Bumping Along

Exciting times this week!

We sold our old much used Chevy Colorado, and bought a newer more gently used Chevy Silverado. The kids were wild with excitement, and have named the truck “Bluey”. Because it’s blue.

It makes an excellent boat, cave, vermin lair, or castle as the need requires.

They are currently slaves, plotting to escape from their vermin masters. The leaves are essential, or so I am told.

Ellie’s face when told she cannot fry an entire cup of shredded cheese for breakfast.

Winnie was told to get dressed, and came out wearing this. She came up to me in the kitchen and said, “So pretty!”

I said, “Winnie, you can’t wear that to the farm, because it will get dirty.”

She shook her head sadly at my lack of comprehension. “No, Daddy. This is so beautiful!”

Only a Daddy could be so dull.

Homeschooling is hard.

Especially for the smallest child, who doesn’t understand why her sibling can’t play with her.

School work in the shop can be fun, but very distracting.

“I’m a bloodthirsty rogue!”

Winnie loves her sheepies.

Tuesday morning Evie wanted pancakes for breakfast, but we were out of pancake mix. Undaunted, she pulled out her cookbook, and made homemade griddle cakes instead.

Meanwhile, Winnie and Daddy started a project for Mommy. Winnie tasted the cream to make sure it was just right. (It was).

Then she mixed the egg yolks, sugar and vanilla.

Of course, when you separate out the yolks, that leaves with egg whites, which are perfect for a salami and cheddar omelet.

Breakfast of champions. This’ll put the meat on your bones, and some extra cushioning as well if you aren’t careful.

Evie, carefully and skillfully frying up the griddle cakes. When she gets a little faster we will have to get out the actual griddle.

Delicious, perfectly done griddle cakes, salty-sweet with a hint of vanilla. They blow the mix pancakes out of the water, and surprisingly don’t take that much longer to make.

After breakfast we scalded the cream and tempered it into the egg yolk/sugar/vanilla, and then steamed it in a custard bowl before pouring it into ramekins. Evie and Ellie were clearing the table for breakfast, but…

Evie took it upon herself to make sure the custard bowl was clean before it went into the dishwasher.

And there you are, four ramikins of creme brulee’ (minus the crust, that will come along later.

Also, never mind the messy refrigerator. We know where everything is. It’s in there. Somewhere.

Two quince fell from the tree on Tuesday, after our first light frost of the year. The kids retrieved them, and I asked them how they smelled. Quince are supposed to smell fruity when they are ripe.

These are a little fruity, but not quite to the JuicyFruit ™ level yet. And we were scheduled to have another frost on Tuesday night through to Wednesday morning, before temps swing back up for a few days.

So Daddy and Ellie tarped the trees. Ellie thinks the bigger one looks like a parachute.

The new cider press needs a little work. One of the times it was rebuilt, they made the frame too short so the crank and the press are too close together. It was easy to bang your knuckles on the back corner post.

So Seppi took care of that.

And wore a mask. Because.

We have more set-up to do before Cider Fest on Saturday. Everything needs to be cleaned and set up. And that is just the work in the shop, so far it doesn’t even begin to touch the setup that needs to happen in the house.

Last event of the day, we threw some cold frames over some of the lettuces to protect them in case it does frost.

Now, time to go home and have some food. The hooligans are hungry.