So, it’s Wednesday or Maybe Eggsday

Which came first- the chicken or the egg?

With all the eggs we are getting these days, egg salad sandwiches seemed like a good choice for lunch.  While I had a carton of eggs out making pancakes and sausage for breakfast I dropped a dozen in the pot to boil.  Jonathan makes a great egg salad, he also is good at deviled eggs and happily eats them straight up boiled.  Of all my children, Jonathan is the most advanced cook for his age.  Savannah is great at pastries, but that is as far as her interests really go.

You would think with all these eggs stacked all over the place- I have 10 dozen in the fridge at this time- that Jonathan would have been busy making such tasty egg dishes.  However, if you have ever tried to peel a boiled farm fresh egg then you would know what a huge challenge this can be and by the time you get it peeled the only thing the egg is decent for is egg salad.  A few months back I began following a gardening blog- Garden Betty- and she posted the most fabulous post about this very subject.  In it she stated that if you poke a whole in fat end of the egg with a thumb tack that the shell will pull away from the egg itself allowing for easy peeling.  I tried it today and it worked great!  To read all about it click this link- Perfect Boiled Egg.

To those who read this I may sound simple minded, but whenever I am cooking and I reach in the fridge and pull out our eggs it just brings me such pleasure!  In their own right, they are beautiful.  With the mixed flock of hens, I have a very mixed assortment of eggs.  The colors range from white to dark brown, speckled and green, small and large- they are all so pretty.  However pretty the outside is, nothing compares with the beauty of the inside.  The yolk sets up nice and high, the color is bright yellow with some being almost neon orange.  The nutrition value of eggs from free range hens is beyond comparison and the flavor is amazing.  It is a very satisfying thing to feed your family with food that you have produced.

Beautiful Eggs

During the course of the day, Tony and I wandered through the gardens.  It looks pitiful now.  These very cold nights have turned the 4 o’clocks, egg plants, tomatoes, and citronella among others to green mush.  The growing season is officially over.  Now it is time for clean up and prep for spring.  Once things are cleaned up I will feel better.  At that time, it will look like a blank state full of possibilities for next year instead of the ugly mess telling me that this year’s fun is over.  I did find it interesting that the Texas Tarragon did not melt.  Looks like it might not only take the heat but maybe the cold as well, we shall see.  The chickens were busy in the garden.  Scratching up a storm, they are busy eating the bugs trying to take cover under the leaves and the larvae for next year’s pests.  What a win/win situation- the chickens eat the pests in the garden and all that bug protein makes for some really great eggs!

Today was the first day Tony has been off in a while.  Urgent Care in Tyler Texas is experiencing a very busy season these days.  It was quite nice to spend the day at home.  Tony, Sierra, and Jonathan had a Mario Kart competition and then we all played a game of 13.

As they hooted and hollered their way through Mario Kart, I prepped the shopping list for our Christmas Dinner that will happen on Saturday.  Our Christmas celebrations usually run for several days.  Many years ago due to Tony’s work schedule and other family traditions, we moved our immediate family celebrations to another day leaving Christmas Eve and Christmas Day open for the extended family celebrations that we all love.  With the Hobbit coming out in theaters this weekend we decided to move the fun up real early and make the movie part of the day.  So, we are really excited about this weekend.  I am excited to get some really large presents out of my closet I can’t hardly get to my socks these days.

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Chickens cleaning up in the Garden