Adam's Stuffed Pork Chops

In a feat of fabulous kitchen prowess Adam and I have come up with a stuffed pork chop recipe. We couldn't find one that we like enough so we decided to create our own. As with all of my recipes it relates to someone or some experience that I have had. So, here is the first completed recipe from my New Mexico trip!

Adam's Stuffed Pork Chops

4 double thick bone in pork chops
2 ½-3 cups cups crumbled corn bread
5 slices Bacon
1 medium yellow onion chopped
2 stalks celery chopped
2 cloves grated garlic
2 sprigs rosemary chopped
2 sprigs sage chopped
¼ cup golden raisins
1 cup frozen thawed corn
Pepper
Kosher salt
½ cup chicken stock

Oven at 350
Cut pockets in pork chops. Season both sides with salt and pepper.
Cook bacon in frying pan until crunchy. Take bacon out to cool. Put a swirl of olive oil in pan and add onion, celery and garlic. Cook until tender. When bacon is cool enough to touch chop up and add back into pan. Add rosemary and sage and cook for about a minute. Add this mixture, raisins,corn, salt and pepper to the cornbread and combine. Add in enough chicken stock to bind together.
Divide evenly and pack stuffing in chops firmly.
Bake for 50 min or until center is at 145 degrees.





This recipe is copyrighted so please do not copy and use it.

July 13th--People Make a Place

Since I was away for the closed water section of scuba class I had to make it up on this Monday. I was pleasantly reminded that it always the people that make a place what it is. Since we didn't have access to the pool at white sands my dive instructor,Punk called a friend of his in Las Cruces with a pool. It was a fantastic day. Phil's kids hung out in the pool so I had extra people to hang out with and work with as well as Phil and his wife being the most wonderful hosts. We spent about 4 hours total taking up their time and space to complete the items that I needed to participate in the following weekends dives. After I was sufficiently sunburned and tried Phil graciously agreed to make me fresh caught salmon from his trip two weeks before. YUM! So, when I say fresh I mean FRESH!
It was amazing! They were kind, generous and fun.
This journey keeps reminding me that there are kind and wonderful people in the world and that if your heart and mind are open you will find them. Or, more accurately, they will find you!

July 11th, 2009--Part of the Crew

I had a chance to crew my first hot air balloon on July 11th. The idea of having a hobby that you actually need extra people for was interesting to me but Walter and his family were kind enough to invite me to see what it was all about. There is a very specific set of rules when launching a balloon it turns out. You need as many people as you can get to make sure that the balloon opens evenly and everything is attached correctly. It takes a little less than an hour to get the balloon in the air once you start the "motor" up.






The balloon starts on it's side and eventually someone has to get in the basket and pull or push hard to keep it in place as it tried to float away. The idea is to maintain the delicate balance to keep it on the ground until ready to lift off.





I did not have a chance to go up in the balloon this time but am very excited to try it before I leave!
The reason for passing on the balloon ride was that I started classroom work for my scuba class! Here you see the fabulous lifeguards who graciously agreed to let me be a part of their class and took me in for the trip.





Needless to say, I have been having an extremely interesting and eventful trip!

July 7th, 2009--Full Moon Over White Sands

I have gotten behind... again. So, I am going to attempt to get everyone caught up on what has been going on lately. One of the coolest things that I have ever seen happened about a month ago on July 7th. As most of you know about once a month the full moon makes an appearance. Though I have seen many full moons I have never seen any as beautiful as the one that rose over the White Sands Natl. Monument on the 7th. It was amazing. Keep in mind this is not my photo since I do not have a fabulous camera.



I haven't even found a photo that can equal what I felt. This was the same night that they did a concert right before the moon rise. Connie Dover is a well know Irish folk singer who performed her beautiful music under the moon that night.
I can't remember when I have felt more at peace than laying under the full moon with the soft sand in my toes listening to that music. There are certain experiences that can not be duplicated no matter how much you try.

A Weekend Long Light Show

As is usual here at camp Decker we had an exciting 4th of July weekend. Last night the festivities started at the park in Las Cruces where they host the annual Electric Light Parade. Unfortunately we got about two hours into the evening and it started to downpour. right in the middle of the picnic Las Cruces experienced the heaviest rainfall of the season. After thinking that we could huddle under a tree, one of the kids having a panic attach about the tree getting hit by lighting and Isaac barfing all over Candace we finally decided to retreat to the shelter in the park. The rain did manage to tone down for just long enough to see most of the parade and be able to get back to the car.


This is the only photo of the parade that I managed to get...My big question, who is Jesi?

A hot bath and banana muffins were both very welcome that night!
The actual fourth ended up going off much better thankfully. After work at the yarn shop for the morning we headed out the White Sands Missile Range pool for their bash. Lots of games, water slide and tasty food. Not to mention hilarious staff! The kids swam for about three hours and then on a whim we decided to drive the extra 50 miles to Alamogordo to see the fireworks there. On the way through town the GPS took us on a detour and as I have discovered in life it is sometimes the detours that provide the most interesting experiences. We found a coffee shop who's location could only be described as out of the way. We bought iced tea and positioned ourselves directly above the Alamogordo valley to watch the fireworks.



And so the adventure continues with Isaac deciding that he should touch the sparky part of the sparkler (I do not recommend this myself.) and having about a half and hour of irritation with his decision. But after that setback we ended up finding a very cool couple who hung out with us and gave all sorts of information about the area for my road trip in a week. The fireworks went off right in front of us and the weather was perfect.
I know that North Dakota has some fabulous thunder and lighting storms but I have never seen anything like what we drove through. The lighting seemed to have to beginning or end. It just flashed across the sky and left it's imprint on my retina for several minutes afterwards. In the middle of the storm it just lit up the whole space we were in. It was very UFOish in nature. I almost felt like I was in the middle of a glowing cloud. And after we had gone through it I could see the flashing in my rear view mirror for miles as if it was chasing us. Fabulous!
We came home to find that Xen, Candace's dog had been so frightened of the firecrackers that he had chewed his way out of his kennel and was hiding upstairs. Poor guy.
All in all a pretty exciting few days here.
In all the excitement I noticed that lots of people posted about independence and freedom. I hope that everyone keeps in mind that regardless of your personal feelings on politics or war there are people who put themselves in harms way and work hard every day so that we can speak, write, worship and feel that way that we want. Thanks to all those people who do what is necessary.

Space...the Final Fronteer

A few weeks ago we had a chance to be a part of history. Spaceport America broke ground in New Mexico in the middle of June. It is the first establishment of it's kind that has ever been built and it is designed primarily for "tourism". It made sense to build it in New Mexico just because of it's history with space travel. Ever since the UFO incident in Roswell in 1947 we have been fascinated with space. But real space tourism has been researched since the 1930's by Robert Goddard. The whole thing was very cool to witness. I wondered how long it was going to be until we would be able to go to space for a vacation, how much it would cost, and would I still feel queasy while leaving the orbit of the planet. The other thought that I had was a memory of meeting a woman while working at the hotel many years ago. As most of you know when you check into a hotel you will be asked for your license plate number. The woman in this particular incident was about 80 years old and was happy to give me the plate number but she happened to mention that she remembered when nobody had a car and how exciting it was when her family got their first car. I remember wondering to myself what I would remember when I am 80. What kinds of advances have been made in just the 30 years that I have been alive and what else will they come up with. Being a part of this huge event in history gave me that feeling again. Will your kids go into space for a school trip or spend their honeymoon on Mars? You never know!

Catching up

I apologize to all who have been faithfully reading the blog and have asked me about it. I got a bit busy and this was the thing that I fell behind on. But hopefully in the next few days I will get caught up on some of the writing. I will get everyone in step with what has been going on in my world. The nice thing about staying with someone like Candace is that there is always something to do! We have been on a bunch of outings and she promises more to come! I have also been working another job her at the local yarn shop. That is awesome! My bosses, the owners Gail and Cindy are two of the coolest ladies that I have ever met. They are motivated and successful women as well as being fun and caring. My first day we all sat around and had a glass of wine while they picked my brain for interesting things. I go to the kids swimming lessons everyday and make whatever Candace and I want to for dinner. I have been dancing a few days a week with some very interesting people and learning all new styles of dance. So, needless to say I am busy but happy and having a great experience! More to come in the next few days about some of the neat things that I have done in the past few weeks.