Clipper and I have had some great rides recently. He (or should I say ‘we’) seem to have turned a corner. He isn’t spooking at his usual spots and he’s jumping more jumps willingly, softly. We’ve come a long way from rushing around the arena. He canters more slowly and his body in balance. The new jumps aren’t as scary, especially if he gets to follow an experienced horse over them. Yesterday I jokingly told my trainer that Clipper would be great in the hunt field since riders often jump in one big mass. She actually agreed with me to my surprise. I always thought that she thought hunting was a terrible thing to do to a horse — running pell mell cross country and jumping solid jumps. A horse (and rider) could get hurt out there! She went on to say that Clipper would be great cross country. So there is hope I’ll get out of the arena some day. Not here in SoCal but some day after we move to a place with a lot more space.
Since I’ve been unemployed and graduated I have been more creative with my cooking. Yesterday I mentioned the delicious chicken piri piri I made for our July 4 barbeque. Last night I tried another chicken recipe that I wasn’t terribly excited about but it ended up being delicious. The reason I wasn’t thrilled with the prospect is that the main ingredient were grilled chicken breast (yawn) and lettuce (whoopee). However, the things that went with it made the salad. This recipe came from a reader of Sunset magazine. The recipe called for a white wine vinaigrette but I improvised and borrowed the dressing recipe from another chicken salad recipe. This one calls for 1 TBSP balsamic vinegar, 2 TBSP mayo, 2 TBSP peach preserves, 1/4 tsp pepper, 1/4 tsp salt, 1/4 tsp ground ginger. It sounds weird but it’s really good. For the salads, grill 1 chicken breast for each salad (that is actually a lot and next time I would take 1/2 breast for my salad) and toast 3/4 c. of pecan halves in a 350F oven for around 10 minutes. To assemble, cut the chicken breasts across the grain, and put on top of a cup or so of lettuce per plate. Add toasted pecans, sliced ripe nectarines, crumbled goat cheese, and a TBSP or two of the dressing. Yum!
Hey, obviously the day got more exciting when you got news of a job offer. I just love how you’ve been riding, cooking, reading, being–that’s about to come to a screeching halt. Enjoy while you can!