The girls and DH and a friend have gone to town to see the fireworks; for such a small town we have an excellent display. Our friend P* has his town firework debut tonight (he recently joined the VFD); I’m sorry to be missing that. I am jumping on this opportunity to do a little blogging with everyone gone; DH has recently accused me of being an obsessive blogger, and he’s probably right. I’m an obsessive everything, especially at first. So as soon as they left, I did a quick (hahaha) load of laundry; washed some dishes, cleaned up the living room (some); moved the mama goats to their evening accommodations (the pen); and fixed supper. Which was:
Coconut Curry Shrimp Soup
First I peeled two pounds of shrimp (from Thursday’s market), placing the shells in a small saucepan. I covered them (barely) with water and put them on to simmer. Then in a soup pot I heated a couple or three tablespoons of coconut oil and briefly stirfried several minced cloves of garlic and several tablespoons of minced fresh ginger. Almost immediately I added a couple of generous tablespoons of curry powder and a couple tablespoons of red curry paste. After a few seconds of stirring, I added the shrimp stock through a strainer. Then I added a quart of homemade chicken and shrimp stock, two cans of coconut milk, and some Celtic seasalt. This simmered while I did goat chores, and when I came back in I added the freshly squeezed juice of two limes, a spoonful of preserved cilantro seeds, and the shrimp. It was done moments later, and it was wonderful. Fresh cilantro would’ve been better than the seeds, but it was dark, and my cilantro is all out in the garden bolting, so you have to be really selective in your picking, which could be tricky in the dark. Or I was tired and lazy. That’s more likely. I preserve cilantro seeds every year by picking immature little green seeds, putting them in a small glass jar and covering them with vinegar. Then I keep the jar in the fridge (I add to it all summer) and use it all winter when my cilantro is almost non-existent, though the last two winters I’ve had a fair amount make it through the winter with no protection at all.
So I moved the chicks out of the living room today and onto the front porch. Their distinctive fragrance was beginning to be a little much (ahem). They look happy enough; I’ve got a light on them and they’re catching bugs like crazy–free protein! Can’t wait to get them out on the ground.
We’re having cat issues. My friend A* gave us a cat a couple of years ago, and I should mention here that I was really into taking this cat at the time (bless my heart). His name is Moe (sorry buddy—no internet privacy for you) and he’s a really cool cat. He’s super laid back (almost strangely so); he’ll let you hold him in any position and he just goes completely limp; however some of his other quirks aren’t so cute. Like the way he’s been tearing the screens off our windows so that he can come in the house and eat bread. Or the way he climbed into two different friends’ cars today and ate their lunches! So today I clipped his claws pretty darn short (in hopes he can’t hook them through the screen any more); then I sewed up the most recently destroyed screen; and then it occurred to me that maybe he needs worming. So I mixed up a little milk and a dose of piperizine (between 1.5 and 2 cc’s for an eight to ten pound cat) and gave that to him. My oldest daughter reminded me at that point that this spring when we wormed all the cats, he had, for some reason, let the other cats have his. So I’m thinking that that’s what has been making him so crazy frantic about food. We’ll see…
OK, off to the shower. Goodnight all!
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