A Julia meal

Having just finished the Julia Child book about her life in Paris, I've been thinking Julia. I watched her PBS show when I first got married and still have her The French Chef cookbook which presents recipes as whe did on the show... the book even has my notes. I have made several of her meals and own many of her cookbooks. I particularly have enjoyed trying some of the "simpler" recipes such as the one that appears in "Julia Child & More Company" for Rock Cornish Hens Broil-roasted in Wine.
The picture above is after they get broiled... You split them, take out the backbone, marinate in wine & oil & tarragon (I used vermouth) and then broil for 5minutes each side.

After broiling you add the marinate that has been drained and garlic cloves, cover the hens with cheese and bake for another 50 to 60 minutes. That's more time than Julia said but we like our chickens done.

And here they are! I use Colby cheese because when I first did the recipe many years ago that was all I had. The recipe calls for Swiss but I've stuck with Colby.
I served this with a baked potato (well, the oven was on) and green beans. Really good and we both agreed that it tasted as good as we remembered. It isn't easy to locate fresh Cornish hens. I prefer the fresh but you could use the frozen.
A great meal... thanks Julia!!!!

Deer

Naturally I didn't have the camera with me when we first spotted a family of deer walking up our circle. I did have the iPhone which I turned on as B drove around and back down the road. This is the only picture that shows anything. We were in the VW and I was standing with my head out of the sun roof. What we saw was 2 bucks, one with a rather large rack of antlers, a mama and 2 babies. By the time we had located them , they had moved on and this one was the last to cross the road. We often see deer on our travels but this group was unusual.

I'll try to bring the camera next time!

First Day of Fall

Well, it's finally fall. We have been cool for a bit but wouldn't you know it, today was rather muggy. We only got up to the low 70's but still, it felt muggy.

I haven't been blogging lately 'cause there has been nothing new. The tomatoes are still green and we are still doing well. I now realize, thanks to a gentle push from a friend, that no news can still be reported.

So, here I go.

We are having pot roast for dinner. We took a drive down to the mall to get some chairs for the library. I'm involved with the Friends of the Library and we are purchasing tables and chairs for the library at Sam's. And today we picked up 10 chairs to go along with the 4 tables and 5 chairs we already got. The Friends pay for this but we are doing the pick up. And we also got on B's Sam's card a chuck roast that I'm cooking in the oven and just put in potatoes and carrots. GOOD, I hope.

Leaves are turning lovely colors and falling. We just blow them aside. So much better than the days in South Jersey when we had to lug them out to the curb to be sucked up. So many loads of heavy pine needles and leaves. Now, B just puts on the blower (envision a jet pack on your back) and blows stuff into the woods. YEA!!! Several deer walked down the road a bit ago. As long as they aren't eating my plants, we are OK with them. The boat is still in the water... and we tried to go out the other day but I didn't want to turn into a Popsicles. It was really cool.

Got to check the roast....

End of August

Finally, the past two weeks have provided us with some tomatoes. The best ones are these little guys - I do have lots of green tomatoes ripening.

The larger tomatoes did not do well again this year. Too wet and the vines are thin thus only two or three tomatoes. Next year I'm sticking to herbs which do better. Also, I have found sources for fresh veggies around here. Fresh herbs, on the other hand, are not as easy to find and so having them in containers on the deck makes sense. Now, I just need to REMEMBER this next year when spring rolls around. Last week had many lovely days - warm with sun. Today is sunny but quite cool. It was 45 out this morning at around 6:30. We are to be in the low 70's today. At least it's dry!!!