Columbine flowers in bloom.  This reminds me of pink lemonade and makes me smile

My most treasured plants on my decks are the Alpines strawberries

I am also trying to grow Meyer Lemons too, check out this little guy, hopefully in a few more weeks I can actually show you a ripe one!  Can’t wait for that day.

Antipasto dish that I brought to a friend house for dinner, along with freshly made bread

Chorizo Clams with fresh made egg pasta

Slow braised hamachi collar in sweet shoyu citrus sauce

A baby quilt that I just made for my friends, Jim and Yeni, for their first baby boy

Pillows with hidden zippers for our living room

Last week, beside weeding and tilling, we planted into the grounds romesco, kale, collard greens, and raspberries. We also pulled up tons and tons of leeks and parsnips that were planted last year and utilizing the brassica yellow flowers, rosemary flowers, nasturtium flowers  and pineapple sage flowers.

Another debate/discussion that has been happening is what direction should I take this blog. I feel really torn because some people has mentioned that I should just focus on food and others has said any topics that falls under the “home/nha” category.  When I first started this new blog, I wanted it to be more about what I was interested which happens to be about food and also about crafting.  The debate is which one should I focus on?  To be honest I am still passionate about both and want to share what I am cooking and making.  Another person also mentioned that I should just start another separate blog, but to be honest, it is already really time consuming to do one, so two will be very hard for me to do right now. So I’m going to leave it you to my readers…what would you like to see more?  Food with farming/gardening or all the other topics that might randomly come up?

On a side note, there is an amazing giveaway happening that I think you should enter.  The Mark Bittman’s How to Cook Everything iPhone app – Not Martha and Seattle Tall Poppy are both hosting the exact giveaway and giving away five copies each…meaning there are at least ten chances for you get it! Unfortunately I have already brought the app and used it.  My review – I really love this app and love the smiple and easy to use layout very much. 

Pros, I love that fact that it’s great to use while you are grocery shopping or just brainstorming for ideas on what to make on the fly.  Another plus is I do not have to write down the ingredients and worry about that I missed an item that I forgot to jot down and buy.  Second it’s better and lighter than lugging the big book around. Also at $1.99 this is a great investment to future really good meals, plus a great way to preview the book before it, which I think you should purchase anyway. 

Good Luck and I hope you win the free app download!

Yesterday I spent 16 hours with the Herbfarm staff and owner, Ron Zimmerman, learning about ducks and how to humanely slaughter and break the ducks down on Shaw Island.  It truly was an unique learning and memorable experience that I will never forget. Our instructor that day was Neal Foley, aka PodChef.  He was so knowledgeable and gave a thorough guide on raising ducks and butchering them.  Below is a picture of the PodChef in his kitchen with a cup of coffee giving us some background and history of the Rouen Ducks.  They are known as the civilized ducks and are flightless because they usually gain too much weight too fast for their wings to develop and accommodate them in flight.

Afterwards the Podchef took us outside to the area where he was holding the ducks in their individual cages.

He said he went out early that morning to catch all the ducks and put them in the cages to calm them down before we actually did anything to them.  An interesting fact he told us was that meat usually last much longer and cure better when the animal is not stressed out.  Also one whole month before this day, he has been “fattening” up the ducks with a diet of cracked corn that he usually soaks in milk for 24 hours before he feeds them. Before that month he would give them whole grains and let them forage for fresh greens and bugs in the field.

The most humane way in killing a duck is with a killing cone and below is a picture of it.  This technique calms the bird down and restrain them so they are not flapping around too much.  The other metal contraption is from the UK where it snap off the neck of the bird, but with that method you actually have to hold the bird throughout the whole process until the bird stops moving.

Back to the cone, you basically put the duck head down first and the head comes out of the small end.  With this method it makes the blood rushes to the bird’s head and calms the duck down further.  Then you hold on to the beck and then with a knife cut into its two arteries in the throat area. 

The Herbfarm actually asked to keep the blood to use in sauces, thus you see him holding a container to catch the blood.  It’s a technique where you use the blood to thicken up wine sauces.

Next you will want to need a pot of hot water enough to put the entire bird in to scald it, which will loosen the feather so that it will be easier to pluck the feathers.  Next you will want to add a drop or two of liquid dish water, Podchef used Kirkland’s Environmentally Friendly Liquid Dish Soap.You will want to get the temperature to 160, if you were scalding a chicken the temperature would be at 140. Once you get it to the right temperature you will want to dip the bird up and down and get the entire bird wet, this will take about 10 to 15 seconds.

Then you will want to hook the legs up and then start plucking away!  You will want to start with the wings and the tail and then move inward.

The next step was the waxing of the bird, this process helps to remove all those darn pin feathers that you see in the above picture.  The below pic is a pot of cheese wax that is melting down so we can coat the bird with.

We first dip the birds in the pot of wax and then with a brush went over any area that the wax dip could not reach.  We waited for a couple of minutes for the wax to harden and then proceed to remove it.  This process really helped to remove a good majority of the pin feathers that was not removed during the plucking phase.  Here are some shots of the staff plucking the birds.

Here is Chris, sous-chef, with his bird,

Ron in his yellow overall documenting the day with his camera

More staff pictures

The following pictures are very graphic and shows a lot of different parts of the duck, including innards and blood.

Breaking down the Bird

This picture shows the duck totally broken down to each individual parts, carcass, organs and head.

With the French technique, you start at the bottom of the duck by cutting a slit where the ribcage ends and then sliding your fingers and most of your hand in and slowly start separating the connecting tissues and then you start pulling very gently but with strength to get all the innards out.

You will want to be extremely carefully you do not tear any intestines or rupture any of the organs.  Then before removing all the organs you will want to carefully cut out the poop vent area and remove the tail.  You will also notice that the duck butt will have two large capsule-like yellow fatty bumps, you can also remove that too.  This is their oil gland that the duck will uses with their beck to manipulate the oil around their feathers to “oiled” it so their feathers will be waterproof.

After you have completely empty all the organs out and separate the heart, gizzard, and kidneys. You will need some clippers and cut the neck, the wing tips and the feet off.  After that you will want to make a cut down the back and then start separating the meat from the bone with your knife.

And there you have it, a broken down duck.  Overall it was a very interesting process.

Here are some more staff pics with Lisa Nakamura, the Chef de Cuisine, and Ron Zimmerman breaking down some ducks

We ended up vacuuming sealing with the MultiVac that the staff had brought along and then we packed them in a ice chest filled with lots of ice to bring home with us. 

We ended up with 26 Rouen Ducks, almost a 100lb of meat, that day.  I think the hardest part beside killing the ducks was pulling all the pin feathers out by hand.  Everyone was lamenting about the fact we did not have any fine tweezers on hand. Overall, it was quite an experience for me, especially hanging and getting to know the fine staff at The Herbfarm.  They are truly a talented and fun group of people. 

Okay back to the New England Style Clambake. I love this recipe, simple and really show off all the different seafood and his tips about using eggs to see if your clambake is ready was spot on.

Here’s the recipe, plus you will need clean rocks to cover the bottom of a 20 quart pot and one pound of seaweed, rinsed well in hot water.  I had a really hard time find some fresh seaweed/kelp/wakame in the East Side and I had to call a few places to find it, so do your research before you make this dish.  I finally found it at Uwajimaya in Bellevue and had to call twice because they were not sure if they were going to get it in that day, but do not let it deter you – it’s worth the effort.  Plus you will about 2 yards of cheese cloths.

Here are my rocks and seaweed in a huge pot:

• Kosher salt
• 2 pounds clam, preferably steamers or Manila
• 18 extra-large (16-20 count) shrimp
• 2 pounds mussels, preferably Bouchot, (I couldn’t find any in my area)
• ***Do a ratio of 10:1 water salt ratio for the salt brine (8 cups of water to 1 3/4 cups salt)
• clams soak for 5 minutes, then rinse under cold water
• mussels soak for 5 minutes, rinsed under cold water and removes it beard
• shrimp soak for 10 minutes, slit down the back of each shrimp and remove the intestinal tract
• 1 1/2 pounds Red Bliss or other red potatoes (I used Yukon because I had some on hand)
• Canola Oil
• Fleur de sel
• 8 oz andouille sausage, cut into 3 inch long pieces
• 6 ears corn, shucked and cut in half
• Three lobsters
• 2 large eggs
• Melted butter
• Malt vinegar
• Lemon wedges
• Old Bay Seasoning

With the rocks and half the seaweed in the pot (save the other pot to line your big platter to serve the clambake), add water to come to just below the top of the seaweed.  Basically the ingredients will be steamed and will not come in contact with the water.  Set the pot over high heat and bring to a boil.

Toss the potatoes with the canola oil and generously toss with the fleur de sel. Cut an 18 inches square cheesecloth and placed the potatoes in the center and tied it up.

Wrap the clams and mussels in one cheesecloth.  Wrap the shrimp in another square and the sausages in another square.

Time to cook everything.  First place the potatoes in the center and cook for 12 minutes, then add the corn, sausage and then tuck in the shellfish bundles and add the lobster. Lastly tuck in the two eggs.  Cover and cook 15 minutes.  Remove one of the eggs and crack it open. If the eggs are hard-cooked, then the clambake is ready to be taken out and enjoy. If not, cook for another three minute and check the second egg.

Here’s the clambake ready to be devour!

Verdict:  Everyone thought the clambake was well cooked, not over done, the shellfish, especially the shrimp were juicy and plump.  The corn was another hit but the potatoes were really good, though the husband said it need some butter (which I had some on the table), otherwise it was fluffy and creamy at the same time.

I also made a dipping sauce that I nabbed from Kappo when we went there last year.  It was just butter, soy sauce and sake.  They heated the sauce until the butter had melted and emulsified with the soy and sake. This dipping sauce was just amazing with the shrimp and lobster – luxurious and rich and silky at the same time.

Here’s some fun photos of my friend and I holding the waving lobster before we put it in the pot, a good shot and then a shot right after one of the lobster try to EAT us! (That’s the reason why the photo is out of focus.)  We had fun that night.

Check out one of the claws from the lobster.  It was huge and delicious!

and a final picture of the clambake again. This is a great meal to have for a special occasion and to share with your friends.  I want to wish Quyen a very very Happy Birthday and hoped you enjoyed the dinner and your new quilt!

If you go anything between Friday and Sunday, just be prepare to wait.  The line is out the door and when you walk in the door, your tummy just rumble with hunger and it’s saying feed me, feed me!  Don’t worry it won’t break your bank either.  The price for each of the item is so reasonable and the portion was just right too. We had their special citrus fruit tea, an appetizer, two courses and dessert for $30.

We started the meal off with some hot citrus fruit tea.  The base of the tea is black tea with oranges, lemons and limes slices added in with a bit of honey to sweeten it.  It was yummy.

Then we had what every Yelp review said to get was the Pork Burger and boy were we glad we did.  It was so good!  Basically it was a very tender pork belly with a bit of meat with some pickled cabbages, and sweet and salty peanut mixture and house sauce.  The bun was made of hum bao or banh bao bun, soft and tender, a great carrier for the great fatty pork.  It reminded me of Momofuku steamed pork bun dish in New York but in a different way.  This pork appetizer really whetted our appetite for the next dish we were to have.

So the main reason why we went to this restaurant is to get the spiced pork stew over rice.  Yvonne Wong was the first person to tell me to order this dish.  I want to shout out and say “Thanks Yvonne it was so good! I loved this dish!!!”  I’ll just say this dish is fantastic…fatty, flavorful and delicious!

The next dish our waiter actually recommend and said it would pair well with the pork over rice and it did. It had lots of vegetables, which I think was the Vietnamese water spinach, and meat, lamb.  I love the fact this dish had a great lamb flavor without being overly lamby and that the vegetables was not overcooked.

We polished all the food off and had a bit of room left for their shaved ice.  We order the Everything Shaved Ice with red beans, taro root, boiled peanut, green bean, grass jelly, pinto bean, press barley and then topped off with condensed milk.  I like the fact that they added a flavored simple syrup on the shaved ice before topping it off with all the toppings. 

We ate and drank everything we ordered.  It was a very satisfying meal and the perfect amount of food (We walked away happy and full, but not in a food coma way, which is good).  I can’t wait to get some of my friends together so we can try more dishes. I also wanted to say the wait staff there are super friendly and efficient.  My husband without me propping gave them a very very nice tip, which he never ever do.  Good job honey!

Here’s a close up of it

This quilt was surprisedly quick to make, it only took me one day to cut all the fabric and sew them together and another day to quilt it and then two days to hand bind it.  I came across this pattern when Wise Craft featured this Marquee pattern from this book, The Modem Quilt Workshop, written by Bill Kerr and Weeks Ringle last year and I saved the link for future reference.  Last month I was over at Raindrop Stitches’s house and she had the book, and I was able to thumb through it and fell in love with the book. Lots of great patterns and easy instructions to understand.  This is a great book to add to your quilt library.  I’m already planning another quilt from this book, but first I need to finish my tea towel swap and whip up another baby quilt for a baby shower in two weeks!