How Do You Find the Time?

"How do you find the time?"

I get asked that question a lot and I really don't know the answer. I know that I just do the thing that I get enjoyment from and the things that need to be done.

A single parent, a working professional, someone who loves to read, knit, craft and create, someone who is working really hard to create a good life for herself and her kids. I know I'm not the only one out there, and I enjoy reading the blogs of others, so I thought, "well, why not?" So here we go!

Monday, August 15, 2011

Bounty from the Garden








One of the authors who I love to read is Diane Mott Davidson. She writes about a caterer in Colorado named Goldie. The books have recipes included in them too, which is something I love. Her most recent book is called Crunch Time. Honestly, this was not as good as some of her books, but there was a recipe in there that really intrigued me, Puerco Cubano or Cuban Pork.

So tonight was the night. I knew I had a great deal of nice fresh veggies in the garden, so when I came home, I went to the garden and picked some green beans, fresh chard and cilantro. The recipe did not call for chard, but I added it. It also did not call for onions, but I think that almost everything needs onions!

We served it over brown rice, with freshly steamed green beans and cherry tomatoes picked right off of the plants. Oh my!



Puerco Cubano:

Olive oil
1 pound ground pork
2 cloves freshly minced or crushed garlic
1 onion, chopped
2 cups chopped kale
2 teaspoons demi-glace (chicken or veal) - I used chicken stock, some worcestershire sauce and some white wine
1/4 cup all purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
2 cups fresh orange juice
1/4 cup fresh lime juice

garnish with cilantro

in large skillet, combine olive oil, chopped onions and chopped garlic. Once fragrant, add ground pork and cook until browned. Add chopped kale and cook until kale softens. Sprinkle with flour, salt, pepper and oregano. Add demi-glace or chicken stock mixture. Stir together, then once it thickens, add the orange juice and lime juice. Serve over brown rice.

This received rave reviews from the teenagers at my house. In fact, there are NO leftovers except the rice.

We served it with the fresh green beans and freshly picked cherry tomatoes.


Wednesday, August 10, 2011

Finished!




Over spring break, I bought some beautiful Alpaca Fiber at Serendipidity Yarn in Buena Vista. It was one of the first that I spun to a finished fiber and I just finished a really great shawl. I'm calling it my "Lichen Shawl" because of the beautiful colors in it. I had knit it fairly quickly then had misjudged when to start the ruffle and had to unravel it a number of time. In early May, I got sick of it and put it away. Last night I was contemplating starting another project and decided that I needed to finish it, so I did. I still mis-judged slightly, but I was able to un-ply and use a single ply to finish the bind off. It's blocking now, but I'm pretty proud of it and pleased with how it looks. So here is the progress:

This - raw fiber







This - finished yarn






This - blocking on the bed




And finished!