A fresh breeze to ruffle the feathers, sun to warm them, freedom to run about and peck at whatever they should choose. Delicious vegetarian feed and a life free of antibiotics and hormones. That's how chickens should be raised.  Not in cages or factory farms where they never see the outdoors a moment of their lives. Not where they crawl with bugs and peck each other to death out of fear, anxiety, and a blind attempt at self preservation.

It's not a very appetizing thought, is it? Sadly, it's the reality of commercial farms, the predominant source of meat throughout the US.

It can be difficult to find an alternative to factory farmed meat, though, and the difficulty often outweighs one's conscious. It's so easy to just pop over to the neighborhood supermarket and pick up a pound or two of chicken for dinner and not think about where it came from.

It's an issue that's plagued me significantly since moving to North Carolina. In California it was so easy to find humanely raised meats at nearly any market, but in North Carolina it's been impossible - at least until last week.

Carolina Grown, a relatively new business in central NC, is offering an amazing new service. Produce, dairy, and meat from solely NC growers delivered directly to your door for a surprisingly reasonable flat fee.

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Something about eating quail always makes me feel like a giant. I like picking up one of the tiny little drumsticks and thinking, "Fee, fi, fo fum..." in my head.

Another great thing about quail? They're delicious. They may look like miniature chickens or a cornish game hen, but the flavor present in quail is unlike any other. It's equivalent to comparing the flavor of duck to chicken. Worlds apart.

Plus, they're incredibly impressive to serve at a dinner party and done right, just as easy to prepare.

The best way to buy quail is already deboned. This means that the only bones left in the little guy are the drumsticks and the wings. They're simple (and civilized) to eat and require no navigating around tiny little bones.

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These herald the end of my scallop flight and were, by far, my favorite preparation. A rustic recipe with bold flavors, the combination of heat, garlic, mushroom and tomato were cut perfectly by the buttery sweetness of the scallops.

This could be either an entree or appetizer, depending on the size and quantity of the scallops served. It would also be a bold amuse bouche, if one were inclined to plop it on a large spoon or into a shot glass.

Unlike the previous recipes, this one is not intended to play on the delicate flavor of the scallop - this one use the scallops inherent clean flavor to counter the piquancy of the sauce.

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Dating back to at least the 14th century, ravioli have long been a satisfying treat spanning cultures across the globe. The Italians have their raviolis, but so do the Russians their pelmini, the Ukrainians their varenyky, and the Chinese their 義大利餃 (Italian jiaozi, or dumpling).

They have a rich history - according to Delizia! The Epic History of the Italians and Their Food by John Dickie, ravioli were reportedly served to the papal enclave of 1549 - along with boiled chicken.

Though I'd pass on the boiled chicken, I'll rarely pass on a good ravioli. With the right filling and the right sauce the combination can be heavenly. Although tedious, the preparation could hardly be called difficult, with or without a ravioli mold.

It is, however, incredibly time consuming.

And time is something that I often have little of, especially when in the middle of a semester so brain-rending that medieval torture devices would provide respite from my agony. I'll take water-torture over a 3 paper week any time.

That being said, the substitution of store-bought gyoza wrappers (the round equivalent of a wonton wrapper, more commonly used in Japanese cuisine) for homemade pasta dough works quite adequately. It makes a good deal of sense that they would considering that potstickers are really just the Asian equivalent of ravioli in any case.

Some might frown upon the shortcut, but if they have the time to make homemade pasta dough on a weeknight and then assemble the raviolis one by one - well, feel free to stop by anytime. My kitchen awaits your culinary bad-assery.

In the meantime, I'll stick to my gyoza wrappers.

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If you've never tried cognac creamed mushrooms before, I suggest you do so soon. It's easily one of the world's best flavor combinations.

I happened to catch an episode of Jacque Pepin's show on PBS while TA and I were staying in temp lodging when we first moved to North Carolina. As he was putting together the creamed mushrooms I decided that it looked delicious and that I absolutely had to try this out.

Then I realized that I already had.

I had made a pasta sauce from scratch to enter in the Buitoni pasta contest - it's exactly the same ingredients. If you try the eggs and enjoy, you'll definitely love my wild mushroom agnolotti with cognac-cream sauce and baby pea shoots.

Even if I had already discovered this medley of deliciousness on my own, I still had to try Jacque Pepin's eggs. He's easily one of my favorite chefs - a pillar of the French culinary community - and definitely worth learning from. If culinary prowess could be measured (and I think it can) he would be worth approximately three Rachel's, 4 Paula's, both the Neely's, and about 14 Guy Fieri's.

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