Quote of the Day: Helen Keller

I long to accomplish great and noble tasks,
but it is my chief duty and joy to accomplish humble tasks
as though they were great and noble.

~Helen Keller

I thought of the earthworm when I read this quote. Always working away under the ground, not often seen or appreciated. I can really relate to this quote, as an introvert I’m not one to volunteer for those out in the open tasks. I find much more satisfaction and reward in working behind the scenes, doing those jobs others often find repetitive & boring. Gardening is my favorite humble task, when planting, raking and weeding you can let your mind wander while your fingers and hand work away. You get a deep sense of satisfaction at a job well done and the bounty and beauty from you garden, and these they are often only enjoyed by you.

What’s your favorite humble task?

Making Colombian Empanadas

If you’ve been reading this blog for a while you’ve heard that I grew up in Colombia, South America. I really enjoy Colombian cuisine and Mr Chiots has grown to love it as well. One of our favorites is Empanadas. Empanadas are eaten in many Latin American countries, and each country has their specialty, as does each region within each country. I grew up in the prairie region of Colombia so I make mine the way they do there. I use areparina for the crust which is pre-cooked corn flour, I can’t find it locally so my dad brings it to me when he travels back from Colombia. In many other countries empanadas are made with a pie crust type dough, or a potato dough.

Traditionally the empanadas in the prairie region of Colombia are filled with ground beef and rice or chicken and rice. Typically they’re not super seasoned, but they’re eaten with a spicy aji which is a blend of cilantro, green onion, vinegar, salt, pepper and hot peppers. I generally make mine with beef and it’s fairly spicy with toasted cumin seeds, coriander and a lot of red pepper. They’re usually fried or baked, I prefer to bake mine. I mix some shortening in the dough which makes them nice and crispy on the outside and soft on the inside.

Since I can’t get the crust mix often, these are a real treat for us. They grace our table a few times a year. Last week I made a big batch with some of Mr Chiot’s venison. These are the ultimate Colombian comfort food, definitely one of my favorites.

What’s your favorite ethnic dish?

I Can Hardly Contain Myself

I’m so excited for February 12, 2010 to come. Why? Because that’s when the winter Olympics officially begin. Mr Chiots and I are HUGE winter Olympics fans. When I say huge I’m not kidding. We work extra hard in the weeks coming up to them so we can spend 24/7 making sure we don’t miss any Olympic action. We love them so much we considered attending these Olympic games since they were in Canada. Did you notice my new countdown clock to the right?

I’ll be cheering for team USA of course. During the summer games I cheer on all the Colombian athletes as well, but there aren’t any in the winter Olympics. I suppose if I were good at any winter sports I could be on team Colombia.

Mr Chiots and I don’t have cable TV, but we’re getting it for the month of Feb so we can enjoy every part of the 2010 winter Olympics. We should have more than enough to watch, I read there’s going to be over 3600 hours of coverage on various channels and on the internet. Of course we’ll have the laptop in the living room to look up schedules, results, other information and to keep an eye on the medal counts. Hopefully I’ll find time to post here on the blog, although you’re getting a early warning, it may be quiet around here from Feb 12-28.

Are you a fan of the winter Olympics? Which team will you be cheering for?

Busy New Year’s Weekend

We had a busy New Year’s weekend, it was so exhausting I didn’t post yesterday (so sorry)! On Wednesday I spent all day cooking, making some bread for our New Year’s Eve meal with friends and a big chocolate cake for desert. I also made a few other things for the freezer. On New Year’s Eve we went with my dad and some friends down to the family hunting cabin for some target practice.

Mr Chiots wants to spend a lot of time practicing this year so he can get a few more deer during hunting season this year.

Our friends got a new gun and had a good time trying it out.


We headed back to their house for a simple meal of meatball subs with a side salad. Shaun makes the meatballs following his grandma’s recipe, they’re quite delicious.

After a filling meal we played cards and chatted, nothing to exciting, but a perfect way to ring in the New Year!

We watched “New Year’s Rockin’ Eve” and celebrated the New Year with the usual champagne toast and a kiss from your sweetie.

We hoped to be home and in bed early because we had to be up early the next morning, but we didn’t accomplish that. We were pretty tired New Year’s day, but we still ate a big serving of my dad’s sauerkraut to ensure a prosperous New Year. The kraut we ate was the batch I started in October, it was really really tasty! I was too tired to take any photos of our New Year’s Day celebration (this one was from leftovers we had for lunch yesterday).

Overall it was a great weekend of celebration, I spent all day yesterday sitting on the couch with a good book and cup of tea because I was so tired from the late nights followed by early mornings and all-day activities.

I’m happy that the holiday season is over so I can get back to my normal quiet life at home.

Did you do anything fun this weekend to ring in the New Year?

The Summer of my Discontent

This has been a rough summer here at Chiot’s Run. We’ve been super busy with our business, which is good for the checkbook, bad for the gardens. Because we’re so busy we’ve had less time to work outside than we would have liked. We had a list of projects we wanted to complete and they’re all still on the list.

I also had to deal with physical problem, so after months of pain, months of therapy and months of strict limitations on my physical activity, the gardens began showing a little neglect. My front flowerbeds remain only partially edged in rock walls.

That new flowerbed I dug in the spring still lies fallow, at least I planted some crimson clover in it to improve the soil. I wanted to get a fall cover crop growing, but was not allowed to turn the soil. So instead I spent the summer doing this, resting.

I did spend some time this spring building a lovely wall around my small cherry tree. A month or two later, my Dr said “no more heavy lifting for 3-4 months and only moderate lifting for a few months after that”.


So, instead of spending lots of time building up the small retaining walls by the driveway and elsewhere the rocks sit at the edge of the driveway waiting for their final destination.

Since heavy lifting was out, watering by hand was out of the question. Mr Chiots installed a pump so I could use the rain water from my barrel system with the hose & sprinkler.

I also ended up with plants I didn’t get planted, digging holes was also not allowed. I had trouble weeding, too much bending over caused too much pain. It wasn’t until late this fall that I have been able to get out and put any amount of time in. I got a few things planted before the ground froze, I was at least able to weed the flowerbeds before the first frost. I’m finally on the mend and building up my strength once again. I love a good challenge though, so I’ll spend all winter to getting ready for spring gardening season.

I laced up my running shoes last week for the first time in over a year (injury happened towards the end of Oct in 2008, last day running was the Turkey Trot on Thanksgiving Day 2008). I hopped on my trusty treadmill and started the slow climb back to running races and serious gardening. It will be a month or two until I’m able to run outside, perfect timing since I love running in the cold snowy weather. Hopefully by spring gardening season I’ll be ready to finish all those rock walls and turn all that soil.

All was not lost this summer, I could have spent the summer upset since I couldn’t do much, but instead I learned to love the process of gardening. It’s not a race to get things looking great right away. Gardening takes time, there are seasons involved, times for work and times for rest. 2009 happened to be a year of rest for me. I call it “The Summer of my Discontent”, but in a way I learned to be content. I’m not one to sit around and relax, but I was forced to do so this summer and learned the value of it. Hopefully in coming years I’ll be able to take time to relax and enjoy the fruits of my labor instead of working all the time.

Here’s to the tough times, these are the times we learn the most about ourselves and grow the most as person. I’m looking forward to 2010 to see what it has in store for us here at Chiot’s Run.

How you you summarize your 2009 gardening year?