My little buddy

Tomorrow marks three weeks with our Buddy. Every day is an adventure!

He has brought so much fun and happiness into our house. I love him so much!!!!

 

New Book Club!

 I can't believe we are nearing a year with our Patreon group! I have enjoyed getting to know different women from all over the country over our zooms every month. We have a wonderful group! Not only do we all enjoy fiber arts, many of us are readers. Liz and I thought it would be fun to get a little book club of our own started. We are kicking it off with October and reading "The Rules of Magic" by Alice Hoffman. It was written after Practical Magic but is a prequel to that story. I loved the movie Practical Magic so I'm hoping this book has a similar feel. 

If you would like to join us, you can find out details on our Patreon page here: 

https://www.patreon.com/cocktailhouratthecoop

We will be reading a book a month and discussing it during our monthly cocktail hour zoom.

Happy Reading! and Knitting! and Crocheting!

What it's really all about

 When you take away the business of the weekend, this is what it's all about.

We are the luckiest girls in the world to have these two as parents. 

To grow up how we did, to have them close by as we raise our boys, you can't beat it.

Last week...

 Busy week! Keeping puppy busy, teaching, learning, knitting, coffee, dinner out, sports, pumpkin picking at the farm, setting up for Farm Days, more walks with puppy, more coffee, more knitting :)

It's a VERY busy time of year! Oh yeah...and throw in working full time and teaching knitting lessons at night, Patreon knit night and band rehearsal. No wonder I'm always tired :) But it's a good tired.

YUM!

I made one of my favorite easy and quick dinners last night. I snapped a quick picture and thought I would share it here. I originally saw it on the show "The Chew" that was a few years ago. It's Carla Hall's recipe and it's delicious. My husband and I both love it! If you need a quick weeknight dinner, this is perfect.

Carla’s Sweet Potato Ham Hash for the win!

ingredients

SPICY SWEET POTATO HAM “HASH”

2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar

1/4 cup hot sauce

1/2 cup + 3 tablespoons olive oil (divided)

1 clove garlic (peeled, smashed)

4 large sweet potatoes

1/4 cup yellow onion (peeled, small dice)

1 (8-ounce) ham steak (cut into 1/4-inch cubes)

4 large eggs

1 avocado (peeled, pitted, diced)

4-5 basil leaves (roughly chopped)

Kosher salt and freshly ground pepper (to taste)

directions

In a medium bowl, add apple cider vinegar, hot sauce and whisk to combine. Slowly drizzle in 1/4 cup olive oil and whisk until emulsified. Season with salt and pepper. Add the clove of garlic and set aside to infuse.

On a clean workspace, pierce potatoes several times all over with a fork. Transfer to a microwave-safe plate and place in microwave. Cook until sweet potatoes can be easily pierced with a fork, about 10-12 minutes. Remove from microwave and allow to cool slightly.

Meanwhile, in a medium saute pan, over medium heat, warm 1 tablespoon of olive oil. Add onion and cook, stirring occasionally until soft and translucent, about 4-5 minutes. Add ham cubes and saute until golden brown, about 4-5 minutes. Season with salt and pepper and transfer ham mixture to a bowl and set aside.

To the same pan, over low heat, add remaining 2 tablespoons of olive oil. Gently crack eggs into pan and cook until whites are set but yolk is still runny, about 5 minutes. Season with salt and pepper and transfer to a plate.

In a small bowl, add avocado and gently smash with a fork, season with salt and pepper and set aside.

To Assemble: On a clean workspace, split potatoes lengthwise. Spoon 1/4 of ham mixture onto each potato. Evenly dollop avocado mixture amongst the potatoes and top each one with a fried egg. Garnish with chopped basil and a drizzle of hot sauce vinaigrette.

 

There's a New Buddy in Town!

 

Our family grew by one this past weekend :)

After 7 months of missing our boy Jeter, big brothers away at college, little kid an instant "only child", it seemed like the perfect time to welcome a puppy into our home.

For the past year, I've been scrolling PetFinder and multiple local rescues. I never saw a pup that jumped out at me and said "I'm yours!" until one night. The night before we were moving Garrett into his freshman college dorm, this little face was looking at me and I fell in love. I quickly showed his photo and description to my husband and he said go ahead and inquire. So I did! 

One application later, an instant email response, multiple emails back and forth, we were approved to adopt this 10 week old pointer. He was in a foster home in Georgia with his three sisters. The information we received was that they were an owner surrender and taken to a high-kill shelter. A local rescue got a hold of them and contacted the Burlington County Animal Alliance to see if they were willing to take these pups in. And I'm so happy they did! A group of volunteeres went down to Georgia to get them and now we have our new little "Buddy". His sisters were also adopted the same day we picked him up.

My heart is so full. It's as if he's always been here. A house is a home when there's a wagging tail!

I hope for many years of happiness with this guy. He's already brought us so much joy.