Cheese Tortellini Pizza with Garlic & Basil.

Vinny's Pizza-Rama, originally uploaded by jekemp.

Have been touring the old school pizza parlors in New Jersey and discovering some pretty interesting slices. This particular slice was found at Vinny's PizzaRama and proved to be a meal unto itself. Cheese filled Tortellini with garlic, basil, and Vodka sauce topped this slice.

Vinny's Pizza-Rama
1025 Hamburg Tpke
Wayne, NJ 07470
(973) 628-1510

Gruyere oven toasts

Gruyere oven toasts, originally uploaded by jekemp.

Image taken right before they entered the toaster oven.

A visit to Country Gardens Farm & Nursery

A baby calf, originally uploaded by jekemp.

Last week I took some time to visit Country Gardens Farm & Nursery outside of Newnan. It is a quaint little farm and nursery that sells among other things, Raw Milk!

This milk is straight from the farm. (Read-Grass fed cows) and of course, is labelled for pet consumption only. I picked up a $4.00 half gallon and brought it home for my two cats to sample. This milk was not what one would expect to see down at the local super market. First, there were two distinct layers within the container and the color was more of a cream than the more familiar stark white.

After watching the cats go to town on this treat, I went ahead and shook the carton and poured myself a tall cold glass. All I can say is that this milk is truly amazing. Did I get sick from drinking it? No.

I am not going to say that Raw milk is safe to drink. Unfortunately, we live in a time of great fear with regards to food borne illness. Bacteria can be harbored in the milk and cause a litany of problems from diarea to vomiting. The FDAstates that consuming raw milk is dangerous and I believe them to a point. If we did not live in the time of the factory farm, I doubt that that e coli, Salmonella, or listeria would nearly be as bad as they potentially are these days.

The FDA also claims that more than 800 people in the United States have gotten sick from drinking raw milk or eating cheese made from raw milk since 1998. That really is not that many people when one thinks of the millions of people that call the United States home.

Conical Fermentation Tanks

Conical Fermentation Tanks, originally uploaded by jekemp.

This is where all the great beer from Terrapin comes from.

My plan to have Farm Fresh Eggs: The Backyard Barnyard Part One.

Cuckoo Marans Chicks, originally uploaded by jekemp.

Two years ago, I became interested in finding a way to get better eggs. What better way, I thought than by raising some day old chicks into egg laying hens?

Ok, so, the hunt was on. I wanted some really beautiful eggs and decided on a breed that lays dark, rich, almost chocolate colored eggs.

These chickens were known as marans. I found a breeder in Ohio called Meyer's Hatchery to order the chicks. I was able to select a straight run of females but their was a minimum order of 22 chicks.

I felt that I could raise them into healthy chickens and maybe find some like minded people who would not mind a hen or two in their backyard as well. Then the day came when the chickens were delivered by the post office, of the 22 that were ordered, only 11 ended up surviving the trip and I suspect that the box probably sat around in the post office for an extra day to have caused this small tragedy.

The remaining chicks lived on a round plastic table that I had surrounded with a ring of cardboard in my basement. Here, with their heat lamp, they ran in circles and ate and drank to their hearts content. Oddly enough, one of the chickens was different, somehow, bigger, meaner in its disposition. It was not until much later that we where able to make the determination that this was no chicken...It was a rooster.

We ended up calling this mighty bird Cap'n Redcomb.

25 pound Smoked Turkey

25 pound Smoked Turkey, originally uploaded by jekemp.

Brined the turkey for 12 hours beforehand and started the mesquite charcoal at 7:00am. Loaded the bird around 7:30am and finished at 2:00pm. The BGE never got over 260 degrees. During the smoking process, I added water soaked apple wood chips along at various intervals to make a nice thick pink smoke ring in the meat.

shittake & Green pepper

shittake & Green pepper, originally uploaded by jekemp.