Experiments in the Kitchen, AKA- Mom's Science Fair Project

So the other night I had this 5lb pork loin that I had thawed with no real plan as to what I was going to make with it. Somewhere I had recently seen a recipe for a slow cooker pork roast with amber beer. Hmm. J had some questionable amber beer in the beer and deer down in the garage and I had a pork loin. Perfect. But where did I see that recipe? Never mind, I'll just wing it. So I looked in the spice cabinet and see my collection of Dizzy Pig rubs. PLUG warning: I love these rubs! I coated my lovely loin, the pork I mean, with Dizzy Dust BBQ seasoning and let it rest while I did some chores. The lovely loin, as it will be known henceforth, was then browned in a big skillet with oil. Then I caramalized half a sweet vidalia onion in the oil. I made the gravy with lots of Dizzy Dust mixed in with the flour and used a bottle of amber beer as the liquid. The lovely loin and the onion and some fresh slices of garlic (about 3 cloves) and the rich, dark beer gravy went into the crock pot for 4 hours on high. Of course I have no pictures. I do have testimonials though they are unintelligible because they were grunted with mouths full of lovely loin and mashed potatoes.

I hope Chris doesn't sue me for using his Dizzy picture.

Pie, Strudel and Earthquake Cake. Oh and Bikes.

Wednesday morning with gatorade, a cold pasta and foccacia lunch packed, coffee and breakfast cookies in hand, J, my sweet Sarah Smiles and I headed out toward Mt. View, Arkansas for some trail ridin' fun. I've never ridden on the Syllamo trails so this was going to be a new adventure.

The trails still have some issues from mother nature's wrath during the winter and spring. I caught a bad spot and somehow managed a bad fall early in the day, turning my pinky finger into a Z. Some tape and 4 ibuprofen fixed it enough to Man Up and Ride On.

There were definitely parts of the trails we rode that I really liked. There was some hikeabike. I don't know anyone who will say they like hikeabike. The trail Gods provided us some nice views and some moderately difficult technique building areas that gave us a good workout. There were some nice rocky areas that were challenging but fun to play on, some sweet downhills sweeps and some sand. I do not heart sand but it does test your mettle. I had a good time despite the injury and came away thinking I've managed to improve my skills this last year even though it's been tough to find enough time to ride hard trails.

But the day seemed to be more about the food. With us, it's ALWAYS about the food. We had this really cool dude along for the ride, a travel writer. Who happened to also be working on a story about Pie. Pie. I love pie. Sarah loves pie. Our new writer friend, loves pie. We talked about pie and streudal for hours. Okay, Sarah talked about strudl for hours. Apparently if you haven't been to The Pantry in Little Rock for strudel, you are missing out on the sweet mystery of life. We rode, we talked, we even sang a little. Sarah and I found a soul-mate in our new friend who happily sang along to our bad TV theme song rendiditons. After 20 miles, a few hours, a couple of injuries and countless horsefly bites, we got off those blasted bikes and went to find pie. Sweet Glorious Pie. We went to Cody's in Fifty-Six and had pie. It was okay. Then we needed to drop our writer friend off at the Ozark Folk Center State Park. We can't stop there and not eat at The Skillet. They have green beans that are like crack. I don't know what they put in them but I could eat them all day long. That and the tomato/onion relish. Oh my heavens. Between the 4 of us we had grilled trout, chicken fried steak, catfish, baked potatoes, fries, mashed taters, green beans, carrots, homemade hush puppies, biscuits and cornbread and then....TADA Earthquake Cake. Now I've heard tell of Kaye's cooking afore. I hear she is one mighty fine country cook. I want to adopt her. Even though it would seem silly to adopt a grown woman, I'd do it anyway. Just for the recipe for the banana earthquake cake. See, she won't give out the recipe but I figure if I'm her momma, she'd have to give it up, right? Right.

 Excuse me, I have to find a dessert. Fast.

Facebook Has Taken Over

I've been pretty busy lately. Work and Home seem to be hopping along and free time is at a premium. Because my family seems to be addicted to Facebook, I am required to be also. That's my story, I'm sticking to it.
Last weekend were were here.

Devil's Den State Park in Winslow, Arkansas. It's quickly becoming a family favorite. There are miles upon miles of wonderful hiking trails, mountain biking trails and about 60 caves and countless crevices to explore. Usually, we are tent campers but this weekend...my sweet boy rented me a cabin. A CABIN! With a jacuzzi tub and a real kitchen! Oh my heavens it felt like the Ritz Carlton in comparison to our camp cots, 2 burner propane stove, ice chest and sharing a bathhouse with an entire campground adventures.

J and I were there to do the last of the Adventure Sprint Races put on by the Ozark Extreme Team and the small one came along hoping for a caving adventure with the bats. J has been very ill the last several weeks and we're just getting back into training together. He was a trooper. The race began about 10 a.m. with a super dooper trek thru some of the best trail areas in the park. We hit checkpoints across several different trails (and roads) on foot before getting to the mountain bike portion of the race. About 2 miles into the bike, my chain broke. J fixed it for me but pretty soon, the whole rear derailleur broke free from the frame and I was forced to "scooter" my bike. Eventually the decision was made that we couldn't possibly finish with me pushing my bike and we had to "quit" after 4 hours of hard labor. That was a tough call. Very tough. I felt like we were doing well especially considering J had really Manned Up for me after being so sick. Oh well. At least it was during a short race and not the "big one" coming up.
Later that evening we took the small one for a 2 hour guided hike with the park interpreter Casey. She appreciated it because it meant a slow hike. We, are not slow hikers. In the end we stayed back to explore a cave and got mulitple bat fly-bys! So cool.


The next morning we had that yummy french toast in the picture and headed out for another hike on Yellow Rock trail. What a gorgeous day we had. We could not have asked for better weather. I mean seriously, August in Arkansas and it was PLEASANT. That just doesn't happen people.
And now, back to the regularly scheduled program...a busy life.