Gentle food.

This week our pork came.

And for breakfast on Sunday morning we had omelettes made from our own eggs and herbs and Maine sea salt, loaded with homemade cheese (not our milk).  I served it with a side of bacon from our pigs.

That felt French and luxurious and busy.  And it felt righteous.  But that is silly... I don't want to be one of the elitist Hardwick-area micro farmers.  So then I just felt happy to have the chance to grow my own food, be it animal, vegetable, or mineral.

But after that, it just was tasty.  And a bit different.  My cheese is tangy and lemony and had a touch of goat milk (from Sue and Aaron) in with the cow milk which gave it a richer taste than it otherwise might have had.

We recently also began making our own charcoal.  Sounds crazy, doesn't it?  But when we have a fire, we burn the coals down at the end in a very specific manner, wait for them to cool, and move them into a container.  Next time we want to grill, rather than just have a fire, we pull it out, add a touch of lighter fluid to get it started (and some old paper bags), and off we go.  Grillable in 15 minutes.  So we had some nice beef tips on the grill with Italian Bread Pudding (in honor of Aunt Eunice going to Italy), and roasted potatoes.  Last night we had pork chops oven baked in herbed rice with a cream sauce, and salad of our own (and our CSA) greens, topped with my cheese... cubed and delicious.

But the best part of this week's food??

Homemade Ice Cream.

I picked up an ancient ice cream maker in a free pile in Hardwick.  I am sure it is using about a million watts of electricity every time we use it.  But we plugged it in, made a sweet cream base from the Ben and Jerry's cookbook, touched it with an ample amount of vanilla, and made it up.  It was delicious!!  And a double recipe has lasted us three days.  First night?  Bowls of delicious ice cream.  Next night?  Colin and I had bowls of ice cream with Bailey's on top, while the kids had creamsicle "cha chas"  (our term for milkshakes via the Greenstein Doolittle bunch), made with ice cream and a touch of orange juice.  And today, as the rain falls, and the kiddos build forts (all 9 of them today!), I sip coffee laced with ice cream.

Don't forget, Potluck Dinners on Thursdays!  This Thursday at 5:30!  YEAY!