Wet Rub for Roasts

 I’m not sure if “wet rub” is a real term, but it does seem to describe the technique I have been using for several years.  I first heard about this idea when watching a Jamie Oliver cooking show on the the Food Network.  It suits the way I cook because it is unfussy and uses fresh ingredients. Pork, beef, chicken seem to work equally well.  

Here is a description of a pork roast I made for dinner a few days ago.

First, a trip to the garden for me, for you, maybe the market.  I gather fresh herbs that suit my fancy that day.  Today it was marjoram, thyme, and rosemary.  On other days I can include by season or mood, sage, parsley, cilantro, dill, chives, or oregano.  This is one of the wonderful things about cooking your own food, you get to adjust everything to your mood and preference.

I load the herbs into my mortar  along with, kosher salt, pepper corns, and olive oil and grind it with the pestle until it is a wet green paste.

From here it is easy.  Just rub the paste onto your meat.  If you are roasting chicken be sure to rub it under the skin as well as on the outside.

And then just roast!  I have found that a digital meat thermometer is the real trick to perfect roasts.  After you learn proper placement you will not only be able to know when the roast is done, but also be able to hit your doneness of choice without fail.  The other trick is finding days that I can both be home for the two hours prior to dinner AND not have a specific time to be somewhere after dinner.  Finding those days has rewards, not only do we have a marvelous dinner that day but we will also have lovely roasted meat for sandwiches or even a second dinner with very little work.

 

Mini Moon

As promised, here are the rest of the details from my wonderful holiday weekend.

I awoke Sunday morning with a hangover, a mild one.  But since this was my first in more than 10 years it seemed significant.  Breakfast was made for our overnight guests.  A little more catching up and then, reluctantly, they had to hit the road.  

J and I continued cleaning up from the party at a leisurely pace.  We talked a lot about the party, mostly about things that were said that the other missed.  We watched the chipmunks play in the retaining wall that we put in last fall.  They moved in pretty quick we thought, and there is now three little chipmunk families in our yard.  Their presence only added to our blessed feeling that morning.

The clean up took until lunch time.  We had some re-heated ribs and other left-overs from the party.  We all packed up our bags and head off.  S to grandma’s and J and I south.

When J and I first talked about our celebration we had considered the Summit Inn Resort as a place for the festivities.  As time wore on we decided that it would be a barrier to those attending from out of town, it would add an hour each way to their trip and make wallets much lighter.  Not to even mention that about half of our guest list consisted of kids under the age of eight, and although a beautiful spot, not entirely a fun place for kids.  So we decided to overnight there after the party for a “mini-moon”.

If you don’t know about this place have a look at the link above.  The hotel was built over 100 years ago over looking a beautiful valley in SW PA.  It has seen many renovations over the years so it has many modern amenities (indoor pool, game room) that you would expect from a resort and the oldest part of the complex has been restored.  Unfortunately, a large part of the upgrades took place in the 50’s and 60’s and some of those parts of the complex retain their lack of charm.  The rooms, however, are beautiful.  

We arrived a bit before out room was ready, so we enjoyed a soda on the expansive porch that overlooks the valley.  The weather was sunny, but not over warm, in short, perfect.  We checked into our room and then went down to the restaurant for an early dinner.  The food was very good, but nothing to “wow” about.  I think the garnishes were trying to hard.  After dinner we went for a walk on the surrounding property.  It was pleasant walking but unfortunately the woods had been cut through with many access roads for natural gas wells.  The roads made for easy walking but really did detract from the ideal walk in the woods.

When we got back to the hotel we poked around a bit exploring the labyrinth of a building.  The have a HUGE amount of event space.  What made it fun was despite the fact that the decor was way out of date, it did actually have some character.  The decor extended to the architecture of the rooms, unlike modern banquet facilities that just slap some wall paper on the the sides of a sheet rock box and call it decor.  My favorite was the “Baron Von Munchhausen Room” that boasted a 60’s Bavarian look. 

We eventually ended up in the game room where we played ping pong and pin ball, all with a valley view.  Then we went back to our room to take advantage of yet another valley view and watch the sun set.

The next morning we set off early and just sort of wandered the mountains. It was so pleasant to ride in the car, have adult conversation interspersed with silence and enjoy the views.  We stopped at a few antique shops and at a dying outlet mall.  We found a few meager bargains and decided to head home after a very light lunch.  Good thing we did too.  Poor S was bored to death of the grandmas and quite ready to go home.  Apparently, Great-grandma had wanted to go “visiting” the night before and they dragged poor S to the homes of 2 or 3 different elderly ladies that S has never met before.

All in all it was a wonderful weekend.  I wonder what we will dream up for our 25th?  

Finger Printing (sigh)

J and I went to get our PA fingerprints today.  The experience managed to dredge up all those feelings of inferiority and fear I used to feel when faced with the home study process.  Gone was my “easy peasy” attitude of the “One Last Home Study” post.

When we entered the UPS Store (yes, the USP store is doing FBI fingerprinting in our county!) the clerk was busy with another customer, but finished up quickly.  J’s ID was checked and was  showed how to use the finger printing device as I watched.  Once the instruction was completed, they left the room to complete tasks in the back.  (Weird.)  The thing is very much like the device that INS uses for fingerprints, but prompts and instructions are delivered in a user friendly fashion via computer monitor.  J completed his prints and busy clerk emerges from the back, checks my ID and I begin since I have already seen the instructions and watched J complete his prints.  Despite the fact that everything is going smoothly I am somewhat on edge.  Why?  Who knows?  Perhaps that every one of these things seem like pointless hoops to leap through, how is it that the clerk can leave the room?  Anyone could have walked in the door and completed our prints while they were in the back.  Our doctor is now filling out our health forms without even seeing us, as if he too believes all of this is getting dumb.  So, when I am about half way done busy, breathless clerk reappears and announces that they will now assist me since all other tasks are completed.  They grab my hand and continue finger printing me while rattling off company policy about when to assist finger print clients and when not to.  Apparently overseeing FBI fingerprinting ranks pretty low on the priority list, and the suggestion that I was doing fine with out help landed upon deaf, or perhaps priority plugged, ears.

That hand grab was what did it.  The act of finger printing was changed from something I was doing voluntarily to gain something I desired, to something that was being done to me to prove my worthiness, to uncover some past dark deed that would reveal the monster that I really was.

I want this to be over, one way or another, I need this to be done.  That one small thing really unsettled me, it is not right, it is not good.

Whew!

What a weekend! 

Let’s start on Friday.  J took the day off to help get ready for the party.  He was really wound up and flew through the work.  (As usual, he is not good at pacing himself, so kept sneaking peeks at my “to-do” list because he had already finished his.  This meant we got on each others nerves a bit over  . . . well let’s just call them quality control issues.)  My mom came over to help with the house work too, so it was not a very stressful day all in all.  We even had time to get the last few issues worked out with the hot tub so S was able to go in after dinner.  (Yep, paella again!)

Saturday arrived and J and I were both wound up now, so the last of the work was getting done very quickly.  It was, until my in-laws came at 10 am, and things ground to a halt.  I didn’t think we would see them until at least lunch time.  So we talked and caught up and had a simple lunch, no, NOT paella. 

My in-laws irritate me.  They only come to our home once every two to three years.  A typical visit will last 6 to 10 hours despite the fact that it is a drive over 9 hours one way.  I always have a room ready for them, unless they show up with-out warning as they did on their previous visit.  But, none the less even then all I need to do is put fresh sheets on the bed.  My father-in-law is retired, my (step)mother-in-law is not.  She continues to work at a job that does not pay well and where they are very inconsiderate of the employees.  She has been at this job for more than 20 years and it would not even occur to her to take an extra day off for an event like our renewal of vows, even when the day is Memorial Day.  So, once again they took off after about 8 hours, and managed to gripe about the timing of the party.  I should be grateful it was only brought up once.  I also try to convince myself it could be worse, that generally they ignore us instead of hassle us and complain about stuff.  The biggest issue that just really bugs me is that the children from step-mom’s first family get so much more face time than S.  One of the other grandkids spends a whole month in the summer living with them and my son is lucky to get one long weekend a year and the burden of travel is nearly always on us.  For that weekend we have to travel the nine hours north or to a step sister’s home four and a half hours east.  We have made the trip east about 10 times, and step-sister’s family has never come to our home despite repeated invitations.  My son is very confused, he thinks that step sister’s home is his grand parent’s home too.  Oh, off-topic, sorry, rant over.

So once lunch was over, I excused myself and went back to work.  J and his parents hopped in the car to go to Clem’s to pick up the meat for the party.  I was kind of grateful for the quiet house, but now we have subtracted an hour and a half from the time Grandparents could have used to get to know their grandson.  Grrrrrrrr.

(BTW, Clem’s has a beautiful new building 3 miles east of their old location.  So it is very close to Blairsville now.)

I should probably take a moment to marvel at how the weather cooperated this weekend.  (Now that it is pouring rain AGAIN!)  Not only did we have a nice day for the party, but a day and a half prior was rain free enough to do a lot of yard work in advance and J and I had wonderful weather for our overnight trip the day after as well.  We were SO stinking lucky!

By three o’clock my best friend from college (D) and her kids arrived.  YEAH!  It is so nice when ever I get t see her, two years ago we managed to get visit with her and her family.  It is one of those friendships were we pick up again like we just saw each other yesterday.  

Just before four, the pastor arrived and all the guests were here by 4:30.  The ceremony went very well, tears were shed as anticipated/feared, and ended with a big laugh.  When the bride was kissed, all 10 kids went “eewwwh” in unison and then took off in a sprint for the back yard. The adults responded with laughter and applause.   I know it was one of those “had to be there” moments, but it was quite memorable.

Dinner was served and was enjoyed by all.  The kids played, the adults lounged until the kids teased all the Dads into a game of tag and sword fighting.  As dark began to fall, S mad it very clear that he had waited too long for s’mores and a camp fire was lit.  Now it was sincerely dark and all the guests headed home except D and her kids who were spending the night.

All three of the kids enjoyed the hot tub (reeaallly enjoyed, they needed goggles to cope with all the splashing) until about ten.  Then dressed for bed we all enjoyed the fireworks that were part of the local recreation departments” Beginning of Summer Celebration” in the park that is about half a mile from the house.  Then we sent all the kids to bed, cleaned up a bit and then we collapsed into bed around midnight.

Whew!  What a wonderful day!  Tomorrow I’ll tell you about the little trip J and I took.

 

 

 

 

20 Years!

Yesterday was my 20th wedding anniversary.  It was a good day for the most part.

 After getting S off to school I had to go to the university for a while.  We are still in the process of moving.  Yesterday we had to sort things we didn’t think we would need for next year to go into deep storage.  Some things sorted easily, others were puzzling.  It was difficult to keep four scripts in my head and then say “yes, we might need that”, or “no, not gonna need it”.  

The part that was uncomfortable was that the TD started asking about what designs I wanted to do next year.  Which meant I had to start projecting what was going to happen with the adoption.  Also, I don’t think he is aware of the discussion I had with the program director, where I said I didn’t want to commit to more than my half-time contract until I knew what was happening.  In any case, I was starting to get a bit flustered because I didn’t want to have this conversation around students (who were hired to help with the move.)  TD is a smart guy, he must have known that I was struggling and didn’t ask again. 

After the sorting task I went to my office briefly to sign some purchase approvals, turn in receipts and the like.  That done, I did a little clearance rack shopping and went to lunch.  That is when it started to rain AGAIN!  I then called J to ask if it would be a problem if I didn’t pick up the mulch, fearing the mess the wet bags would make of myself and the car.  Turns out he was on his way home to surprise me for our anniversary!  So he got the mulch since he had the van, and we met at home.  We did a bit of yard work (rain stopped) until S came home from school.  And prepared to head out to dinner.

Just then my mom and grandmom showed up with gifts, since they (the gifts, that is) have been forbidden at the party on Saturday.  Gifts were opened, cooed over and maternal units sent on their happy way.  Then on to dinner!

We drove into the city to a well-known Spanish restaurant, Mallorca.  J and I both had paella and S ordered Alaskan king crab.  The food there is always wonderful.  S was in heaven, he loves seafood and he ate most of his crab along with some of my food.  He sampled deep-fried squid (our appetizer) mussels, clams, shrimp, langosta (mini lobster tail), and scallops.  Loved all of it but was luke-warm on the mussels.  For desert J ordered creme brulee and S and I ordered sherbet.  The sherbet was delicious and looked awesome.  It was made at the restaurant and used the empty fruit rinds for dishes, so it looked like a a big piece of frozen fruit on your plate.  S ordered watermelon and they even stuck mini chocolate chips in the sides to look like seeds.  I had the pineapple, and ate a lot more than I thought I could because it was so good.  

We over ordered though and brought home as much as we ate.  If you go, think of the paella as a dinner for two.  I think I will be eating paella for about three days.

Back home, for homework and baths and to bed with S.  J and I shared one of the mini champagnes left from New Year and called it a night.

But then, I could not sleep.  First it was party preparations, then work in the Fall and then what if there is no adoption.  First I was cold, then I was hot and then it was too late for a sleep aid.  If it is too late I can’t wake up gracefully to get S to school.  So today I will have a little extra caffeine and, if I’m really lucky, a nap.  But, I have a long “to do” list today, so I should stop blogging and get to work.  No parties for the lazy.

Party Ready!

I’m getting very excited for our anniversary party on Saturday!  Things are really starting to come together.  I hope the weather cooperates, so far the forecast is perfect.  It will be a big relief after the nearly endless rain we have been having here.
Here is what we are planning!

Renewal of vows, I’m really nervous about this.  I cried the whole way through the ceremony 20 years ago.  I was doing so well until my father’s voice cracked when he was giving me away.  I will miss him on Saturday.
FOOD, FOOD, FOOD!  We will have ribs and chicken from Clem’s.  I’d love to link to this place for you, but there isn’t one.  It is on Rt. 22 in PA just outside Blairsville.  It is a small place, but if you are passing by, you must stop!  You will not be disappointed.  Desert will be a cake from Moio’s, with strawberry filling. Wine from Bully Hill. And lots of food brought by friends, so far I know we will have a corn casserole, fruit platter, various salads and something involving asparagus and puff pastry! (OH YUM! I CAN’T WAIT!)  Later I think we will light a fire in the pit, roast s’mores and make mojitos.  I’m looking forward to a wonderful day. But, I have much to do that does not include blogging.