Haluski! (a post for Alex)

I made haluski today!  It's one of my favorite easy peasy meals.  I only cook about three different dishes, and this is one of them.  It's one of those deep winter, stick to your ribs kind of foods that probably isn't for everyone.  Basically it's cabbage, onion, and egg noodles pan fried.  Myself?  I like to 

add kielbasa.  In the background is one of the best strong cheddars I've had in a while for snacking on while cooking.  We went to the Seacoast Farmer's Market yesterday and I purchased this wedge of Caerphilly from Abbot Hill Creamery.  HIGHLY recommend this if you're a fan of creamy, aged cheddar.  

Growing up, I joked that my Grampy would melt a stick of butter to cook a pound of bacon.  I prefer frying in butter for flavor and that wonderful crispy browning effect.  I know, I know...not healthy, so I only do it once in a while.

Once that's pan fried to perfection, I move on to the vegetable portion of the meal.  A small head of cabbage, cut into healthy sized chunks.  A large vidalia onion cut into equally chunky pieces.  I like mushrooms in pretty much everything I eat, so slice 'em up!  And some of my home grown garlic.

I am fairly hopeless in the kitchen and am barely able to function, so one of my best purchases was this little mincer gizmo.  

Now it's time to coooooooook.

Olive oil, garlic, heat.

 Onion! 

 Add cabbage - it looks like a lot but trust me, it cooks down to nuttin'!

 Now mushrooms, and cook until they start getting a little soft

...then add in that kielbasa.  Make sure to scrape any butter out of the pan into the haluski - don't you waste that liquid gold!

 

Keep stirring and flipping and moving everything to get it to cook to your preferred state.  Crispier cabbage?  Sure!  See through onions?  Why not!  Mushy mushrooms?  Get a grip.  There is a point of no return, people. 

Next, boil up some egg noodles.  How much?  I don't know, how much do you want?

 This much.  This is my perfect amount. 

 Fold that into the frypan with the other ingredients, and honey, you've got yourself a haluski.

Mmmmmmmmmm, mmmmmmmmm, good.  You'd better believe this needs to be served with a thick, warm slice of seeded sourdough rye with - what else? - buttah!  

Like all hearty dishes, this is better the next day.  But who wants to wait? Not me! 

addendum: I realized I didn't even attempt to add any spices to this.  Normally I would add sea salt, pepper, and my favorite tuscan blend spice, but I share this with Mother and she can't handle the level of seasoning I normally use, so I try to stay bland.  The woman who shared this recipe with me back in the day liked to make hers with cabbage, onion, egg noodle, craisins, and a little celery salt.  The recipe is so basic, you can really add anything to it.  Sometimes I substitute potstickers for the kielbasa and egg noodles, and that's pretty darned tasty, too! 

 

Halfway to spring

I am so ready.  I want to dig in the dirt, to set up my polytunnel, to bask in the warm rays of the sun.

While we haven't had a lot of large snow storms blow through, we've had a good many 2-3" quick hitters, and one good 12+" storm.  This winter has been cold, though.  Like, real feel of -20sF below zero cold.  Everyone is just done with it.

I've followed through on some winter sowing.  I labeled everything, but didn't keep a list, so I can't remember what's out there.  Verbena?  Teasel? Vervain?  Possibly.  

These are the containers I went with.

 The larger tub I drilled holes into and covered with another tub with drilled holes.  Not so pro tip - don't force the drill.

 I used that one as the bottom, because look at that drainage.  *sigh*

And here they are outside.

 I checked them about a week later after a snowfall to be sure the snow was getting in the holes, and it is.  I tried taking a picture but...flip phone woes.

Currently these are now buried under about a foot of snow.  I'm planning to add a few more this week, some Ammi major and mystery seeds gifted to me by a coworker.

I've been really trying to hold off starting seeds in the house, but it's getting more and more difficult.  I'm still having fun with the hydroponic system, and harvested all the leaves off a lettuce plant.  Left with a stub, I wondered if I should toss it and grow a new plant, or leave it and see if it regenerated.  Well, I did both, and the stub is putting forth leaves, much to my surprise.  

In critter news, the crows have been joined by a pair of ravens, and the little fox has been around quite often.  The other day I saved a tweety bird from this fella.

 I'm always conflicted, because they have to eat, too.  I'm a big fan of the raptors, but seeing that little bird in his claws was startling.  

Mother's dog has bagged four or five squirrels, and one of the carcasses lured in a bald eagle.  I thought they were pretty much fish birds, but I guess when the lakes are frozen over they become opportunists.

 He was spooked shortly after this photo, and landed in one of the trees along my driveway.  It was here that the ravens noticed him and set off the general alarm, which led to him flying off into the treetops elsewhere.

 This is what passes as high excitement on the farm in the winter.  

Today is reserved for opening up the driveway and parking area.  The last storm I had to snowblow in increments because the snow was so light and fluffy, it just collapsed and made it difficult to clean up.  I did the bare minimum and logged 31,000+ steps on the old fitbit, just over 13 miles.  I really need to get the truck shored up to the point it can handle a plow.  This crap is getting old.  Kind of like me. 😒