Last Supper

Living on a ranch means getting used to life and death. What is invisible in a grocery store or restaurant becomes poignantly visible and unavoidable out here. Fortunately, most of the time we see life.  Baby chicks, goslings, and kittens seem to appear every few weeks filling our home with fluff balls and cuddles. Unfortunately, if you are interested in raising your own meat for eating, killing is just part of the process. We raise animals out here to make sure they are treated fairly, honorably, and kindly. In short we take amazing care of the animals with the hopes that, when their time comes, they will take care of us in turn. And so, tonight is our goat boys last supper. We’ve loved and played with these pets for about a year and all of us are emotionally attached to these guys. Tonight is a sad night and we will miss our kids.

Evan

Eating their extra grain

Adam Sandler

Philipe and Right Nub

Goat Legs and Margaritas

I finally stole some pictures from my friend’s computer of a goat leg roast and margarita party date we had while it was still cold outside in Reno. I remember sitting down to this meal and feeling a bit glutinous, a bit extravagant and very spoiled. It was simply so beautiful and tasty. The rosemary from the garden was crisped and salty yet delicate and fragrant, and the potatoes, onions, and other root vegetables perfectly caramelized in the goat juices, while the goat itself was rare and moist with a salty, crispy exterior.  We paired a simple salad with this meal and of course, the margaritas. I basically just blended mangoes, strawberries, lemon, ice and tequila, and a little coconut water. They are garnished with coconut palm sugar on the rims, sliced strawberries, and mint leaves.

Left Nub's leg seasoned with salt, pepper, lemon, olive oil, and rosemary. Surrounded by potatoes, onions, and other vegetables

Pouring the delicious drinks

Mangostrawberryitas

Goat leg, root veggies and salad

My First Benedict

My camera slowly died over the last few weeks hence my posting absence. Luckily a few friends took some shots of the food we’ve been eating. One of the highlights was the salmon benedict we made while visiting friends in Santa Cruz. My friend’s boss caught the salmon, I brought eggs from my ranch, we made homemade hollandaise sauce, seasoned with lemon, rosemary and sea salt from the farmers market and ate it all on whole wheat English muffins. This was my first eggs benedict, for some reason I’ve just never ordered it or made it before, and now I’ll be hard pressed to find any benedict more delicious than this salmon creation. The eggs were perfectly poached and the salmon was moist and flaky and the hollandaise was rich and smooth and delicious.

Preparing the salmon with sea salt, lemon, and rosemary sprigs

Four perfect salmon eggs benedicts

Salmon benedict with little grilled eggplants

Impatiently waiting to start eating during the photo session