It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like . . .

Dare I say it?  But the first tulip really makes it seem rather Spring-ish.

Buds are swelling on the yellow-twig dogwood;  willows are greening,

 forsythia and quince are abloom . . . 

And a few shy hyacinths are joining the early blooming daffodils.  

Windows

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And So It Begins . . .

Seduced by the mention of Seeds from Italy over on my friend Louise's blog, I placed an order -- Pomodoro Costoluto Fiorentino and Pomodoro Cuor di Bue (Beef Heart tomato,)  Cima di Rapa (or, more prosaically, sprouting turnip top,) a lovely Lemon Leopold sunflower, Black Tuscan Kale, Chioggia beets, cucumbers, green beans . . . 

I can hardly wait! 

Yesterday... 7 am to 5 pm ...

Coq Au Vin

This is what we had for supper Saturday night before Carolina trounced Duke. Coq au Vin is traditionally made with red wine -- and a fair amount of bacon.

My mother used to make this but I don't have her recipe so  I kind of combined several.

I don't have a lot of counter space 

and the various components of the dish were  stacked here and there.

I used two of our chickens -- there were eight of us and I love leftovers.

 

We also had roasted asparagus, new potatoes, and a green salad. My friend Susan brought an amazing Key Lime cheesecake...

Coq Au Vin

Ingredients

• I/2 pound thick-sliced bacon or hog jowl, cut into one inch by quarter inch pieces
• 20 pearl onions, blanched and peeled, or 1 large yellow onion, sliced
• 1 chicken, disjointed, or 3 lbs chicken thighs and legs, with skin
• 6 garlic cloves, peeled
• Salt and pepper to taste
• 2 cups chicken stock
• 2 cups dry red wine (pinot noir, burgundy, or cabernet, or merlot)
• 2 bay leaves
• 4 inch piece of celery
• Several fresh thyme sprigs
• Several fresh parsley sprigs
• 1/2 lb button mushrooms, trimmed and cut in half
• 1/2 cup brandy
• 2 Tbsp butter
• Chopped fresh parsley for garnish

Method

1 Blanch the bacon to remove some of its saltiness. Drop the bacon into a saucepan of cold water, covered by a couple of inches. Bring to a boil, simmer for 5 minutes, drain. Rinse in cold water, pat dry with paper towels.

2 Brown bacon on medium high heat in a dutch oven  big enough to hold the chicken, about 10 minutes. Remove the cooked bacon, set aside. Keep the bacon fat in the pan.  Brown onions, remove. Working in batches if necessary, add chicken, skin side down. Brown the chicken well, on all sides, about 10 minutes. Halfway through the browning, add the garlic and sprinkle the chicken with salt and pepper. 


3 Add the chicken stock, wine, and herbs. ( I made the celery and herbs into a bouquet garni, wrapping them with string as in the picture above.) Add back the bacon and onions.. Lower heat to a simmer. Cover and cook for 20 minutes, or until chicken is tender and cooked through. Remove chicken and onions to a separate platter. Remove the bay leaves, herb sprigs, garlic, and discard.

4 Add mushrooms and brandy to the remaining liquid and turn the heat to high. Boil quickly and reduce the liquid by three fourths until it becomes thick and saucy. Lower the heat, stir in the butter. Return the chicken and onions to the pan to reheat and coat with sauce. Adjust seasoning. Garnish with parsley and serve.

Serves 4-6.

A Message from Eddie

Vicki is still recovering from the effects of helping family and friends celebrate Carolina's historic defeat of Duke -- at Duke. She'll be back tomorrow, no doubt.


People are so silly -- a houseful of grown men (and women, who always have seemed to me to be the more sensible sex) screaming as men in baggy shorts bounce a ball and try to throw it through a hoop.

It only proves the infinite superiority of cats -- as if there'd ever been any question.   

Early Light

SIBA

A little birdie told me . . .

Under the Skin made the SIBA (Southern Independent Booksellers Alliance) long list.

"The SIBA Book Awards were created not just to recognize great Southern books, but to give southern readers an enviable list of books to enjoy, read, buy, and give as gifts. As of this time, the SIBA Book Award remains one of the most far-reaching and high-profile awards for Southern literature."

But wait, there's more!  Also on the long list is Naked Came the Leaf Peeper by Brian Knopp et al (call me Al -- I wrote Chapter 4.)

My friend, past NC poet laureate. Kathryn Byer Stripling's Southern Fictions is there under Poetry.

and my friend Amanda Kyle Williams is there too with The Stranger You Seek! 

To see all the nominees -- Fiction, Nonfiction, Poetry, Young Adult, Children, Cooking --  go HERE.

Your To Be Read list is in danger of growing longer.

Long Time Gone

Leave it be, she said when Corley went to haul it off,
Thinking to spare his mama some pain.
Directly after the snow melted,  he'd brought his team around,
Hooked the big gray mules to the front bumper.
It ain't no trouble, Mama. I kin haul it down to Allen's-

Leave it be, she said, I told you, Leave it be. 

Over fifty years ago, that was, the March that big snow came.
She'd waded at sun up through the high-piled drifts
To find her man laying across the seat, 
An empty jar of white likker on the floor board,
And him, her man, frosted with rime ice.. 
Dead as a hammer. 

He always was bad to drink, or so the neighbors said,
But she pretended not to know and he wouldn't bring it in the house.
That last night, in all that snow, he'd stepped out to his car for a little sup,
Turned on the engine  to get the warmth of the heater . . .
Another sup, and another. . .
Inside the house, she blew out the last lamp.
And all the while the wind blew and the snow fell . . .

Smothered to death, is what the neighbors said,
Once snow covered up the tail pipe and the motor still running . . .
They shook their heads, whispering,
And her in the house, not but a few steps away. . .

She lived another twenty-some years, watching that car rust,

While the house fell to pieces around her.

Corley tried his best to keep the place up but she'd have none of it,

Leave it be,  she'd say. I told you, Leave it be.

This was inspired by an incident from Sheila Kay Adams's book Come Go Home With Me...  I'm not done with it -- it may need to be a short story.