New day, new year, new thoughts

I'm happy to welcome a new year. 2012 was hard and it will be good to have a new start. I'm not into resolutions but there are some things I'd like to change so today is a good day to make personal goals.

I perpetually struggle with organization and knowing myself I am not going to resolve to be more organized because I won't. I will set myself some achievable, specific goals that could turn into long-term habits. For example, about halfway through 2012 I decided to knit daily. It took a little time for me to ramp up to that but now I am more productive than ever. I even managed to knit a couple of Christmas gifts (and mail them!) by Christmas along with knitting new samples for my Ewe Ewe and Heather Ink pattern lines. Knitting daily has become a good part of my routine rather than a stressful, rushed burden. I'm taking this goal-turned-productive-habit as inspiration for this new set of goals. Here are my ideas for three simple goals:

1. Make something every week. I am always up to something. There's always a new project, recipe or tutorial that I've got my hands in and I think it would be a good idea to keep track of them. I love to cook, knit and design and making new things usually involves learning something new. I want to remember, share and reference those somethings. I'll try to post a project each week!

2. Take time to plan. The day, the week, the month. At work I can easily get caught up in the "putting out fires" methodology. That doesn't serve anyone well. I hate being rushed and why should I be, I work for myself! Taking the time to plan the day, planning out the course of a new project, and maybe putting deadlines on a monthly calendar could really improve my workflow and in turn positively affect my creativity. I also don't want to get thrown off course if my plan doesn't work out for a day or two. I need to just realign and get back on track. I have some good tools for this and I will write more blog posts about time management and project planning. If you have any good ideas please share them! I love to learn how other people work and organize.

3. Keep the common area clean. My husband and I both work from home and we do a good job of working during work hours and stopping work as if we were at an office. We have seperate offices that are set up with the tools we use to work. Neither of us are good at keeping these areas tidy. We work in a flurry, we always have and we always will. But when we leave work I want the flurry to stop. I want to keep the living room, kitchen island and dining room table free of chaos. I'm not sure how to manage this other than to start today with my already tidied home. This is the hardest and most daunting goal for me. One day at a time says Fly Lady: I am not behind! I will not try to catch up; I will jump in today.

What are your goals? Is today the day you're going to start one? It's ok if it isn't, just think about it until you feel inspired to make a change because then the change will last.

Freezing Avocados

One of the perks of living in Southern California is the abundance of avocados. There are many different varieties of avocados and they ripen at different times throughout the year. Our neighbor's tree decided to choose this week to ripen and her little, 90 year old self was not going to eat all the fruit. We gladly accepted many heavy bags full of avocados and have since been gorging ourselves on the velvety goodness. We had about a dozen very ripe avocados and couldn't finish them so we decided to try and freeze them. Here's how:

1. Wash the avocados.

2. Cut and peel the avocados.

3. Place flesh in a bowl, add about 1 tbsp of lemon or lime juice per 3-4 avocados.

4. Mash the avocados with a potato masher or fork.

5. Put avocado in vacuum seal bags or airtight storage containers and freeze.

I am kind of excited to have a stockpile of avocado in my freezer. I'm not sure how the consistency will be on after freezing but I will update this post when I have some. I am expecting it to be perfect for guacamole, avocado smoothies or a sandwich spread.

Lobster Risotto

Risotto is one of my favorite things to make. I mean, what's better than cheese and butter coated rice? Not much! I made this lobster risotto for a special occassion and wow was it good. I found the idea for the recipe on the Stone Brewery blog but I cooked differently than they recommended. I prefer to cook my risotto more in the style of Jamie Oliver. My combo cooking method is in the recipe below. 

Lobster Risotto

Serves 8 to 10

Ingredients

1½ Tbsp olive oil

1 cup onions, chopped

salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste

6½ cups seafood or vegetable stock

1 tsp garlic, minced

1 tsp orange zest

1 tsp lemon zest

2 cups Arborio rice

¼ cup heavy cream

½ cup freshly grated Parmigiano-Reggiano

1 Tbsp unsalted butter

1½ pounds lobster meat, chopped into bit-sized pieces

2 Tbsp fresh parsley, finely chopped

In a sauce pan, bring stock to a simmer. In a large sauté pan over medium heat, heat 1 tablespoon of the oil. Add the onions, season with salt and pepper and cook, stirring, until the onions soften slightly, about 3 minutes. Add the garlic and zest and cook for about 30 seconds. Add the rice and stir constantly for about a minute. Add a ladle of hot stock and a good pinch of salt. Turn down the heat to a simmer so the rice doesn't cook too quickly on the outside. Keep adding ladlefuls of stock, stirring, allowing each ladleful to be absorbed before adding the next. This will take around 15 minutes. Remove from the heat and add the heavy cream, Parmesan and butter. Stir well. Place a lid on the pan and allow to sit for 2 minutes.

Meanwhile, lightly season the lobster with salt and pepper. Heat the remaining oil in a medium-sized sauté pan over medium-high. Add the lobster meat and sauté very lightly until cooked (unless using cooked lobster, then cook until the meat is hot all the way through). Add the lobster and remaining stock to the risotto mixture. Adjust the seasoning if needed. To serve, ladle the risotto in a bowl and garnish with parsley.

Yum! 

Note: Lobster was not readily available on the day I chose to cook this recipe. I substitued langostino meat for the lobster. Langostino has a more mild flavor than lobster and it worked very well in this case