Chicken pot (comfort) pie, plants next door, and Billy the Pup

I made the chicken pot pie from Chef Andres' wck book, and as usual did some subbing. I never have peas when they're needed, but I did have a baked golden potato,  which I diced and added and liked.  I had all the fresh herbs and celery ready though, and carrots.

I did the filling, the stove-top part using one pot which can go directly on the flame

then switched everything to an earthenware pot which is terrific in the oven

there were two spare biscuits which I baked on their own tray

I had them refrigerated longer than intended, on account of being needed next door, and I think next time I won't do that. They're not as light as planned, though still airy.

I also might make the biscuits smaller, but this worked fine, see the filling bubbling and smelling wonderful.

So here's dinner, and three more to come. I have had this book a little over one day and there are food stains on it. A land speed record. But a good sign. And the chicken bones will become soup quite soon.

The interruption was Gary urgently needing help to tie up a big plant in the house that Billy the Pup had knocked about and was now trying to eat. There is no end to the trouble that girl can find. 

The downstairs floors are being replaced and it's a full-time job keeping wood scraps from her, let alone potentially dangerous houseplants! She already found and chewed the new cove base lengths, the quarter-rounds that join wall to floor. I've had dogs who teethed on the bottom-shelf books, but they didn't eat the floor!

So what's a few biscuits when you're saving a puppy from herself?

I had one of the extra biscuits, split, toasted, buttered, this morning for breakfast, very good, too.

Yesterday was a tired sort of day, only managed half my usual walk, and I concluded it's the allergy drops and pills knocking out my energy along with the histamine. But if that's all I have to complain about, it doesn't amount to much.

Happy day, everyone, and if you feel like grumbling, remember writer J. B. Priestley used to say, "I might not have had a good time, but I did have a good grumble!"

Of doctors and collectors and heroes

Yesterday was my biannual bone doctor visit and shot. I get bloodwork before this, which she reviews before okaying the shot. She tells me the buzzy neck is a pinched nerve, agrees that it's overuse, and said to continue with the remedies I've been doing, unless it stops responding, then get her to recommend a physio.  Otherwise I'm fine, just fine, wonderful blood.

I felt better all day. Dr L is wonderfully cheering and encouraging. She's also a model of courage and adaptability, having fled her own country, and I think retrained to get her credentials accepted in the US,  and now she's in a very good practice. Yay her!  She's board certified in rheumatology, which apparently includes bone density, I'd never have known until my doctor referred me.  Anyway, another good visit. All my doctors are women, good hands.

And here's what arrived yesterday. Chef Andres is a hero, showing up with his team, and local volunteers, to cook and serve hot food after disasters. He's in Morocco even as I type.

Proceeds go to WCK, so, as with Megan's Grenfell cookbook, I'm donating as well as benefiting.

And since that roast chicken I mentioned recently needed a use to finish it up, within half an hour of opening the box, and finding this, I was shredding chicken.

 I'd already had a cooking adventure for lunch. Bad food, hot dogs, no buns left, so I split a pita bread, spread each section with relish and Dijon mustard, rolled them up! High end hotdogs.

Then I thought, can I make potato chips? Which I proceeded to do. I'll do this more adeptly next time  I discovered, trial and error, that halving a potato and using the parer to slice off thin sections, worked better than the big slice side of the box grater

Then, tossed in olive oil with basil seasalt, which I mixed a while back, dried basil and fine salt, and baked at 400° for about half an hour, they were pretty good for a beginner.

I was so eager to try them that I forgot to picture the plate of lunch, so, like the hummingbird clearwing, please take my word for it. Never buying potato chips again! Down from twice a year.  

The mustard container you see is the last of the Dijon mustard, after I'd spread it on the bread, filled with water and shaken and now in the freezer until I make something, sauce, soup, that needs a bit of fire.

Woman cannot live by hotdogs alone, and since I correspond with the director of the Textile Museum of Southern California and the HGA Textiles and Tea people, I have bits of news.

The joint presenter of that excellent Indian trade cloth program and the TMSC, both got back in touch after I thanked them for the program and asked about a companion program on the materials and techniques seen in the textiles.

They reminded me that's not their focus, and here's part of the further info the presenter wrote. I don't think anyone will mind my excerpting and quoting an email. It's for blogistas who may have access to a major library

And at another point I asked HGA if textiles and Tea could feature Rebecca Mezoff and/or Sarah Swett. They gave me a YouTube link to a Mezoff program from their earliest days, before I started following then, and said Sarah was already on their future list. Great.

Textile art people are so open and friendly, it's great company to be in.

Speaking of which, as I came downstairs this morning, I caught the early sun, a raking light right on the applique, showing the texture so excitingly. After a couple of minutes, the sun  moved on.

 

View over the banister

And closer.

For those who prefer less excitement, here's another shot, flatter lighting

The texture is as important as the images, so you're getting both. 

Happy day, everyone, here's to Chef Andres, and I hope your food today is joyful!

Tiny lovely things and pie

 The chicken that kept on going, today became a star in chicken pot pie, first I've ever made, thanks for the prompt, Debra.

I had just enough yogurt for the pastry crust, and channeled my mom as I cut it to fit by rotating the pie dish in mid air on my fingertips while keeping the knife still.

I made the sauce using some juice from earlier chicken roasting, plus chicken broth I made last night,  now used with milk and flour 

The veggies are carrots, diced yellow potatoes, bok choy, and onions. I did remember chicken.

Here's the mise en scene, which a little lady who doesn't know theater terms, once corrected me to mise en place, which is a food term.  I was talking about the exciting moment when the curtain rises and you see the stage set, all ready for action!

Of which there was plenty, this being fairly labor intensive, what with pastry making and resting, and potato microwaving and veggie simmering and sauce making and onion frying and chicken dicing and pie assembling and baking..

Quite exciting. Amazing when it all came out together.  Also a lot of fun and quite a few dishes and tools in action.

This slice was a meal in itself, and the pastry worked out well, one of those all purpose kinds you can use for pasties or even bread rolls.

There was a bit of pastry left and some carrots, which are both in the freezer now for a future pasty or two, with additions.

Also extra sauce, which I can use partly as a white gravy for the pie, partly as the base for an upcoming cream of chicken soup, using the rest of the bones and the broth.

After all this I may be ready to cook something that isn't chicken-adjacent.

Back at the ranch, I did get a walk, temperature in the 50s, and spotted the first wildflower of the year. What the heck is it? It's microscopic. See thumb for scale.

They're dotted all over here, stems maybe a quarter inch long.

If you know, please enlighten me. My little Golden Books fell down on the job.

At home here's a little mantelscape, Cocktail Lady in the Palm Court

So that's Chez Boud today, lovely day.

I think I'll sit down and read now.

Happy evening everyone, I hope you get a chance to sit a minute and breathe.