Back at the Keyboard Again

While I enjoyed the freedom to order what I want as we dined out, I missed the ability to cook what I like and spice it the way it tastes best to me.  One of my cooking secrets is that Barb doesn't like her food too spicy so it leaves me the opportunity to add heat post cooking.  I love ground pepper, seasoned salt and the new Tabasco Sauce that is made out of the smoked Jalapeno.  Yesterday evening I cooked a big old pot of chili and made corn muffins.  I put about half of the batter into the muffin tins and then add about a cup of cut up pickled jalapeno slices  in the remaining half.  Barb loves the cornbread um-molested and I love the jalapenos in my chili. The really good news as I cook is that Barb is really easy to please and always makes me feel good about what I serve.

Yesterday was Turkey day here at Rabbit Run.  With the neighbors working during the day and Barb and I gone, the turkeys had free run during the days. As I was leaving to go to the store in the morning, I saw a bunch of hens out near the end of the driveway.  I only had my phone with me and by the time I got the pictures big enough to really see, I lost resolution to really see them.  A little later on, I counted about 10 hens right outside the south side of the house..  They were just moving through the area and moving the leaves to find tidbits on the ground. I had my camera handy and snapped many pictures.  There is a bush about 1/3 of the way down the hill that had red berries and at least one hen would jump up and eat as many as she could reach. 


During our trip to Desert Mountain Island where Bar harbor is located we noticed that they didn't have concrete curbs along the roads.  It appeared that there was about a 5 inch wide granite curb everywhere.  During the classes, we had a man show us the secrets of the Granite quarries on the island.  A lot of New England streets   were paved with granite pavers and had curbs made of granite.  The workmen would gang up on blocks of granite and cut them down to size in no time.  It seems that the granite holds the break fairly well at right angles so they can make blocks for paving or four feet lengths for curbs.  Many of the early 1900 buildings also have polished granite slabs for decoration.  There on the island the granite varied from white with black flakes to a kind of rose or pink color that polished into a beautiful rock.   

Here they drilled holes with a chisel and put feather wedges in the holes to tap the rock apart

Shown here, the rock in spite of being hard as granite split to make a perfect curb.

I was fairly amazed that when I built a rock wall using limestone, I found that the rocks would break where I drilled and struck a lot like the granite did.  Most of the granite quarries on the Island are not in use today and have filled in with water.  The instructor said that in spite of the weight, most granite used for counter tops in the US are imported.  What a shame.


Oh well, Miles to go and things to do.


MUD