A more productive day

I had a hard time being productive a few days last week, so I made myself a few goals for today:

• I'd post something thoughtful on my sabbatical blog. DONE!
  
• I'd finish a sewing project. DONE!
  
• I'd make a big batch of some kind of food to put into the freezer. SIMMERING!
  
• I'd make some Mexican food, from scratch, for dinner for Cinco de Mayo. WILL DO THAT IN THE NEXT HOUR!
• I'd do some laundry! DONE!
  

The sewing project was a bag from a recent special edition magazine from Better Homes & Gardens Creative line - Bags, Pillows & Pincushions. The bag I made was featured on page 46. I was looking for a larger bag that I could take on trips, or use to hold books/etc. while going to the office. This bag looked like it might work. I modified it in a few ways:

• I used medium-weight canvas as a stabilizer, rather than heavy-weight interfacing.
• I used cotton webbing inside the handle, to make it easier on my shoulder.
  
• I added a zipper pocket inside (following these directions). The written pattern has just two open pockets inside.
  
• I added a zipper-top. I made the bag without a zipper on the top and it was just too floppy. You couldn't use this bag for much; everything would have fallen out! It only had a single clasp in the middle, which is not enough for a bag that's roughly 13 X 3. So, I improvised a zipper-closure. It's not perfect, but I'm quite happy with it, considering I don't really know what I'm doing!

The outside fabrics are from Amy Butler, purchased at a shop in New Braunfels, TX. The bag is sitting over my antique rocking chair. In front of the bag are two small pouches - one with velcro (rough directions here) and one with a zipper (better directions here).




The first cooking project is simmering away on the stove presently. I'm making the classic ragu bolognese recipe from Marcella Hazan's Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking. Prep took about 45 minutes (I tripled the recipe, to make sure there was enough to freeze), and it's now been simmering for about 3 hours. I think it has at least another hour, or maybe two to go before it's finished. From that description, maybe you can tell why this isn't a recipe we make often! Matt made it once before, and it was yummy. This is a gift to myself, really - one night in June, I'll come home from work exhausted, but will be able to pull off a home-made meal thanks to a container of bolognese in the freezer!

The second cooking project will be Green Chile & Chicken soft tacos from Rick Bayless' Mexican Everyday. It will have grilled poblano peppers and onions, along with chicken. I think I'll top it with our favorite avocado-tomatillo sauce (which I pulled out of the freezer - I love little rubbermaid containers!) It winds up tasting a bit like my favorite item at Taco Deli, the chicken frontera fundito (not entirely, but close). I figured the ragu would need more time to simmer, and it's also Cinco de Mayo, so tacos seemed like a good choice.

The Marcella Hazan cookbook is probably only for those who want to spend a lot of time cooking (though the food is good, the recipes are time-consuming). But, I'd happily recommend the Rick Bayless cookbook (that title, or others) to anybody! The recipes are actually doable on a weeknight, are very tasty, and are usually fairly healthy. If you want to try his dishes before buying the book, you can find quite a few on the Frontera website, or check out the show on PBS.

Trip Advisor

Do any of you use TripAdvisor?

Just curious.

Every once in a while, I get a bug to write reviews of places we've visited while traveling. Here's my travel map from TripAdvisor, showing places I've marked.

1. Bora Bora, French Polynesia


2. Oahu, HI, USA


3. Hana, HI, USA


4. Honolulu, HI, USA


5. New York City, NY, USA


6. Paris, France


7. Dingle, Ireland


8. Tralee, Ireland


9. Moorea, French Polynesia


10. Tahiti, French Polynesia

• View my profile


• Create your own travel map or travel blog


• Travel Info at TripAdvisor

Links: Random Things I'm Liking

Just a few random things I've been appreciating over the past few days:

• Brother's All-natural freeze dried fruit. Available at Costco. No sugar added, just real fruit that's been freeze-dried. The apples are a bit sweeter than I'd really like, but they are tasty. Pears & the combo pack of bananas & apples are better. Good as a snack.
• Sock-pig pattern. I think I need to go buy a water-football and some chenille stems so I can make one of these.
• Great video about living our dreams, etc. (not preachy at all - just a great story). This was shown at the conference I attended last week.
• Chick-Fil-A. They were a sponsor at the conference. I'm bummed that I misunderstood the guy handing out the lunch options and didn't take the chance to try the new spicy chicken sandwich. I may have to stop by a Chick-Fil-A here in Austin this week to see if this new item has hit our market yet.

Links: Food

Recipes and techniques I want to try:

• Pan-Crisped Potatoes (from Mark Bittman at the NY Times)
• Roasted chicken breast (cooked with two pans - from The Cooking Loft on FoodTV)
• While I'm mentioning The Cooking Loft, I also want to try her Mac & Cheese.
• Chicken & Green Sauce (with tomatillos - this is more concept than receipe - found via Mario Batali)
• Enchiladas Suizas (Rick Baylee recipe, from Sur La Table; now that I know I can get what looks to be authentic creama at HEB, I should try this one)
• Lava Cookies (like molten chocolate cakes)
• Lasagna rolls from Giada on Food TV. I tried these once before and liked it overall. I think I want to review how America's Test Kitchen did manicotti recently and combine that technique with the flavors in this dish. Might work (or might not).
• Piquillo Pepper Pesto from Bobby Flay for HGTV Dream Home (skip to middle of page). Matt used this recipe as a jumping-off-point for our a sauce for our Valentines's Day dinner. He substituted Anaheim peppers, and it was delicious.
  

I can't get a link to show up, alas, but we are taking a class on Thursday at Central Market. It's another Tex-Mex class (we don't really need these for technique anymore, but it's a fun date-night for us). This one will be: Tacos al Pastor, Carnitas, Posole con Puerco, Refried Beans, Guacamole & Salsa, and Mexican Pralines. YUM!

Restaurants:

• So happy that Saccones has re-opened in our part of Austin (we've been driving out to Round Rock since the old location burned). Our verdict (after visting on Thursday - during their "soft open" stage) is that the oven isn't quite hot enough and staff not fully trained yet. But, my mouth was happy as I bit into our meatball-and-pepperoni pie. The new restaurant, located just south of Anderson Mill on 620, looks more high class than the old 183 location (nicer looking finishes, not many Jersey-themed-items or license plates). Not sure if that's good or bad, though. :)
• Continuing to enjoy Cupprimo. I admit I haven't gone all-out on the cupcake fad (or has it passed out of fad status by now?). But, among the places I've tried, Cupprimo is the best. Their carrot cake (special on Saturdays) is excellent -- good cream cheese frosting that's not super-sweet.
  

Links: Time Wasters

Matt's playing softball, so I'm in time-waster mode tonight.

Links: Time-Wasters:

• Terminology - believe it or not, I remember a time when I thought east was always "going towards the Atlantic" This cartoon reminds me of that.
  
• Shaun the Sheep game (from the folks who brought you Wallace & Grommit)
• Fantastic Contraption - I've passed almost every level. Yes, I cheated a bit by looking for solutions on youtube, but even that was a challenge.
  
• HGTV dream home give away. You can only click that link if you promise to let me visit if you win!
  

Inauguration Prayer

I found this today - text of Rick Warren's prayer for our country and our new President at the Inauguration. I was working, so I didn't watch the entire ceremony (I did watch President Obama's speech when it was replayed that night), so it was nice to be able to read this:

Link via Out of Ur