The fate of presidentially-pardoned turkeys

I'm sure most readers know this, but just for the record...

[I]t's kind of a hoax. I went to the farm where birds pardoned by presidents go, and I learned that this is not a story with a happy ending...

I visited Kidwell Farm to see how the turkeys pardoned in previous years were doing. I looked for some of the birds pardoned by Clinton, but couldn't find them. I couldn't find the Bush Sr. birds, or the Reagan turkeys, or Carter's, or any of the pardoned birds. 

There is a sign saying Turkey Pen, and farmer Marlo Acock took me to it. But the pen was empty. Why? Well, the birds do come here, explained Acock, but they don't last. 

"We usually just find 'em and they're dead," he said. 

Most of the pardoned turkeys only last a few months, Acock said. One died within days. 

For more details on why they die so quickly, PETA offers a less nuanced view.

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Calista's First Food

Calista had her first taste of solid food a couple weeks ago.  I was really putting it off for a while.  Bob wanted to start before I did but she just didn't seem ready to me.  I made sure we waited the full six months before letting her try it. 

The look. "What is that?"

The lick. "I'm not sure."

The taste.

"What just happened?"

She seemed to enjoy the cracker a bit more.

Honestly her first attempt at eating went pretty well.  I was surprised.  But we have been doing it for a couple weeks now and we usually try it every night.  After her first try she didn't want anything to do with food for at least a week.  We never made her eat.  If she wasn't interested, that was fine with me.  After about two weeks of her not really wanting it these past couple of days she seems like she really likes it.  I even tried a couple other baby foods that aren't rice cereal and she really did not like them.  The one perk for me is that once she eats a little food I feel like I can leave her at home with Bob for more than two hours.

The kids really love Calista.

Here she is in her favorite nap time spot.  

And all wrapped up sticking her tongue out.

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Mocha Chip Chiffon Cake

After a long hiatus, I think I am ready to get back in the kitchen and back to some Maida Heatter recipes! The weather here is rainy and cooler which spurs me on. I had bookmarked this recipe a long time ago - it is a very light cake (similar to an Angel Food cake) with a wonderfully subtle hint of coffee flavor.

Overall, it turned out wonderfully well. One thing I would do differently next time is to chop the chocolate much finer. As she explained in her recipe, the chocolate chips will sink to the bottom if they are too heavy. I decided to use ready-made chocolate chips and they are too heavy. I did chop them a bit but next time I will use a chocolate baking bar instead. That minor flub did not affect the taste of the cake though.

3 oz. semi-sweet chocolate
2 cups sifted all-purpose flour
1 3/4 cups granulated sugar
1 TBS. instant coffee or espresso (I use Medaglia D Oro Coffee Inst Expresso)
1 TBS. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 cup vegetable oil
7 eggs, separated
1/2 cup Kahlua or Tia Maria or other coffee-flavored liquor
1/4 cup cold water
2 tsp. vanilla extract
1/2 tsp. cream of tartar
Optional: confectioners sugar

Preheat oven to 325. You will need a non-stick tube pan, the type that has two pieces and which comes apart. Do not spray or butter the pan.

Chop the chocolate into pieces that are 1/4 diameter or less. As I noted earlier, I used chocolate chips and they were really too large, even though I chopped some of them. The larger pieces will sink to the bottom of the cake.

Sift together the flour, 1 1/4 cups of sugar (reserving the rest), the powdered coffee or espresso, baking powder and salt.

Make a well in the center of the flour mixture and add the oil, egg yolks, coffee liqueur, water and vanilla. Whisk together until smooth. Use a large spatula to fold in the chopped chocolate. Set aside.

In a separate mixer bowl, beat the egg whites until they are foamy. Add the cream of tartar and beat on high speed until soft peaks are formed. (I always put my bowl and beater in the freezer for a few minutes to get them nice and cold. Always use the whisk beater for egg whites. Start out slow and gradually increase the speed until full speed). Reduce the speed and add the remaining 1/2 cup of sugar. Increase speed to high and beat again until stiff peaks are achieved. Beat for an additional minute to be sure the mixture is stiff.

In three additions, slightly fold in about 3/4 of the yolk mixture. Do not fold in thoroughly, just barely! Then fold the whites into the remaining yolk mixture, being a bit more thorough this time.

Pour the batter into the pan and bake for 1 hour and 10-15 minutes until the top springs back when pressed. The top will crack during baking. (It took 1 hour and 10 minutes for mine to bake)

After removing the pan from the oven, invert it on a narrow bottle and let it cool completely.

After cooling, use a long, sharp knife and gently run it around the rim of the pan and around the center tube. Carefully slide the pan apart and run the knife along the bottom of the pan under the cake. Remove the cake from the pan. If it is still sticking, use the knife to saw it carefully from the pan.

Use a flat pan, dish or I like to use preformed cardboard circles to plate the cake.

Sprinkle with confectioners sugar, if desired.

I think the cake needs whipped cream, ice cream or fruit to accompany it. We tried it with buttered pecan ice cream and it is delicious!

Text and photos by Phillip Oliver, Dirt Therapy

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Okonomiyaki and Shabu-Shabu

While living in the Navy Lodge we are eating out ALL. THE. TIME.  Seriously, we tried to make pizza here in the oven and it set off the fire alarm.  The firemen came and then someone from the Navy came and we had to show ID.  It was a whole big deal and pretty embarrassing.  The worst part was that it was barely smokey in here at all so now I am afraid to cook anything.  Between that and me always itching to get out of the hotel we go out once or twice a day.

There are tons of restaurants nearby and lots of new things for us to try.  This first one is of Shabu-Shabu.  It reminded me of the Melting Pot back in the states, but only the meat course.  You get to choose your broth and then cook your own meat.  It is all you can eat so we have a little screen and just keep ordering more food on it.  Mostly different meats but also some veggies. 

We all really liked it.  The only hard part was that Calista was being fussy and it is a little difficult to hold her and try to bounce her while cooking the food and passing it out and ordering more all the time.

These next two pictures are from an Okonomiyaki place in the mall.  We've had it before but this is our first time at a cook it yourself place.  Notice how Calista has a firm grip on my salad.  I'm always trying to eat and in a struggle with her over my dishes.  If I put the plate far away then I spill food everywhere trying to get it to my mouth.  Too close and she gets her hands on it.  One time she pulled a dish off the table at a restaurant and it broke on the floor.  I'm sure the Japanese people love it when they see our family walk into their place ;)

This is like a cabbage egg pancake thing.  A very different flavor than any of us were used to.  Maybe I'll grow to like it.

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Sushi-Go-Round

I like sushi and we used to make it quite a bit at home.  But I only put in it things that I liked and that never included raw fish.  Now that we are pretty much living in the sushi capital of the world I want to expand my horizons a bit.  We went to a close by Sushi-Go-Round restaurant the other day.

Of course everyone wanted to sit next to the conveyer belt, but after some rearranging Bob and I sat there.  We learned that lesson the hard way years ago.  Once a plate is taken down you aren't supposed to put it back up, and you pay for how many plates you have.  Kids like to touch and pull the plates down.

Can you see the english monitor?  We were able to change it to English, woohoo! If we wanted anything specific we ordered it on the screen and a couple minutes later it got sent on the conveyor belt to us.  It was pretty cool.

We all totally ate a piece of squid until Tucker took the batter off of one.

Even though I knew it was squid in the first place seeing it totally grossed me out and I couldn't eat another.

This next one was pretty good.

I did have to draw the line somewhere.  I'm still not ready for full out raw fish.

Calista even wanted in on the action.

I wanted to try the different desserts as well.  I've seen the first one around several places and when I tried it, it wasn't at all what I was expecting.  I thought some sort of sweet noodle.  Nope.  It was more like a mousse frosting thing.  And below that are candied sweet potatoes.

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Honey display at the Minnesota State Fair

Via the OddlySatisfying subreddit, where the thread includes reminders that beekeepers and vendors at farmers' markets may offer sealed "soda straws" with samples of their honey, since not all honey tastes the same.

See also: Is the honey you are eating "ultrafiltered" ? Is it even honey ??? and this followup.

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The sad decline of "open-pollinated" crops

I spotted the above sign recently at the University of Wisconsin Allen Centennial Gardens, a free educational facility that teaches students and the public about gardening and landscaping.

I'm not sure about the context/import of the "kissing" reference, but the "open pollinated" comment caught my eye:

"The last open pollinated corn was released in 1902 - 115 years ago!

Here's a concise explanation from Green Haven:

“Open Pollinated” is a horticultural term meaning that the plant will produce seeds naturally. When these seeds are planted they will reliably reproduce the same plant as the parent. On the other hand, hybrid corn is the result of controlled pollination of inbred plants. These seeds are often sterile, and if they do germinate, will not reliably produce the same plant as the parent. This means the farmer has a perpetual reliance on the seed companies.

This dependence on a few seed/chemical giants is becoming more and more uncomfortable for American consumers and farmers. Green Haven Open Pollinated Seed Group is changing that. We are a nationwide organization of seed producers based in western NY that are pooling out efforts to offer the most beneficial varieties of quality open pollinated Seed. By selection, Green Haven focuses on improving open pollinated corn for silage, grain, and wildlife plots.

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Scarlett's Birthday

Scarlett's birthday was only a week and a half after Calista was born.  I thought Calista would be born at least a week earlier so I was going to plan Scarlett's birthday after I got out of the hospital.  I usually try to only worry about one thing at a time.  As it worked out we had to pretty much do everything for her birthday the night before.  I didn't want her to feel overshadowed so we tried our best to do all the things we normally do.

It is amazing how little traditions can become so special and exciting for kids.  I think when it is something we only do on their birthday and we do it every year they learn to look forward to it no matter how small it is.  So we blocked off her door with streamers, we decorated her chair at the table, and we let her pick all the meals for the day.  She loved it and thought it was great.

Scarlett and Penelope had a big frontier girls field trip for most of the day.  They rode the ferry and went to visit the Suquamish museum on the Indian reservation.  She said it was one of the best activities they've ever done.

After they came home Grandma and Grandpa Swift came over for the festivities.

Scarlett really wanted cupcake hair.

She loved all her presents.

I even made the requested Shopkins cake.  Calista took her fist ever nap in her carseat and I spent the entire time making her cake.

Things felt a little last minute to me but Scarlett said she had a great birthday and I'm happy with that.

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The World's 5 Most Unusual Combat Rations

© AFP 2017/ CHRISTOPHE PETIT TESSON / POOL

Sputnik: Brandy and Vegemite: The World's 5 Most Unusual Combat Rations

Keeping soldiers well fed and healthy when out in the field is a major priority for all armies everywhere, including in Russia, where combat rations offer a perfect combination of energy content, endurance, variety and taste.

Foreign armies go much the same route, but, like they say, different cultures, different food. Indeed, what a Pakistani soldier will happily munch on, his Japanese college will hardly look at, and the other way round.

Read more ....

WNU Editor: This story reminds me of this classic video .... A British Officer's Ration Pack (Seriously) (July 7, 2015)

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Delicious Winter Dinners with Blue Apron

We finally tried Blue Apron last spring and have been loving it ever since. We do it about once a month (although we missed a couple due to our schedule) and it's such a fun way for our family to cook together. We have loved each new recipe! I think all but one of the recipes we've used have been things that we've then wanted to start incorporating into our dinner rotation. I have to say though, the thing that amazes me the most is how incredibly FRESH all of the ingredients are. It's literally like we just got them from the Farmer's Market, but the best part is they are delivered right to our doorstep with the perfect proportions so we have exactly what we need and nothing goes to waste. (The box is refrigerated so no worries if you are not home when it arrives!) I also love that Blue Apron is working on developing a sustainable food system and uses such high quality ingredients. You can see their mission page here. 

We do the family plan but they also have a two person plan as well and the nice thing is you can pick and choose what weeks you want to do it and skip all of the other ones. I have the app on my phone and it makes it so easy to plan ahead! I love checking and seeing what the options are going to be for the coming weeks. 

For this round one of our meals was General Tso's Chicken with Bok Choy and Jasmine Rice and the other meal was a Fresh Mozzarella and Basil Pizza with Savoy Cabbage Salad. 

Here are some of the ingredients for the first meal. I think this ties with the Spring Asparagus Calzones for my second favorite Blue Apron meal! (My absolute favorite was their Seared Chicken and Miso Udon Noodles recipe!) You can click on any of those dishes mentioned for the recipe or you can find all of the delicious Blue Apron recipes here. 

The bok choy and radishes were delicious!!!!!!

The girls always think these tiny little bottles are so cute!

The radishes look so pretty! 

Here is the finished meal. Now that it's winter it's dark by the time we eat so I can't really take a "pretty picture" of the finished product - but let me tell you, it was DELICIOUS!!!!!

And here are some of the ingredients for the Fresh Mozzarella and Basil Pizza. All four of us inhaled this! The dough was so delicious and it was a huge pizza! And the salad that we made with it was one of my favorites.

If you've never tried Blue Apron before we highly recommend it! All of the meals can be prepared in 40 minutes or less and contain between 500-800 calories per person. The ingredients are incredibly fresh and are sourced from quality suppliers and artisans. It is such a great way to get out of your dinner rut! They also now offering a recycling program which you can read more about here.
It's nice because there's no commitment - you can skip as many meals as you would like or cancel at any time.

And guess what??? The first 25 of our readers will get THREE FREE MEALS on their first Blue Apron order. 

So head on over here to check it out! 

*This post was sponsored by Blue Apron. 

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