My mama’s fabulous meatloaf, with a layer of Hatch chiles through the center, El Pato spicy tomato sauce on top and a side of roast broccoli. Fresh bread, Petite Syrah and an appetizer plate with figs, pears, almonds and Dubliner cheese. A good meal, even better the next day as a cold meatloaf sandwich.

Thanks to the second pan of meatloaf, I am officially looking forward to bringing my lunch to work this week.

~K

I promise this is my last prickly pear post for a bit. I used the remaining prickly pear tunas last night for the latest Jars of Renewal project: syrup! Great in margaritas, other mixed drinks and even on pancakes. Yum.

To local gardeners, a reminder that tomorrow’s veggie class series at the Phoenix Farmer’s Market is worth the drive and $10. I’m thinking a big bowl of oatmeal at Matt’s beforehand is just what the happy hippie ordered.

Happy Friday friends!
Kelli

There are people who walk into your life, make you drop everything your doing and take notice. They make you stand up a little straighter, tuck in your gut, chew with your mouth closed and just want to be better. Junie Moon is one of those peeps for me. She is an incredible friend, talented, creative, generous and a woman I admire a thousand ways. Today is her last day of blogging and she is going out with a splash of grace that only a Tucson Mermaid could. If you get a chance, drop by today and wish her well!

~

There has been a considerable lack of crafting and cooking going on at my house the last week or so. (For example, I didn’t make the journal in yesterday’s entry. It was a thoughtful gift from Tuesday. I will, however, be selecting the 10 lucky winners this weekend and getting on those vision journals. Thanks for your sweet and thoughtful comments!) Instead I’ve been riding my bike, fighting allergies and entertaining house guests who are currently living in my art studio. So, next week — more creativity. This week, more time with Ms. Olive and my new best friend Zyrtek.

This weekend’s dance card is full. I’m taking a veggie gardening class at the farmer’s market, going on a long bike ride downtown, seeing movies with friends, hitting the Weston show and hopefully finding time to do a wee bit of sneaky prickly pear harvesting in the neighborhood. I can just imagine myself getting caught with a bucket of prickly pear tunas and trying to talk myself out of trouble. Ha!

I’ll be back with photos soon. Hope your weekend is peaceful, relaxing and just what you need.

Cheers,
Kelli

I’m working all weekend at a leadership retreat and spent much of the last week preparing for this event. With a dozen other young leaders from Tempe, we’ll spend the next two days focused on how to best work together to improve the well-being of Arizona’s refugee community. And of course, we’ll eat. My mom’s arroz con pollo recipe beat out the week’s plan of cooking ginger-stuffed chicken breasts. I did, however, bake the vegan chocolate cake as planned. I’d show you a photograph, but then you’d see the missing corner. Not sure where that corner went but I’m thinking it may be in my belly.

The icing on the cake of this weekend, so to speak, is my dad will be here for dinner on Sunday. It has been so long since I’ve seen my papi and I cannot wait to sit down for dinner with him and catch up. Yay!

~K

* Recipe:
Karel’s Arroz con Pollo:

Ingredients:
1 tablespoon red wine vinegar
2 garlic cloves, minced
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 1/2 pounds chicken, skinned
1/2 cup drained Italian canned tomatoes
3 ounces uncooked long grain rice
1/3 cup pimiento-stuffed green olives
1 1/2 tablespoons capers
1 1/2 tablespoons cilantro
2 chicken bullion cubes
2 cups of water
1/4 tablespoon oregano
Pepper to taste
1/4 cup of chopped onion
1/4 cup chopped green pepper
1/2 tablespoon salt

Directions:
Combine vinegar, garlic, oregano and pepper in a small measuring cup. Brush mixture over chicken and place in a sealed container in the fridge for at least one hour. Over night is even better.

In a 3 quart saucepan, heat oil over medium heat, add chicken and cook turning occasionally until brown (6-8 minutes). Remove chicken and set aside on a place. To same pan, add tomatoes, onion and bell pepper. Cook over medium high heat, stirring occasionally until onions are softened (5-7 minutes). Add water, rice, olives, capers, cilantro, broth mixture, salt and 1/4 tablespoon of pepper. Stir to combine. Reduce heat to low and return chicken to pan. Cover and let simmer until liquid is absorbed and rice is tender (25-30 minutes). Makes 2 services, or if you use 1 cup of rice, 4 servings.)

When I heard of a friend who was going through a rough breakup — including moving across the country and having to to leave her crafting supplies behind — I knew just the remedy. When once doubled over in mind boggling heartache, my smart mama lifted my chin, put knitting needles in my hands, and talked me through the next six months. The first few weeks and projects were ugly. By the time I’d created something worthy of sharing, I was on the mend and had a cute little shrug for to wear to happy hour.
Hence, a crafty girl’s miracle cure for heartache:

Voila — love from Arizona, all wrapped up in some turquoise happiness.
~K

Some people receive business cards when they start a new job. Others place an order, wait a couple weeks and show up to as many meetings in the meantime with baked goods. Business cards may get thrown away after a meeting, but I doubt these gingersnaps ended up in the trash. I’m always trying to figure out a way to make my mark in the business world. I’ve met so many new people during the last two weeks and managed to feed more than a dozen. I think it is safe to say they either think I’m crazy or I’m going to quit to complete my Martha transformation. Regardless, they are sure to remember my name.
Plus, Martha would have hand-stamped her business cards and calligraphied recipe cards to go with the cookies. Not a bad idea, actually…

~K

P.S. Rebecca recently mentioned her sister Shelley made the best gingersnaps ever. Challenge accepted. This recipe isn’t quite there, but I’m working on a couple new variations. When I get the alchemy just right, I’ll post my findings. On another note, it only took me knowing Rebilou some 20 years before I heard her say gingersnaps were her favorite cookie. Mine too. I have fond memories of grocery shopping with my mom as a little girl and her buying a big brown bag of gingersnaps and letting us eat them in the cart. We thought she was so brazen to eat before paying for them. Funny, the things you remember.
What is your favorite cookie?

Today I played Ultimate frisbee with one group of orphans, and taught a different group how to do basic sewing. These experiences perfectly summarize my feelings about my career in Mozambique. I have been educated to do so much, but I feel helpless. Instead, I’ve fallen back on what comes naturally — being goofy, running around, and being domestic.
I remember once watching Jamie Foxx on “Inside the Actor’s Studio.” He was telling James Lipton how his grandmother had always made him go to church to sing, take piano lessons and play on the football team. Each of these skills came to be vitally important in the development of his acting career. He didn’t understand his grandmother’s insistence then, but when she died just a few days before he received the Oscar for “Ray,” it dawned on him: sometimes we have tools sharpened for when the opportunity arises. They don’t make sense until the project comes along and we have what it takes to get the job done.
I never thought playing a year of Ultimate frisbee in Tempe would come in handy in Manga, Mozambique — but boy did it. The orphanage is run by a middle-aged American man (saint, really) who cares for 35 orphaned boys. The boys are not only expected to do well in school, but they are also taught how to do construction, plumbing and other vocational skills that will make them highly employable once they are done with high school. When we arrived, a group of boys were working on a concrete fence. They were all too pleased to pull out their frisbees and challenge us to a match. I was the only girl to take the bait and by the end of an hour, I was wheezing but thankful that I run. I think they were a little surprised to see a girl hang with them and to be honest, I was a little surprised myself. PE used to be fun; now running around for an hour leaves me sweaty and pooped.
The sewing has been a delight too. We are working with a separate group of girls, teaching them basic sewing with the idea that they’ll be able to secure work when they are done with schooling too. Between entertaining the little kids outside of the machesa (a grass structure we use for community education) with a game of Raton! Raton! Gato! (like duck, duck, goose — but with animals they know), we taught a bunch of girls how to sew basic puppets. They learned to sew buttons for eyes and how to sew right sides together. It was fun and I couldn’t help but laugh that the last two tools I thought I’d be using in Mozambique would be frisbee and sewing.
Go figure. And yes, it makes that last little bit of school debt that much more annoying.
I will be home this time next week and I am excited and sad. I miss my bed, eating healthy food, my gym friends, the bagel boys, and of course my family and the Ya Yas. I don’t miss the heat, the commute, being way too attached to my Blackberry and NPR, and feeling like a cultural abnormality in a sea of MTV girls living in Tempe. It should be an interesting transition to American life. In the meantime, I’m savoring these last few days of African life.

Cheers,
Kelli

Black bean hummus + cut veggies: I swapped garbanzos in this recipe for black beans, added a dash of flax to thicken this a bit more and a lot of cayenne. Now that I’ve got the hang of making my own hummus, no more store bought nonsense. This takes all of 10 minutes to throw together at 1/4 of the price.

~K

No Knead 2.0, honey whole wheat.

A loaf for a dinner party last night, and a loaf today for a luncheon at work. I tripled the recipe (and quadrupled the yeast) to get bigger loaves than normal. It worked!

I think a sign of a great week to come is a slice of warm, homemade bread to start off your Monday. Don’t you? Giddyup and pass the butter.

~K

The kitties are on their way to Canada.

I am going to miss their mom, Morag. She’s been an excellent roommate. That said, I have a feeling she’ll be home in Arizona again soon enough.
We surprised her this weekend with a great going away party at San Tan Flats. Have you ever been there? It is officially in Egypt (out by the San Tan Mountains, through a sea of suburbia in Queen Creek and Gilbert) and takes a quarter tank to reach from Tempe, but is worth the drive. The burgers are excellent, the music is pretty good and it is a fun atmosphere. They have fire pits where you can roast marshmallows after dinner and their strawberry margaritas aren’t too bad either.
I’ve got to have a dinner party out there one of these nights. It reminds me of the old school Raw Hide, for those Arizona natives.

~K