The Thread Catcher

This thread catcher was a quick and simple little sewing project this morning and with a small bell pepper plant sitting in it, made a perfect Mother's Day gift for a friend.  It stands about six inches tall.

Still Wrapping

Just picked this up, the third package of comic book boards for wrapping fabric.  I'm trying not to think about exactly what that means.

Pork Tenderloin, Brined & Rubbed

A different kind of pig!

On Sunday I made Pork Tenderloin - Memphis Style from the 101 Cooking for Two blog.  I made a few small changes in the rub but mostly the change was not grilling it and instead putting it in the oven.  I also browned it first in a skillet which I would skip next time.  Every time I turned it the rub kept chipping off. 

Brine:
4 cups cold water
4 tablespoons table salt
3 tablespoons brown sugar

Mix brine ingredients in a one gallon ZipLoc bag shake to dissolve sugar and salt.  Let sit in refrigerator if necessary until sugar and salt are dissolved.  Meanwhile, remove any fat and silver skin from tenderloin then place in brine and refrigerate for 1 to 4 hours.  I let it brine for 4 hours. While tenderloin is brining, make the

Rub:
1 tablespoon brown sugar
2 teaspoons paprika
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1/2 teaspoon onion powder
1/2 teaspoon dry mustard
1/4 teaspoon cayenne

Mix all ingredients well and set aside until you are done with the brining.

Remove tenderloin from brine, rinse to remove excess salt and pat dry.  Place tenderloin on a large piece of plastic wrap.  Reserve about a quarter of the rub then sprinkle and roll the tenderloin in the remaining rub,  finishing by wrapping the tenderloin snugly in the plastic wrap. Refrigerate 1-2 hours.

Remove tenderloin from refrigerator 20 - 30 minutes prior to roasting to allow it to come to room temperature or at least to take some of the chill off.  It is not in the oven very long.  Preheat oven to 425°.  I also preheated the stone bar pan I used.  It has low sides and I think works well for this.

Sprinkle remaining rub over tenderloin and roast until internal temperature reaches 140-145°, about 20 minutes.  Remove, lay a piece of foil over top and let sit for 5-10 minutes.  For best results, meat should have a wee bit of pink showing.

I did not use additional barbeque sauce as I thought the seasoning was perfect and the meat nicely moist.  I served this with the Asian Ramen Cabbage salad.

Today I had the leftover meat diced and used in tacos, adding lettuce, sour cream and this fabulous salsa:

-39.16

Yards!  That's the net decrease in the amount of fabric in the house this year!  Doing the happy dance about that for sure.  Last night I was still sewing at ten o'clock because I wanted to include the yardage that I used for these curtains in the weekly stash busting total.  Hung them this morning but it is an overcast day so the picture is washed out.  Here is a close up of the fabric:

I had originally bought it to make a "skirt" to hide the space between the two cabinets in this room which, at the time, had a board on top of them to make a nice long cutting counter.  I reconfigured the room, so the fabric went in the cupboard to age.

It's an Alexander Henry print and you can see how perfect it is for a sewing room!  I love their novelty prints but the only place I have found them IRL is at Hobby Lobby fps.

It might seem odd to be covering a window when the grass is green and things are blooming and wonderful to look at but this window is on the west side of the house and the sun beats down and in during the summer.  One more layer keeping it out is a good thing.

First May Finish

I can check the baby quilt off my May Goals list!  The top was pieced several years ago and this week I quilted and put the binding on.  This the third quilt I have quilted on the new machine and I can see an improvement which makes me happy.  So the quilt is folded and in the cabinet waiting for a new baby.  Yay!

The Great Train Adventure

Sherise and I went to SLC yesterday on public transportation!  It was a fabulous experience for me, this wild and crazy leap into the 21st century and I intend to become an evangelist.  Today I will be stopping in at our LYS to give a first hand account to Elizabeth who will be taking her first trip tomorrow and is going by herself.  Sherise had been on the FrontRunner before and she had all the schedules and our trip times written out so we could see them quickly and be ready to handle any changes in our activities.

Provo is the beginning/end of the line so that eliminates some worries.  You start at the ticket kiosk by touching your destination, one way or round trip, and regular or senior fare.  For me the round trip price to SLC was $6.10 for Sherise it was twice as much.

We passed this screen on our way to the train and were momentarily confused.  It had a bright yellow green label that said tap so we did but nothing spewed out, no computer asked us what we were doing and there was no message on the screen.  We moved on.  That is not my hand wearing the green nail polish.

  Our train!  I don't know the girl in the picture but she was a first-timer too.  And don't you love that there is Art!?!  Some cars are multi-level and some are designed so you can roll your bike right in.  Fabulous!

I'm not positive but I think most of the seats are two and two facing each other at least on this top level.  Some have tables, you can see that in the next set of seats in the picture.  There were maintenance people that passed through wiping and sweeping.  There are no ticket takers but I guess periodically there are spot ticket checkers.

This is where we got off, where FrontRunner meets Trax.  Very easy!  We got off of the FrontRunner train, walked cross this plaza and crossed the tracks to the Sandy blue-line Trax.  It took us right to the City Center on Main Street.  We popped around the mall, stopping in Anthropologie, where I had never been, Teavanna, where I had never been and I believe I will be a big f-a-n, and the Apple Store where I have become truly smitten with the iMac.  

There are electronic information boards around to help you.  Also, Sherise's iPhone was handy because we could pull up maps to consult.  I'm just sayin'.

It was a lovely afternoon and an all around great experience.  Now we are searching for new adventures in Salt Lake so we can ride the train!

(Oh, and the small screen we tapped in vain is for people with passes.)

May 2

ICE in the water bowl

You have to look closely because there had already been drinking from the bowl and it was almost 8 o'clock.  It was cold this morning!  Foolishly I had proclaimed to my neighbor that the furnace had been off since the weekend and we would not be turning it back on since hello, it is May.  Yes, well it was 57 in the house at 9:30 and I couldn't stand it any longer and the furnace went back on.  Also sorry I put the bathroom space heater in storage earlier in the week!

Brrr!