Our cozy, little family farm has been the most amazing place to call home.
However, one could not say that we were conveniently located to ... many things.
This has been a plus and a minus for me. When we lived in the city, I was a 10 minute walk from downtown, so I regularly took the kids on a walk down main street to window shop, go to the park/library, get a sanity Starbucks. Costco was a 5 minute drive away, and the mall was twenty minutes away. In theory. All bets are off come rush hour.
Now, if I need to go to my favorite membership bulk warehouse store, it's a 50 minute drive down the mountain. Some other big, chain stores are closer at 40 minutes, but it's no twenty minute escape during lunch hour. In a pinch, I can swing into the local gas station for milk or eggs or some other staple, but for the most part, grocery shopping and other errands have to be planned out and scheduled for specific days, and for the first time in my life, I'm making grocery lists, and actually bringing them with me because if I forget to buy diapers, it's 2 hours of driving to go back into town (like I did yesterday. Argh! Actually, diapers I can get at the gas station, but the big box is a bargain). While not convenient, I have cut down on frivolous spending too because I'm not window shopping, or just going to the mall because I can.
I do miss the spontaneous going out for dinner that my husband and I would do on a busy day, or a hot evening when no one wants to be in the kitchen. Theoretically, it can be done, but the expense and the time just makes the task less romance and whimsy, and more insanity and unnecessary stress.
In an attempt to utilize the resources of farming life---growing a garden to cut down on groceries, raising animals for meat and by-products, I've also started dabbling in new recipes; foods that I had previously relegated to "restaurant night treats." My family has been wonderfully accommodating to my experimentation. I am grateful for my husband who says he loves my cooking no matter what monstrosity I put on the table, and my children who are not picky eaters.
The other day, I saw tonkatsu ramen featured on an online blog, and I mentioned to my husband about how much I love Japanese ramen, and that we should go have it sometime. And he replied, he had never had it.
"What? How? Why?" and those sort of questions followed. He shrugged.
Of course, I began googling and yelping and then just became rather defeated thinking of gas and dollars spent and time and children who can't sit still in restaurants for long periods of time... so the sleeves were rolled and research began on how to make ramen at home.
Not the instant ramen. I am queen of that. Korean instant ramen is one of my specialties :D
No, I'm talking milky, thick pork broth. Thick wedges of pork belly. A golden medium-soft hard-boiled egg. Chewy, bouncy noodles and curly strands of green onions---ramen.
You guys. It takes a LONG TIME to make this. This is not instant. Not even close.
I have a freezer full of pork from our home-grown pigs. Bones have been boiling for 12 hours. Broth skimmed, strained, jarred and ready. Kanshui powder toasted and made. Dough kneaded, rested, kneaded, rested, cut, rolled, and hung to dry. Loin cured, marinated, and going in the oven for eight hours to be transformed into caramelized char shui.
This is the most time I've ever spent on any single food item, beating out the Momofuku style Bo Ssam roasted loin (only 10 hours spent on that one---but whooo boy was it worth it. I believe the words "best pork I've ever had in my life" was uttered.)
For ramen. RAMEN. I might possibly be the tiniest bit insane. But... I am excited to put something yummy (hopefully) and new for my family. And, kind of satisfying to see everything (almost) all put together from scratch that I never would have attempted living in the city.
What seemingly daunting recipes have you tried? And what should I try next?
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