Gumbo

How is it that I have made it this far in my cooking career without ever making gumbo? Somehow it seems to have been so, but that all came to an end today. I found this recipe on the Internets and then, go figure, winged it. I decided on gumbo because of all the okra in the freezer. That stuff has got to go someplace and there is little that I think to put okra in... First of all, I used bacon fat since I had some. A couple tablespoons full and added a chopped onion, two ribs of celery, half a carrot, one roasted red pepper and a couple of small hot and sweet peppers. I sauteed those for a bit in the fat and waited until the juices evaporated and the veggies were relatively dry. Then I added a couple tablespoonfuls of flour and sauteed that for a while til it got a little brown. Then I started adding hot stock a little at a time. When it got kind of broth-y, I added a bay leaf, some cooked chicken and some sausage slices. Then some frozen summer tomatoes and then a potato because it was on the counter and otherwise in my way. Then I chopped up some of the okra from the freezer. Salt. Pepper. YUM. It is going to be super tasty over rice. I think that is its job.

I also made some bolognese. We are gonna do some good eatin' this week.

As Expected

Ok, so I am not the new hot blog in Turkey. I can accept that.

Planted the garlic this weekend. We did some other transplanting in the yard and garden. I made bread. And finally effing finished the green tomatoes. The bowl of peppers remains on the counter. I must have frozen gallons of hot peppers this year. I guess my next bit thing will be chili.

The time change has kicked my butt.

OK Fess Up

I don't know about you, but I like to look at my blog stats. I mean, I know YOU can't look at MY blog stats, but maybe you can monitor your own. In the last week, I have apparently become very popular (I mean this in a relative way) and let's just say a large percentage of my page views have come from the Netherlands, Japan and Turkey. The SB, being the raging optimist that he is, says that it is probably drone computers trying to hack into something. Actually, I AM a raging optimist and I can't really figure out any other reason why I might be getting page views from around the world. Of course, I would be flattered if the folks in the Netherlands, Japan and Turkey wanted to pop in and peruse my garden hints, check in on the ducks and live vicariously through me living vicariously through other bloggers. But somehow, I doubt that is what is happening.

So, if you are reading, and you are outside the US of A, please leave a comment and tell me what you think. Of course, if you are IN the US of A, you are welcome to comment as well. We love us some comments at the old urban farm.

In other news, we continue to close in on some kind of architectural solution to the problem of housing two tiny goats on 1.49 acres. At this rate, we should be good to go for spring. 2014.