Chicken eggs are so amazing

[Pulsegleaner]

what if you wrap the grated potato in something like a coffee filter and then press it between a few towels for a while (stacking heavy things on it)?

i know what you mean though about liking dishes served certain ways only and if someone else tries to make it it just isn't right or even worth eating because you're so set on what you do like and you'll be disappointed with any other version. i was that way about hot and sour soup and crispy orange beef from a place up north, nobody else made it the same way and then the owners changed and it wasn't as good any more and i've not been back for many years now. it's a long drive from here to there (8-9hrs).
they made their hot and sour soup with roasted pork slices being much of the broth flavor and then they added all the vegetables and mushrooms and egg drops too but the most important part was that the hot was not black pepper but instead roasted red chili flakes (and not a bunch of seeds). i've never taken the time to try to make it myself here because Mom won't touch it and it's a lot more special ingredients than i'd ever have plus we don't roast pork hardly ever now either. we're kinda stuck in our ways with cooking here. Mom is picky and not spice tolerant and i'm happy to eat about anything so i only get into the spicy stuff once in a while and in the meantime i use a bottle of Sriracha or some other sauce to bring some heat to things.

I think that's pretty much what mom does (except she's using a clean dish towel, not a coffee filter, and she wrings it rather than stacking. Based on my experiences trying to get the "water" out of the last of my gushetta*, coffee filters aren't really all that strong when you put pressure on them. They're designed to take no more pressure than the weight of gravity. Plus they're REALLY hard to get the top of closed, so you'll get a lot of liquid pouring out the top. On the other hand, shredded potato is a pretty large compared to most of what I have filtered, so maybe.

My mom makes so many things out of the norm that there are many things I can only eat from her. Stews and pot roasts (since she uses wine, not water**) her Cottager's Pie (which, as I mentioned in another post, only bears a resemblance to the original in that it involves meat and potatoes*** ) and so on.

And the restaurant thing I can get as well, there are so many things I loved that have gone away when their places closed. The Roast Pork Rolls of Magic Wok (basically a roast pork bean curd skin crepe dim sum battered and deep fried), Cerbone of Naples's Penne Cremosa (sort of like Carbonara, but with roasted garlic and basil added), the ORIGINAL Zha Jiang Mein that the UES branch of Hunan Balcony made**** (the UWS branch still exists, but they're version is TERRIBLE) A Mangiare's take on a Mozzarella en Carroza (I actually still have the last pint of the sauce I ever got deep in the freezer, so that one day I can try and replicate it) Alaroma's Franchese sauce (though La Manda's version is close.) Nesto's Grandma Pizza, EVERYTHING Dumpling Galaxy Made***** and so many more.

And, unfortunately you are correct, Hot and Sour Soup does contain a few thing that are sort of hard to get, like dried daylily buds (though I don't see why one could not simply dry one's own) wood ear fungus (though you cat get that mail order) and chicken blood (if you are doing the ultra traditional version, I'm not sure ANYONE still adds that.)

* A concoction of my own design, soupy like gazpacho, but seasoned like bruschetta.

**Back when I still ate hers, I now don't like ANY potted meat.

*** Though mom now makes the meat and potatoes separately, so I can eat my fill without upping my carb count too much.

**** They claimed (probably somewhat speciously) that they used the original recipe from Kublai Khan's court. I'm not even sure Zha Jiang Mein EXISTED in Kublai Khan's time, and being Mongol, I imagine Kublai Khan's court ate far more lamb and mutton than pork.

*****Technically, Dumpling Galaxy is marked as being only Temporarily Closed. However since it has been that way since the start of the pandemic, and that's now going on three years, I have real questions as to if it can open up again at any point. I has the problem of being located INSIDE of a mall, so every time people need to mask up, it can't function. And since the odds are that people will have to continue to mask up in some manned for a very long time, if not forever******that's a problem.

****** That's why I still haven't gone back to NYC yet; because I'm out all day, and there really aren't any benches around, the only way I can function in NYC is if it is safe for me to take my mask off and eat on the SUBWAY or TRAIN, which my doctor doesn't think will EVER happen. I'm out too long to be able to make it until I get home to be able to eat (plus, if the weather is hot, I'm facing the problem of not being able to DRINK anything either, so I'd be looking at dehydration problems.) Most restaurants don't like a single person sitting down (plus, my weekly menu usually consists of getting one thing each from several places, so sitting would take too long.) And given how crowded Flushing Chinatown usually is, I'm not sure it would be safe to even take my mask off OUTSIDE there. And all THAT isn't even considering if I COULD keep my mask on continuously for 6-8 hours without passing out from hyperventilation due to reduced oxygen accessibility.

 

[Blueberry Acres]

Did you know that different breeds can lay eggs of various sizes and colors? It's fascinating!

Yes, indeed! We have ten hens and we get blue, green, dark brown, white, and light brown eggs. Some have pretty speckles, too!

 

[SPedigrees]

Yes, indeed! We have ten hens and we get blue, green, dark brown, white, and light brown eggs. Some have pretty speckles, too!
View attachment 63204

These look like the mix of wonderful eggs I get in summer at the farmer's market and several local egg & vegetable stands. The blue and green ones are from araucana hens or hens having araucana blood. Araucanas are a breed of chicken from South America. This time of the year, the grocery store eggs I resort to are brown, most likely from RI or NH reds or barred rocks, the standard old New England breeds. At least these grocery store eggs come from hens raised according to *pasture-raised* standards, but they're never as fresh as those from the farmer's market & local roadside stands.

 

[Pulsegleaner]

The blue and green ones are from Araucana hens or hens having Araucana blood. Araucanas are a breed of chicken from South America.

A very mysterious breed, according to some people (apparently, they seem to have been in South America since BEFORE the Europeans arrived, so some people think they are proof of earlier contacts with the Old World, possibly by the Chinese.)

 

[SPedigrees]

A very mysterious breed, according to some people (apparently, they seem to have been in South America since BEFORE the Europeans arrived, so some people think they are proof of earlier contacts with the Old World, possibly by the Chinese.)

Interesting. I never knew this.

 

[flowerbug]

A very mysterious breed, according to some people (apparently, they seem to have been in South America since BEFORE the Europeans arrived, so some people think they are proof of earlier contacts with the Old World, possibly by the Chinese.)

there is some evidence for a few different waves of migrants from Asia via the Berents land bridge and also later islanders.

 

[SPedigrees]

there is some evidence for a few different waves of migrants from Asia via the Berents land bridge and also later islanders.

Fascinating, Flowerbug. You do know your chicken history!

We toyed with the idea of getting chickens when we first bought our house and land, but the horses and their needs came to predominate. More recently, down to one last old pony, we re-visited the idea of chickens. We even had names for the 3 birds we planned to get, "Henrietta, Marietta, and Louise, and they were to be a New Hampshire Red, a Barred Rock, and an Araucana, producing eggs like those pictured by Blueberry Acres. Funny, I know! But it didn't happen, and now I have serious chicken envy of those who do keep hens.

 

[flowerbug]

Fascinating, Flowerbug. You do know your chicken history!

i was actually speaking of human migrations... likely though that they brought their chickens with them.

We toyed with the idea of getting chickens when we first bought our house and land, but the horses and their needs came to predominate. More recently, down to one last old pony, we re-visited the idea of chickens. We even had names for the 3 birds we planned to get, "Henrietta, Marietta, and Louise, and they were to be a New Hampshire Red, a Barred Rock, and an Araucana, producing eggs like those pictured by Blueberry Acres. Funny, I know! But it didn't happen, and now I have serious chicken envy of those who do keep hens.

all the various colors of eggs are facinating to me, but i've not studied chickens at all other than what people write here in TEG and also on SS.

 

[Blueberry Acres]

The blue and green ones are from araucana hens or hens having araucana blood. Araucanas are a breed of chicken from South America.

My blue eggs are from Prairie Bluebell Eggers, which are not a recognized breed, but lay gorgeous eggs! The green ones are from my Olive Egger. I don't have any Araucanas (or Easter Egger, for that matter) because I don't really care for a chicken with muffs (the feathers on the side of their head)

Internet photo: Araucana with muffs

 

[Blueberry Acres]

all the various colors of eggs are facinating to me, but i've not studied chickens at all other than what people write here in TEG and also on SS.

I actually found this site on TEG's "sister site", Back Yard Chickens. They are amazingly helpful with all my questions concerning sick/ailing chickens, and it's also just fun to see other people's flocks!

Raising Chickens 101 - Chicks, Breeds, Coops, Tips

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