Polenta & Sausage Stuffed Peppers and Stout Floats!

On Saturday night, Jay, Maegen, Nelia, Marin and I got together to enjoy the 4 lbs of pork shoulder that had been cooking in their slow cooker for five hours. It was the perfect rainy day dinner entree. We decided on pork soft taco's. A-MA-ZING! I was responsible for a side dish. I looked up a number of stuffed pepper recipes. None of them seemed just right. So, I made one up. It was spicy but, pretty tasty! Here are a few pics along with the recipe. 

Polenta and Sausage Stuffed Peppers:

3 peppers (each cut in 1/2)

1 roll of polenta

3 hot sausages

1 bunch of cilantro

1 small onion

1 clove garlic

3 plum tomatoes

1 jalapeno pepper

salt and pepper to taste

Remove sausages from their casings. In a medium sized saucepan, cook the three sausages completely. In another saucepan, add olive oil, chopped onion and polenta and saute until golden brown. When the mixture is almost finished, add the garlic. Combine cooked sausage, polenta mixture and all remaining ingredients (1/4 bunch chopped cilantro, 3 chopped plum tomatoes, 1 chopped jalapeno pepper and salt and pepper to taste) in a large mixing bowl. Mix.

Place all six pepper halves into the oven for 15 minutes at 350 to soften them up. After you take them out, add the polenta and sausage stuffing and put them back in for the final 15 minutes. When there is 5 minutes left on the timer, take the stuffed peppers out and sprinkle a bit of cheese on them. Then, back into the oven to let the cheese melt. Serve them immediately.  Yum!

...and then this special dessert treat that Jay concocted. The stout float made with Cherry Garcia ice cream and your favorite stout (ideally, a chocolate flavored one). Delish!

A Bluebird Birthday!

On Tuesday night, a group of us got together at The Bluebird Tavern to celebrate Maegen's 30th birthday. We arrived at around 7:30 and immediately ordered up some fancy drinks to raise in celebration of Maegen, (seen below in the tiara she received and wore for about 30 seconds for this photo opp). We were the only group in the room we were in so, we were able to spread out and take our time with everything, (Jay, no pressure...take your time with the salad). It was such a lovely evening complete with the slowest acoustic version of Happy Birthday you've ever heard. Nelia carried the tune for the group as she had eye contact with the musicians and was able to prompt them along at a good pace. 

Dinner included: bacon candied almonds, deviled farm eggs with crispy pork, island creek oysters with lemon vinegar, vermont cheese board, pear mustard, brioche toast, spicy lamb sausage, bluebird sausage, sweet pepper relish, charred onion aioli, moules frites, house bacon, crème fraiche, apple cider, double burger with boucher blue cheese, braised red cabbage, roasted chicken and foraged mushroom bread salad. Are you hungry?  We finished things off with a mousse cake complete with three candles (1 for every decade Maegen's graced the world with her delightful presence). We all decided we're going to celebrate her birthday again this weekend. Happy times Maegen!

Car Repair Woes

I've had a 1998 Honda Civic for the last 9 years! She gets great gas mileage (you can drive to the moon and back and still have a 1/4 of a tank left) but, she's getting old. Today, I had to go in to get my center pipe replaced at Meineke. I was just there three months ago getting another new muffler installed. At the end of my visit today, I asked the manager to kindly print me out a detailed history of my visits to his establishment which he did, reluctantly. 

After three years, three mufflers and 37,247 miles I decided to write a letter to Meineke. Although many of the parts are free with the warrantee, I shouldn't be spending hundreds in labor to replace below average parts...especially after I made the initial investment in a lifetime warrantee for my muffler. 

February 2006 Mileage: 75,230 new muffler         

November 2007 Mileage: 88,567 new muffler           

July 2009 Mileage: 109,014 new muffler                 

November 2009 Mileage: 112,477 new center pipe   

I wonder if I'll get a response? Rucchi, I'm following your lead on this one.  And while I'm at it...PLEASE, don't ever get your car repaired and Handy's Texaco. If you need a ride somewhere outside of town that might be less convenient, call me! I'll drive you.

Monday is going to have to step it up!

I took Friday off from work to give my mind some time to unwind after a hectic couple of weeks. What a treat! After a morning workout, I met up with Steven for a Cobb Salad at Penny Cluse, did a bit of window shopping, had a nice chat with Anne at the Icehouse and then...off to Montreal for the evening with Adam and Isaac. We ate our way through Chinatown and kept right on going until we crossed the border back into the US. Oy...Here are a few of my new favorites from the drive. I had taken a number of shots at the Botanical Garden and Insectarium that I thought I would post but, instead decided to keep it simple this time.

Pont Champlain:

Yesterday, I spent the first part of the morning caring for my plants. I found bugs on Ingrid! Eww... I trimmed off the one stem that looked most effected. I'll be watching her closely for the next few days. I also have two new succulents that need to be potted. I started my search for the right sized pots but, haven't had much luck yet. After I finished the rounds, I was off to do laundry, buy groceries, clean out my car, pay bills, etc. By 3:00 pm, I was free. What a great feeling it is to have clean clothes, sheets and towels, an organized apartment and no bills left to pay. 

I decided to take a walk downtown to enjoy the 90 minutes of sun that was left of my short, fall, weekend day. I did some window shopping and then, some actual shopping. Damn you Stella and your 20% off sale!! A new pair of shoes were purchased. They are beautiful and incredibly comfortable. While in Stella, I got a call from Miss Sage inviting me over for a glass of wine. We had a lovely impromptu visit and got a chance to chat about everything! I'm already looking forward to the next. Then-a quick, dark walk up the hill towards home, making a brief stop at Colin and Soe's to (hopefully and selfishly) gain an endorsement of my new purchase. I couldn't resist them! But, that will have to be it for some time...

Sundays should always be reserved for catching up on everything, even if it's just to catch up on the time you haven't been able to spend slowing down. Monday, you have big shoes to fill...beautiful, blue, leather, platform heels!

Blanco

Spanish fashion label Blanco, after successful Fall 2009 campaign, released a Winter 2009 campaign featuring models Siri Tollerod (my fave!) and Andre Ziehe. Some fun pieces! Check out their Look Book for Winter, 2009. Mmmhmm...

Rupert has passed. RIP.

At just over a pound in weight Rupert was kept in a life supporting incubator in intensive care and was thought to be two or three weeks premature. He had all the symptoms of a premature human baby. His lungs were not inflating properly and problems emerged after he was not able to ingest his mothers milk (colostrum). Staff tried to give him the milk of a lamb but unfortunately he did not digest that properly because he needed his mother's bacteria. Staff knew that he had an unpredictable chance of survival but held onto hope as they tried this method of keeping him alive. It is only their second baby deer at the centre which they have had to deliver by caesarean and so everything was under trial and error. Founder of the centre, Les Stocker predicted that the odds were against Rupert earlier in the week when he spoke to The Bucks Herald. He said that everyone was worried about him as they had not seen anything so tiny. Talking about the death, Les said that next time they will try warm milk straight from a goat at a nearby farm. He added: "It is all a new science and this is just one more case to add to our experience."

Meet Rupert.

This tiny deer was delivered by Caesarean section at a wildlife hospital after a car killed his mother. Little Rupert (who is so small he can fit in an adult's hand) was born after vets failed in their battle to save his mother. At just six inches tall and weighing just over a pound, he is now in an incubator in the intensive care unit at Tiggywinkles Wildlife Hospital in Buckinghamshire. He has only recently opened his eyes. Les Stocker, founder of Tiggywinkles, said, "Rupert's mother had very severe injuries.  We brought him out and got him breathing, and then he went into an incubator on oxygen.  He is now being fed by a tube." Staff members are optimistic that Rupert, now five days old, will make a full recovery. "Deer are very, very tricky, but this one has spirit.  He's an extremely feisty little  guy and quite pushy," Mr. Stocker said.