today. Last night we got 6-8 inches of snow - it's hard to say because of
the drifting. But the north wind is whipping through here and the
temperatures are in the teens with wind chills below 0. Getting to the barn
this morning with a bucket of water was a real job. In places the snow
had drifted over my knee boots.
Inside the barn out of the wind it is a bit better but still plenty cold. I
kept Chance inside because his little crippled legs probably couldn't make
it through that stuff outside and of course Lily won't let him come back in
"her" barn and he would be stuck out in the cold. Lily had been out and
wandering the paddock this morning but was back inside when I went out.
I tried to get some wild birdseed out of the car but all the doors were
frozen shut. I finally got the passenger side door open and was able to
reach the jug of finch seed I bought but not the sunflower, which was way in
the back. And when I waded through to the bird feeder I found the big one
was frozen shut- I was freezing so their seed got dumped in a spot I tramped
out on the ground.
Outside my home office window the wind is blowing the plastic we covered our
home made storm windows with around. It's still attached on one side but
that probably won't last. The snow outside is blowing around like a
blizzard, even though the sun is out and no snow is really falling right
now. I have my little heater running full blast under my desk. The office
dogs are gratefully huddled around it. My canary is sitting under his heat
light.
I haven't attempted to shovel yet - with it drifting so badly it's useless.
I didn't have to drive into work today and that's a good thing. Just the
thought of cleaning that car off makes me tired. If they plow tonight I'll
try making it to my Extension job tomorrow. I am supposed to attend a
memorial service for a colleague's wife and then go to the office Christmas
party.
I spent a great deal of time over the weekend baking and making candy. My
father decided he could no longer make our family's traditional Christmas
meat pies. His hands make peeling potatoes hard and its just too much work
for him. It's our tradition to eat meat pie on Christmas morning and dad
made them for everyone after his mom died. That's 10 full sized pies, one
for each family. So I decided as the eldest it's my turn to make them.
Meat pies are a lot like pasty's - meat, potatoes and onion in a nice crust.
Of course at one time they used turnips or rutabaga in them but for the last
30 years or so it's just been meat, (we use ground beef), potatoes and
onions. Dad didn't quite remember proportions, and there is no written
recipe. I have watched him make them a few times and I have made them just
for us a few times so I hope I got the huge amount done right. I used 10
pounds of ground beef and 5 pounds of diced potatoes and 2 pounds of diced
onions. I'm hoping that will fill all the pies.
I had to cook all this in my big roast pan in the oven because I didn't have
a big enough stock pot for the top of the stove. That seemed to work all
right, I took it out and stirred and mashed it a couple times to keep it
from setting up like a big meatloaf. The problem is getting the seasoning
right. It has to be spicy, but not too spicy. I think dad just used pepper
and salt, I added a bit of garlic and used seasoned salt.
The crusts- now that is a chore. Making pie crust is not my favorite thing.
So far all the bottom crusts are done and in the pans and I have the top
crusts chilling in the refrigerator. I will finish and bake them tonight,
then wrap and freeze them for Christmas Eve. The proper way to eat meat
pie is to heat it up on Christmas morning and enjoy it for breakfast -
usually with catsup slathered on it. With this pie we have fruit salad and
generally some kind of loaf bread like banana nut bread.
I also made peanut butter fudge - and I really need to make another batch of
fudge if I am going in to work tomorrow. We exchange white elephant gifts
but I always put in some of my fudge and it's kind of expected. Every
Christmas I usually make about 12 batches of fudge to give as gifts - but I
am cutting that down this year. And most of that will get done next week.
Ah, Christmas. I don't shop much for it but I still keep busy.
No comments:
Post a Comment