The Recipe

A friend asked for the recipe of this yummy meal that Hubby made a few nights ago:
(The recipe comes from a stir-fry cookbook that we've had for more than twenty years.)

Hot Beef & Watercress Salad (serves 2)

1/2 pound lean boneless beef, sliced thinly

4 cloves garlic, minced or pressed

2 teaspoons soy sauce

1 teaspoon sugar

1 tablespoon oil

2 tablespoons white wine vinegar

1/4 pepper

1 small white onion, thinly sliced and separated into rings 

About 1/2 pound watercress

In a bowl, stir together garlic, soy sauce, 1/2 teaspoon of the sugar, and 1 teaspoons of the oil. Add beef; stir to coat. Cover and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes or until the next day.

In another bowl stir together remaining 1/2 teaspoon sugar, remaining 2 teaspoons oil, vinegar, and pepper. Add onion and mix lightly. Cover and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes or until the next day.

(Hubby couldn't find any watercress. I don't know if it's seasonal or if our small town grocery store just doesn't carry it. He just used some mixed greens and it was very good!)

Shortly before serving, add whatever greens you choose to use to the onion mixture. mixing lightly to coat. Arrange on 2 dinner plates.

Place a wok over high heat. When wok is hot, add beef mixture and stir-fry until meat is browned (1 1/2 to 2 minutes). Arrange meat evenly atop the greens.

There ya go! Pretty simple and quite delicious! Let me know if you try it and how it turns out!

Great-Niece

Recently, my nephew and his wife added to their family with a sweet baby girl. She made her entrance right in the middle of the Super Bowl.

I had done some pretty sneaky Pinterest stalking and "innocent" questions on Facebook and figured out what colors and design the baby's mama would like in a quilt.

I was so happy with how it turned out! (The mama was too!) I sent it to The Missouri Star Quilt Company for the quilting. I got it back in ONE WEEK! This is the fourth quilt I've sent to them and this was the fastest turn around.

I just love the bubbles in contrast to the angles of the zig-zags. So fun!

I always like doing something kind of fun for the backing.

Welcome, little one!

Supper

Tonight's Supper:

Yes, we ate at home. No, I didn't cook this.

This morning Hubby said he would think of something for supper AND cook it. And look how yummy it turned out! I just love how he got out the Asian dishes, nice glasses and silverware. Such a great husband I have!

Stuff and Things

Outside my window... Gray. Although, I did see the sun for a while today. An unusual sighting this time of year.

I am thinking... about a cruise we are going on next month. I am so looking forward to being warm!


I am thankful for...a good appointment at the eye doctor. Everyone in that office is so kind. Now I am just waiting for the pupils in my eyes to not be so dilated and for things to look more clear.

I am wearing... a warm, warm sweater. Duh. It's winter here in the north. And will be for the foreseeable forever.

I am going...to work on my next quilt project this week. This one is from red and white fabrics and I'm excited to see how it will turn out! I made a couple of practice blocks last week just to make sure I was going to like it before I starting in on all the cutting.

I am currently reading... a biography about James Alfred Wight, or James Herriot. He wrote the books: All Creatures Great and Small, The Lord God Made Them All, Every Living Thing, All Things Bright and Beautiful, and several others. He was a veterinarian in England. I've read those books before, probably more than 20 years ago. I plan to read through them again after I finish the biography.

I am hoping... for change. Kinda weird because I usually don't like change. But hubby and I need change. (Ask me if you want more details.)

Noticing that...I didn't care for the majority of the commercials during the Super Bowl last night and that's the only reason I was parked in front of the TV -- to watch the commercials. My favorite was the "God Made a Farmer" one.


Pondering these words... "I have drawn you with unfailing kindness." (the last part of Jeremiah 31:3) That is one of my memory verses for this year. As I've been working on memorizing it, I have been thinking about all the ways that God has shown me (and therefore drawn me to Him) with His kindness. Quite mind-blowing.
 
From the kitchen... I finally made a loaf of banana bread that was successful! The week before I made some, but totally under baked it. It was nice and browned on the outside, but when I dumped it out of the pan, it oozed all over the stove-top. I don't know how I thought a load of quick bread would bake in 25 minutes. The brain was not fully engaged that day.

One of my favorite things... Going out to eat with my hubby. I like just sitting there across from each other and talking with none of the distractions of home. (And not having to cook is a bonus!)

From my picture journal... Hubby gave me some Paperwhite flower bulbs for Christmas to force. We planted them a couple of weeks ago and they haven't done much. I don't know if they are duds or it just hasn't been sunny enough. I will be sad if they don't grow and bloom. I thought that was a really cool gift.

The Race

I have a couple of photos of a quilt I finished last November. I hadn't even photographed it until last week sometime.

But first, a little back story:

I received it back from the Missouri Star Quilt Company the day we left for 10 days over  the week of Thanksgiving. I whipped the binding on it and tossed it in the washing machine and dryer that afternoon. Miraculously, it was all dry about the same time Hubby had our car packed and ready to go. I wanted to take it along to keep warm in the car and I ended up using it while we were at our family reunion. Then we came home and I made two baby quilts and spent a ginormous amount of time preparing the house and a lot of food for Christmas here with the kids.

I guess that's why I hadn't photographed it or blogged about it until today.

Okay, okay enough with the excuses.

Last August while I was watching the Olympics, I worked on a Jelly Roll Race Quilt. (I wrote about it it here.) The method for putting this together is pretty cool. A little quilting lesson here:
A Jelly Roll is a roll of fabric strips cut to 2 1/2 inches wide by the width of fabric which is around 44 inches.

Here's a video tutorial that tells how to make this quilt. It's actually pretty entertaining even if you are not a quilter.

Whew!

Here's what I started with....

It's not the best photo because I took it with my cell phone. Also, what you see is the back of the fabric.

And... the finished product:

I need to add my critical comments here.

Generally, I like the fabric line (Circa 1934 by Moda -- if there are any other fabric nerds out there like me). The colors are great, but for me, not the best prints for this type of quilt. If you look closely at some of the more linear designs...they are not printed on the straight of grain, therefore it is very noticeable on the 2 1/2 inch strip. I know, I know, I'm probably the only one who really notices that. But still. I also should have made that solid cream color border about twice as wide as I did. It would have looked nicer visually. I do like the pieced outer border and the pieced binding.

Before I sent this off to be quilted by the wonderful people at the Missouri Star Quilt Company, I had it pinned up on my design wall and was staring at it and being disappointed in how it turned out. My favorite person came in to my sewing room (Hubby) and I told him all the reasons I didn't like the quilt. Hubby listened and thought a bit and assured me it wasn't as bad as I was thinking. Then he had a suggestion that made it all seem better. He said, "This could be our outside quilt. It would be the quilt we keep in the car in the winter and the quilt we take on picnics." Suddenly I felt better about the whole thing. Silly, I know, but it made a difference.

I did learn some things through the process of making this quilt, so I guess it's not a total loss.

End of January Hodge Podge

1.  In the USA this coming Sunday millions will be watching as the Baltimore Ravens take on the San Francisco 49's in the Superbowl.  What was the last event you attended that could be described as super?

In the last three and a half years I've been to a few quite super events. Two were the weddings of my kids. I don't think anything will ever match that.

On a different level, seeing Wicked in Chicago for my 50th birthday was pretty super. I'd love to go to New York City one day to see a performance on Broadway. If only my birthday wasn't in January.

2.  Share something you're a fan of these days?

Oh Downton Abbey for sure! Before December 24 I had never seen a single episode and wasn't particularly interested. We gave our daughter-in-law the first two seasons on DVD for Christmas and sat down to watch "one or two episodes" on Christmas Eve. Boom. I was hooked. (And so was everyone else that was here.) We ended up watching all of Season 1 before our son and daughter-in-law went back home and had the nerve to take her present with them. Sheesh. ;) Over New Year's weekend, Hubby and I tried to find Season 2 to rent, to no avail, and ended up buying it (and Season 1) at Target. Anyway....Sunday nights find us parked in front of the TV tuned in to PBS. (And can I just say? Last Sunday's episode was heartbreaking!)

3. How do you feel about wings?  What's your preferred seasoning on a wing-hot, mild, teryiaki, sweet and sour, other?  Do you make your own or is there a favorite place you like to go for wings?

It probably sounds cliche, but I like to go to Buffalo Wild Wings. I've had several different things there and several kinds of wings there. My favorite have a chipotle rub on them. I really like spicy food, but not so spicy you can't taste anything but heat and your head is sweating spicy. I've never tried to make my own wings.

4.  As long as we're talking sports today...have you followed the Lance Armstrong story?  Did you watch his interview with Oprah and if so what was your reaction to his confession and subsequent remarks?

It bothers me that Mr. Armstrong cheated and doesn't seem to be remorseful about it. My brain just does not work that way.

5.  What's a question you hate to be asked?  

How do you like living in Small Town? (and related questions) I don't like it here and I don't like answering that question because my answer is not what most people expect to hear or want to hear. It's especially awkward when the person asking is someone who has lived here for a long time.

6. The coaches in this Sunday's big game happen to be real life brothers.  Were you and your sibling(s) competitive?  In what way? Are you still?  If you're an only child how did you handle competition growing up?  

My siblings and I were not very competitive with each other.  I know I don't have a competitive bone in my body. I play Words with Friends and Scrabble on Facebook. I recently told my hubby and a friend that I never look at the statistics of how many games won/lost and they were both astonished. I really don't care if I win or loose. As a matter of fact, if I'm beating someone by a lot of points, I feel kind of bad and try to play words without too many points. (I will say that if I'm beating my hubby -- which happens about once every 42 years -- I try hard to actually win that game.) A game? Oh, it's just for fun!

7.  What's your favorite game involving a ball and when did you last play?

Um....see answer to previous question. I am not a huge sports fan. I will attend an occasional basketball or baseball game. Twelve years ago I took golf lessons and learned that I don't want to play golf. ha.  But to answer the question, my favorite game involving a ball is watching my hubby play golf. Last summer we went golfing quite a bit. He plays. I drive the cart. I like spending time with him like that. And driving the golf cart was my favorite part of the golf lessons, after all. grin

8.  Insert your own random thought here.

Fondue for Two

I have been having a lot of fun trying out some of my new gadgets. With Christmas and my birthday being a little more than two weeks apart, I get blessed seemingly all at once with  more than a couple gifts from my loves ones. I don't mean to brag. Just, you know, one of my love languages is gifts...giving and receiving. So the whole Christmas and birthday things are exciting to me.

For a few years I have talked about wanting to try fondue. I think it would be a fun treat when we have guests. I fondly remember having fondue in the 70s at my parents' house. Pretty sure their fondue pots were a lovely shade of burnt orange and avocado green. :/

This year for my birthday my sweet hubby gave me a fondue set. He couldn't find any in a store (and I looked too) so we ended up ordering one online. A couple of days after it came we decided to try it out.

Our first attempt was meat/oil fondue. I had a pork loin in the freezer, so that got sliced into cubes and marinated.

We read the directions closely and cooked the pieces of pork in the oil. Each fondue fork is a different color on the end of the handle, so when there are a lot of people partaking, it's easy to remember which fork was yours.

I learned that I need to cut the pieces of the meat a little bit smaller so it would cook a little more quickly.

We had some rice and mango salsa with the pork. It was so good!

The next night we tried some cheese fondue.

I think this was my favorite between the two. What's not to like? Hot melty cheese with a little wine mixed in and some homemade crusty artisan bread. Mmmmm!

Next we'll have to try some chocolate fondue. Come visit and make a request!