Happy Birthday: We Turned 2

Celebration meal

A telltale sign that I am stressed is forgetfullness.

It usually dawns on me when I am reminded about something by a third party. Ashamed about my state of mind, this then manifests into hurridley written 'post it' notes taped all over my work monitor or several reminders on my cellphone, which I miss anyway because my phone is always on silent. So why, you're probably wondering did I bring this up? It's because I completely forgot about a little milsetone  that occured on Sunday, October 9. It was the second anniversary of the blog - 24 months since I started this project. Worse still? I blogged about Thanksgiving that morning, completely oblivious to the fact that I should also be celebrating this little indulgent adventure of mine.

But better late than ever, right?

Perfect fall fare

While trolling through recipes online during my lunch hour, I decided I was going to make dinner for the evening to commemorate the occasion. I had interviewed Laura Calder last week about her new book Dinner Chez Moi: The Art of Feeding Friends and was thinking of her talking about warm, shared meals with loved ones and laughter around the table. No surprise, it automatically turned me to her recipe for Milk Pork, which I have been meaning to make for some time. It spelled warmth, comfort and family and was surprisingly easy to follow. So it was a case of me marching into the kitchen and before being asked any questions by Sean, starting to prep what I needed. 



One of my fave veggies

Taking Calder's advise, I made some Roasted Squash Rings to go along with the pork and cooked some potatoes as well. It took be about 35 minutes, then dinner was in the oven and I could relax. Sean very sweetly helped clean garlic cloves and kept clearing garbage so it made cleaning up super easy as well. The pork gives off the most wonderful flavour when cooking, which permeates the entire house. I was ready to eat, but the biggest test after two hours was whether it was tender enough. As I plunged the knife into the braised meat, it surrendered immediately and I was thrilled that it was so moist, although it was difficult to cut into slices. Instead, I shredded the pork and served it on a platter with the sauce.

To my surprise, both Sean and his mom loved the pork and squash. The meal was completely worth the wait and we had plenty of leftovers for today, which in my books is always a winner.    The only additions I made was dusting some paprika on the pork before frying it and pureeing the onion along with the milk reduction. Did it feel like a celebratory meal? For sure! Looking at the empty plates after meant only one thing for me -my love and passion for food and cooking - two qualities that inspired the blog - had been transmitted to my guinea pigs for the evening. And that's what keeps me and my little hobby going. So here's to another great year! Cheers!