Red Dirt Farm and Studio

Sunrise at Coral Cottage this morning.

Driving down the road the other morning, I spotted a pheasant.  Screech.  I slammed on my brakes put it in reverse, pulled out the old point and shoot, snap and happy was I. What is the big deal?  Around here, we don’t see pheasants walking around willy nilly;  so it was a big deal to me.   Not to mention, that I lose my mind over birds, at the drop of a hat.  He has the most amazing colors that sparkle and shine in the sunlight, don’t you think?

LOVE!

Early Saturday morning I was out watering the cat, when I heard this loud raspy honking noise.  I went to investigate in the direction from which it came.  The cat shot off towards the door in a hurry – scared to death.  There at the foot of the driveway was the pheasant.  I quickly ran in, got the camera and back out in a flash. The pheasant was gone when I returned.  I walked around looking for him.  I couldn’t see him, but I could hear him down in the woods calling and foraging.

Do you have a vegetable or other food, that you thought you didn’t care for – only to find out otherwise?

Brussel Sprouts – ICK!

 I spent my life not liking brussel sprouts.  I probably had them once, they were over-cooked mushy and they stunk.  Then one night recently at a friend’s house, she cooked brussels sprouts.  She is a great cook, but even so my first thought was how was I going to get them down, as though I liked them.  I was honest, told her I didn’t care for them, but would give it a try.  I did.  They were good.  Soon after, my sister made a brussel sprout dish that I liked as well.  Go figure I spent all those years hating them, and it turns out, they aren’t so bad.  Last night I made some for the first time.

I decided to make up my recipe, loosely based on Ina Garten’s roasted brussel sprouts.

On a roasting pan in an oven set at 400 degrees I tossed:

Sliced sprouts, and then every thing is better with bacon.  Olive oil, onions, s&p, garlic, and hot hungarian paprika.  Roast for 30 mins, then a drizzle of balsamic vinegar,  tossed in a few raisins and roasted for another 5-10  mins.

I over cooked them, because I was so busy getting caught up in pheasant hunting.   The pheasant showed up again, and I got completely distracted watching him and trying to take photos.  He didn’t seem to be too bothered by me, but he wouldn’t let me get close enough for a good shot.  The natural camouflage is amazing.

Warm weather on Friday allowed me to set up a work station outside and do some soldering with my copper jewelry.  The pieces still aren’t finished, I have some equipment on the fritz so until another time; they remain incomplete.

That’s life at Coral Cottage.

See you later, Bye!

Kim