Monday, October 10, 2016

On stubbornness, needlepoint, and rabbits

In January of 2015 I ordered five Christmas stocking needlepoint kits and started working on them. I was smart. I planned ahead. I would have all of them ready by Christmas that year. I vastly overestimated my needlepoint abilities. We are coming up on Christmas 2016 and I still have two and a half stockings to go. Not that I'm giving up. No, I am stubbornly working away on the stockings with the misguided faith that by some miracle I will finish them this year. In all reality they won't be completed until Christmas eve of 2017 but my only options are to keep working on them or to give up completely and like I said: I'm stubborn. So that's what I've been doing lately. Needlepoint. Which I think must actually be Latin for "lots of work for very little results."

What does this mean for life on the Unfarm? Not much has changed other than that all this time spent in the bunny room, combined with the loss of Jojo, means that Ginger gets to spend the whole day out of her house hanging out in the room with me. She mostly chills in the duck area during the day and spends the evening exploring the room, collecting dust bunnies on her whiskers from the corners and behind the door.

Ginger hangs out on top of one of the art bins.
Ginger nibbling on my pants.

Monday, October 3, 2016

Rustic pear tarts

Let's lighten the mood a bit. Here's a recipe for pear tarts that are quite good and pretty simple to make. The original recipe came out of Sunset magazine but I've altered it a bit, mostly out of laziness, a lack of some ingredients on hand, and the fact that it grosses me out to brush raw egg on something (hence the milk instead, but feel free to use egg if it doesn't bother you.)

Rustic Pear Tarts

1 sheet (about 10x12 inches) frozen puff pastry, thawed (14 oz package)
2 or 3 firm-ripe pears such as Bosc or Comice; Asian pears will work as well
1/2 cup orange marmalade
1/4 to 1/3 cup milk
1/4 cup turbinado sugar
Whipped cream, optional

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. Lightly grease two large baking sheets. Flour a work surface and rolling pin and roll the pastry out to about 16x18 inches. Cut the pastry into six rectangles and transfer the pasties to the baking sheets. Core the pears or Asian pears and cut them into thin wedges and arrange them on the pastry rectangles leaving a border of about 1 1/2 inches bare. Warm the marmalade in the microwave and pour some over each pastry, then brush to distribute. Fold the border over the edges of the pears. Stretch slightly and press down to hold. Brush the edges with the milk then sprinkle the sugar over the tarts, especially getting the edges. Bake until the pastries are richly browned, about 25 to 30 minutes. Serve with whipped cream if desired.

Yet another departure

We lost Jojo yesterday. He hadn't been his usual spunky self for quite a while now and he was getting on in years, being already ten years old. I gave him his medicines in the morning and cleaned the urine off of his bum and was holding him when he started to make little gasping motions with his mouth and a minute or two later he went limp and died in my arms. I am comforted only by the knowledge that he didn't die alone but was with his momma when he went. I hope he is feeling well now and comes back to me soon. I'll be sure to be on the lookout for another spunky little netherland at the shelter in the coming months. Stay tuned.