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Wednesday, August 29, 2012

Flocks and Friands

The complete lack of egg production from our chickens over the last 8 months made us reconsider the flock. The cochins, very attractive birds, had grown quite large. Two were clearly roosters and we aren't allowed to keep roosters where we live. The two females hadn't started laying yet (I've read it's quite normal for them to take 10 months to start, but then egg production isn't consistent or reliable). They were also fairly unsociable and the girls couldn't handle them like the Isa Browns. Unfortunately we lost two of our original Isa Browns at various times this year and the only remaining hen had never laid. Given all of the above, we decided to re-home our flock and start again. Approximately 3 minutes after I posted a "free" ad on Gumtree, the phone calls began and by the end of the week the chickens had gone to 3 different homes.

On Saturday afternoon we picked up four new Isa Brown pullets. They quickly made themselves at home and started fossicking through the self-sewn tomato plants.


My girls were very excited to meet the new girls of the garden, and Chicky has taken on the responsibility of taming them with lots of "pats and cuddles".


And we are already being rewarded. Since arriving on Saturday afternoon, they have laid 10 eggs. I'm excited just thinking about all the baking I'll be able to do!

Speaking of baking, I got straight on the job tonight and baked some Raspberry and Dark Choc Friands. I don't think I've ever eaten a friand before, let alone made any, and I wasn't really sure what to expect. I was pleasantly surprised by the finished product (yes, I've eaten 2 already).


The only change I made to Celia's recipe, was using Callebaut 54% dark chocolate callets in place of 70%. In the absence of a friand pan, what else could I use but bright blue patty pans? These made the friands a little smaller than in the original recipe so I stretched the batter out to make 9. How good are raspberries? I must have eaten a handful of frozen raspberries in the process. Friands will definitely be going on my list of "morning tea possibilities" when I have visitors.

2 comments:

  1. Pam, how exciting to be getting eggs already from your new chooks! And thanks for the shout-out - that friand recipe gets a regular airing in our kitchen! I never use a friand pan - I couldn't line them and always found the batter would stick. Robert Gordon sell really nice sturdy paper liners that work well with friands.

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    1. I know, the new girls are certainly earning their keep! I'll keep an eye out for some pretty, sturdy liners. I always have multi-coloured patty pans in the cupboard though. Must have something to do with having small children!

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