Tonight, I Outdid Myself

I'm talking pork here, people. Not that kind of doing and not that kind of pork, but good nonetheless...

Tonight I made asian spiced pork, patty-pan puree, citrus vinagarette salad and vanilla ice cream with spiced mandarin sauce. The best part? It was all part of a low-fat meal I was making for my uncle who has promised himself a new truck if he loses 70 pounds. It wasn't the lowest calorie meal, I'll admit, but I was conscious of not making it the highest calorie meal, either. I don't have pictures (which is what makes any food blog entry interesting, I know), but I have rough recipe ideas if anyone is hungry for low-fat and de-ricious.

Asian spiced pork:
Get some pork tenderloins
Mix together some brown sugar, chinese five spice, salt, black pepper and some cayenne pepper (if you're nasty). It's about 3 parts brown sugar to one part chinese 5 spice with the others to taste.
Heat up a heavy bottomed pan on med-high (cast iron works great if you have it)
Pre-heat oven at 425F
Rub the sugar/spice mix on the tenderloin
Sear tenderloin on all sides in pan.
Put seared tenderloin in an oven safe dish and bake for 15-20 minutes.
*Remember -- most Americans completely overcook pork. It doesn't need to be grey to be done, it just needs to reach 160F. And even if it doesn't, most US store-bought pork won't do much harm even if it is undercooked a bit. The pork I cook comes out a little pink and it's fantabulous.

Glaze for pork:
In a small sauce pan, combine a heavy dose (about a 1/2 cup) of apricot preserves (orange marmalade will do in a pinch or even in combination), something salty/savory like soy sauce or worcestershire sauce, a pinch of sugar, some salt and maybe some cidar vinegar (if you have it).
Bring whatever you combined to a boil, then let it simmer til it thickens to a sauce. Even if it's runny, though, it''ll taste good. Just dump it over the pork and whatever you use as a vegetable base (I used the squash puree listed below).

Patty-pan squash puree:
Peel and seed 1 large patty-pan squash
Boil in salted water until completely rendered (fork meets no resistance)
Drain squash and dump into a blender with butter ( I used about 1 tblsp. to one cup squash), sour cream (2 tblsp. to one cup squash) and fat free cream cheese (1 to one squash ratio).
Add about 2 tblsp. fresh thyme leaves if you have them. If not, add some dried italian seasoning, basil, oregano, etc.
Salt liberally.
Puree to a pulp then reheat if necessary.

Citrus vinaigrette salad:
This salad is basically baby greens/spinach mix, toasted sweetened nuts, goat cheese, red onions and the vinaigrette. We added some chopped roma tomatoes because we had them - if you don't, no biggie. Use a sweet vinaigrette that you like -- mine is just a made up thing that I'll probably change based on what I have, but here is what I made:

Can mandarin oranges in juice (or light syrup if you can't find the juice)
2 tblsp. fresh, fruity extra virgin olive oil (if you are not going to cook the olive oil, you need to do some taste testing to find the one that works for you. That Bertolli stuff is not the end-all-be-all even if the package looks fancy.)
1 peeled, cored apple (it does not matter if this apple if old and bruised and mealy -- its main purpose is to add some volume to your dressing)
2 tblsp. fresh thyme (again, if you have it. If not, use italian seasoning or something.)
a good dose cider vinegar (another vinegar will work, but you have to keep an eye on the tartness -- cider vinegar tends to be mild in that regard [almost sweet] so don't overdo it if you substitute something non-fruity)
Salt to taste
Blend everything in a blender and let it sit for at least 15 minutes so the herbs can mature a bit, then season to taste.

Toss the salad greens with onions, goat cheese (crumbles), and dressing. Woot!

oh, and the dessert...

I chose Breyers fat free vanilla ice-cream. It's creamy and smooth, and doesn't taste like frozen skim milk, so I think that's a winner.

For the mandarin sauce...

Puree another can of mandarin oranges in juice (light syrup if you can't avoid it)
Add about 1/2 tsp of ginger, cinnamon, and nutmeg (or just a good dose of pumpkin pie spice or all-spice or whatever sweet-spices you have on hand).
Bring to boil, then reduce to a simmer until syrupy.
Pour sauce over ice-cream.

Enjoy like it's 1999

Peace Corps Loves Us, Finally

Well, Matt and I are gearing up to leave for Kazakhstan with the Peace Corps in just a few weeks. For those who don’t know, we are scheduled to begin staging on August 17^th in Washington D.C. and we actually leave for Kazakhstan in the evening of August 18^th.

Staging is PC slang for pre-departure orientation. We’re basically supposed to learn some need-to-know info about what to expect as soon as we get into KZ. For those of you who are interested in stalking us or for future PC applicants who can’t get enough of stalking PC blogs (trust me, we understand), the schedule looks like this:

KAZAKHSTAN Staging Event

Holiday Inn Georgetown

2101 Wisconsin Avenue, NW

Washington, DC 20007

Phone: 202-338-4600

Tuesday, August 17, 2010

12:00 PM

Registration

Official registration as Peace Corps trainee -- turn in completed forms

2:00 - 4:25 PM

Who We Are

What's Expected of You

4:25 - 4:45 PM

Break

4:45 - 7:00 PM

• What You Expect

• What's Next

• Closing

Wednesday, August 18, 2010

12:00 PM

Check out of hotel

12:30 PM

Bus arrives for loading and departure to Washington Dulles Airport

5:45 PM

Flight departs for Kazakhstan

INTERNATIONAL FLIGHT ITINERARY:

18 AUG 10 - Wednesday

Washington Dulles to Frankfurt

Air United Airlines FLT:8826

LV Washington Dulles at 545PM AR Frankfurt 740AM (on the 19th)

19 AUG 10 - Thursday

Frankfurt to Almaty

Air United Airlines FLT:9116

LV Frankfurt 145PM AR Almaty 1205AM (on the 20th)

Notice that we have a 6 hour layover in Frankfurt. Word on the street is that we can’t leave the airport during that time. Oh. Joy.

We don’t have a lot of expectations for our lives in KZ. We like to travel like that. When we went to Japan, we just didn’t know what to expect and I think that actually prepares you to be ready for anything. The people I met in JP that had the most trouble were those who had fixed notions about the country. It didn’t matter whether the notion was that the entire country looked like Tokyo or that everyone sat around watching anime in their kimono while eating sushi or just that everything was going to be generally wildly exotic. Real life is real life everywhere you go and sometimes, it’s just not that thrilling, which can be a real downer for people. Soooo, we’re just expecting to meet some people, do our jobs and freeze our asses off 9 months out of the year. Sounds like a good plan to me!

Ketchup

Oh the months... But who cares, let's jump right in.

I've been cooking up a storm lately and, while relishing the comforting delights I've concocted, I've also noticed that I feel about as light and lithe as a fully loaded freight train. Who cares, though -- I've been keeping up with my mental promise to myself to cook new recipes each week, even though the ones I've cooked up are new to relatively no one but me. The past two weeks have wrought:

Oxtail stew -- wonderfully tasty, oilier than an Exxon-Valdez oopsy (even after I chilled it and skimmed out the lard)

Ham and beans -- wow, this one was good, albeit in that very cliched way of tasting best the second day. The secret is several very healthy doses of brown sugar (though real maple syrup probably would have been better) and no shying from the salt.

Corn beef and cabbage -- I'm proud of myself for this one because a) it was excellent and b) I didn't make too much, thus, adding to the warren of tupperware dishes that is my sister's refrigerator.

Stuffed green bell peppers -- Okay, so I've made this one before, but it was in Japan, with their thin-skinned "paprikas" and it just didn't work. Tonight's wasn't my best production, either, but the generous addition of more tomato sauce after cooking made it very edible.

On the Peace Corps front, it has been a long trial. SO and I paid thousands of irreplaceable dollars in England to get everything taken care of only to be told after 3 months of waiting for word, that no, everything was not taken care of. Some of the requsts were expected -- we tested positive for TB (which was a total surprise to us) and we both have some slight allergies that need further explanation, but some wasn't. Like the fact that the grand we each spent on dental x-rays did not result in complete x-rays, even though we went over the form with the dentist. Sigh.

Getting crap like this done without insurance is no picnic (not that insurance would cover this stuff because it's considered "optional"). And the fact that Peace Corps simply throws pennies at us in terms of reimbursement is pretty ridiculous -- I mean, less than $150 for complete exams, x-rays, blood work, lab tests, etc.? Not only am I volunteering my time for the 27 months that I'll serve, but also for the couple of months of salary that I'm handing over from my time in Japan. I do look forward to the job and I understand the Peace Corps can't pay for treatment of candidates who haven't even been given a job yet, but seriously, $150 is laughable.

Will I really do a Michael Jackson post?

Why, yes, I will.

I don't usually get caught up in celebrity deaths. I always feel bad for the families and it's sad to see people disappear, but I'm not one to put emoticons on Facebook about it. It feels very fake to me to see people bawling at a candlelight vigil over someone they didn't know.

Just to be clear, I'm not bawling over Michael Jackson.

But I am a little sad.

My sister and I were irrationally in love with Michael Jackson (the kind that fervently and red-facedly defends against all jokey fatherly attempts to dethrone a 7 year-old's crush) and I honestly don't remember being so wild about any celebrity before him. I admit that Michael and I parted ways after Bad, but I my sister still has her Thriller album (well, I have it because I won't give it back...) and I still have my folder from elementary school with the picture of him in that yellow vest and bow tie. Gosh, he was cute.

The past couple of days, just because the access is so easy, I've been re-watching some of his old videos and it reminded me why I watched them in the first place. Yes, the crush was a big reason, but his looks changed enough that I didn't adore those so much anymore -- but I still liked to watch him dance. It's just mesmerizing.

I finally came across my favorite Michael Jackson song, which has no video and no dance moves, but is just infinitely listenable. So along with the photo of the cutie I fell for, I leave you with this.

Hope you are happier elsewhere, Michael.

OMG

Seriously.

My fantastically bruised leg

Of course the photo doesn't show it's true beauty -- it's vividness in reality far outshines what you see here, but I think you can still see what a lovely shiner it is.

Tales from the Weekend

Today SO and I went for a looooong bike ride to the Echizen coast and back. I finally got to try out Mare, a little seaside restaurant that has been beckoning me for the past 4 years. We had a bacon and egg toasted sandwich -- and by bacon, I mean an oblong slice of ham as thick as my finger. I can't figure out why they won't just call it ham.

I got some clipless pedals for my bike (another name I don't understand since they have, um, a clip) and I did pretty well on them. Just once, I was in a tunnel, trying to turn around and I had one foot out for safety, but that doesn't do jack when you are falling the other direction. I managed to throw myself to the side of the free foot, preventing a total splatter on teh sidewalk, but not avoiding a heavy collision with the bike and my entire body weight on my calf. My leg is about nine shades of purple and blue for a good 6 inches. Woo-hoo. At least it's the kind of bruise you can proudly show off -- it's not like I have to admit that I fell down while drunk or fell on my ass in a parking lot or anything...

The weekend was actually quite nice -- Friday night one of the JETs here had an amusing party called Edward Sake Hands -- everyone had to bring a bottle of sake and then the host taped it to their hands until they had finished it. I brought a couple of cans of beer because I didn't think people were seriously going to drink an entire bottle of sake by themselves. I was wrong. After everyone quickly got pleasantly social, we went to a bar that was waaaay too far for someone to suggest walk to it, but whatever. It's lameness kept me from staying out too late. It didn't stop me from trying to give a 200 pound dude a ride home on the back of my bicylce, however, which was interesting...

Saturday, our Japanese teacher took us to a Mongolian restaurant for a kind of good-bye lunch. The owner was her friend and our teacher had been to Mongolia with her, so they were able to give us a tidy little education while we ate. Afterwards, our teacher took us to her husband's office (he's retired, but still does some kind of agricultural work, so his office is a little house in a rice field). I'm not sure why we went there, but I think she just wanted to have us talk to him one last time and show us where he worked. Then she had us drive her by her house so she could show that to us too. She's cute. I think she wanted to do more stuff with us outside of class, but her invitations were always sort of half invitations -- she would mention something, but then it was like she was too embarassed too go on. We weren't always sure we were understanding her Japanese correctly, so we didn't want to be like, sure! we'll go! and then , come to find out she was just telling about her plans. I'll miss her.

Then Saturday night, we went to a Malaysian place for our friend's birthday and after that, I happily fell asleep. Talked to Mom and my sister this morning, went for a bike ride and now I'm typing in front of the fan. Good weekend!