Easy Dinner- Pork Chops

I love to cook, but I really don't want it to take too long.  Dinner doesn't take long to eat, I don't want to put too much work into it.  Most of my cooking doesn't come from recipes, it comes from techniques.  I never "learned" to cook, it was just something I grew up doing, the idea of not "knowing" how to cook is beyond me.  Roasting and broiling are two of my favorite techniques and when you're lucky enough (like I am right now) to have double ovens I've been doing a lot of it.  I just walk away, make a salad and pull out dinner.

 PORK CHOPS! So these are from The Local Pig, and have been brined but nice thick chops with some fat on them will do nicely. 

Arrange on the broiling pan, we cheat and put foil in the pan so that clean up is faster. 

Season!  This is a sage and savory rub from a great book, which I cannot remember the name of right now.  Dump a bunch on there, drizzle a little olive oil on then get rub all around.  I normally wear a latex glove so my hands stay clean.

BROIL!  Yes thats it, set the oven to broil, stick them on the top rack and enjoy the crispy goodness.

Roast some asparagus  and potatoes (or seen here sweet potatoes).

Make a salad, and in about 30 minutes you've got dinner and you didn't do very much work.  

The Weekly Claire: A Month of Kansas's Edition

This morning we woke up to RAIN!  There was a fantastic rumbly-bumbly thunderstorm, with big rain drops and such.  I was most welcome.  A few weeks ago the pump in the pond up and stopped working.  I did all I could do and then contacted the landlord, turns out the thing was still under warranty so they replaced it.  Funny thing is that pump was WAAAAY more pump than was needed for this little pond and it hadn't working really well for sometime so the lovely babbling brook turned it a fire hose of water shooting EVERYWHERE!  It took me a few days, a lot of rocks and some foil to contain all the rushing water into suitable waterfall again.  In the mean time we lost a lot of water and I wasn't about to pay for it, so I just waited for it to fall from the sky.  Now fish and friends (fish is the remaining orange goldfish, friends are the twin medium size green fish, the large black with a orange collar and the fry) are extra happy with a full up pond.   

I started my Kombucha, I'm growing a scoby from a bottle of original plain kombucha so it'll take a little longer than usual.  I named it Scooby the scoby.  Though in its current appearance I should call it Lawrence, of arabia.  

Happy rain fall! It wasn't a big storm system but it had no intentions of going anywhere, it just lingered over us for a good 4 hours.  Woot for free water.

We went to Dean and Deluca, and I was not impressed.  It was all things I had already seen, eaten, made or could get cheeper somewhere else.  They are an institution but they've gotta do better.

Finally, my x-wing.  Just chilling in my craft closet while it waits for a desk.  I didn't get the job at KU, which I figured but it took me emailing them 3 times to find this out.  Even though I interviewed, made my references jump up and down to get letters of recommendation to them over a weekend (mind you I had to do this, not them they didn't ask me to ask for them until 5:28 on a friday and then needed them on MONDAY) they didn't have the where with all to call and say I didn't get the job.  They were just going to let the start date slip by.  SUPER CLASSY

Necessary Crafty Pants

So I got a new desk, its new at all in fact its reaaaaallllly old.  Its great, tons of drawers, smaller than my old computer desk and wildly more useful but it wasn't made of computers.  It was killing my elbows since I like a put my arms on the desk and push my screen back away from me.  When you've a prescription has high as mine you like to keep that focusing distance out a little.  So one afternoon I busted out this.  

Its super comfy, with flannel on one side and pretty quilting cotton on the other.  It doubles as a wrist rest too, but mostly for my bony ass elbows.  (I have rather pointy bony elbows, ask anyone I've accidentally jabbed with one)

Make two big long rectangles, and sew them together, clip those corners so they make nice corners when its stuffed.

I needed the cotton to be a little longer so I just sewed two pieces together, I own a lot of fat quarters. 

See, nice corners. 

Seriously I've had that bag of Clusterstuff hanging around since like 2007, its now been used up. 

GUTS

Sew it together all nice with a needle and thread or just sew that bitch up on the machine.  I recommend the machine.  

BOOM! Happy elbows.

Yoke Skirt

I made this! Its the A-line skirt from Stitch by Stitch.  Which, while trying to understand at some points is a great book to learn things with.

The yolk has secret pretty fabric.  But now you know, so its not a secret any more.  

I bought this fabric back in May, and got started on it, but didn't finish it until just the other day. 

Its a pain in the ass to cut fabric on the floor, don't do it.   

My first try at an invisible zipper, and I nailed it!

Okay so the seems don't match up, but the zipper goes up and down without catching. 

Over all I learned a ton from making this pattern and with make it again.  Its a tad short for my tastes and a little large.  I will go down to a medium and increase the length.  The pattern calls for this little useless patch pockets on the front which I ignored.  Next time maybe so super fun spoonflower fabric.  

Stupid Sweater

This is the second time around for this yarn.  It was a failed sweater from a few years back, no matter who tried the thing on it look bad on them.  It was like the opposite of the Traveling Pants, nothing but fug! I found a better pattern, I made sure it look good on other people and got started.  I'm not sure where it went wrong.  There are a few things I know about myself.  For starters I can't wear Raglan ANYTHING.  Sweaters, shirts, nope not a one.  I told myself this pattern was different, not a true raglan, it'll be fine.  My gauge is right, in fact it should be SMALLER than written.  Instead this thing is a huge sweater mess.  HUGE.  JUST HUGE in all the wrong places.  Under the arms, in the back, in the arms.  WHO THE FUCK TEST KNIT THIS SHIT! Sizing people, alway make the pattern in the size that is in the picture, because other wise its gonna look like a sack on you. Also just ignore your boobs.  Seriously, from now on I'm just knitting to ignore my boobs.

See HUGE raglan underarms HUGE! What do I have that much underarm flab. 

Look at that extra back fabric!!!

That about sums it up.

This yarn also doesn't have enough twist to give body.  The alpaca gives it too much drape and its a bitch.  So this will get pulled out AGAIN, and maybe one day it will become a blanket, a nice soft cozy blanket, not a terrible sweater.  

The Weekly Claire: New Moon Edition

Tonight is the new moon, which I remember from my hospital days as actually been stranger than the full moon.  Not busy like a full moon, just strange.  Machines doing odd things, strange phone call questions, doctors asking for tests like "rabies titers". Lets have a science moment shall we, if you are a doctor who is asking for rabies titers, you've lost your shit.  The test takes weeks to get back, because its meant to check the titers of those of us who have the rabies vaccine not to see if someone who is alive has rabies.  WHY? Because you'll either be dead or not, by the time the results come back, or mount an immune response high enough to produce the needed antibodies to test.  Yes I had a doctor once ask me to send off this very expensive test one early morning on a patient exposed 2 weeks pervious.  We had words, lots and lots of words.  Any way PICTURES of hilarious and random ass things.

Please read that, OMG I can't believe they did that! I swear they're just setting themselves up, like some intern made that sign just for the laughs!!!

Cicada friend.  It was a very cool morning, during our week of "polar vortex" that made every thing a bit more wonderful.  We hung out in the sun for a while until he could get his little bug bits warmed up, then he buzzed off.

WHAT IN JEBUS' NAME IS THIS!  Its on the side of my house, but its so wrong.  Some conglomerate of lizard species or a four legged alien.  I don't know if I should contact Mulder or get it a heat lamp.

And this guy! We've seen him twice now in town.  Black shoes and socks, gray shorts, yellow button up, unbuttoned with no shirt underneath. Floppy hair and brief case.  Our conclusion is he's actually a zombie, just trying to get by.  Going to work, getting business done.

Zucchini Bread

Its summer in the land of Kansas, and no matter how hard you try to get all the zucchini before they become monster, you will fail.  Luckily there are sad folks like me who moved to the area mid-growing season and have no garden and for 50 cents a piece I'll take those monsters off your hands!  I used this Recipe, from CHOW.  It turned out better in the little tins, more chewy outside to inside ratio.  I also like the little slices better.  Maybe I'll make muffins next, since there is still a monster zuc in the fridge. I think the recipe is a little sweet, it might be that I used the raw sugar I had rather than white.  I'll cut down on the sugar too, and let you know.

Cherry Season

One of the great benifits of not being in the NW any more is I get tons and tons of cheep cherries. Sadly few of our delicious washington cherries stay in washington. To celebrate I dug up some cherry recipes. Cherry salsa with pork. 

Cherry carnage 

Cherries, cilantro, mild peper, garlic, salt, pepper, vinegar and olive oil. Mix, let sit. Serve over pork. 

Adventure Time : Cured Meats Edition

The Local Pig

Down a road that you're certain is a cruel joke by google maps is where you will find the delightful Local Pig. Cured meats are an important part of this household and needed to find a purveyor of such items, posthaste. Seeing as this was a Sunday adventure, and we are in a part of the country which feels this is an important day, we had few options. However this turned out in our favor, since we lucked out. 

Attacked to The Local Pig, is the not so mobile food truck, Pigwich.  The Pigwich smells like carnivore heaven, and I'm sure tastes close. We didn't partake, yet. A steady stream of all variety of folks (a cop pulled up for lunch, a bunch of families, a few post churchers in heels) picked up their box lunches. You can take it to go or enjoy their covered picnic area. 

Once inside you're treated to the delightful aroma of MEAT! Two cases of all kinds of wonderment. A dozen different kinds of sausage, locally sourced beef, lamb, pork and chicken, chicken and duck eggs, little hand made pot pies, beef, lamb and pork bacon, and a few kinds other treats. If you get there in time, fresh bread from a local bakery is there and coffee from Oddly Correct. Don't forget to check the case by the checkout for schmaltz and lard, pickles and rilettes. 

The yummy pig part painted on the wall

Too hot outside or just want to watch them work hang out here. 

Map of where all the local yum comes from

Spoils of the hunt

The Weekly Claire: Kansas Edition

So I've moved, to Kansas.  Or Cans-ass I keep calling it.  I don't know who Can is but we now live in and around Can's ass.  Its quite green, and not ass flat as I had figured it to be.  It doesn't have a single freakin' mountain or a body of salt water and its hot.  It turns out we won the house lotto when we rented this place.  It's in an almost too quiet neighborhood and they've recently removed all the wallpaper and brass fixtures. There's a little koi pond in the yard and an enormous closet. 

This bathroom is larger than my dorm room. It's too big and kinda awkward, but it works. The best part of our new neighborhood, a Delorean lives here! Edgar can watch the birds outside at the feeder too. 

 This guy is at the bowling alley. We call him safe sex t-Rex, for one particular reason other then it's funny. 

 
 And finally a screenshot of what 8 hours of driving looked like. No turns on hills, no nothing, just straight from Denver to Boner Springs ks. Then you hang a left and go north a wee bit.