Fried Chicken

1 8 pound chicken cut into pieces for frying
2 cups buttermilk
1 tablespoon kosher salt
1 teaspoon Tabasco
1 cup flour
1 tablespoon kosher salt
1 tablespoon coarsely ground black pepper
1 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1 teaspoon baking powder
oil for frying

Mix together buttermilk, 1 tablespoon kosher salt and Tabasco. Add chicken and cover tightly, refrigerate overnight.

Remove chicken from buttermilk and drain well. Place in a large ziptop bag with remaining ingredients (except oil) and shake to coat.

Heat a large cast iron skilled with an inch of oil until a pinch of flour dropped in sizzles vigorously. Fry chicken in batches until deep brown (dark meat will take longer 10-15 minutes, chicken is done when juices run clear). Drain on a rack and serve warm.

3n1 cake

Filling:
2 1/2 cups fresh strawberries, hulled and sliced
1/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup water
2 teaspoons cornstarch
pinch salt

Crush 1/2 cup berries, add water, sugar and cornstarch and stir until well combined. (it helps to mix the sugar and cornstarch first) Cook over very low heat until mixture becomes bubbly and thickens. Remove from heat and allow to cool to room temperature.

Cake:
8 ounces unsalted European style butter, room temperature (higher in butterfat for better baking)
2 cups sugar
4 large eggs, room temperature
3 cups cake flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup whole milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 teaspoon cake spice

Preheat the oven to 350 F. Butter and flour three 8-inch cake pans.

Cream butter 2-3 minutes or until pale and fluffy. Add sugar and beat another 5 minutes. Beat in eggs thoroughly, one at a time. In a small bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, salt and cake spice. Beat in flour mixture alternately with the milk and vanilla, beginning and ending with flour. Divide evenly between three pans and bake at 350 F 25-30 minutes or until a tester inserted in the center comes out clean.

Frosting:
8 ounces unsalted butter at room temperature
pinch salt
1/2 cup cocoa powder
1 pound confectioner's sugar
1/4 cup milk

Cream butter until soft then beat in cocoa, salt,  and 1 cup sugar. Beat in half of the milk and the remainder of the sugar. With the mixer running, continue to add milk until desired consistency is achieved.

To assemble the cake:

Place a layer of cake on the serving dish. Spread half of the berry mixture atop this layer. Place a second layer atop the first and spread the remaining berry mixture over it. Place the third layer on top and frost cake.  Chill overnight for best texture.

Throughout the day I alternately watched the judging and then made periodic circuits through the barns visiting vendors. I always make sure to visit Helen's Half Pint Farm. She's got very affordable and interesting bits to spin and this year I bought some silk caps and a little packet of merino/tencel roving. I picked up some very nice leather goods from Shepherd's Flock. On one of my first visits to my sister in New Jersey she bought a hat just like this for $200 at the mall so I felt like I was getting a steal at $42 for mine. Those are eyeglass cases at the top and to the right is a pair of liners for my rainboots that double as snow boots. My feet will be much toastier next winter! I wanted to get a pair of gloves for Jason but they didn't look large enough. Perhaps I'll order some from the website, you trace your hand and they custom make a pair for you. I was also really excited to get some of these lovely stone buttons from Ball and Skein. Having read about the beachy walks on her blog and then quizzed her about how to make them I thought it only fair I buy a few. They have a wonderful lustre and color because they've been sealed on the front. I'll have to save them for a very special project.

I've been off in Freeport, ME for the past few days at SPA. I set up my last couple posts before I left. We planned to have a potluck dinner while we were there so bright and early Friday morning I was up making bread. Since we weren't eating it right away I opted to go with Focaccia because it'll keep fairly well for a couple of days without getting stale. Just reheat it briefly in the oven before you serve and you're good to go.

Focaccia

1 3/4 cups warm water (between 110 and 115 degrees F.)
1 tablespoon sugar
2 1/4 teaspoons active dry yeast
5 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 cup garlic and rosemary infused olive oil
1 tablespoon salt, extra for garnish

Preheat the oven to 475 F. Mix the water and sugar in a large
non-reactive bowl and allow to stand ten minutes or until foamy. Stir
in 2 tablespoons oil and three cups of the flour with a wooden spoon,
blending until fairly smooth. Add 1 tablespoon salt and as much of the
remaining flour as is needed to make a smooth soft dough, knead until
smooth directly in the bowl for 6 or 7 minutes. Cover bowl tightly with
saran wrap and allow to stand for about 45 minutes or until doubled in
size. Spread out the dough in a 9 x 13-inch non-stick jelly roll pan.
Allow to rise 15 to 20 minutes or until doubled in bulk. Dent the
surface deeply all over with the tips of your fingers. Brush the
surface generously with infused olive oil, sprinkle with garlic,
rosemary and kosher salt. Bake at 475 F for 12- 15 minutes or until
dark golden brown.

To infuse the olive oil, bring 1 cup oil to a simmer. Add 4 crushed
garlic cloves and several stems of rosemary. Simmer 3 to 5 minutes then
turn off heat and let stand for an hour. Strain and store in the
refrigerator for up to 3 weeks. The strained rosemary and garlic can be
used to top the bread.

Yesterday I finished reorganizing the buttons. I'd been removing them from little plastic baggies after reading that it's not a good way to store vintage buttons. I threaded sets onto yarn or upholstery thread and this morning I grouped them by color in canning jars. Now I've just got to find some shelf space for them and I'll be all set.

We spent our morning restocking the fridge and had this delicious salad for lunch. It's red water cress, red grapefruit, avocado and some delicious Saxon homestead cheese.  It's dressed with a bit of grapefruit juice, a touch of olive oil and a sprinkle of salt and pepper.

After lunch I bit into a piece of praline and lost part of my crown. Ouch! I called the dentist and he kindly squeezed me in for a quickie repair. We have a date in January for a more permanent fix. The bad news is it took three shots to numb the tooth which could mean the nerve is stuck in the on position which in turn means I may need a root canal. Gee, just the words everyone wants to hear at the dentist, right? Ugh.

We spent a chilly night in the house Friday night. Saturday morning we emptied out the fridge and the chest freezer downstairs and gave them both a good cleaning. The forecast was for low teens Saturday night so we found some friends to stay with for the evening and had some welcome hot showers. We couldn't bring the cats with us so we left them hot water bottles in the bed in hopes of keeping them warm. It had been 50 in the house Saturday morning and we reckoned it would remain well above freezing so they should be okay.

We returned to the house fairly early Sunday morning to find Gwen shivering uncontrollably. I remembered Gabby's sweater and popped that on Gwen immediately and stood in the sun with her until she warmed up. She's an old girl and the long cold night was tough for her but Winnie and Gabby seemed unscathed. It was 45 in the house that morning.

Sunday we visited the local laundromat to do some laundry and while we were out and about we finally began to see repair work going on several places around town. On our way home from dinner that evening we even saw a truck still working at 8 PM very close to our house. That poor fella must have worked very late indeed because at 3:30 AM Monday morning our lights suddenly sprang to life and the power was restored. Neither of us was able to sleep. Jason set about plugging everything back in and putting  things to rights.