Most of the time, life at HEALING Creek is blissfully peaceful, but occasionally, things aren't quite so calm ... lol ... I promised yesterday to tell you about our "adventures" in feeding deer and grilling grits! The two are NOT related except for they happened on the same day.
FEEDING DEER ...
On Saturday, we drove all over two counties in search of deer corn, apple snacks and salt licks. It seems the hunters have already bought most of it (Is that legal?). We have three feeding stations along the river. We had noticed a Mama and two little fawns earlier in the week so the trip became necessary ... Joey said that Mama looked like someone who had taken her kids to McDonald's and McDonald's was closed ... lol ... Well, "McDonald's" is open now!
Saturday night, we have two or three deer at each station ... that we saw. They are awesome to watch. It's a weird trick of the dim light, the thick woods and the deer's natural camouflage that you can see them one minute and then they turn and seem to fade into the woods like ghost deer!
Sometimes, they are there but I can't see them. We have a little dog that is part beagle, part corgi. Her official name is Duchess Swedie Norskie (we got her when we had several golden retrievers and it didn't seem fair to have two registered ladies with long names and not give Swedie a long name too!) but we call her Swedie. She can smell the deer from inside the house, but when she smells deer, she whines and dances like she has to go outside to use the bathroom so most of the time, we let her out.
Well, Swedie started dancing at about 9:30 Sunday night. Joey said he'd take her for a walk along the river. He wanted to check the feeders anyway. He thought raccoons had gotten in one of them and a raccoon can tear anything up in no time. They were only gone about 20 minutes when Joey came in laughing as Swedie scooted around him and ran to her favorite place in the kitchen.
It seems our little dogwho thinks she's a big dog had smelled that same Mama and her two babies and bristled up and ran toward them, fussing and growling. Mama turned around, snorted like a horse and pawed hard at the ground as if to say, "Little Dog, you are messin with the wrong Mama!" Joey said he had never seen a dog moonwalk before but Swedie definitely moonwalked. Her legs were going forward but her body was moving backwards as fast as she could go.
When she was far enough away from the deer, she turned around and ran all the way back to the house ... lol ... When Joey told me the story, I looked over at Swedie who had been sitting up "listening" to us talk. When I looked over at her, she ducked her head and hid her face like she was embarrassed. When Swedie heard us laughing, she turned her back to us and went to lay down on her bed with her nose poked into the corner like she was pouting.
GRILLING GRITS
On Saturday night, Joey mixed up some cooked grits and bits of Virginia Country Ham. We had seen a cooking show that had made grilled grits. It looked good. Joey found a recipe that seemed mostly the same as the show we watched so we had gone to the grocery and bought STONE GROUND grits (they really are CREAMIER) and some Smithfield Ham. The recipe said to make the grits the night before and spread them out in a flat pan so they resemble a pan of bars. The grits will set up over night and get hard enough to be able to cut shapes out with a cookie cutter. You take those shapes and set them on a HOT grill and cook on each side long enough to get grill marks on each side. Yummy, right?
Well ... we should have looked closer at the label on the HAM. Instead of buying PRE-COOKED, SUGAR CURED HAM, we bought UNCOOKED SALT CURED HAM. Precooked is good to go. Uncooked Salt cured ham needs to be soaked in water (to remove some of the salt) and then, cooked otherwise it gets saltier long longer it sits ... That didn't happen. Joey cooked it but the salt hadn't been soaked out and of course, overnight, all that salt kept the grits from setting up properly. Joey forged ahead, cutting them into loose shapes and packing them like you would a hamburger patty.
There was a light misting rain when he carried them out to the grill. Nothing big but big enough to further break up the "patties".
The grill had been running for about 10 minutes. Therehad been a lot of smoke but Joey just figured some stuff was burning off so he had brushed the grill with a wire brush and cranked up the gas to cook off any other stuff that might have been on the grill. It seemed to have worked.
Sometimes, they are there but I can't see them. We have a little dog that is part beagle, part corgi. Her official name is Duchess Swedie Norskie (we got her when we had several golden retrievers and it didn't seem fair to have two registered ladies with long names and not give Swedie a long name too!) but we call her Swedie. She can smell the deer from inside the house, but when she smells deer, she whines and dances like she has to go outside to use the bathroom so most of the time, we let her out.
Well, Swedie started dancing at about 9:30 Sunday night. Joey said he'd take her for a walk along the river. He wanted to check the feeders anyway. He thought raccoons had gotten in one of them and a raccoon can tear anything up in no time. They were only gone about 20 minutes when Joey came in laughing as Swedie scooted around him and ran to her favorite place in the kitchen.
It seems our little dogwho thinks she's a big dog had smelled that same Mama and her two babies and bristled up and ran toward them, fussing and growling. Mama turned around, snorted like a horse and pawed hard at the ground as if to say, "Little Dog, you are messin with the wrong Mama!" Joey said he had never seen a dog moonwalk before but Swedie definitely moonwalked. Her legs were going forward but her body was moving backwards as fast as she could go.
When she was far enough away from the deer, she turned around and ran all the way back to the house ... lol ... When Joey told me the story, I looked over at Swedie who had been sitting up "listening" to us talk. When I looked over at her, she ducked her head and hid her face like she was embarrassed. When Swedie heard us laughing, she turned her back to us and went to lay down on her bed with her nose poked into the corner like she was pouting.
GRILLING GRITS
On Saturday night, Joey mixed up some cooked grits and bits of Virginia Country Ham. We had seen a cooking show that had made grilled grits. It looked good. Joey found a recipe that seemed mostly the same as the show we watched so we had gone to the grocery and bought STONE GROUND grits (they really are CREAMIER) and some Smithfield Ham. The recipe said to make the grits the night before and spread them out in a flat pan so they resemble a pan of bars. The grits will set up over night and get hard enough to be able to cut shapes out with a cookie cutter. You take those shapes and set them on a HOT grill and cook on each side long enough to get grill marks on each side. Yummy, right?
Well ... we should have looked closer at the label on the HAM. Instead of buying PRE-COOKED, SUGAR CURED HAM, we bought UNCOOKED SALT CURED HAM. Precooked is good to go. Uncooked Salt cured ham needs to be soaked in water (to remove some of the salt) and then, cooked otherwise it gets saltier long longer it sits ... That didn't happen. Joey cooked it but the salt hadn't been soaked out and of course, overnight, all that salt kept the grits from setting up properly. Joey forged ahead, cutting them into loose shapes and packing them like you would a hamburger patty.
There was a light misting rain when he carried them out to the grill. Nothing big but big enough to further break up the "patties".
The grill had been running for about 10 minutes. Therehad been a lot of smoke but Joey just figured some stuff was burning off so he had brushed the grill with a wire brush and cranked up the gas to cook off any other stuff that might have been on the grill. It seemed to have worked.
He put the grits on the grill. Instead of searing the sides like it did on tv, it "melted" the patties ... Joey tried to get them off before they "melted" too much. He was moving fast so grits were flying everywhere. Joey knew something wasn't right when the dog wouldn't even eat them!
Just then, I had walked into the kitchen to get another cup of coffee and I saw the commotion outside. It looked pretty funny from the window over the sink. I put my coffee cup down and poked my head out the door ... "Everything okay out there?"
Joey didn't even look up ... He just kept muttering, "THIS was NOT supposed to happen."
Just then, I had walked into the kitchen to get another cup of coffee and I saw the commotion outside. It looked pretty funny from the window over the sink. I put my coffee cup down and poked my head out the door ... "Everything okay out there?"
Joey didn't even look up ... He just kept muttering, "THIS was NOT supposed to happen."
I got a big bucket full of soapy water for the deck and tried not to laugh as I helped clean up the grits. I didn't know what happened. I cleaned the deck while Joey cleaned the grill (the hardest job). While he was cleaning it, he realized that one of the gas lines wasn't working right. He unhooked it and a tunneling spider had made a web so solid, it had blocked the line so instead of putting out flame, that side had put out soot. Ewww. I don't like spiders at all, so at the first word of a spider, I finished up and went inside, glad that the grits hadn't turned out. I wouldn't have wanted to eat anything with spider soot on it ... EWWW!
Joey reread the recipe while we finished the eggs and toast and decided that using the wrong ham was what had made the recipe not work out ... I suggested the misting rain didn't help. We both agreed the grill looked much more efficient burning a clear blue flame from both sides with no soot and no spiders.
The eggs and toast were good. The coffee was good. The deck was clean. The grill looked BRAND NEW ... ready to cook another day. All's well that ends well. We had survived our first try at grilled grits and Peace had been restored ...
I saw the look in Joey's eye though. He will be trying that again ...
Joey reread the recipe while we finished the eggs and toast and decided that using the wrong ham was what had made the recipe not work out ... I suggested the misting rain didn't help. We both agreed the grill looked much more efficient burning a clear blue flame from both sides with no soot and no spiders.
The eggs and toast were good. The coffee was good. The deck was clean. The grill looked BRAND NEW ... ready to cook another day. All's well that ends well. We had survived our first try at grilled grits and Peace had been restored ...
I saw the look in Joey's eye though. He will be trying that again ...
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