A culinary interlude ... and other tidbits
This weekend I added one more thing to my very small but ever growing list of culinary accomplishments: pulled pork. I went and got a cut-just-for-me pork butt (which is actually the pig's shoulder - don't ask me why, someone just started calling it Boston Butt and that's what we call it today) and then put a dry rub on it. I got the recipe for the rub from one of my favorite Food Network shows, Good Deal with Dave Lieberman, and it was a lot of stuff. Coriander, chili powder, garlic powder, mustard seed, salt and pepper. It took over 3 hours to make because it slow cooks in the oven but the meat that came out was really tender and juicy and very flavorful - before the sauce! I was happy that it turned out decent since we had Michele and Dylan over for dinner and I didn't want to have to resort to pizza or something. For dinner we had pulled pork, green beans, fries (for Dylan and JJ) and tater tots (for me and Michele). For dessert it was cake and a frosting/topping of your choice, chocolate ganache, strawberries, whipped cream, or any combination thereof. I don't like it when my husband gets sick but Saturday night he gorged himself at the dinner table and for dessert and was uncomfortable all night. Like his stomach was going to explode, he says. Well, that'll teach him to eat more than he should. ;-)
Yesterday was Mother's Day and JJ and I were pretty proud of ourselves for our gift selection this year, if I do say so myself. Rather than get something stereotypical (and we all know how I feel about stereotypical gifts and customs) we wanted to do something more personal. We got my mom a big book full of some of the best photography done on China. We figured since we're headed that way in a week she would enjoy looking at the artsy side of it. We got JJ's mom a tea-for-one teaset complete with mug and teapot. It had a spray of lovely blue daisies on it. In an unrelated, but mildly tangential topic, I have decided that I like daisies. They're happy flowers. I was crabby on Saturday and asked JJ to bring me flowers and he brought me multicolored daisies - pink and yellow and white. They're just so cheerful. I don't know what kind of daisy he got exactly (other than the kind from Kroger) but gerber daisies are so big and sunny that they have to cheer you up.
Sound bites from hopetown kids yesterday:
- "I didn't get mommy a present. She says that I'm her present!"
- (when asked what she got mommy for mother's day) "That's daddy's job!"