Today I made 6 egg custards and a flan pie from a surfeit of eggs brought to us by our lovely hens. Kelly loves egg custard and flan, so these will disappear quickly! i generally use the bantam eggs in baked custards at a ratio of 2 bantam eggs per 1 standard egg. It uses up the little eggs easily and quickly.
Personally, I like to eat them with fresh fruit. Today, I picked fresh red currants from the garden. They are one of my favorites! I like to make jelly with the red currants, but they are also quite lovely fresh, sprinkled around the flan or on top of a custard. I have black currants and white currants that will soon be ready for picking too! You can see the currants in the tub in the picture. I still need to take them off their stems.
We also picked our second batch of garlic scapes. Usually Kelly cuts them up and purees them with softened butter, then freezes that into logs. It makes great garlic butter. Garlic scapes are the flower stalk of the garlic plant. Generally, in order to allow the garlic bulb (under the soil) to maximize its size, you cut the flower off so that the plant focuses its energy in the root, not the flower. They make these unusual curly stems, and the flavor of them is garlicky, but milder than the bulb. Garlic is very good for us, even though it's not one of my favorites really. I eat it anyway. I do think that the garlic scapes are lovely to look at!
I also finished plying some yarn that I had spun. The orange/turquoise is a seacell and merino blend, while the buff is an alpaca and merino blend. I'm quite pleased with how this one came out.
Of course, I can't finish up without a mention of the little white bundle under my desk.
What is it? Look closer! It's Marshmallow!! She's doing wonderfully well and has gained a whole pound! She is now over 5 pounds of fleecy delight. Hooray! She has also adapted well to her sanitary routine of being diapered. It saves a lot of clean up and she seems perfectly comfortable. Whew!
Have a great week!
16 comments:
I love using the garlic scapes, too. Marshmellow is a sweethear! I've never had a house lamb, though would like to!
What delights! The yarn is beautiful. I have never grown currants, but we have some blueberries just beginning to color. Today we canned 31 jars of Mt. Hood strawberry jam, they are so sweet I barely add sugar. It's my favorite. What a bounty this time of year brings.
And that Marshmellow! I just want to give her a cuddle.
Marshmellow is just too cute!!! Would love to have a bundle like that under my desk!
I think I would like to try some of those yummy things! Marshmallow is a very pretty little lamb and I'd love to have her visit here! Can you take a photo of Buford for me? I think I like that name a lot! Goat kisses from Isobelle!
Yay! So glad to hear Marshmallow is doing well.
Your yarn is beautiful, you should be very proud. How was the seacel to work with? And garlic scapes...yum! They also make a tasty pesto!
Scapes! That's what they're called! I knew they had to be good for something; when I cut ours off, they smelled so fragrant (in a garlicky way). Next year I'll know what to do with them!
I'm glad Marshmallow is adapting so well. Hope she doesn't mind getting booted out of the house & back to the pasture when the time comes--and running around naked without her nappies!
What a little cutie you have tucked under there!
I didn't realize you could use the tops of the garlic like that. Makes me want to try growing some. I'll have to try it next year.
~Jenny~
That lamb is so incredibly precious! Thank you for writing about it.
We've had plenty of baby goats in the house with diapers. It works great. To help when they get older, take two of those elastic bands with clips on the end that are used to hold unfitted bed sheets in place, and sew a three inch strap between them. They make great goat diaper suspenders as the babies get older and more active. We've even had luck house training them. Just put them out with the dogs every time and watch to make sure they poop twice before coming back in. (What eventually banished them from the house was when they started jumping onto the kitchen counter and when they started eating my manuscripts.) Fun times.
By the way. If I were in your kitchen, I'd be tempted to jump up on the counter for some of those goodies you've made myself.
Thanks for explaining what scapes are and how to use them! Your custard and flan have me drooling; I love them but my family doesn't so I rarely indulge.
I LOVE that little diapered baby!!!
LOVE your blog! I have alot in common with you *U* I'm listing you on my blog.
Mmmm! Yummy! What? No recipes to share?
Oooh! The garlic scapes. I've never tried them, but now I feel I must! Yummo!
And that plied yarn. Beautiful!
Marshmallow is so sweet under the desk. What a beautiful little lamb.
~Lisa
Oh! And I almost forgot. What do currants taste like, and what do they grow on? Bushes? Vines? Trees?
They looks a little like cranberries.
How awesome that you have your own stash growing there.
~Lisa
Hey, Claire, I've given you a couple of blog awards...stop by to check 'em out.
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