Posts Tagged ‘food’

Sunday, January 3rd, 2010

Just before taking down all the Christmas decorations, I managed to write down the instructions for the newest Christmas stocking that will be available next year. If I don’t take the time to write down instructions for those designs I work up first, I tend to forget how I designed the item! Before the pattern is made available however, it’ll be tested to ensure accuracy.

On the same day, I believe this was Friday, New Year’s Day, I also took time to write up the instructions for the miniature crinoline; Miss Love. I still however, need to work in the ends and get her blocked.

I love to crochet but have to admit, if the project I’m designing has lots of little pieces and ends, I tend to get lazy and then procrastinate. Before I know it, I find myself pushed against impending deadlines. More procrastination leads to more stress - a never ending vicious cycle that’s so hard to pull myself out of. I seem to be doing this now with Miss Love. I still need to work up the flower and leaves for her basket and that’s where I’m at a stand still. The process is easy enough; it’s just doing it! Maybe one of my New Year resolutions should be; “just do it!” And you always feel so good once you’ve done a chore you’ve put off!

Today I hope to not only finish Miss Love and get her blocked, but start working once again on a vintage doily I’m revising. It’s a cute design and I can’t wait to see the finished doily - it’s just doing it! Sound familiar? LOL

In my attempt this year to save some money for vacation - and I so need a vacation, I plan to cook more meals at home. I do fine for a period but find that something happens like a bump in the road and I stall out. Or I plan to fix a meal and find that for some reason it’s like Miss Love - there’s some aspect of the meal preparation I don’t care for so I decide we’ll eat fast food and have this meal “tomorrow night.” Only when tomorrow night comes, I’m still in a holding pattern and the only way to break it is fix a different, easier meal.

For New Year’s Day we fixed Bison. I never had bison before - ever! I came across a wonderful looking prime rib roast in one of my old Cooking Light magazines. Once I got out my beef from the freezer, I noticed it was bison. We prepared it according to the recipe in the magazine and it turned out nicely but it’s not a keeper. I found the bison a little tougher than beef but I’m not sure if it was my cooking, the recipe, or if bison really is tougher than beef. I’m sure some people from the northern part of the US are laughing at me. LOL Maybe you can set me straight? Is it tougher?

Tonight I plan on having a pork roast, Apricot Glazed Pork Roast - again, using another issue of one of my old Cooking Light magazines. It’s a simple recipe (YES!), but what I liked about it is it provides other recipes using the leftover pork. How wonderful is that! I probably will only have enough for one other recipe since we cut our pork in half - for just the two of us. I think a rice dish would work nicely with this roast and decided on an old recipe I got from a friend/neighbor while we were stationed in Fallon, Nevada. It’s called Fruit, Nut, and Rice Casserole. I have no idea where she got the recipe. Broccoli will go well with the meal, plus I have broccoli in the fridge. Because it’s Sunday, I’ll finish off the meal with corn muffins - and I like to freeze the remaining muffins for other meals!

Another week almost over…

Thursday, September 3rd, 2009

I haven’t posted much lately so I’ll try to play catch up all at once. :-)

Our son had surgery yesterday and is doing well. He called me from his hospital bed once he was taken to this room to assure me he was doing okay. He was groggy and raspy but a welcome sound to me. This is when long distance is extremely hard. I was on pins and needles most of the morning waiting for news and was glad when our daughter-in-law called to tell us what was happening.

The newsletter of course went out on time but unfortunately, I’m not ahead on new designs for the 15th. I started working the afternoon of the 1st on a new project for Christmas and it’s almost complete. No - it’s not a placemat! LOL I got an idea to work on a new doily which I started yesterday but I’m not sure if it’ll pan out or not. I’ve just felt up to designing something really “pretty.”

I have so many ideas running around in my head, all vying for attention. It’s been awhile since I worked on my Christmas runner and it’s a rather large project and I’m only half finished with the “top” section. I’m wondering if I’m insane to do a solid background in crochet and am rethinking I might use fabric instead.

Ever since seeing the 3 foot angel, I’ve wanted to design a larger angel and have a vague idea of what I’d like this angel to look like. I’m rubbing my hands in anticipation of starting this and many more projects. If only there were more hours in the day!

I’m still cooking from the garden in my effort to keep abreast of the harvest. The other night I fixed “summer” enchiladas that sustained us through two meals. They were so good. Not your typical enchilada though. Then on Monday, I think it was, I failed to get anything out to defrost so we ended up having a make-shift quiche using some peppers from the garden and zucchini tossed in there too. Last night I cooked my first “rack of lamb.” I’m not a huge lamb lover but these were good! I was given a recipe by a friend that called for spices you rubbed over the surface of the lamb and then cover and roast. I gathered some fresh mint from the garden and made up a mint sauce called for in the recipe and I had 3 chops! I love roasted bell peppers - and roasted some up yesterday afternoon and we had grilled ham, cheese and roasted bell pepper sandwiches. Yum!

I’m starting to balk over having to keep up with the garden and getting tired of being chained to certain foods, but come winter, I’ll be wishing I had that garden all over again. I think once the summer vegetables are spent, I’ll plant a winter garden and put in some winter squash and maybe butternut. Is cabbage also a winter veggie? If it is, I’ll plant some cabbage too.