Elle's Kitchen: Pernil

Today is my brother's birthday so in honor of his special

day I thought I would blog about a meal he made the last 

time he visited my house.  My brother lives 750 miles 

away from me but we are very close and talk all the time

about food and travel and sometimes about the crazy life

of being in show business or being an artist.  This meal was

made back in November when he was here for Thanksgiving

week.  I took pictures for the blog and then never got a chance

to write about it.  Thanksgiving week was nuts with a house

filled with people and dogs, then we had the hell week after

when Murphy's Law struck in a week that was already 

jammed with catch-up things to do, then it was off to Mexico

for a few weeks with a new computer that did not have the 

photos of the pernil, then home for Christmas and New Years

and kids home from school and then working on a few books,

designing, filling orders and just a crazy life in general.   I'm not 

sure when he got the idea in his head to make this recipe.  I'm 

pretty sure it started with running down the block between

performances on matinee days (my brother works on

Broadway) to the Puerto Rican lady that sells the great food

or from the day his neighbor Sadie was making Pernil for a 

family party when her stove caught on fire and she thought

she would have to cancel the party but he said no bring it

over and cook it in my stove.   So, now it is time for the recipe!

Buy a pork shoulder roast, he says bone-in is best for 

flavor.  Of course, in typical my brother fashion, one

roast was not enough! Put the roast in a roasting pan

and stab it all over on both sides.  I mean really take 

out all your aggressions here and stab deeply because

you want to get the flavor inside the roast.

Get some Adobo and oregano and peel and slice 

lots of garlic.

Sprinkle the roast with the oregano and some Adobo, don't 

go too heavy on the Adobo because it is salty.  Now rub it in

with your fingers and push the spices into the holes from

the knife.  Do this to both sides.

Next take all those garlic slices and push them into the

holes, get them in a deeply as possible to get the flavor

all through the meat.

Drizzle with olive oil and rub it gently, you don't want

to rub off the spices.

Cover & cook at 400F degrees for one hour then reduce heat

to 300F and cook an additional nine hours.  Your house

will smell like a garlic factory.  Place a pan beneath your

roasting pan because it may overflow with juices.

Remove the bones from the roast.

Take the roast from the pan and transfer to a 

sheet pan and shred or pull apart the meat.

Make and avocado sauce by placing an avocado with an

equal amount of crumbled feta cheese, a few shakes of

hot sauce, a handful of fresh cilantro, some parsley if you

have it, fresh lime juice and a shake or two of Adobo. 

Puree and then add a little milk just to make it creamy.

If you have a container like a hot dog or ketchup squeeze

bottle, that works perfectly but I warn you, you may be

 tempted to squirt this delicious sauce directly down your 

throat...

Serve with Spanish rice

and black beans.

This was an absolutely delicious meal and if you

have any leftover meat, make Cuban sandwiches 

the next day.

Happy Birthday Midi!

Snowstorm Stitchin'

I'm hanging out in front of the fire, enjoying Mexican

hot chocolate and stitching some beautiful wools today.

Don't you just love the colors?  

I'm watching Midsomer Murders on Netflix and checking

the Weather Channel and CNN occasionally to keep track 

of Winter Storm Juno.  

I hope all my friends and family back east get to stay

home and keep warm through this huge storm.  If you

are a quilter, stitcher or knitter, then be happy to have

some time to be creative and get to work and stay off 

the roads...

Here It Comes!

The snow storm that is going to wallop the east

coast of the United States has already begun in 

my neck of the woods.  We are only supposed to

get a few inches but I just heard on CNN that New

York City may see the worst storm in its history!

So, to all my friends and family back home ~ make

sure you have batteries for the flashlights, bring in

some firewood and stock up on the essentials.  Most 

of all, stay safe and warm and enjoy the beauty of 

the snow.

Part of me wishes I was going to be hanging out 

on 50th Street ~ watching the snow pile up with

a pile of stitchery projects and watching British

mysteries on Netflix while the snow piled up 

outside.  I still get excited by a big storm.

Stay warm, stay safe, be happy!

Elle's Kitchen: Wild Rice, Kale and Pomegranate Salad

A friend posted this salad on Facebook recently and

I knew I had to try it.  The recipe was from Pinterest

and I'm always a bit apprehensive about finding recipes

there since I have had so many Pinterest fails.  BUT, 

I'm happy to report this was a Pinterest Score ~ it was 

delicious!  Even in my dreams last night, I was

 commenting that the salad made me feel so good.

Ingredients for the salad:

2 1/2 cups cooked wild rice, cooled

2 1/2 cups baby kale, chopped (make sure it is baby kale)

1 cup pomegranate seeds

1/2 cup glazed walnuts

1/2 cup crumbled feta

  

Ingredients for dressing:

1/2 cup onion, minced

2 tabl. olive oil

2 tabl. water

2 tabl. honey

1/2 tabl. apple cider vinegar

1/2 teas. salt

a wedge of fresh orange, squeezed

Please note:  it takes 45 minutes to an hour to cook

the wild rice so do this first and then prep the rest of

the ingredients while it cooks.  Allow time for it to cool.

Chill salad ingredients in the refrigerator so they are cool.

To make the dressing, saute the onion in a bit of  olive oil

just until it softens and is translucent.  This will soften the

taste of the onion. 

If you have an attachment like the one shown above 

with your immersion blender, use that, it works great.

If not, use a food processor.

Place the cooked onions in a food processor, add the other

dressing ingredients and pulse until smooth and creamy.

Combine the salad ingredients and toss,  add dressing

and toss again.

We had this as our entree and loved it!  We felt

full but not stuffed after eating it and there were

so many flavors in each bite that you did not get

bored with it.

Enjoy!

A Wool Applique Giveaway

Hey everybody, just a reminder that I am doing a

giveaway on the Wool Applique site on Facebook.

/https://www.facebook.com/groups/399416250167265/

To be accepted into the group you must be someone

interested in our passion for wool applique.

Once you are at the site, comment under the photo

for the giveaway.

The giveaway is a baker's dozen of my ornament/

pincushion patterns plus a few rolls of wool felt

and felted wool.

Good luck everyone!

A Magazine Mention

I recently heard from the magazine, FabShop News.

They said they had mentioned my business,

 American Homestead in their magazine.

They sent me a copy of the magazine and I was 

happy to see American Homestead was included 

in an article about Wool Applique.  I'm so happy 

to see wool applique continues to gain in popularity.

Snow Day!

We had a little snow last night.

I still get excited when snow is forecasted.  I prefer

the beauty of snow to the gray and cold of most Winter

days.  I still feel the excitement of a snowstorm, I guess

that is because I grew up in the snowy Northeast and a

 good snow meant a day off from school.  When I was in 

grammar school all the Moms would be sticking their 

heads out the front door at 7 am to hear if the town 

emergency whistle  was going to sound.  If it did, it 

meant kids were out of school and they better get the 

snowsuits and boots ready and hot chocolate for  later.  I 

can remember staying outside for hours playing in the

snow until my Mom insisted I come in for some hot

soup.  Snow days were so magical because it was like

a free pass to fun.  We were supposed to be in school

working hard but instead we were outside playing with 

our friends.  It was the closest a good kid got to playing

hooky.

I still feel the magic.  Last night we all decided to go to

the local casino late at night after the snow had started.

Kate was working until 10 and we picked her up and 

went to what we call the adult video arcade.  It was

Brennan's first time at a casino since he just turned 21

this year.  None of us are gamblers (thankfully), we 

know we are not going to get rich by putting a few bills 

in the penny slots.  But it was fun to be out on a snowy

night doing something out of the ordinary.  I guess the 

snow was good luck because most of us left with more

than we spent.

Today dawned clear and sunny, the snow looks

glorious!  I probably enjoy it more than anyone

in the family because I work from home and no

longer shovel.  But getting the thrill of feeling like

a kid again ~ priceless!

Goodwool

It was another cold and gray Winter Sunday so

to make things a bit brighter I wanted to do a 

little woolgathering.  I headed to my favorite

thrift store for my treasure hunting.  I have

decided to change the name of my "to go" thrift

shop from Goodwill to Goodwool...

...because for under $15 I got this PILE of

wool that I can cut apart, felt and make into

new creations.

I haven't been woolgathering in months

since the last time I had a box filled with

wool clothing to be felted.

After my Mom's death in September I felt I 

needed a project to get my mind off my grief

and give me plenty to do once I dove into the

project.  My studio needed to be revamped.  So, 

I started by emptying bins and long forgotten 

boxes onto the floor in the middle of the studio

 and I sorted through EVERYTHING,

I had this three piece office desk in our family

room.  Years ago we bought it thinking the desktop

computer would sit in the corner section and each kid

would have a desk on the side where they could do 

their homework and share the computer so they 

could work together to cure all disease and bring about

World Peace.  Of course the kids rarely sat there to do

their homework,  they soon had laptops and worked in 

their rooms.  Mr. Wonderful and I worked at it for 

years but we ended up with laptops and tablets and

phones and realized we'd never have a desktop computer

again.  So, I decided to bring it into my studio to use as

a sewing and storage table.

Craft and wool storage is in this cabinet.

\\

My stitching table and computer desk with wool

felt storage in the corner.

Large cutting/work table, fabric storage,

drawing desk and button shelf in this corner.

There is another corner with more storage 

but that still needs some sorting and organization.

Mia the Wonder Dog hangs out with me all the 

time. I'm looking forward to getting to all the

projects I have sketched out and have floating

around in my mind.

Luminaria Hike

We spent our first evening of 2015 going on

a Luminaria Hike at our local State Park.

We met at the Visitor's Center and said hello to 

all the critters.  I love how this guy has his arm

propped up on the side - just chillin'.

This is a soft shelled turtle, I had never seen one

before.

Tomorrow they have a program where you 

can come to feed the critters ~ Kate wants

us to go.

Then it was time to head out into the cold

to take a walk to a Prehistoric Indian Mound

with a costumed interpreter.  The trail was lined

with luminaria and we were taken back to 1897

when the pioneer family lived on this land.

Afterwards we went back to the Pioneer home.

Volunteers have been hard at work on

the house.

There are many period pieces that have been

donated to furnish the house.

This was the boy's room, I love to see the

old quilts.

A great start to the new year!

Happy New Year everyone!