Bleary eyed Snuggle-fest

I had every intention of starting this blog on the right foot: well prepared with witty transcript, a fabulous photograph or two, a sexy header and maybe even a recipe.  Well, you may as well get to know the Real Me - a shoot from the hip, leap before you look kind of gal.  The kind who decides to start a blog at 11 pm after a long day of child wrangling, cooking-cleaning-cooking-cleaning and having a friend for dinner.  Well, it's like this:  If I waited for the right time, the right photograph, the exact background and header that I envisioned (how do you all make those adorable and chic headers with your very own font?); it would never happen.  Instead, I'm lying in bed typing away with an adorable almost-six year old pressed up against my arm so tight I can barely type.  She just came in (it's midnight) to tell me (half asleep) that she couldn't sleep.  So now (within seconds) she is snoring away contentedly and my bed just got a lot smaller.  In any case, I'm thrilled to make my first post, my goal being a daily post on my interests.  I see this blog as a chance to remind myself daily of the things that inspire me, motivate and interest me, and a daily recipe!  Hopefully this will help me to achieve the balance I am trying so desperately to achieve between work, parenting and self (Self?  Are you in there? Please come back, Self!  Any mothers out there will know exactly what I am talking about!!)

I leave you with the recipe of last night's dinner:

(no, I didn't make this gorgeous cake - I made another one - an orange and date yogurt cake the recipe for which came from the lovely blog, 64 Sq Ft Kitchen)

Birthday Party Pork Chops 

First, you have to have a birthday party, which, if you're lucky will leave you with an open and partially consumed bottle of sparkling rose.  Pour yourself a small glass, if you're so inclined, and take the following ingredients out of the fridge and pantry:

3 bone-in pork chops

bottle of sparkling rose (helpful hint: always put a silver spoon in the top of an opened bottle of bubbly, it helps it last a little longer)

1 medium onion

TB or so of flour

oil for cooking chops (a healthy glug - I used olive but vegetable oil would do too)

salt and pepper to taste

Bring pork chops to room temperature.  Pre-heat the oven to 375 and use a pan that is oven safe ( a cast iron skillet would do). Heat the pan and the oil while you are slicing the onions into half moons.  Liberally salt and pepper the pork chops on both sides and arrange them in the pan when it is nice and hot.  You want to hear a nice sizzle when they go in.  Let them brown on medium high heat on one side (they are ready to be turned when they release easily from the pan) and turn them to brown on the other side.  Once you turn them, sprinkle your half moons of onion around and in between the chops.  When the onions are starting to release their fragrance, pour a few glugs of your sparkling rose, just about a third of the way up the side of the pork chop, do not go more than half way up the side.  

Put a lid on your skillet and put it in the oven for 4 - 5 minutes, or until the chops are done (this will vary with the thickness of the pork chop).  Bring the skillet back up to the stove top and remove the pork chops to a platter and cover with foil.  Turn the heat back on and bring the rose/pork chop juices to a slight boil.  Sprinkle with flour and, stirring, thicken the sauce a bit and cook the onions a bit longer.  The idea is to thicken the sauce with the flour and not to reduce it significantly (add more rose if you think you need more sauce).  This will take just a few minutes.  Salt and pepper to taste.

Serve the pork chops smothered in the onions and sauce with mashed potatoes and peas, or noodles and peas.

My children loved this and so did I!  But the best part was my mother's birthday we had earlier in the day, I only wish she and my father could have stayed for dinner!