One of those days…..
Some days are good, some days are bad, and then there is “just one of those days”. Nothing bad, nothing good, just so-so.
Momma was Momma today. I let her sleep in and when it was time to wake her up, she told me she had been in the Australian desert, and to please scrub her good, because she was covered in dust. Uhm, ok? I did ask her then “Hey the next time you go somewhere, can I go?” I got the “look” and was told that while she wanted me to go with her, these were trips she had to take alone.
The Farmer, played in the yard most of the day, and mowed all the grass that’s grown like crazy. Yes, I did make his pork roast with stuffing wrapped in bacon, with roast potato‘s and green beans (simply because they were left over from the last big meal he had).
I came home and decided to busy myself in the kitchen. Sometimes when something is bothering me or I just want to stay busy, I play in my kitchen. I made a batch of cookies for the Electrician, and then decided that since we went to Mexico for dinner yesterday, tonite we would go to Italy.
I searched for a recipe for Zuppa Tuscany soup (like the kind they have at “The Olive Garden“). I had all of the ingredients, so, I made it. I even made garlic bread to go with it. While tonite’s dinner wasn’t as big a hit as yesterday’s was, it was still good.
I’ve been a little distracted all day, so this post might be a little disjointed, for those of you that know me, it’s nothing to do with Momma or the Farmer. It’s just been “one of those days”.
It was a cooking day…..
Today, was a cooking day. I decided today, I was going to play in my kitchen for most of the day. It really feels like fall is here. The weather is cooler, and yes, I broke out the sweat pants this morning.
I started by making a million mini blueberry muffins for the Electrician, for his lunches during the week.
I have to digress here for a minute, so bear with me ok? Yesterday, while I was at the Farmer’s I did a mini inventory of stuff he had in the freezer. Along my journey, I found about a 8 lb pork tenderloin, not the skinny one’s but the big one’s you use to make center cut pork chops. (Sort of). So, I wheeled and dealed with him. With the deal signed, and hand shaked on, I grabbed it and left with it firmly tucked under my arms. It’s been in my fridge since yesterday, thawing out.
The Farmer agreed I could take it and cut it in half, I could do whatever I wanted to with my half, but his half had to come back to his house on Monday. On Monday, I am to butterfly his half of this tenderloin, fill it with stuffing, and wrap it in bacon, and roast it in the oven, with extra stuffing, roast potato‘s and some of the corn, that I so diligently froze this summer.
My half, I had some plans for. Whenever we go out to eat, which is VERY rare, we sometimes go the Mexican Restaurant in town. I always order the same thing, it never fails. I always order Carnitas. While I am not saying the restaurant is bad, it’s just that I can usually cook anything like that at home and it comes out 10 times better. (Ok, yes, I am a good cook) In all of the years I have been cooking, Carnitas scared me to cook it.
For those of you who don’t know what Carnitas are, I looked it up and this is from Wikipedia
Carnitas, literally “little meats,” are a type of braised or roasted (often after first being fried) pork in Mexican cuisine.
The carnitas of Sahuayo, Michoacán, are internationally well-known; they are served accompanied with chopped coriander leaves (cilantro) and diced onion,salsa, guacamole, tortillas, refried beans (frijoles refritos), lime and radishes.
I researched on the internet and finally found a recipe for them, that I thought I could do. Most Mexican cooking is not really labor intensive, it is time-consuming.
My first dilemma was I did not have any cheesecloth, nor butcher’s twine. So, I used a coffee filter, and a bread tie. I changed some of the ingredients, for what I had on hand, and what I liked. If I would have had my thinking cap on I would have taken pictures and then posted the recipe. But well, I was a little scared.
I prepped everything and then started cooking. 3 hours later, WOW. Now, I did have another dilemma as in the Electrician does not usually like rice. But I made a cheesy, green chili, tomato rice, that he loved.
Tonite’s dinner was a big SCORE!!!! No more Mexican restaurants for me. The Electrician loved it so much, he even posted on Facebook, he loved it. This is what he said and I quote
“ Had a Fantastic meal today by my lovely wife, thanks Hon! She made Carnitas and a taste explosion of flavor of lime and spice in my mouth! Really did enjoy this:)”
In fact, there are probably not enough left-overs for 2 people, so he will eat that on Tuesday night while I am sitting with Momma.
Now that I have conquered it, I promise to do a photo recipe of it in the near future. Because now, that I know I can make it, it’s on.
Hot Potato Award! WOOHOO!!
I was given an award by fellow blogger jmgoyder.wordpress.com . This is an award made up by Julie, and the fun thing is You can accept or not. There are no rules to follow, no questions to answer. You just accept it and put it in your blog, or not, the choice is up to you. You can nominate anyone you want.
Thank you Julie!
