Of Mice and Pastries

A little mouse died outside today, while I was warm and cozy inside and playing with chocolate and pastries. I followed his tracks in the fresh snow as he scurried from one old log to a decaying stump hollow. Blood dropped alongside the minuscule paw prints, dripping profusely at the entrance to the mousy den. I'm not positive that he died, but a fair amount of blood was lost from such a small critter. Let's hope he made a fox or coon happy (and full)! Poor mouse.

Today was an exceedingly easy day in Baking. I finished some chocolate raspberry tarts that were made yesterday. The shortbread crust was already filled with a raspberry and dark chocolate filling, and left to set up overnight in the fridge. I thinned some chocolate glaze out with raspberry liqueur and lacquered the tarts. Soft ganache was whipped (like cream) until it was airy and delightful. I placed a quenelle of this on each tart - and decorated the top of each with a chocolate spiral, a white/dark chocolate marbled square (from yesterday's demo) and a raspberry. They were beautiful to look at, and even better to eat!

Also of note today: fabulous foccacia smothered in sauteed onions and apples, bacon and goat cheese. A comparison of biscuits: one batch with Crisco, two with butter, one of those with buttermilk, the other with half-and-half cream. Butter-buttermilk wins hands down. Also, one of the best flourless chocolate cakes I've ever had, with a most intriguing texture - somehow dense and chocolatey and potent, yet almost disappearing the second it enters your mouth (the happy result of an error in mixing). Oh, and yesterday's eclairs were pretty wonderful - crisp pate a choux shell, luscious pastry cream, topped with thick ganache (ganache is a simple combination of heavy cream (most typical) and chocolate, made thick for truffle centers, thin for delicate glazing and whipping). One of the bread doughs wouldn't rise for some reason, so naturally we salvaged it by rolling little balls and deep frying them! Even better, this was a cornmeal, cheddar, and jalapeno dough. Hot and crisp and sprinkled with salt, they were the perfect morning snack.

Later today we worked on the fort for several more hours. It is coming along impressively in spite of the all the snow we are working in (got another 2-3 inches today). I was snapping branches too close to a very sharp, face-level branch and came away with an awesome gash on my cheek. Tomorrow's Saturday, so we can work on it even longer!

The Wilds of New York

The woods are teeming with animals that we never see. But as I walk through the snowy woods I keep my eyes trained on the ground, looking for the tracks of these invisible animals. With practice I can visualize the proceedings of the woods.

Squirrels abound, hopping every possible direction, up trees and across logs, to their stashes of nuts and under the snow. The woods appear to be more populated with deer than most towns are with people. They mostly stroll, traveling in groups of up to fourteen. Sometimes they drag their hooves as they mosey along. The bucks' hoof prints are almost twice as large as some of the does. This is one of the few animals I actually see. Today I counted 20.
All the deer convene at one spot in an open field. Here they have moved aside the snow to reach the bare dirt, which they lick to get minerals, much like my cows do at home. As I followed a herd of thirteen the wind shifted and I was able to inhale their scent. It was a nice reminder of home, as they smell just like clean cows in an open field.


















Foxes are everywhere. They prefer to follow the nice clear trails rather than travel through brush, and frequently walk along the ridges of rock outcroppings to get a better view.
The raccoons mostly stay by the water, with the beaver pond being their favorite spot. They show their contempt for those beavers by urinating on top of the lodge. Today I saw where one walked along an icy log and slipped, almost falling but managing to pull himself back up despite his large gut. I could clearly see the front-paw prints (much like small human hands) grabbing at the snow, the extended arms and the expanse of flattened snow where his belly flopped.
A couple days later a squirrel capered across the same log, and then a small fox.
Tiny juncos bounce across the surface of the snow, scarcely leaving a mark. If I'm lucky, I'll see turkey tracks, and on a great day, I'll spot them for real. They dig through the snow and leaves to get to the dirt below. I assume they're feasting on bugs, roots and seeds.

I still wish I could see all these creatures, but when it's snowy and tracks cover the ground, the invisible show they put on is almost as good.