Perfect Poached Eggs with Homemade Ketchup

i've been waiting awhile before dropping the 'chicken bomb'. for those of you that don't know me, i have to tell you - im an obsessed chicken person, i admit it. im currently caring for 12 chickens (3 cockrels and 9 hens + 2 baby chicks!)! its becoming a bit O.T.T. but im getting a handle on my chicken collecting. i just love having hens around and then buying new ones! i don't want to be going on and on about my hens and how lovely they are or all of their names or what breeds they are, but i have to warn you now, i probably will! so if this kinda thing bores you, skip ahead to the recipe!

a Faverolles breed

this is my first year caring for chickens.  and since im the sort of person that has to do everything from scratch, chickens came naturally. (as well as, growing vegetables and baking!) so, why not have my own free-range organic chickens to lay eggs? we'll im finding there's alot more to it, and i've gone the whole learning curve since bringing home my first few hens in march. researching breeds, hatching chicks, caring for sick hens, buying new hens, meeting new chicken people, travelling to markets, raising chicks ...... all of it.

surprisingly im finding after all that stuff that its totally worth the effort. at the moment egg numbers have dropped due to decreasing day length, this is also where chickens begin to molt old feathers and grow new ones.  it's a gradual process and one that most people don't tell you when buying chickens. so im telling you now: molting = fewer to no eggs for 4 to several weeks! because their bodies can't make eggs and feathers at the same time. i guess that makes sense.... so count on a 'hungry gap' of no eggs!

'Lucielle' the brown layer hybrid hen

Homegrown Bloody Mary

the best excuse to drink before 5pm

its been a one-in-a-50 year summer here in west cork: record rain, record wind and record alcohol consumption levels (that last one might only apply to me) and against all odds my new potager has produced quite a harvest thus far. while im typing we are currently experiencing  gale force winds and rain, so fingers crossed the veg will be there in the morning! as it turns out one of my favourite veg, celery, is a bog plant and what better way to describe the soil right now but as: 'boggy.'  since my celery is having a 'hay-day,' i decided i should join in on the fun by introducing my new food and garden blog with a delicous and celebratory, Home Grown Bloody Mary! i would also like to point out that today is THE day of birth of THE Julia Child, and what an auspiscious day to be launching a food/cooking blog! i didnt plan it that way, i swear, she's watching us. the first drinks for Julia!

we all know you can't make a mary, bloody without some tomato juice. you knew that, right?

 believe it or not, this season i've managed to produce some amazing fruits on my 8 tomato plants (currently im growing: tigerella, pineapple, sungold, cherry, and moneymaker varieties). one of the great things about living in ireland is you HAVE to grow plants like tomatoes in a poly-tunnel, for shelter. otherwise your looking at blight, wind damage and at best, green tomato chutney! or green tomato bloody mary's? that recipe is still in the works....

celery having a 'hay-day'

getting ready for the juicer

a bloody mary for me isn't just a hang over cure, its a great excuse to get in some of those five a day veg, a quick 'liquid lunch!' and a way to sneak a drink before happy hour hits. i've often produced this delicious cocktail with organic tomato passata from my local shop, but this version takes the cake. i never thought i'd go through all the trouble of juicing ripe tomoatoes for a bloody mary, but its worth it, tust me. especially so if you're looking at a bumper crop of toms and cringing at the thought of cooking a truck load of tomatoes. i used a juicer for this recipe but you don't need one, a food processor or blender would work fine in its place. since the celery is blitzed together with the tomatoes you do need a blending device to make this juicy bevy.