Finally back on line, after Blogger and Google had been inaccessible for days.Why? How? Mysteries.
Our life with the ponies goes on with ups and downs, they seem to have good and bad days like the rest of us. They are now walking barefoot, which means we must put much caution in the choice of trails to train upon, until they get their boots. There is talk of them having bright red boots, easier to spot if they get lost, and certainly they would suit the general clownish attitude of the family. We shall see. They are extremely cooperative on the road: less on a field. The sight of all that green grass seems to stress their reasoning abilities a bit.
We had an interesting trek incident just before their shoes were removed. We had followed this path in the woods for a km or so and then there we met a lot of fallen trees over the path and branches and I was already a bit reluctant to go on with the horses, but they stepped gingerly over each obstacle, not a worry and then, inexplicably we arrived in this spot where the trail just ended. There was a ditch and then a very very steep back some 6-8 m high all covered in fallen leaves. I stood there thinking I would never manage to drag the horses up there, and was it better to just go back over the fallen trees again? There was clearly another, open path on top of the bank, but I did not trust myself to bring TomBoy up. I was there, fidgeting with the lead rope and undecided about how to preceed when TomBoy gave me this look like "Well? Are we going to stay here all day?" and he just stepped away and went up the bank, like you or I would go up the cellar stairs . Half way up he was at the end of the lead rope and he turned back to look at me in a "Coming up or what?" sort of way. I let go of the rope so he could best find his own way, and in a couple of seconds he was on top, looking down and waiting for me. I had to go up on all four and slid down more then I made headway lol. Kaylee came up slower because the hubby could not make it on his own and she half dragged him up. I was so completely stunned by this exploit that I could hardly speak, I just kept saying "Did you see him? Did you see him?" They are more like big goats in long blonde hair. Of course these horses were and are bred on the high pastures in the Alps, but heck, I was in awe. TomBoy is a dutch horse, I don't suppose he has seen many mountains in his youth, and yet he does really very well on steep paths and uneven footing.

The first cart, with the kitchen box is ready, except for the painting of the box itself and its smaller fittings. Still one cart to go, sigh.

Yesterday we cooked a truly delicious chicken dish on the Liard Firebox and Dutch Oven. They make a fine duo, because you need the box to start the coals or wood embers for the oven, and in the meanwhile you can cook on the box on the live flame.
Very well, you need 2 to 4 half chicken breasts, skinless and boneless, 2 cups of basmati rice, some small tomatoes and lots of spices. The amount of spices looks threatening, but trust the recipe and just proceed:

8 (2-inch-long)fresh chiles, red and green finely chopped
2 tablespoons coriander seeds
1 tablespoon cumin seeds
half a head of fresh garlic, squeezed or finely chopped
1 tablespoon black peppercorns
2 teaspoons sea salt
half a cup of good olive oil

Roughly grind the seeds in a mortar (or a grinder, if you are at home), then mix with the garlic and chiles, and cover with oil. Cover the chicken thickly with the spice mix, making sure that all of the surface is coated with oil. Reserve a table spoon of the mix. Start a lively fire in the box, and put a pot with four cups of water to boil. Skewer the tomatoes on barbecue sticks and start grilling them. Keep feeding the fire, as soon as you have embers for the Dutch oven, remove the tomatoes from the grill, and sear the chicken breasts quickly over the fire. Then put them in the dutch oven, with a moderate amount of embers on bottom and some more on the top.
Return the tomatoes to finish grilling and cook the rice as needed. As soon as the chicken is tender remove the dutch oven from fire and just keep warm until everything is done. Mix the reserved spice mix in the rice, and sprinle the tomatoes with olive oil and sea salt.
Another recipe adapted from Epicurious.