Things we made this weekend & I forgot to take pictures of.

I make myself really busy sometimes. So much so that I forget how nice it is to just be at home. Which means that, when I finally am home, I end up doing one or both of two things. Most likely, I stop and do a lot of quiet hanging out with Bill and a lot of reading. Or I cook a lot.

This weekend was a long one for Bill, and a quiet one. We ran just a few errands, had a very nice meal out, learned about a bocce ball league, had a guest over, and I read a lot. And then I cooked everything. We also played a bunch of games.

It wasn’t really intentional to cook everything. It happened because it was a really nice weekend and because we had a lot of time and because we ran errands.… Continue reading →

Carne Adovada Repair?

So, Tuesday was Bill and I’s second wedding anniversary. The plan was for it to start with carne adovada breakfast burritos.

I dragged my father, who was visiting Sunday and Monday, to one of our two butcher shops to buy 5 lbs of meat. I carefully trimmed it down and cut it into chunks late Monday night after visiting with several of my beer friends at a beer launch. I placed it in the same slow-cooker I have always made carne adovada in, with the same amount of red chile (two cups) I have always used.

The house smelled amazing the next morning when we opened the slow-cooker. We were very excited. Only to have our hopes cruelly dashed once we tried a piece.

It… was bland.… Continue reading →

The first meal.

To get the full context for this post, please read both Grant’s post and Ellen’s post over at the blog One Hundred Meals. The meal described in those posts and below was prompted by this project Ellen and Grant have launched. To get the fullest context, you really should read the full blog archives which, as of today’s post, are only six posts deep―and that’s including the two I linked to above. Maybe you won’t do all that now, but I hope by the end of my post, you’ll be convinced to do so.

This isn’t a widely read blog. I’m terrible at paying attention to analytics, so if I had to guess, I would guess I have no more than ten regular readers. Most, maybe all, who read this blog regularly know me personally.… Continue reading →

Pork tongue salad

So, once upon a time, Bill & I purchased a hog with 7 of our friends. We knew we were in for something else, but we didn’t know exactly what.

One thing no one anticipated was exactly which “weird” cuts we’d get. I figured we’d end up with a heart, maybe a couple of kidneys. And we did. We also got the tongue, which was not something I had ever considered eating before.

This is funny, once you stop to think about it. A tongue is just a muscle, and a well-used one at that. It’s probably damn fine eating. But not once in my time on this earth had I ever considered the possibility that animal tongues might be food.

Now, of course, I realized when I saw it that there was no guarantee we’d end up with the tongue.… Continue reading →

Another repeat – Pork Shoulder with Chipotle-Orange BBQ Sauce

In the realm of “repeating delicious recipes”, yesterday, as part of our hog share, Bill & I repeated the pork shoulder in chipotle-orange bbq sauce. I’d actually been looking forward to making this again, ever since I gave away all the leftovers & so thoroughly disappointed Mr. Bill.

Too bad it didn’t come out nearly as well this time. Bill’s willing to eat the leftovers, but he’s not as thrilled.

So, what changed?

There were two major things, that I can see. First, the sauce was far more fluid this time than last time. We both agreed it was nearly a glaze last time, and this time it was a fairly thin sauce. There was a lot more of it – it didn’t reduce as thoroughly.… Continue reading →