Annie DeMoranville – Page 71 – Annie DeMoranville

Welcome Little Willow

Willodene Jolene has landed.

She’s about 6-7 months old, which completely goes against my “oldest/longest kitty in the shelter” rule. After fostering a mama (Missy) and her five 1-day old kittens (Jake!) I swore off kittens forever.

But this girl picked me, so who am I to refuse?

Once it’s determined my new additions are healthy, it’s difficult to keep them separated. Zander found a way to sneak out the second day. Gabe barely lasted a day before he was out, sleeping on Bixby. Sully lasted 3 days and was glued to my lap after that, and this little one insisted on meeting everyone by the morning of her third day here and hasn’t looked back.

She thinks the dogs are just big friends. And has been known to walk over them on the couch. She follows Zander around like a little sister. He was a little annoyed at first but now seems to take great pride in it.

She and Sully play reluctantly. He’s still a little miffed…but she’s hard to resist.

I got him a new bed to make up for it. He appears to be appeased.

She has been claiming the couch…much to Scout’s annoyance.

The ducks fascinate her (and please forgive the drool covered window, you can imagine how difficult it is to keep up with cleaning it off).

She and Trixie had a nice game of hide (in the box) and seek the other night.

I had forgotten how much more work it is to train a kitten! And they are kind of stinky, LOL. Today, after I took her off the table for the third time (in a row) she sat at my feet and mewed pitifully, so I picked her up and snuggled her for a while. I’d say her training of me is coming along just fine.

She’s just what this house needed.

French Butter Cookies From Scratch

I recently had to get a Costco membership – long, boring story – but it’s already paying off. When I came home from Paris four years ago, my suitcase contained 10 packages of St. Michel Butter Cookies (Galettes). I was besotted. Super buttery, flakey, not terribly sweet with just a touch of salt. Costco sells them by the very large tin.

I’ve been trying to recreate them ever since, but it’s difficult from memory. Now I have a tin of them, I stand a better chance. These come very, very close.

French Butter Cookies

1/2 cup French Butter**
1/4 cup +1 tbsp granulated sugar
1 egg yolk
1 cup flour, plus extra for rolling
1/4 cup skim milk POWDER
1/4 tsp baking powder
dash of lemon zest

Topping:

1 egg yolk, dash of water
Mix together 2:1 sugar and salt

These need a mixer to create the flaky texture. Whip butter until fluffy, add sugar and salt. Mix again until fluffy. Add egg yolk and mix well. Finally, add flour and skim milk 1/4 cup at a time, combining before adding more. Finish with lemon zest.

**If you can’t find French butter add 1/2 tsp salt to the batter. French butter contains more salt per serving than regular butter. It also has a very distinct flavor that I’ve never been able to recreate, so without it, cookies are delicious, but they aren’t quite St. Michel’s.

Remove to a floured surface and roll out to less than 1/4 inch thickness. The thinner, the crisper the cookie. The dough is super crumbly, so it’s easiest between two silpats or on a marble surface with plastic wrap covering the top. It’s very dry here now, so brushed a tiny bit of water over the dough before rolling thin.

Cut with a cookie cutter. Brush with egg yolk and sprinkle lightly with sugar/salt mixture.

Bake at 350 degree F for about 8 minutes. I set my timer for 4 minutes and then added 2 minutes until they were done.

I decided to up my game with some raspberry jam added before baking

If you want the traditional criss/cross pattern, it’s a bit more complicated. The dough is too delicate to use the fork method for each cookie. Instead, you’ll need to roll them out completely, refrigerate or freeze until firm. Then run a fork diagonally across the sheet of dough in one direction, and then again in the other direction. Only after the marks are made can you cut with a cookie cutter.

I used leftover dough for makeshift tarts filled with strawberry jam

You gotta know, unless I was baking for a super special crowd, that’s a bit too much work for a cookie that tastes just as good without those marks. Like, are Prince Harry and Meghan coming over? VP Harris? Then, nope. ;-)

Besides, I made such pretty heart shapes.

Emma Kate: Nineteen Years Is An Excellent Life

Emma gave me five days this past week to come to terms with her passing. Like everything she did, she did it her way. And I’m grateful.

She came into my life on my birthday, 8 weeks of spitfire, ready to rule the resident Great Danes in the house and become Harley’s best bud. Shelby, Einstein and Duncan knew right away they had met their match and when she’d plop all 3 lbs in the middle of one of their giant beds, they would just back away slowly.

While she loved Harley, she only tolerated the other cats in the house over the years. She was a dog cat, she loved all her Great Danes.

She raised Bixby. She adored Bixby.

She was enjoying showing Trixie who was boss, too.

She had an excellent last year – very healthy after we got her chronic pancreatitis under control. And there was a standing rule that everyone who came to my house knew, since she was about 17, the rule was, “Emma is (17, 18, 19) she gets to do what she wants” as she broke all kinds of rules including jumping on the table and eating off my plate. I wouldn’t have it any other way.

Thanks for being my rock all these years, beautiful girl.

And as you know, shelters are full and we now have space, so there will be a new addition, it just may have to wait until the puppy is a little bigger. Although, if she’s anything like Sully, a little spitfire girl may pop up and refuse to be ignored. 💖

Adventures In Ducks: In For The Night

It’s sub-zero out tonight and most of tomorrow, so that meant the ducks had to come inside. The coop is not set up for those kind of rare temps. So, for the second time in five years, ducks have had to spend the night in the bathroom.

This is Nick and Nora’s first winter and I must say, they are not very fond of it. So they seem much too happy to be installed inside at the moment.