Despite the chicken pictures you may see below, this entry is only going to have a little bit of chicken content. Mostly what I’d like to talk about is risotto. I don’t have a picture of risotto, however, because even though I get up well after what you might consider The Crack of Dawn (which always makes me think of graag gedaan, or "You’re welcome" in Dutch. Just thought I’d mention that.), it’s so darn dark in the morning that I have no presentable photographs of the delicious risotto that I made for my bento box today. Which is really no great loss, because risotto isn’t the prettiest of dishes, but it sure is delicious! So, you’re just going to have to imagine what my risotto-filled bento box looked like. Anyway, it’s the flavor that matters, much more than the appearance.

I’ve been craving risotto for over a week, which is a common occurance for me as the nights get cold and frosty. I finally made the time to make some this morning. I do have to add a disclaimer: I am not Italian, not in the least, not even a drop. I’ve been to Italy only once, for a weekend trip. I don’t know if my short visit can really be used to gauge fairly, but every single thing I ate during those 48 hours (and there was quite a bit of eating going on) was perfectly delicious. Also part of the disclaimer: I’ve not seen many Italian food cooking shows. Molto Mario? I just know he wears brightly colored clogs. Is Emeril Italian? I have no idea. But the point is, I am not an Italian food expert. So this risotto recipe may or may not be authentic, I just thought I’d share anyway, because it is darn good risotto, so try it yourself and see, and let me know what you think:

Risotto a la Lucy

First, heat up some chicken stock in a saucepan to simmering. A big can or carton will do. If you are ambitious enough to have homemade, kudos to you. I don’t have time for that kind of stuff. In another saucepan, drizzle enough olive oil to generously coat the bottom, and turn the heat up to medium-high. Once the oil is hot, add about a cup of arborio rice and a minced clove of garlic (I like to use my garlic press, then I don’t have to smell garlic on my fingers all day). Stir it around so that all the bits of rice are coated with oil, about 2 minutes. Lower the heat to about medium. Add a ladle-full of the stock and stir it in. The rice will absorb it in a minute or two. Add another ladle-full and stir it in. Keep repeating this process for 15-20 minutes. Keep stirring. You can step away for a moment at a time to wash some vegetables or get some parmesan cheese out of the refrigerator, but don’t leave it for more than a moment. Some people might consider this a little high maintenence, but really, it’s only 15-20 minutes of your life, and the result is more than worth it. You’ll notice that the rice absorbs the stock really quickly at first, but then slows down a bit. This is how you know its getting closer to being done. That’s when you want to get to grating a nice sized chunk of parmesan (2 or 3 inches, I’d say). I use my microplane for this, and I grate until I’m just tired of grating, which means I usually end up with a mound of parmesan that looks like a cup to a cup and a half. Test a grain of rice. When it’s nearly soft (you don’t want it totally soft, there should be a little bit of bite in the center) add a couple tablespoons of heavy cream (this is my secret ingredient, don’t tell anyone. It makes it super extra creamy). Stir that in well and then blend in the parmesan. You may want to reduce the heat to low at this point. Now taste it. Between the chicken stock and the parmesan, you probably won’t need salt, but if you think it does, go ahead and add it now. Grind in a whole lot of black pepper, and serve mounded in the center of pasta bowls with some parmesan shavings and another grind of pepper on top. Yum!

I love it just plain like this, but you can add all kinds of things in at the end. Some combinations that I have tried: Prosciutto and peas (pancetta or bacon would work well too), asparagus, sautéed wild mushrooms, sun-dried tomatoes and rosemary. Any other ideas? I’m always willing to experiment. Let me know if you try my recipe, and how it works out for you.

Now for the brief bit of chicken content. I moved the chicks out to their coop this weekend:

Action shots! I think they like all the space. I built the roost in the first picture. I’m still patting myself on the back for that accomplishment. I don’t have a lot of high-tech tools, and I discovered that my little handsaw? Not so great for cutting anything bigger than the bars on the roost. The 2x4s for the frame? Those were just a little too big for it, but I struggled through, and made it work. Also, it’s hinged on the top, so when I want to clean the floor below, all I have to do is lift it up! Nifty!

I was pretty worried about them getting through the night, but they seem to have made it just fine for two nights now. I left the light on all night so they’d be warm, and it seems to be tightly enough constructed that no bad critters can get in to get at them. Bear is having fits though. He knows I don’t want him near them, but when he sees them he starts foaming at the mouth. He was like that with the cats at first too, but he knew not to hurt them or someone would have his neck. Okay, not really, but he naturally has a guilty conscience, so we do tend to use that against him a little bit. All we have to do is so NO slightly firmly and he puts his head down and looks guilty. So that’s his big punishment, just a NO and he is completely chastised.

The chicks are flying, and they are getting a little cheeky about it:

This little chickie flew up to the edge of the box, perched there and looked at me as if to say, ‘do you see me? do you see me? did you see me fly up here? huh, did you?’. The other day Mr. Lucy walked into the laundry room and there were chickens on the dryer, chickens on the floor, and a chicken on the chair. The all stood stock still and went dead silent. Then, as if on cue, they all flew back into the box. Like little kids caught in the cookie jar. They’re so funny. Fuzzy still likes to watch TV with me in the evening.

Do you know that taking pictures of these dogs is even harder than taking pictures of chickens?

Do you think they could both look at the camera at the same time? Apparently not.

And because, once upon a time this was a craft blog, I have a few works-in-very-slow-progress to show:

We’ll see what I actually get done this weekend, since I absolutely need to build a roost and nesting boxes for the chicken coop and get them moved out there.

Remember when you were 12 or 13, and all that weird stuff just started happening to your body? Your hair was all funky and your feet were too big and you were just gangly and awkward? That’s what’s going on here, only multiplied by 26 chicks:

Feathers are coming in all over the place, making it look like one big bad hair day in the chicken pen. They are so funny now, and I’m seeing their personalities more and more, although I still can’t tell them all apart.

The Rhode Island Reds are all very sweet and quiet and don’t mind being held.

The Barred Rocks are very curious and busy and bossy. They like to jump on the top of the feeder and waterer and just stand there like they are the smartest chickens in the world. The peck peck peck at my hand when I stick it down in their pen, and they want to be picked up, but then they fuss and flap and peck when I do.

The Buff Orpingtons are sweet and mellow. One has a crazy little feather on her wing that sticks out all funny, so I’ve been calling her Curly. She likes to curl up in my hand for a little snooze.

The Silver Laced Wyandottes are a little skittish, but curious. They’ll work their way over to my hand, and look at it suspiciously, but don’t really peck or try to jump up.

The Araucanas, including Fuzzy (aka Penelope Caramel Fuzzy-face), are bold and inquisitive. They jump into my hands whenever they can, especially Fuzzy. She loves to climb all over me. Last night she kept jumping to perch on the top of my head. This made me a little nervous. Chicken poop in my hair is not something I would really appreciate. I had a hard time getting a picture of her (she’s the one in the middle) this morning, because she kept trying to jump off the chair to come over to me. She was happy just to stand on my foot. Silly girl!

And our little mystery chick (in the bottom left corner) is quite the drama queen. She Does Not Like to be held, and screams and chirps and flaps her wings if we do manage to pick her up. Maybe she just didn’t like Mr. Lucy’s joke about her being the first to get cooked in a pot. I guess she can’t appreciate a little sarcasm. We’re not really planning on eating her.

This bag has been sitting unfinished on my sewing machine for I don’t know how many weeks. Until last night, that is.

It only took maybe half an hour to finish it up. I don’t know what the problem was. I have lots of little unfinished things laying around, so I am declaring this the week of finishing! I think I must have some sort of mental block. My sewing room is a disaster area, so I don’t want to work on anything. I can’t concentrate when I’m surrounded by a bunch of messy stuff. I had the same problem in college, I couldn’t study at home if it was messy. So I spent more time cleaning than reading. Bad student! And it’s the same thing in the kitchen. I absolutely cannot start to cook if there are dirty dishes in the sink. Everything has to be clean to start with. A little OCD maybe? I’ve just got to find a way to compromise. Clean up a pile of stuff, finish the garden apron that was sitting under the unfinished bag on the sewing machine, straighten up a shelf, sew together the rest of a patchwork quilt top, and so on. I’ll give it a shot.

Here, at least is a very tidy little corner:

It was so pretty this morning on the porch. I would much rather have stayed here than gone to work. I picked up that rug at Home Depot a few weeks ago for only $20! And it’s plastic, so it’s just perfect for the porch.

One more family member is starting to blog. Another brother! He’ll be posting lots of his beautiful photographs, and other stuff. Only one more brother to go and we’ll be an all-blogging family. 

I was trying to knit last night while watching TV, and this little bugger kept walking on my hands:

Apparently it looked like a good spot for a nap. I don’t really get it, I kept putting her back on my shoulder, where she usually sits, but this is where she wanted to be. Can you even stand all the cuteness? I’m going to miss her when she’s big enough to go outside, but I don’t think I want to risk big chicken poops in the house. Gross. I may be crazy chicken lady, but there are limits.

Saturday I went to the pumpkin patch at Summer’s Past Farms. It was just perfect, but I only took a few pictures, I was too busy soaking up the sun and relaxing.

I didn’t get any pumpkins yet, but I probably will in a week or two. I think next year we’re going to plant our own pumpkin patch. Spring is my favorite time of year, but Fall runs a close second. It’s starting to get chilly and frosty at night up here in the mountains. It makes me want to sit on the porch, early in the morning in my thick fleece bathrobe with a cup of hot chocolate, and watch the sun come up.

This post is mostly going to be about other people besides myself. I mean, how fun is it to have a blog and just get to talk about me me me all the time? It’s fun, but there are a lot of other very cool people and things out there, so it won’t kill me to talk about someone else for once, no? But first, a tiny bit about me me me, or actually, my lunch.

I haven’t shared a bento box picture for a long time, but I still use my bento boxes pretty often. Today’s lunch isn’t super pretty, but there is lots of green and it’s full of healthy stuff:

I made an arugula salad with sun-dried tomatoes, mushrooms and Parmesan cheese, zucchini & tofu stir-fry and there were a couple prosciutto-wrapped asparagus left from dinner last night, so I threw them in on top of the zucchini. Tasty!

This website cracks me up, especially the pirate chickens and the chickens in their weekly meetings.

My brother is playing in San Diego on December 2 at USD, I’m so excited. This is one of my favorite songs from his latest CD.

Speaking of my brother, how cute is my niece?

Super cute is how cute! She’s a long boarder. When she saw the condors at the zoo she thought they were the most beautiful birds ever. Awww. While they are here I hope we’ll have time to go to the San Diego zoo, I think she will love it.

The next day we are having a big party at my friend Naz‘s house. Naz makes stunning art jewelry. Visit her site and her etsy shop and tell her hello. It would make her day!

I’ve mentioned before that my parents are in China for a year. I think it’s really fascinating to read about their experiences there. Blogs are so great for this kind of thing, aren’t they? Now if they would just post some pictures.

Speaking of blogs, I’ve been reading way too many lately. There are so many good ones out there! I need to make the time to re-do my links lists, which I just got all fed up with one day and deleted. I’ll just mention a few right now. Moonstitches has some really beautiful fabric and embroidery projects to share. Look at these bags! I love them.

When I joined a pet swap a few months ago Tracy was the my recipient. She even has a dog named Lucy. And now she has a blog of her own. She always has lovely photos, like these from her walk today. And among all the cool things she makes, are these terrific dog collars. Bear is getting his very own, lucky dog!

An now I’m back to me again, or, more accurately, my dog:

He was yawning. I guess I woke him up too early.

Do you have any idea how hard it is to take a good picture of a chicken? It’s just about impossible. I tried setting up a chick photography studio this morning, and this is the best I could do:

The first one is our Free Exotic Chick! I have no idea what breed she is, I’ll have to try some chicken message boards and see if I can find out. She’s a little nervous, and is not fond of being picked up. Unfortunetely for her, she is too darn cute, and must be picked up occasionally. The bottom picture is a Barred Rock chick. We have six of these little girls. They like to peck at my hand and arm, and are really curious about everything.

All the chicks are growing like crazy and tonight I have to rig up a new home for them using two big boxes. I had one box, but it’s not as big as I thought it was, and it’s just not enough room for them. Look at all those wing feathers! They keep trying to escape from the washtub, and a couple of them have actually made it out. Lucky for us, Reggie could sense that all was not right behind the laundry room door earlier today when one escaped, and he kept whining at Mr. Lucy, and then running over to the door. Finally Mr. Lucy was able to interpret the very anxious corgi-speak, and sure enough, when he opened the door there was a little chick running around free.

I have to confess to being a very bad chicken mother. I have a favorite chick:

She’s an Araucana, and she has a little teddy bear face. We keep calling her fuzzy face. Whenever I lower my hand into their tub she steps right into it and doesn’t mind at all when I pick her up. She’s happy to sit on my shoulder and peck at my hair, or just curl up in my hand and sleep. She likes to walk up and down my arm, and is just generally curious about everything that goes on around her. Isn’t she cute? I’m going to have to come up with a better name than fuzzy face though. Any suggestions?