bread and honey butter.

A turkey smoked in the Ugly Drum Smoker we built this summer.

One of my favorite gifts from last year was a subscription to Julibox. Frankly, we have had more fun with the Julibox than one can imagine. We are always finding new cool spirits to try. Of course, it takes me a while to try them as I must have the box sent to another state because, West Virginia wants to protect me from mail order booze, though I can have OxyContin sent to my door, but I digress...

One of my fave drinks was Laird's Applejack and proseco. So when I got big bottle of applejack, I planned ahead. I had a tray of apples I couldn't get around to eating or cooking, so I juiced them and made big ol' ice cubes out of them. The apple juice ice cubes made these Cocktails At The Burn Pit, cool and fruity!

There was a standing rib roast with Yorkshire Pudding. Now I love shopping at discount, dollar store kind of places. Truth is, most of the time one would be hard pressed to find anything worth a dollar, which is why one must be persistent. I popped into one looking for nothing in particular, always on the lookout for cooking gear. I looked down and saw a pair of popover pans. They listed for $28 a piece, but were marked a mere $5. Score!

 

I made a Christmas Tree Pavlova.

Tired of leftovers, I made mozzarella-stuffed meatballs and spaghetti and some bread.

My friend, Catherine, sent me a huge bag of Black Twig Apples, that went into a pie.

 

Holiday food means a trip to the big box store. I know that Chefy types will be appalled, but I love to buy a huge bag of peeled garlic cloves. Truth be told, if you are not running a restaurant, there is no need for a huge bag of peeled garlic. But here in the woods, keeping fresh garlic is often a bit hard. So I plan for a garlic rub on the rib roast, 40 clove chicken, meat sauce, and on and on. Then, I confit the remaining cloves and freeze little containers of soft, oily garlic. When I need a spread for bread, or garlic in a stew, I just pull out a little frozen cube, and I am good to go.

 

All the unused citrus was turned into Marmelade. I made a mixed citrus with lemons, limes, oranges, and three different grapefruits. I used a fine chop on the mixed peel. I had two huge pomelos that made a pomelo mamelade. The fruit was very pink and the peel was a bright green, so it made a very preppy marmelade.

 

For the pomelo, I left the peel in very long, thin strips. I think the long strips make for an elegant marmelade.

The new year meant collards,

 

black-eyed peas,

 

And a lovely pig-head cornbread.

Only 350-some days till Christmas. I'm off to the kitchen.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Merry Christmas

 

Nylon Gift Ideas

Nylon Magazine might just have the best Chistmas Gift ideas yet. Take famous fictional babes and ask yourself, what would they want from Santa.

 

Holly Golightly gifts.

Penny Lane gifts.

Margot Tenenbaum gifts.

Claudia Kishi gifts.

We are making a list...

 

After Christmas Benedict

 

We just love the architecture of eggs Benedict.  A starch, a protein, a creamy sauce, and a fat poached egg on top, or under the sauce, as it were.   Really, aside from cake and pie, it is hard to think of food that is not greatly enhanced by a fresh poached egg!

This is a favorite planned over brunch item to throw together when Christmas or Thanksgiving leftovers abound.   It is not so much a recipe as an assemblage of stuff you already have staring at you from the fridge!

Another favorite at Doe Run Farm is the humble chicken gizzard.   We just love gizzards of any kind.  We have a great recipe for Confit de gésiers that we make on occasion.  

 Gizzards and spices bathed in olive oil for several hours, cooled and tucked into a crock in the back of the refrigerator for fanciful salads or in our case, a fanciful sauce.  If you don't have confit, don't worry, use your leftover giblet gravy.  If you have been incredibility productive, use that  turkey à la king you made!  Now that you have assembled your leftovers, the dish is really quite simply.

After Christmas Benedict

leftover dressing, warmed
egg, poached
Confit de gésiers  (or the leftover giblet gravy or turkey à la king)
a splash of heavy cream
Salt and pepper to taste

Cut the dressing from the pan with a round biscuit cutter.

Roughly chop the confit and sauté.  To finish the sauce, add a splash of cream about a tablespoon.  ( If using the gravy just heat through and add the cream, the turkey à la king has cream so just heat.)

Now poach your egg. 

Place the poached egg on the round of dressing and cover with your sauce.  Top off with a sprig of sage.

This is a tasty use leftovers.

The Doe Run Night Before Christmas

Twas the night before Christmas, Santa thought and he groaned

The night before Christmas, “I wish I was stoned.”

He had gotten quite tipsy, to the Mrs. dismay,

At the elves Christmas party held early that day.

Now my kitties were nestled all snug in their beds,

As visions of mousies danced round in their heads.

And I in my snow boots and orange hunter’s cap,

Was busy a’ mixing a Christmas nightcap.

When out by Doe Run there arose such a clatter,

I sat down my drink to see what’s the matter.

The moon on the breast of the new fallen snow,

Gave the luster of midday to the objects below.

When what to my bleary eyes did appear?

But stranded old sleigh and nary a deer.

The tipsy old driver was still very quick,

And I knew in a moment it must be St. Nick.

“Where’s Dasher? Where’s Dancer?

Where’s Prancer?  Where’s Vixen?

And Comet and Cupid and Donder and Blitzen?”

He ran to the barn, as he looked rather stricken,

Then he came running out with every last chicken.

He harnessed them up, then I heard Santa cry,

For Santa did realize that chickens can’t fly.

I called to dear Santa, who looked less than merry,

But his cheeks they were rosy, his nose like a cherry.

I gave him a beer as he walked thought the door,

It was then that he spied a cat on the floor.

His droll little mouth was drawn up like a bow,

“The cats will save Christmas, I will make it so.”
 

He grabbed up our darling, our sweet Clementine,

”Yes this one will do, she will do just fine.”

 
Then Miss Kitty Carlisle, he grabbed her up too,

Yes Miss Kitty Carlisle will just have to do.

The cats Halloweener, both Treat and then Trick,

Had tried very hard to hide from St. Nick.

But Santa, he found them and when they were ready,

He grabbed up the last one, our grey cat named Teddy.

You know Mr. Claus; you’re a really smart guy,

But much like the chickens, well cats they don’t fly.

“Well, listen Lucinda, I don’t want to bore ye,

But you made this up so, let’s stick to the story.”

He lit up his pipe that he held in his teeth,

And the smoke encircled his head like a wreath.

He climbed in the sleigh with his big round belly,

That shook when he laughed like a bowl full of jelly.

He went straight to work and had nothing to say,

Except that my cats would be back Christmas Day.

The cats sprung to work as he let out a whistle,

And away they all flew like a rocket or missile,

And I heard him exclaim, as he shot though the blue,

Merry Christmas to All, Happy Hanukkah, too.

Giving Tuesday

 

It's Giving Tuesday.  I'm not sure that Giving Tuesday should be stuck behind Thanksgiving Dinner, Black Friday, Small Business Saturday and Cyber Monday!  Who would have any leftover MONEY.   But it is a great idea.

Harry, like many people who have ever given a dollar, gets tons of requests for charity.  So many we never know which one to give to.  When you give once, it seems they send a notice every other week.   (And I think that makes money for the company that is SENDING the requests and not the actual charity...but I digress.)  To combat this excess, we set aside Harry's birthday as the one day of the year to make ALL his charitable contributions. That way, we know who we have given to and we can throw away all those repetitious mailers.

As for Giving Tuesday, you are probably broke, but here is my favorite charity:  Heifer International

In a survey 79% of Americans would rather have a charitable donation made in their name than to receive a gift they wouldn't use.   Make someone you love or like or whose name you got in the Secret Santa drawing HAPPY by donating to a good cause like Heifer International.

Merry Christmas

Santa Teddy and Kitty Carlisle the Red Nosed Reinkitty

and Trick and Treat and Clementine and the chickens and Lucinda wish all our fair readers a very Merry Christmas, a Happy Hanukkah, a Festive Festivus and a real nice Sunday afternoon.

Ideas That Didn't Work

Oh sure, ANYONE can have a live Christmas tree,

but not everyone can have live Christmas ornaments.

Much like live Nativity scenes, we thought perhaps, live decorations.

The idea was short lived.

But, definitely in the Christmas spirit.

A "Cheesy" Christmas Idea

Give a friend a log of goat cheese and they have a nice appetizer.

Give them a share of Belle Cheve from Kickstater and they have a share in Belle Cheve.

Belle Cheve is a fromagerie in Elkmont, Alabama. The original owner wanted a nice French goat cheese and got herself some goats and the rest is history. Well, actually, the story takes its modern turn away from Alabama. It seems that Tasia Malakasis stumbled across some Belle Cheve in New York City where she found herself transplanted from Alabama. She was so impressed with cheese that she decided she wanted to return to Alabama and make cheese.

This is the point in the story that everyone has from time to time. That, "Hey, I'm going to quite my job and start a food company on a farm a thousand miles from where I am now and all will be fine" moment that most people have and quickly forget about. Malakasis refused to forget. She called Belle Cheve. She begged to work there. She begged to learn how to make cheese. She showed up. She offered to buy the place.

Her dogged endurance paid off and soon, she was making an extraordinary goat cheese sought out by chefs and consumers far and wide. The story hits a bit of a bump in the road, however, because the lease on the land where all those lovely Alabama goats roam free is up and the landowner will not renew the lease.

Belle Cheve needs its own place. That is where Kickstarter comes in. Kickstarter is a way to garner funding from people out there in the real world. So be one of those people.

If you are one of the 1% out there and need a tax right off... send Belle Cheve $100,000 and get cheese for life.

If you are one of the 99%, give goat cheese as a gift... not just the cheese but a chance to keep this great dairy alive and milking.

Merry Christmas

HO! HO! HO!
from all of us at
Lucindaville

Teddy decided to un-decorate the tree.

This year we decorated a Pepe le Pew theme tree.

After much playing around, Carlisle decided to show everyone how to strike a pose.

And then...

She decided to sing...

A little song... Silent Night, I am pretty sure.

Alright Mr. De Mille, I'm ready for my close up...


And to all a goodnight.