Hanging out at the Dairy

Hanging out at the Dairy
Darci(far left) & the Wrights at the Creamery

Sunday, February 27, 2011

Sunday Dinner at the Ulin's

So today's weather was kind of gloomy and rainy. so I decided on comfort food for Sunday Dinner. I brined (3hrs)some of Sunny Farm's amazingly delicious Natural Chicken Thighs in organic Sea Salt, dried cumin, and dried thyme. To that I added some fresh sliced ginger,a few Meyer lemons(haved and squeezed into the gallon ziploc) and garlic from Nash's. Covered chix in tap water, closed the ziploc and chilled for three hrs. The drained chickens hit my preheated propane grill after brushing off the remaining snow.  Who cares about a little snow...we're year round grillers here at Chez Ulin!
To that complete our Sunday Dinnner menu, I sauteed some yummy fresh organic bok choy and arugula rab from Nash's Store and came from his local gardens too if my memory serves. I did the arugula first in a hot saute pan with some olive oil turning quickly and finish w a nice aged balsamic from Costco and some fresh cracked pepper. The bok choy followed in the same hot skillet, with a splash more olive oil,  after being cut in half and placed cut side down with an additional splash of Toasted Sesame Seed Oil from Trader Joes. Did I mention that we STILL DON'T HAVE ONE IN/CLOSE TO SEQUIM YET!!!! Oops...kind of hit a sore spot there...back to bok choy...covered saute pan with lid for a minute or so, turned with long tongs and covered again for 30 secs or so. Arugula rabe was peppery and sweet with the Balsamic and the Bok Choy juice as can be with a nice sear. Nice commpliments to the chicken! Bravo to Sunny Farms and Nash's teams for making my culinary endevours so rewarding! Bravo!

Grandma's cinnamon rolls

Sitting in my living room chair and sipping my Starbucks French Roast coffee with lots of milk from the Dungeness Creamery in it...boy does THAT take my morning coffee experience up 2 notches on the "happy to be me" meter! My other reason to be happy this am is that I have another pan of glorious cinnamon rolls I made yesterday am! YEA! I made them using my Grandma Effie's recipe...well sort of...chose to elevate the original recipe by replacing AP (all purpose) flour with Nash's Soft Wheat Pastry Flour(grown here and milled by Bell St. Bakery) , Unsalted Farm Butter and Pacific Northwest Blackberry Honey (rather than Gma Effie's suggested brown sugar) all from Sunny Farms Grocery.(FYI, Nash's Store in Dungeness, has his amazing flours for sale there too, amongst many other organic items).

Digressing due to lack of coffee intake...reload cup! 

I'm back! I did keep Gma Effie's chunks of chopped walnuts and sweet dried currents. The rolls were/are fantastic in a whole wheat kind of way; heavier, less fluffy, but nuttier and richer. My house was full of their perfume of yeast, cinnamon, honey and butter. I'm going to work on fine tuning the recipe and will post soon for you to try. Please look for it and comment on your experience.

Thank goodness I have another pan today to share with family and neighbors!  Now, what to plan for dinner tonight...but first, I think I need to check out the newer coffee roaster in town, Rainshadow Roaster, see if he's open today for business. Dinner will wait...coffee first!

Saturday, February 26, 2011

Alan and Harrison at Dungeness Creamery Summer '10

Two buddies enjoying the warm barn at the Dungeness Creamery. I wonder if the cows need more hay?

1st Entry -2nd attempt

So I love food am a pretty good cook/baker but a technie, I am not. Please stick with me while I navigate this new medium in an attempt to share my love for food, local purveyors and my inspirations.

My Grandma Effie really started it all for me from childhood. She loved to cook and the more mouths the better! I learned to love good ingrediants, to showcase them for optimal flavor and to share that experience with others. Her hazy, steam filled kitchen on our family farm in Forks was her command central. Now inch of table top appeared vacant as she set platter, pitcher, plates down for us all to consume. She hovered over us making sure that we were well nourished; mind, body and spirit. We never her table wanting for more of anything...2nds, 3rds, laughs, chores around the farm. My little rubber boots would race to her house to take my place by her side and I could often smell what was already in her cast iron skillets long before reaching her door. Those meals were lovingly prepared and savoured as she tended "her flock" at her table. I hope to share with you that love of food that she bestowed upon me. I am so blessed to have recieved it and will "tend to my flock" to help feed your love of food; mind, body and soul