We often think of pigs with a negative connotation. But there are different types of pigs. Some are cuter than others, and the well known and all time cutie-pie, Babe, certainly comes to mind. Others are less personable. The choice is obviously mine if I wish to practice the husbandry of pigs. And I might. I love bacon! And ham!
My cake hasn't got any bacon in it though, just banana cake and a layer of cream cheese frosting, covered in a fluffy chocolate icing - perfect for fondant pigs to roll in.
I was back on the farm again, for a second vacation, with a new arsenal of farm cookie cutters (I guarantee you'll see the rest in action before too long) and ideas for making and baking all the scrumptious things I cannot create in my Warsaw kitchen. Life didn't exactly play out that way. Time in the chef jacket was limited. We had a whirlwind on our hands. Figuratively speaking, the lists of chores we had conceived and the other tasks that we found lurking everywhere. But also literally: after our first glorious week of prairie summer - we definitely picked the perfect week to be home together - we had a 30 hour wind storm. I was stuck inside. I couldn't watch what was becoming of the garden and the yard. Bananas were overripe. So I had an excuse. Until it stopped.
Then I had one heck of a mess to tidy up. And more work still to finish up losing a whole day to weather.
I'll do my research on pleasant pigs and then encourage any pig I get, to be nice. Maybe raising a piglet is the way to go. After all that's what Almanzo does, and isn't that also the plan for Wilbur? It's a farm thing I gather. We have a farm, so what are we waiting for? What are you waiting for? A new blog post? Yes. Me too. It's just this whole farm thing is a lot of work on its own, and I didn't have my camera in Warsaw. I'm taking the Canon this time, and retracting my excuses and getting on with it. So I'll talk about cake first, then we will get to the juicy meat of summer.
I also thought banana could go with poppy seeds and cream cheese icing so I sneaked in a few cupcakes in a summer shade. I love those paper pots I baked them in. They really make a cupcake.
I couldn't have been happier to come home to plants that had been watered, because they all grew and came to life. I never knew how nice dill could be as a backdrop. I might not have let it go to seed if I'd been home, but obviously I was MIA. Great farm-scaping I say.
For the record I'm not really complaining about the chores on the farm, and impressed with how much we accomplished because many are fun, exciting, and rewarding. Those that aren't, or become a bothersome chore due to the amount you must do (20 hours of weeding for example) often can be done whilst thinking, listening, chatting, making phone calls and getting a suntan. There are exceptions. But since I'm on such a positive note, they're not worth mentioning. ;) Unfortunately I've not yet managed roping anyone into helping me, however I've been learning... We did enjoy our Didsbury Rodeo. I saw lariats and lassos there in action. Watch out!
Our chickens continue to be champion egg layers. I could eat egg salad every day.
I continue to bake bread. Oh how we love home made 'artisan' bread. Or so I like to call it. We eat our egg salad on it. I used to make baguette shaped loaves, but we enjoy the boules and braids the best. Épis is also a fun shape and an easily torn apart baguette alternative.
And it appears we also had a red velvet blackberry cake. I almost forgot about that! I think it was because I needed to make Swiss buttercream because I used yolks for something else. Needed to, of course. I assure you we also eat vegetables and both cakes were small. Not those double/triple deckers I often make. Yeah right, you say.
See. Swiss chard. Even the Swiss have sweets and vegetables. ;) That mountain became 2 kg of processed chard for the freezer. However we enjoyed lots more fresh. We like it in a curry. We shared lots of chard, too. Very, very pretty in the garden. (More photos when I talk more about gardening.) Like the zinnias below, which make superb cut flowers. I will be growing them again next year.
All this salivating talk of pork brings me to take a Keiłbasa break.
Good thing there's plenty just a hop skip and a jump from my door!
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