Popcorn And A Movie......

With Valentine's Day just around the corner I decided to make a list of some of my favorite romantic movies for my daughter.  I love her to death but we have very different tastes in movies.  My all time favorite love story is Gone With The Wind.  We watched it together and she couldn't wait until it ended.  Maybe she'll look at this list and decide she would like to watch a couple of them with her dear mom.  What are some of the romantic movies that you have enjoyed over the years?

1. Gone With The Wind (1939)" Frankly my dear I don't give a damn."
2. You Got Mail (1998)  Watch it every time it's on.
3. Camelot (1967)  The pain in Richard Harris's eyes is heart wrenching.
4. The Bridges of Madison County (1995)  When her hand is on the car door handle my heart aches for her.
5. Out Of Africa (1995)  Gorgeous,  breathtaking scene stealing scenery.  Great costumes too.
6. City of Angels (1998)   Meg Ryan tear jerker.
7. An Affair to Remember (1957) The end of the movie when Cary Grant goes to her apartment. Make sure you have tissues. 
8. Legends of the Fall (1995)  Brad Pitt :)  Need I say more.
9. Something's Gotta Give (2003)  I'm in love with the beach house.
10. The Way We Were (1973)  Robert Redford in Navy dress whites. Wow!
11. The Notebook (2004)  I watch it when ever I need a good cry.  Very cathartic.
12. Romancing the Stone (1984)  Lots of fun action along with romance.
13. On Golden Pond (1981)  Their love lasted a lifetime.
14. Pretty Woman (1990)   Modern day Cinderella story.
15. Beauty and the Beast (1991)   My all time favorite Disney movie. A love story with a lesson.
16. A Star is Born (1976)  When Barbra Streisand wipes Kris Kristofferson's face at the car crash.

Egg-ceptional Cookbook...

 I remember the very first dozen of farm fresh eggs I received.  My sister Ann had just made the big move from Massachusetts to New Hampshire. Her new neighbors at that time were lucky enough to be raising chickens. Because they were exceptionally  friendly and welcoming the new neighbors gifted her with many of their hen's fresh eggs.  Being the kind and generous sister that Ann always is, on her next trip down from New Hampshire  a dozen of her neighbor's farm fresh eggs came along with her.  I thought I had died and gone to heaven
 

 
Their unique individual sizes and shapes as well as their distinct shades of brown and blue drew me in like a moth to a flame.  They were in a word gorgeous.  I immediately had to cook one up.  Could there some how be butter in these farm eggs?  How could they possibly have gotten butter inside an egg?  I had never had an egg that tasted anything like this.

So begins my love affair with farm eggs.  My hen love affair came much later when I heard the author of this wonderful book The Farmstead Egg Cookbook  by Terry Golson speak.  One Sunday afternoon late last winter I went to a lecture on chicken keeping.  Terry Golson was one of the scheduled guest speakers.  The enthusiastic way she spoke about her hens and the pleasure she received from chicken keeping spread quickly to me. I was beginning to feel this strange need to read as much as I could about chickens.  Could  all this chicken keeping talk be contagious?

I bought her thoughtfully written cookbook that day and read it from cover to cover in one evening.  Not only are there many delicious recipes with gorgeous pictures, but it's also peppered with stunning photos of  her hens. ( The hen above is from the Topsfield Fair this past fall.) Terry also has a web site called chicken keeping. It was here on her web site that my obsession began in earnest. Go here  to learn more about Terry Golson. If you are at all interested in keeping chickens Terry's web site is a must.  Even if chicken keeping is not on your radar at the moment, her web cam for the hens and goats is loads of fun.

Tzatziki Dip

Lots of fresh vegetables are on the menu at my house lately.  They fill you up, are a nutritious and healthy snack and relatively inexpensive to buy.  ( Plus I've joined  Weight  Watchers. )  So this afternoon while the New England Patriots are beating the Jets I will dipping these beautiful vegetables in a tangy low fat tzatziki.

The tzatziki I made this morning is with fat free Greek yogurt.  You could use full fat yogurt and it would probably be a tad tastier.  This tzatziki  is delicious on lamb burgers too.  The only change I make when I use it on the lamb burgers is the addition of chopped mint. Here's the recipe.

• 2 cups plain Greek yogurt
• 2 cloves garlic crushed
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 1/4 tsp. black pepper
• 1/4 cup dill weed chopped fine
• 1 large English cucumber peeled, seeded and grated
• 1 tsp fresh lemon juice

Strain the yogurt in a sieve lined with paper towels for at least 3 hours.  Squeeze the excess liquid from the grated cucumbers.  Add the cucumbers and remaining ingredients to the yogurt.  Chill for 2 hours and serve.

Frosty Mittens....

Another Nor'Easter hit us big today. Dropping inches upon inches of blowing  snow.  As a matter of fact almost two feet of it. The snow blower has been cranking and sputtering all morning.  The shovels are bending with the weight of the fresh falling snow.  Just take a look at my frozen mittens.   Frozen from hours of back breaking, muscle cramping shoveling.  Shoveling while brutal winds from the northeast whip against my face like little needles.

Oh, did I say whipping against my face?  I'm so sorry I meant to say my husbands face.  These frozen mittens are from playing with the dog. I am going to bring in this short stack of wood for a fire though. As soon as my frosty mittens thaw out and dry.   

WANTED.....A FEW GOOD HENS

Tell me what you think friends.  Wouldn't our old tool shed make an adorable chicken coop? (Please say yes.) There would be a fresh coating of new yellow paint for the faded siding.  The weathered white trim would welcome some new paint too and the  geraniums that would be planted lovingly in the window boxes would be the reddest of reds.  There would be an old worn rusty hook hung by the door with a wire basket on it for gathering the fresh layed eggs. Maybe there would even be a small sign on the door that would read HAPPY HENS LIVE HERE.

Time would be passed sitting on this old tractor seat that is buried  up on the hill. Time spent sitting and guarding my hens while they scratch and peck for worms and bugs in the backyard. They would have pretty names like Violet, Clara and Dora. I would affectionately call them my girls.  They would be well cared for, protected and loved.  They would be my happy hens.

My girls would lay the  freshest and best eggs on the street.  Shhhh, (we won't mention that they would be the only girls on the street.)  My girl's eggs would be free. Given only to people who value and appreciate there worth. I would know the feeling of satisfaction from a job well done and a dream fulfilled. Hmm, sounds like my dream has found some roots.  


"There are some people who live in a dream world, and there are some who face reality, and then there are those who turn one into the other."
         Douglas H. Everett

Red Sox Fever....

In 41 days on February 14th,  Boston Red Sox pitchers and catchers will report to Ft. Meyers FL. for spring training.  Position players will report shortly after that on February 18th.  I'm already planning my Opening Day menu to be served on April 1st. when  according to the official Major League Baseball site the Boston Red Sox will play the Rangers in Texas.

We will start out our game day meal with steamed Fenway franks topped with diced yellow onion and spicy brown Gulden's mustard, sweet potatoes fries with chipotle aioli dipping sauce, good old Boston baked beans, and then to round off the meal, homemade chocolate chip cookies stuffed with vanilla bean ice cream.  The anticipation to start the season is strong.......... GO SOX!!!!