Caribou of Bluster

Last night was this month's full moon, and I was compensated for waking up in the night by observing its liquid silver light poured out through the window and across the floor. Only in the last three or four days have I finally started to hear cardinal and robin song around dawn. The full dawn chorus hasn't gotten underway yet. Today was another beautiful day, but alas not one of which I could partake by going out. I'm still recuperating and on an upward trend, but with some ups and downs. I had enough energy this morning to cut up three pounds of pork loin into half-inch cubes, coat it with flour and spices, and brown it, along with onion and garlic. Then I added black beans, chopped tomatoes, corn, peppers, cilantro, and a little bit of pumpkin ale that was hanging around, because chicken broth sounded kind of boring to me. I didn't have as much cumin as was required, but I put in rather a lot of chipotle powder. I put a layer of corn bread batter on top and baked it in the oven. I KNEW it would take more time for the cornbread to get done than the recipe said. I don't know why they're always wrong, but they are. I had allowed extra time, however, and I think it got just about done. I was not up for attending the potluck, and moreover I had started coughing again and did not want to pass germs on to anyone, so I asked the faithful Sparrowhawk to take it over for me. I was worried about the amount of chipotle being too much for Midwestern palates. But apparently it wasn't a problem. The Sparrowhawk brought the pan back empty.