Just made more herb butter. I still have quite a lot of fresh thyme and rosemary out back. I also grew some 'supposed' french tarragon, but with my smeller not being very sensitive, I wasn't able to detect the tarragon. I even asked someone I know who also smelled it, and said it smelled weak and only near the stems. This was obviously not French tarragon, but some inferior stuff, which I will just leave to the nature. In any event, the herbed butter used lots of fresh garlic, thyme, rosemary and even some ground pepper. I just placed the last of it in small molds and it should last me a while, as its all been frozen. I used the same method as last time, which was using a small food processor and finely chopping the herbs and garlic first, then add chunks of butter (1/2 pound) and finally some olive oil. It makes a soft paste and is easily molded when chilled. I used a small plastic rectangular sushi mold that forms small rectangle cubes. I line the mold with plastic wrap first, then spoon in the butter mixture, cover with a sheet of plastic wrap and press down on the molds cover. Its then placed in the freezer a half hour to firm it up. I use a sharp knife to cut through divisions of butter and place them, pastic and all, in a freezer bag.

bejay9_10, Sadly, I had 2 life-long friends that lost their homes, one in Ramona and one in Poway. Growing up, I remember my Dad hauling livestock for folks every fall during the Santa Ana season. I actually grew up on ranch in the corner of Mexico, Calif. & Arizona. All my agriculture family have relocated to Montana and Wyoming which is where many of them started out originally, so many years ago. Land is just too valuable in California to run cows on. I read recently that California is losing 15% of its agriculture land to housing each year. Someone here said that they did not care what happened to California but we all should care. We all "eat" off that state 6 months out of the year. I cannot blame farmers/ranchers 'tho. They can sell their land to developers and earn more than they could in 2 lifetimes of farming/ranching. As I said, I really miss the California of my youth. It was all wide-open spaces then and you could get on your horse and ride forever. Wyoming is fortunate to have only 500,000 people in the whole state, a statistic that has remained the same for 5 census. Yet, even here, we are begining to see "tract Housing" in the more urban areas (We only have one...Cheyenne. LOL) And I know you all think we live in one big blizzard for 8 months but actually, I am in the far north, just inside the Montana/Wyoming border. We are surrounded by mountains on 3 sides (Big Horn's, Pryor's & Absaroka's) and go most of the winter with no snow on the ground. Huge agriculture area here: cows, Sheep, Sugar Beets, Barley (For Coors & Budweiser) and fabulous Alfalfa hay. I usually average 150 days growing season. After I read your post I remembered that the Bakery was not in Julian but Santa Isabel. They had GREAT bread. Have a great Thanksgiving! Mary

Thanks, Teresa, I don't think I've ever seen a chicken pie recipe without vegetables, that looks really interesting and efficient, because Bud and Makayla wouldn't have to pick out the pieces of veggies, LOL. Ruthanna, the chicken pudding looks good, I'm going to try a couple of these as meals when Elery's family comes. I'll have 11 visitors for 5 days over the 4th of July weekend, so I'm going to have to find things that I can bake ahead or multiply to get enough servings. The following week is Fair Week too, so Bud and Makayla are spending the night tomorrow night, the fair entries will just have to be baked and frozen, then thawed for the fair. (shrug) Just as well, they're getting too complacent about all those ribbons every year, make 'em work at it this time! Ryse, where are you that you need to move to Tennessee for a better climate? I live in North/West Michigan and I really like to process chickens in the fall, far fewer flies and I don't rush so much to get the birds on ice like I do when it's warmer here. sleevendog, the traffic cones actually worked pretty well, but they weren't quite deep enough. Hey, I'm creative! I didn't have enough room to partially freeze all those halves before packaging, that was part of the problem, I think. On another food related note, the second calf of the year was born today, hooray. I left Mama to tend it and didn't bother them by getting close enough to determine whether it was a heifer or bull, I'll know soon enough. Oh, and Elery and I had chicken on the grill last night. No salting or pre-brining, because I wanted to see just how it was. Elery cooked it slowlyl on the cooler side of the grill and it was moist, juicy and delicious. I'm happy. Annie

This is one of my go-to recipes. I usually served it with Lemon Rice and oven roasted green beans. Lemon Rice 2 Tblsp butter 1 1/4 cup rice 1/4 cup dry vermouth 2 1/4 cups chicken broth 3/4 teaspoon salt pinch white pepper Rind of 1 lemon, grated 2 Tblsp minced parsley In skillet, melt butter over medium heat. Add rice. Stir until grains are coasted with butter. Add vermouth, broth, salt, and pepper. Bring mixture to a boit. Cover the skillet and lower the heat. Simmer for 20 minutes, or until all liquid is absorbed. Toss the rice with lemon rind and parsley. Serves 6. deborah_ps, I thought the point of the prunes was for them to mostly melt away, just leaving behind a subtle sweetness. I have a friend who does not care for prunes. I substituted apricots. Never again! The dish needs the sweetness of the prunes.