Not That There's Anything Wrong With That...

 

Mon 74° | 59°

Tue 79° | 61°

Wed 76° | 61°

Thu 76° | 61°

Weather for the next 4 days according to my Google thingy. Basically a repeat of last week and the week before.

So I traipse between the raindrops this morning from my car to the office carrying my coffee mug, thermos, stitching bag, tote bag, pocketbook and shopping bag with TP & tissues for the office. No hands free for an umbrella.  The usual baggage I carry every day except for the shopping bag. I don't own a proper rain jacket for summer- I find them too hot & sweaty.

And it occurred to me:

"The Urban Sombrero"! Perfect solution! Do they really make these? Anyone know.........................?

Progress on Many Fronts....

Garden Grew:

Quaker Christmas Spot Sampler:

I had to do the reindeer twice- I had stitched with 3 rows between the legs instead of 2, not a fudge-able error. This is a lot more fun than the damn stockings.

Now it's time for me to wash dishes, then collapse on the couch in front of a fan in a puddle of sweat. Did I mention that I hate summer?

Wonderful Wednesday Wrecipes

Yeah.....she's not wrapped too tight, that one...........didn't take but 3 Wednesdays before I forgot to post! I even had the recipe and photos saved!

Without further ado:

Broccoli Calzone

• For Two Calzones:
• One 1-lb ball of prepared pizza dough, thawed & cut in half
• 3 cups cooked broccoli florets, either frozen or fresh
• One half (about ¾ cup) finely chopped onion
• 1-1/2 cups finely chopped mushrooms (I used white button-type)
• 2 minced garlic cloves
• 3 TBSP olive oil
• Salt & pepper to taste
• 2 cups shredded cheese, sharp cheddar or Swiss- whatever you like, even a combination
• 4-5 slices provolone cheese
• Small amount of flour for rolling dough

Line a rectangular cookie sheet with foil & spray with Pam or use Release No-Stick foil (magic stuff!)and set aside. Set oven to preheat at 400 degrees.

Lightly flour a smooth surface, and roll out one half of dough to approximately 16” wide x 10” tall. If dough bounces back and won’t hold shape, set it aside to rest & roll second piece of dough then go back to first piece. Persevere-it WILL eventually roll out & stay in a rough rectangular shape.

In large sauté pan, heat oil over medium heat. Add onion and cook about 5 minutes until translucent. Add mushrooms and garlic, and continue sautéing until mushrooms barely start to turn brown. Salt & pepper to taste.

Drain cooked broccoli thoroughly; I even blot it dry on a couple of paper towels on the counter. Chop the broccoli roughly, to about 1” pieces, then combine with onion mixture, and remove pan from heat. Re-taste for seasoning; add more salt & pepper if necessary.

Set one rectangle of dough with long side parallel with counter. Sprinkle with half the shredded cheese, leaving about ½” edge of bare dough all around. Spread half the vegetable mixture over the cheese. Lay 2 slices of provolone side by side over vegetables, and add partial slice if necessary if a lot of filling is bare.

Turn up edge of dough closest to you over filling by about 1” or so. Turn in vertical sides (kind of like you are rolling a burrito) once, then continue rolling up from bottom edge as tightly as you can without making a mess.

Pinch dough together tightly, and tidy into smooth 12” or so cylinder of dough. Place seam side down on foil-lined baking pan. Repeat with remaining ingredients and place second roll about 3” away from first. Make a couple of 1” slashes thru the top layer of dough to allow steam to escape. I forgot this step, which is why why filling burst out.

Bake at 400 degrees for about 18 minutes, until bread is golden brown.

Cool slightly and serve.

DOH!

I forgot to post this previous picture of Quaker Christmas Sampler:

Quakery Goodness....

This is another fun stitch. Now if I'd crack the whip on my ass and get 'er done, maybe I'd be a happy girl.

Because this crappy weather is sure tweaking my Seasonal Affective Disorder.

It Ain't Easy Being...

NO- not "green".....just....being.

My stitching buddies know the long, sad, so sad it's funny story about Bob & his truck and my eyes cross just thinking about it again, so I won't bore you with it.

I meant to post last night but the 2 guacamoles were here lounged all over the living room, so I couldn't take pictures. I couldn't post Thursday night because I'm a crazy sap who can't bear to see them spending money on takeout food, so I offered to go to the supermarket for taco fixings. By the time I washed all the dishes, and listened to Bob's tales of woe, it was 9:30, and they're lounging around the living room.

So without further ado, here is photographic proof of my stitching:

Garden Grew (yay! I LOVE this piece!):

Here's a closeup of the vase of flowers I completed:

I started the next BBD stocking from February:

This is 2 lunch breaks worth of work.

I've been getting progressively more unenthusiastic about these the more I work on them. I don't know why- I love BBD stuff....well... maybe I'm drawn more to their older designs- the ones with the cute houses, for instance. So, anyway, I came across this in Cranberry Cross Stitch (plug for Deb) at stitching night:

"Christmas Sampler" by Ewe & Eye & Friends. It's just a little (5" x 5"-ish) Quaker-like spot sampler. I've been toying with the Mary Wigham SAL project, and Wanda is doing "Spirit of Vierlande"- her colorway is stunning. I figured this little thing will re-boot my stitching mojo, so I can get Garden finished and those damn stockings out of my bag. I kind of want to start one of my Long Dogs and while exiled to my bedroom the other night, I went stash diving and came across this:

I'd get help from the S&B girls about colors- I don't think I want an entirely monochromatic look.

Well, I'm killing time until the farrier ("rockstar" in sing-song voice!) comes this afternoon. Time well spent stitching....

Happy Needles!

Wonderful Wednesday Wrecipes

I had made a pork roast two Sundays ago, with rice as a side dish. The two amigos were jonesing for fast food for the next couple of days, so I ended up throwing the leftover meat & rice into the freezer to deal with later. Pork Fried Rice has always stymied me- it just never tastes as good as a restaurant version when I cook it at home. I found this recipe, and this wasn't too bad. Still not as good as Tiki Buddha (insert your favorite Chinese restaurant name), but tasty and it used up those pesky leftovers:

Pork Fried Rice

SERVES 4

2-3 cups cooked rice, preferably refrigerated leftover(I used plain white rice cooked with chicken broth)

1 cup pork, cooked and diced (substitute cooked chicken if desired)

1/2 large onion, diced

1-1/2 cups broccoli slaw mix (prepackaged combination of shredded broccoli, carrots & cabbage)

2 TBSP soy sauce

2 TBSP hoisin sauce

1/2 tsp sesame oil

2 TBSP canola or peanut oil

In small bowl, combine soy sauce, hoisin sauce and sesame oil and set aside.

Heat canola oil in wok over med-high to high heat. Add onion and slaw mix and stir-fry 2-3 minutes or until onion starts to become translucent. Add pork, and stir-fry 2-3 minutes more. Add rice and stir-fry 3-4 minutes, until heated thru. Pour soy sauce mixture over rice and cook an additional 2-3 minutes. Serve.

Next time I'll try adding a small thumb size piece of fresh, minced ginger root to see if that lends that restaurant flavor.