7/12/2010

Great day today. And I have no pictures to show for it because, as previously mentioned, neither Michael and I are great at remembering to pull the camera out. Which means I'll have to describe it. And to do so, I'll have to geek out a little bit. Is that ok? Are you willing to follow me down the road to nerd-dom? Pretty please? I promise to give you some great recipes if you do!

This evening, we had our friends Frank and Deanna over for dinner and games. Since I got to Michael's before he did, I had a chance to row and set a personal best for the 30 minute row. Woohoo! I am now 18th in the world for my age group . . . of course there are only 21 in the entire group, so that isn't too exciting. Still very satisfying though.

Normally when I head up to Michael's, I don't have time to row because I need to work on dinner. Not so the case today, thanks to the wonders of the slow cooker. I assembled the ingredients in the slow cooker liner yesterday and asked him to turn it on this morning. It's always nice to walk in the door and smell pork flesh. Yum! I made the pork carnitas from The Dinner Doctor. Which, let me tell you, is a great cookbook. I have not made one thing I don't like from it. The carnitas are great because they are so easy and I have the recipe memorized. Which means when we invited Frank and Deanna over, I didn't have to search for a recipe, I just headed to the store to pick up the ingredients. So, without further ado:


Savory Pork Carnitas

Ingredients:
1 Boneless Boston butt pork roast, 3-4 lbs
3 cloves garlic (use as many as you want!)
1 onion, peeled and quartered (I normally use 2 or 3)
1 can whole chiles, drained (I normally use 2 or 3)
1 packet (1.25 oz) low-sodium taco seasoning mix
~ 1 cup water (depends on size of roast and your slow cooker - the smaller the roast, the less you need. Also, if your slow cooker runs hot, which mine does, you may want to add a little more)

Directions:
Combine all ingredients in slow cooker. Cook on low for 10 hours. Eat! This pork is great for burritos and salads, so be sure to have all the fixings (cheese, salsa, beans, sour cream, guacamole . . . )

To go with the carnitas, I made a corn and black bean salsa I found on All Recipes. I made several changes, though, so here's my version.


Corn and Black Bean Salsa

Ingredients:
2 cans white and yellow corn (or 1 of each), rinsed and drained
2 cans black beans, rinsed and drained
1 bell pepper, chopped
4 roma tomatoes, chopped and pulp removed
1 small red onion, chopped
4 cloves garlic, minced (feel free to add more!)
1 bunch cilantro, chopped
1/4 cup lime juice (2 - 3 limes, depending on their juiciness and your juicing ability. Use a spoon to ream them out if you don't have a juicer)
Salt, pepper, and cumin to taste


Directions:
Combine all ingredients. Can be eaten immediately, but tastes even better after being refrigerated overnight.

After we finished dinner, we got to the real meat of the evening: Settler's of Catan! Ok, here's the geeking out part. I really love this game. I really love the Cities and Knights expansion, but no one plays that around here, so I have to be content with the regular version. Which, ultimately, I am. It's just so exciting to have met other people who enjoy playing it that I'll take whatever I can get. In fact, inviting me over to play was Michael's first offensive move in his "Get Naomi to Date Me" campaign. Boy, even then he knew me too well!

Anyway, we played two games. Even though I haven't won Catan in a while, I was feeling good about the first game. I was second-to-last in placing my settlements, which means I was able to place two fairly close together, but still get all the resources. Sure enough, my strategy (which involved longest road) worked out and I managed to win. Woohoo! I would have been content with ending the night then, but everyone else wanted to play again. I knew I couldn't win twice in a row, so I tried to enjoy the glow of my victory while it lasted. I ended up placing my settlements first, which (if you know the game) is not necessarily the best position to be in. I ended up with vastly separated settlements (no chance for longest road) and, within the first hand, lost my chance at getting any ore. Not a pretty place to be in. But, with my great strategy skills and (Dad, you'll love this) judicious use of various ports, I managed to emerge victorious for a 2nd time. Yay! I'll be riding that victory pony for a long time!

So yes, an altogether lovely day spent with great friends. But, I must apologize for burying the lede . . . the main reason today was an awesome day? Well, it all has to do with that ticker you may have noticed up top. We have received word that St. Luke's in FoCoCO has reserved November 20 for our ceremony. 131 days until I'm Mrs. McElroy!!!! :-D :-D :-D