I made this card for Karen Giron's sketch challenge. Thanks, Emily, for introducing me! Since this is my very first sketch challenge, I decided to really stick to the sketch! I did have to use a flower because I didn't own anything with butterflies on it. The whole card started with the cute flower buttons and just developed into a baby girl card. You'll find the sketch at http://kgiron.blogspot.com/
This is the card I made yesterday to fill the time while I was waiting for Ben to get home from work.
This recipe was a new one -- 5 Spice Pork Chop with Strawberry Salsa. I served it with broccoli and whole wheat couscous. This sounded good to me mainly because of the strawberries! I learned that 5 Spice Powder is found in the Asian aisle, not the spice aisle. When I pulled the spice jar out yesterday to make this recipe, I read the back to see what was actually in five spice powder. Anise jumped out at me. I hate anise! I drastically reduced the amount that I used so that the anise flavor wouldn't be prominent. The recipe says to pan fry the boneless pork chop, but I just browned it in the pan and baked it in the oven, hoping that it would be more tender. In the past, I've had problems with tough pork chops. Despite my efforts, it was still tough this time around. All in all, a fun recipe, but I've got to figure out how to master the pork chop.
I also love to cook so this is my official announcement that this blog will also chronicle some of my cooking adventures. Today I bought some new knives. I'm super excited! Many cooks say that one of the foundations of a good kitchen is having good knives. I accidentally registered for serrated knives for our wedding. The kind that are supposed to never need sharpening. Yeah, right. Well, I've suffered with them for four years now and finally got fed up last night while trying to mince cilantro. I'm replacing the four knives I use the most and decided to go middle of the price road with Calphalon. I'm still not willing to shell out the big bucks for the Minolo Blahniks of knives. I chopped strawberries tonight and fully expected my new knife to slide through them like butter. I was slightly disappointed. Don't get me wrong. They're way better than my old ones. Anyone know if you're supposed to sharpen brand new knives before you use them?
Here are two cards that I made this week. They are actually the first cards that I've made since we moved. Sad to say. I desperately need to build my stash of birthday cards back up.
I first started this blog when living in Michigan. The theme doesn't apply anymore so I re-vamped the whole thing. It's a blog make-over! I'm posting this picture of our new house in Texas to mark the change of direction this has taken. I'll probably be doing the same thing next year.... Such is military life.
