Showing posts with label Puppies. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Puppies. Show all posts

Thursday, June 12, 2014

Happy Thursday,

Weeeeelllll it seems that I may have caught the foodie eye of some of you with my last post ;) I'm glad I could be the devil on your shoulder egging you on to indulge (cue evil laughter).

The title says it all. Today's post is allll about the entree that I hinted at previously.

I'll give you a little warning before I go any further... time is this recipe's best friend. But don't let this deter you, it's worth the effort!

I'm talking about Amy Thielen's Peppered Pork Sandwiches!!!

The recipe has a couple of different components that I've never done before. 1 was making flat bread for the sandwiches. 

The method was a little different compared to the usual way I make actual bread but it still came out lovely. Plus commmoooon! BREAD... carbs make me happy :)



The second was that the recipe calls for the pork to be placed in a brine for a few hours / overnight. I did a dry brine comprised of salt and sugar. I won't get into the scientific reasons why brining is good, suffice it to say that its purpose is to produce a juicy piece of meat at the end of it all. This is particularly helpful for typically easily dried out meats like pork, chicken and turkey. 

I can safely say I am now a brining convert! 


Would you just look at that crispy peppery crust! I have to tell you, I was very skeptical about putting soooo much pepper on the meat initially. I don't do well with spice (I'm a total wimp), so the first time made this I put on about half of the called for pepper. 



I've made this a total of 3 times since first trying it and now I try to get the thickest layer of cracked pepper corn I possibly can on this baby. At the end of the day, you shave the meat so thinly that you hardly taste much of the pepper at all. It just becomes another layer to the overall flavour. (PS: If you have an electric knife now's the time to use it - so much easier than hand slicing every piece.)


This was also my first time grilling flat bread on the BBQ. I couldn't get the picture of the bread going up in flames and burning down the house out of my head. I didn't let this pyro-phobia get to me though. I wacked on a few stretched pieces of bread dough at a time and they came out BEAUTIFULLY! 


 And here we are, the final result. Toss in your favourite green, some parm cheese and flavoured mayo and you've got yourself a winner!

I'll leave you know with the pups. They got a little tried from following me around and around and around while I was running about the kitchen. They are my constant shadows. I can't go anywhere without them following me. That fact makes sleepy moments like these so precious.




Happy cooking!

Melissa



  

Thursday, October 10, 2013

Happy Thursday!

Wowzers have I ever been distracted lately. After getting a good start in on Santa's Magic a couple of weeks ago, literally ZERO stitching has taken place. I guess I have a few good excuses for this.

1. Work

I'm not what you call a workaholic but I've been busting my butt at work lately. At work early in the morning, often the last to leave the office, bringing work home. All because I'm in the middle of a series of workshops I've put together and it's literally eating up my days! It's constant work on presentations and one email and meeting after another. By the end of the day all I want to do is go home and crash... not move a muscle... not even touch a pan to make supper.

So this is what it's like to be a busy professional?!

Don't get me wrong! I'm feeling more fulfilled than ever and I'm very happy that I'm run off my feet. I prefer it that way. But boy, I can't wait until the pressure is off! Another month and a half to go!!!

2. Quilting

I started my quilting class exactly 2 weeks ago! Super fun, but again makes for a loooooong day as I stay out in town rather than going home after work because I would just have to turn around an hour after I get home just to come back to do the course... so I stay out in town. And did I mention the class is 3 hours long and doesn't end until 10pm!!!! Never doing that again. 

I am starting to fall in love with quilting though! I've order some new fabric and have my 10 blocks for my quilt class nearly finished!!! EXCITING!!!

3. NEW PUPPY!

Myself and my wonderful boyfriend have our first furbaby! I picked her up 2 Saturdays ago and BOY she is starting the be a handful. It makes me wonder how I ever got through having two puppies at once not even two years ago. Blue and Leia have since grown up quite a bit and Blue has gone off to live with my brother. Anyway here is our little Arya (AR-EE-yuh) the Irish Setter!





Hopefully I'll be able to get back into the stitching swing once she doesn't need constant supervision!

Toodles for now!

Melissa

Friday, June 8, 2012

Happy Friday everyone :)

Last night was our last night with this little fella... Blue. He's off to live with his rightful owners - my brother and his girlfriend in a brand new house that they've just moved into. 





I have to admit it was VERY sad to see him go and I'll tell ya I may be crying just a little bit right now. Oh how easy it is to get attached to animals... Luckily he'll be living just down the street and around the corner from us, no more than a 5 minute walk. This is a perfect excuse to visit... of course my brother will think I'm visiting him when in actual fact I'm visiting his little puppy!!! PERFECT hehe. Of course I'm joking (maybe...). I just hope my little pup, Leia, will not be too sad because she really is losing her brother - they've been together since birth pretty much. I see many a puppy date in the future!

OH IT'S JUST TOOOOO TRAGIC! :( :( :(

I have to move on to something else...


I was so VERY surprised to find the mail man had delivered this to the mail box yesterday evening!!!! 

So carefully and lovingly wrapped!

YUP! It's an exchange package all the way from my exchange partner in the UK!!! So crazy to received such love from all the way across the pond! YEY!!! I was so excited I could hardly wait to open it. 

And here's the stitched piece! Lovely isn't it! And very appropriate for the weather we have been having alllllll week... it's still raining now. Not only is the stitching perfectly divine, the fabric has hint of sparkles throughout and the bead work on the trim is amazing!!! I'll have to  give it a try. 

Front

Back
It was even personalized on the back! So I only have 2 clues as to who this person may be. Her initials CR and I know she's from the UK. Boy would I ever love to know who it is! It's just KILLING ME! I'd say thank you to my mystery partner right now but there's MORE!!!!!



A wack of gorgeous floss, a beautiful skein of green variegated floss,  2 packs of mill hill beads, a magazine (which I LOVE - I just subscribed digitally, but do not have this edition!!!), a beautiful birdie fridge magnet, needles and needlebook from Natelye's Needle Creations (spelling?), the chart for Earth Goddess by Joan Elliot that I've had my eye on forever!!!!, and THE most sweetest card ever!!! She had to do some wicked detective work, because I didn't put much down the the survey - it being my first one :) So koodo's and MANY thanks to my AMAZING exchange partner!!!!!  

Finally before I take leave - here's where I'm at with my friendship sampler.

Almost 1/3 of the way done!!!! I'm praying that I don't run out of floss....




I hope everyone has a fantabulous weekend! (frantabulous = fantastic and fabulous all mushed up... just in case my made-up words confuse anyone.)

CIAO!

Melissa

PS: Don't forget to sign up for my give-a-way here. Ends June 19th!!!

Monday, May 14, 2012

Hello again my stitchy friends :)

Firstly, thank you all for the wonderful comments on my last post. I'm so glad you all enjoyed to pictures of South Brigus - I love this beautiful Island of mine and cannot resist sharing the photos I take with you guys!!!

My post title today is very appropriate because we got DRENCHED yesterday. It rained, and then it rained some more right up until 7pm and then the sun came out for just a quick hello and goodbye. 'Weather' also happened to be the very first thing I stitched on my new start!




This is the beginnings of the Friendship Sampler I purchased from the Victorian Motto Sampler Shoppe not too long ago. I'm loving the hand dyed floss so far, especially since it's not quite the same shade throughout the length of the floss so the end result is rustic - which is exactly what I'm going for on this project. The only liberty I've taken with the design/instructions so far is that I'm not using full floss stitches - and by that I took it mean the whole 6 strands of floss!!! So instead I'm using just 3 - essentially halving the floss. I did a couple of stitches in full floss but the result was far to bulky for my liking. 3 strands on 18 count aida is just full enough for me I think. 

On another note ... I'm beginning to feel a bit guilty for not working on 'Oh Christmas Tree'... but I'm just not in the mood :( There are so many other fun stitchy projects calling my name! I know this is probably no excuse but I simply want to do other projects first. Maybe I'll get around to it soon... no promises though. 

Oh! Also, this weekend I finished up part of my project for my Stitched With Love Exchange partner, this of course was between helping my brother put the finishing touches on his new house. Just got to get the ok from the inspector and he'll be in the house and my free time will have doubled (or maybe even tripled!). Seriously though, I'm very happy for him and his girlfriend. Soon I hope to have a house just as beautiful as theirs. 

I'll leave you with a puppy picture, it's been some time since I posted a picture of these two rascals. Blue (the black and white one) will soon be leaving us to live with my brother - the true owner. I'm not sure how Leia will like that seeing as I'm pretty sure these two are in love with each other.  I see many a puppy date in the future...





Happy Stitching dearies!

Melissa
 
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