Ranch Cookin'

I've been making food most of the week for the cowboys and crew, Tuesday was Shipping Day, and for lunch I made my Rustic Chili, several loaves of Artisan Bread, and the traditional Chocolate Sheet Cake to rave reviews all around.

Thursday and Friday, ABEG was here branding and sorting and preg-checking cows. On Thursday, I served lunch in the corral: Beef Brisket Sandwiches with our family's Famous Barbecue Sauce, chips, and Neiman Marcus Cookies. On Friday, I served another corral lunch of Cashew Chicken Sandwiches, chips, and Classic Peanut Butter Cookies. Friday was a very long day, so I also ended up serving everyone dinner: Sue's Pesto, pasta, a salad, wine, and some leftover cookies.

Last night, one of our old cowboys showed up with his son and a friend, and we also had another three cowboys show up to help move the cattle, which along with our regular crew and families adds up to 14 people. Now that the cattle are all branded, we have to move three large groups of them to three separate winter ranges. I'm not sure how we ended up with so much help this year, but that's the way it happened.

So this morning, CG asked me if I wouldn't mind making dinner for everyone--all 14 of us! I told her I'd think of something...

Stay Tuned!

Thanksgiving.

homemade chandelier

We had a fabulous Thanksgiving. I wanted to have it at our house this year, where the only space we have for 10 or more people is in our unfinished addition...no insulation, only exterior walls, roof and windows. When we started clearing it out, it was full of sawdust, nails and extra wood. There is no electricity out there and thus are no light fixtures, so I decided I would haul out our Christmas lights. I strung them around the perimeter of the room.

I collected every clear glass jar I could find, washed them and made candle holders. I wrapped them with steel wire, and suspended them from the rafters with steel chain from the mercantile. I think they turned out beautifully. I am in love with them. A few strategically-placed space heaters and our room was transformed...a hint of what's to come when this dining room is finally completed!

before we lit the candles

the wine bar

We raided the bunk house and our barn loft storage for dining room tables and chairs, as well as a lovely antique dresser to serve as our wine bar. I drug Number One's homemade wine bottle holder (above, left) out of the garage, dusted off the cobwebs and loaded it with several bottles of wine.

I borrowed clear glasses from CG for water glasses for the table, and raided my unused canning jars for our centerpiece. A gorgeous last-minute table runner (thank you,amazon, for free two-day shipping!) and our table was complete.

I also realized we needed some wine glasses, so I used an amazon coupon for this lovely set. (of 12, but we only needed 8 for dinner) It's difficult to see in the picture, but I also used some memory wire and beads that Marlow had given me to fashion wine glass markers. The table runner on the wine bar is one my grandma gave me several years ago.

This is our scrumptious spread of appetizers.
For our complete Thanksgiving menu (pictures and recipes!) please follow this link.
We had contributions from everyone, and everyone was so helpful! (especially my two friends--you know who you are!) Honestly, I couldn't have done it without you both.

Doesn't this look lovely when the candles are lit and the cranberry sauce is illuminated?
Everyone was so busy eating and drinking wine and raving over the food that I neglected to get a picture of all of us eating...let's just say dinner was a success!
(and besides, I don't post many pictures of people here anyway)
Everything was delicious and was finished on time.
It's always nice when it all comes together.

The whole effect was truly magical.

After we had finished our dinner,
three of the kids found out there would be pie,
and came back to finish their turkey!

And I just couldn't stop taking pictures.
I let the candles burn well after everyone had left.
I am still so thankful for our good friends and family
who were able to be with us and share our lovely meal.
Happy Thanksgiving!

Shipping Day

Number One and the rest have been gathering cattle for weeks, bringing them all down from the mountain, getting ready for shipping day. This year, my mom and dad were here for shipping day, for the first time ever. My mom took H-Bomb and Sawed Off to school, while my dad and I stayed to help with shipping.

This year, since my mom was helping with the boys, I got to go watch the early morning roundup. I'm sure Number One would have let me ride and help round up the cattle, but honestly it was before dawn and I was exhausted. So I just ran around taking pictures.


They loaded up the truck with hay in an effort to lure the cows into the corrals. Sometimes it works. My dad drove the hay truck through the fields, and there were four or five cowboys pushing the cows toward the hay truck. My dad drove the truck right into the corrals, cows bellowing and following behind him. With this many cattle, it takes more than one pass with the hay truck, and some fast riding to round up the stragglers who by now are trying to escape.


Essentially, one shipping day is the same as the last. You have the buyer, the broker, the ranch hands, moving and sorting all the cattle. You have the semi truck drivers. You have the folks working the scale and keeping records of weights and numbers. You have the dust and the dirt and the fussy cattle.

The cattle are sorted into separate corrals, heifers (girls) and steers (boys) and then the buyer and the broker go through them all and decide which ones they want. My job, again this year, was to keep the cattle from busting back through the gates, and to help my dad fill the alley and the waiting corrals with cattle. It moves pretty quickly when the cows cooperate. The cattle the buyer wants are sent to the scales to be weighed, then to a corral to await loading into the trucks.


The cattle the buyer doesn't want are sent to a separate corral and ultimately released back into the fields.

After the trucks are loaded, three semi truck loads today, the cows that are left need to be let out into the fields and then they all need to be fed.

And at the end of the day, whenever that may be, you have lunch. Whether it be 2:00pm or 8:00pm, it is still called Shipping Day Lunch. This year, I prepared a huge pot of my Rustic Chili, a humongous salad, and the now-traditional Chocolate Sheet Cake. Because I volunteered to be in charge of lunch, I got to leave the corrals about an hour early so I missed the loading of the trucks and the feeding. I had made the chili and the cake the day and night before, and tossed the salad while the chili was reheating. Everyone loved it, it was the perfect end to a hard day's work.

I was chased by a bull or two, and/or some cows in the past week, but I will post those stories another day because I honestly can't remember if any of it happened on shipping day or not...

The REAL Marlboro Man

Marlboro has been at the ranch for several days, doing a photo shoot and filming. They've been doing a lot of filming in and around the tack shed, which makes our yard the perfect place to sit and watch. Not that there's much to see, just a lot of people, trucks, paraphernalia that goes along with filming: lights, cameras, directors chairs (I kid you not). It's quite a show.


Yesterday, they flew in one of the original Marlboro men from the 1970's, whom both Number One and CG know personally from over 20 years of Marlboro shoots at the ranch: Darrell Winfield.


You may recognize him, he was one of the main Marlboro men in the print ads during the 1970's. Of course that's not what he looks like now, he's about 80 years old. I really wanted to get a picture of him with H-Bomb and Sawed Off, but 1) they were wearing underpants and a diaper (and nothing else) so I didn't think those were quite appropriate outfits in which to meet a cultural icon; and 2) they flew Darrell in and out all in one day, and while he was here they just kept him sitting inside the HOT tack shed, trying to interview him. Anyway, he is a real cowboy too, not just a poster boy.

Number One got hired on today and tomorrow, he had to go find some steers because they want to shoot a branding scene. Number One rode out tonight, and found several steers, including one that's unbranded. Tomorrow, he will load them in the trailer and take them wherever Marlboro wants him to. For a price, of course.


So besides all the hullabaloo and activity to keep us entertained, they bring a virtual little city of trucks: semi trucks full of gear, motor homes in which the big wigs have meetings or whatever it is bigwigs do, etc.


But the absolute BEST part of a Marlboro shoot coming to the ranch? The Catering Trucks. There are turquoise blue colored catering trucks from Los Angeles parked out in the field--I can see them from my kitchen window. From my currently unused kitchen. That's right--They FEED us!! (for free!) It is awesome, and the food is fantastic, more than you could ever eat. Last night, we got to choose between steak, salmon and chicken, with all kinds of sides: steamed vegetables, pasta, potatoes, marinated mushrooms, Caesar salad, etc., etc., etc. And desserts too: cookies and pies and cakes and fruit and chocolate covered strawberries!


This morning, of course the boys couldn't WAIT to go eat in the tent! They had cereals of their choice, juice, bananas and a donut. Number One and I ordered Huevos Rancheros from the truck window, followed by coffee and juice and fruit. Excellent.

Tonight, the choice was ribs, tuna steaks or chicken, numerous sides including a yummy coconut pineapple rice, vegetables, salads. Sawed Off fell asleep on my lap, so I forgot to get a salad, but the tuna steak was great!

And all day long, in between the huge meals, there is a snack tent. You can go there anytime at all and get anything you want: cookies, granola, dried fruit, water, cola, Gatorade, M&M's (peanut or plain). Tonight, after dinner, H-Bomb and I went out there and he got a popsicle! I ran out there later and grabbed a homemade chocolate chip cookie and a couple cold Gatorades.

We are definitely getting spoiled. I don't want them to ever, ever, ever leave. And I hope they are still here in the morning, because I can't wait for breakfast again.

Mmmmm. Lamb Chops.

Here is our little herd of sheep, about a month ago. We started out the Spring with four ewes and four lambs. Two of the lambs were ewes, and two were rams. Aren't they pretty?
Our plan was to keep the ewes to increase the herd, and slaughter the rams. We lost one of our big ewes to bloat (if I remember), and then one of the little rams keeled over. So in the end, we only slaughtered one little ram for meat. [Wait. What did she just say??]

You heard right, little lamb chop.

Little, if you call about 40 lbs. of meat "little."

So, tonight, this is what's for dinner:

Mmmmm. Lamb chops.

More specifically, Grilled Lamb Chops with Garlic and Thyme.

A Quiet Little Christmas

As it turned out this year, #1 and I spent a very quiet Christmas with the boys. Well, as quiet as a Christmas can be with two boys aged 4-1/2 and almost 2. What I mean is, our family was alone on the ranch. There was no one else around for miles and miles.

C.G. had gone to her oldest son's house, and stayed an extra night or so. She wasn't around on Christmas Eve, and didn't arrive until about 2:PM on Christmas day.

RH and Wifey were up in the Big City, with their kids and grandkids. They've been gone over a week now.

So the ranch was nice and quiet. As far as adults go. Just me and #1. It was nice not to have commitments or big plans or tons of impending guests the way it happens other years. Sure, C.G. came home, and a friend of ours came down for dinner in the afternoon, but there wasn't the pressure of other years. The "need" to shuttle the boys back and forth between houses for one thing after another.

We just had our quiet little Christmas Eve hike/picnic; tracked Santa's progress on the Internet; ate dinner; then read The Night Before Christmas; set out cookies; a gift; and a bottle of water for Santa (we're running out of milk, not going to town until the 26th at the earliest. Santa got water); filled stockings with dog treats for all the dogs (seven, at last count) and baby kitty; put the boys to bed on time. (after I promised H-Bomb he could eat cookies for breakfast because it was too late to eat cookies and he already had his teeth brushed. I know.)

In the morning, the boys slept in until almost 7:AM (trust me, it's late for our boys) and then #1 went out to turn on the generator so we could power the Christmas tree lights. Oh, who am I kidding, we needed coffee! I wrestled with the boys, trying to keep Sawed Off in bed until #1 returned so we could see their excited little faces light up when they saw their presents.

#1 got back, we took the boys out to the living room and spent the morning opening gifts. It took all morning because H-Bomb oohs and aahs over every little thing: "LOOK!! Santa gave me dinosaur stickers! Wow! Socks!!! That was good of Santa to give me socks." (I'm not kidding here). And also, Sawed Off seemed to have, until almost 11:AM, some kind of aversion to opening gifts. So we were all finished and he had most of his presents still stacked up in front of him. Somehow H-Bomb convinced Sawed Off that it would be, I don't know, FUN, to open his presents, and then he got on it, wrapping paper scraps a-flyin'.

Then there were the cookies for breakfast, and some chocolate candy (also slowed down the gift unwrapping) and candy canes. Later we tried to force the boys to eat oatmeal, but it didn't really work.

I guess I'm just trying to describe our leisurely Christmas morning, which was kind of nice as a change. Usually Christmas down here is full of visitors and meals and traveling up to Grammy's and back each and every day. And while it's nice to have people around and things to do and places to go, sometimes it makes me tired. And I just feel like curling up in our own little house, snuggling our own little family.

So I'm happy that this year, we got to do that.

Then, in the afternoon, after we had watched a movie or two and the boys played with toys and I made Coconut Sugar Snowflake Cookies, we packed up and cooked dinner at Grammy's. And that was nice too. We tried a new recipe for Venison Roast with Blueberry-Maple Sauce, with saffron rice on the side. It was delicious. Everyone raved about it; even Sawed Off said "MMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM." We drank wine, listened to Christmas music, opened more presents.

H-Bomb and #1 played some kind of game where I couldn't look at them, they were hiding behind the couch cushions, but I would sneak up on them. H-Bomb and Sawed Off gave me some new perfume this year, and at one point, from behind the cushions, H-Bomb whispered to Daddy, "I can smell Mommy coming!" And it was just about the cutest thing ever.

Sawed Off collapsed into sleep, and later we loaded everything up and drove home. It was a perfect Christmas.

I hope yours was, too.

Thanksgiving on the Ranch

The Menu:

Rosemary-Garlic Infused Turkey

Classic Stuffing

Mashed Potatoes and Gravy

Steamed Green Beans

Rolls

~~~

Fresh Pumpkin Pie

Apple Pie

Maple Pecan Pie

~~~

#1 and I shared our table with H-Bomb, Sawed-Off, C.G. and my parents, who traveled almost 1700 miles to join us. It was a small gathering, but a great meal.

#1 prepared the Maple Pecan Pie, in case you think cowboys can't bake. This one can. He also made the mashed potatoes. H-Bomb helped prepare the turkey.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Propane Update

You gotta love small towns. This is the email I just received from C.G.'s bookkeeper regarding the propane:


"No response on the driver’s cell or the office. I called the Superette, who recently transferred their account to So-And-So Fuels, and the clerk directed me to the bar next to So-And-So Fuels. Sure enough, the barkeep found the office person who assured me the driver was on his way to you. I hope that’s true!"


By the way, still no sign of the propane truck at 5:00pm, but, he'll show. He usually does. Although, it is, once again, dinner time. And no propane with which to cook the macaroni and cheese that H-Bomb requested. Dinner time. No propane. Of course.