Adventures of Beef Cheeks and My Wooden Condo

My first solo dinner here on the farm. As with any meal, I know what I would do different for next time. However, there is hardly ever a next time. Once I make a meal once, I rarely want to make it again. Not because I didn't enjoy it the first time around, but because I want to try something different!

Tonight, I made braised beef cheek (I will be making these again, and again and again...in some form or another) with ramp spiked barley and sweet potato and parsnip pangrattato. At the farm market we traded with another vendor and ended up with a Lion's Mane mushroom, so I sauteed that up as well. I had some extra time while the cheeks were braising away, so I made a quick dish of something consisting of flour, oats, honey, figs and butter...baked and topped with a little fresh whipped cream. Dinner was served (family style) promptly at 630 to the farm owner, the farm coordinator, the full time chef and myself, all of us crazy people who live right here on Harmony Valley Farm!

Gucci Mane.
Just kidding.
This is a Lion's Mane mushroom

It felt really good to be cooking with no recipes. Unlike the bakeshop, where I come from, recipes are more of an reference rather than a regulation. If you have a general understanding of cooking techniques and flavor profiles, you are ready, set, go! The absence of a recipe gives you, at least me, a more 'life on the edge' approach to cooking. As I added the last of the liquid to the pan of veggies and beef cheeks, I watched it come to a boil and thought, 'Well, I hope to hell this turns out!' Then the question crossed my mind, 'what if it doesn't?' I quickly dismissed this thought with a 'it just better.' Perhaps, if I refuse to make a back up plan, I wont have a crutch to lean on.

And now the moment you've all been waiting for. And yes, I did save it for the end of my post so that you would have to suffer through reading my sentimental thoughts on not using recipes. ;)

drum roll....

Pics of my accommodations! or as I call it, my wooden condo. 'Cabin' just sounds way too rustic for me. I'm more of a condo girl.

Hey that's me! (and my condo)

Come'on in!

Not a far walk from the kitchen to the foyer.

Upstairs is the master suite.

with attached closet ....and office.

And, from the master suite, I can easily spy on any intruders!