Porky

Dear Tia Fia-

I am so sorry about your grandmother; while thinking about you in Bangladesh I didn't once think how hard it would be to visit without your grandmother there. It must've been such a long and draining trip: to travel half-way around the world and have a major person missing- I really can't imagine.

But of course I still want to exchange Internet letters! B and I found out (2 weeks ago) that we are having a little girl. No longer Little Arroz she's now referred to as E. Bean and I even have a few new pink (can you believe it?) outfits. For several complicated reasons, some saved for future letters and others reserved only for myself, raising a girl into a woman seems like an arduous journey. Not hard in that UGG! way, but hard in that oh-dear-God-I'm-not-sure-if-I-can-do-this-but-it-is-so-worth-the-effort way. I mean, just keeping her physically safe is a formidable task, but also teaching her the tight rope walk of softness, strength, taking care of others, but not letting them take advantage of her seems like a big job for two people. Which is why we must continue these letters: I NEED HELP!

Also, I needed the break from cooking too. At my 20 week dr's appt. I'd gained 11 pounds. Not since I got pregnant, but since my 16 week appt. Not good. After the medical assistant weighed me, there was a sharp inhalation of breath "Oh, my God, you sure enjoyed Thanksgiving, didn't you?", she asked. Not stopping there, even though my mouth was hanging open, she then questioned, "Are you still WALKING?" and still not feeling like she'd gotten to the bottom of the problem then said,"It must be twins- are you sure it isn't?" I can only thing of two words to describe this woman: F****** BITCH. My heart still pounds when I think about her.

So when my midwife talked to me she didn't seem to think it was a big deal. She just said, "watch your carbs." Which means I can't read carbohydrate-filled recipes like they're literature anymore. So- it was chicken breasts and steaks with cut vegetables for awhile and now I'm back to cookbooks. I just avoid the casseroles, coffee-cake filled with cream cheese, and pastas with pestos. Bringing me to the recipe below:



Indoor Pulled Pork

1 cup plus 2 teaspoons table salt
1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons sugar
3 tablespoons plus 2 teaspoons of liquid smoke
1 boneless pork butt (about 5 pounds) cut in half horizontally
1/4 cup of yellow mustard
2 tablespoons ground black pepper
2 tablespoons of smoked paprika
1 teaspoon of cayenne pepper

BBQ Sauce (make if you want or just take the bottle stuff and thin it with 1/2 cup of pork drippings)
1 cup cider vinegar
1/2 ketchup
1/2 cup of water
1 tablespoon of sugar
3/4 teaspoon of salt
3/4 teaspoon of red pepper flakes
1/2 teaspoon of ground black pepper


1. FOR THE PORK: Dissolve 1 cup salt, 1/2 cup sugar, and 3 tablespoons liquid smoke in 4 quarts cold water in large container. Submerge pork in brine, cover with plastic wrap, and refrigerate for 2 hours.

2. While pork brines, combine mustard and remaining 2 teaspoons liquid smoke in small bowl; set aside. Combine black pepper, paprika, remaining 2 tablespoons sugar, remaining 2 teaspoons of salt, and cayenne in second bowl; set aside. Adjust oven rack to lower-middle position and heat oven to 325.

3. Remove pork from brine and dry thoroughly with paper towels. Rub mustard over entire surface of each piece of pork. Sprinkle entire surface of each piece with spice mixture. Place pork on wire rack set inside foil-lined rimmed baking sheet. Place piece of parchment paper over pork, then cover with sheet of aluminum foil, sealing edges to prevent moisture from escaping. Roast pork for 3 hours.

4. Remove pork from oven; remove and discard foil and parchment. Carefully pour off liquid in bottom of baking sheet into fat separator and reserve for sauce. Return pork to oven and cook, uncovered, until well-browned, tender and internal temperature registers 200 degrees on instant-read thermometer. Transfer pork to serving dish, tent loosely with foil, and let rest for 20 minutes.

5. FOR THE SAUCE: While pork rests; pour 1/2 cup of defatted cooking liquid from fat separator into medium bowl; whisk in sauce ingredients.

6. TO SERVE: Using 2 forks, shred pork into bite-sized pieces. Toss with 1 cup of sauce and season with salt and pepper. Serve, passing remaining sauce separately.

I've gotta go! That pizza looks great- I wish I'd been in Virginia to share it with you.

Love,
Tia T

Arugula Glut

Dear Tia Fia,
Your pictures from New York look amazing- I am SO jealous. Did you go to a favorite restaurant? Eat in China Town? I'm dying to know. Maybe the two of us should organize a Culinary Adventure Trip (CAT) and go! We'll say it's a business expense and eat our little hearts out.

Have I ever told you that B is really into things like sustainable gardening, organic fruits and veggies, and eating from local/regional producers? And that, on the other hand, I really like CHEAP? Politics in our house get tricky as I debate in realistic (B just asked me to change that to "short-sighted") terms like "Have you seen our bank account?" and B debates from the lofty idealistic "what's better for the whole of us is better than what's good for the two of us" stance.
In October we'll hit our 5 year anniversary, so we'll have had this argument for, oh let's see, 4 1/2 years.

Now I'm thanking you from the bottom of my stingy little heart, your mention of a CSA saved B and me from at least ONE perpetual row. We looked close to home and found Farmer Tom's. For 24 bucks a week we get a 1/2 bushel of organic fruits and vegetables that've been grown by a local farmer. The one down side- that 1/2 bushel is a grab bag and you don't know what you're going to get. This week was our first CSA Surprise and it included apples, pears, cantaloupe, eggplant, broccoli, potatoes, tomatoes, nanners, and parsnips.



And 2 POUNDS of arugula.



What do you do with that much? I mean the peppery bitter green is good, but I can't eat that many salads in a week. I guess I'm thinking a soup, frozen pestos, and this pizza:


Prosciutto Pizza with Arugula
2 par baked personal sized doughs
1/4 pound of prosciutto thinly sliced
4 slices of provolone
olive oil (if you have it use truffle oil on the arugula instead of olive oil)
garlic
as much arugula as you can stand
Parmesan
salt
pepper
red pepper flakes according to taste


Preheat oven to 400. First, mix minced garlic with some olive oil- brush over pizza crust. Lay prosciutto over pizza crust (1/4 pound was enough to cover both my par bakes, but you could use more or less). Cut up provolone into matchsticks (I used 2 thin slices per pizza) and arrange evenly over the pizza. You don't want it like a traditional pizza- just the suggestion of cheese.
Place in oven for 6-7 minutes.

While pizzas cook, mix arugula, Parmesan, a glug of olive oil, and salt and pepper in a bowl- like it's a salad. ( You could add lemon. I wanted to, but B had thrown mine away earlier in the day.) When pizzas are done (cheese just melted) just place the arugula on top so that it covers the prosciutto so much you can't see it. Use red pepper flakes to your discretion.

If you have any ideas for arugula please send them and what are you getting in your CSA Surprise?

Love,
TT

Pork Chop Pork Chop Greesy Greesy

Dear Tia Fia,

Diving into the pool of excess- oh boy- gotta love it. Really, I'm going to have to make some friends who offer me Nutella. If I bought it for the house, B and I would eat it in a single sitting.

You won't believe how cool it is here in Chicago. It's been between 62 and 75 degrees for the last week. Although the early autumn is pleasant, the crisp weather is foreboding in its promise of 20 below oh my God this could actually kill me freezing cold. I imagine this is the reason people say "Why'd you move HERE?" when tell them I'm from Austin. Yeah cold is a deterrent, but there are an amazing amount of things to do here. It's not just margaritas, Tex-Mex and Barton Springs.
Evidence-
Edgewater Farmer's Market where we can buy:




heirloom tomatoes, lemon cucumbers, and flowers that I thought were pretty in their purpleness, but forgot to note the name.

Hosted by neighborhood store, Nature's Way, the market is a small, but effective, meeting place for neighbors and friends. Nature's Way also has this cool rooftop garden thing going on. They grow some of the veggies they sell on the ROOF. You can check out the details here. We weren't allowed to climb the ladder and get a sneak peak, but they were certainly nice about answering all our questions.

Afterward, B and I split the Cherry Custard Strudel and had a hot cup of coffee at Austrian Bakery.



Whenever we're there we make sure to pick up a loaf of Sunflower Bread (see picture with pork chop) and buy a pastry we've never had. See that sugar on top? It makes the crunchiest, yummiest texture ever.

Because all the above fun was so tiring and expensive, we ate in for the evening.

Pork Chops Saltimbocca (adapted from Gourmet)

2 (1-in thick) center cut pork chops
2 sage leaves, finely chopped
2 very thin slices Italian Fontina
2 thin slices prosciutto
2 Tbsp olive oil, divided

1) Preheat oven to 450 degrees.
2) Cut a deep, wide pocket in each pork chop. Sprinkle half of sage in each pocket and stuff pockets with cheese and prosciutto. Pat chops dry and season with salt and pepper. I also like to add a little bit of sugar to the 1st pan down side.
3) Heat 1 Tbsp oil in a ovenproof skillet over medium high heat until it shimmers. Cook chops until undersides are golden, about 2 minutes, then turn chops and transfer skillet to oven. Roast until cooked through. About 5 minutes.

See, easy as pie. Although- I didn't make my pocket wide enough and the double pork goodness was centered in a very small area of chop. Also it says 5 minutes, but I shoulda put an extra 2 minutes on the meat, we couldn't eat close to the bone.
Did you get your Fulbright application sent? I keep thinking about how much I'll miss y'all if you go to Bangladesh.

Love,
Tia T

P.S. New word I will not say- Swab. Even the benign command "Swab the deck" sounds suspect.

Sausage and a Movie

Dear Tia Fia-

B and I have an unspoken rule that we sit down to dinner. I get home first and start preparing and when he gets home it's about ready and so he sets the table. Usually it's so late in the evening we both clean up. We are both really comfortable with this routine, maybe because we both grew up with it, but for whatever the reason, we keep to it.

This week though we've had to register our DBA as Hotel de D. We've had so many friends in and out of the apartment, plus free media passes to Lollapalooza, invites to private rock shows, and just a hell of alot of booze. It's been such a fun and overwhelming week that the only thing we can do is pull out our folding chairs, pretend they are t.v. trays, download a movie, and make one of the easiest meals ever.

Bratwurst Sausage with Sauerkraut

The bratwurst gets thrown in a pan with half an inch of water and when the water has evaporated you then turn the heat up a little and brown all sides of the sausage.

The sauerkraut comes in a jar and gets dumped into a pot with a little chicken stock and alot of caraway seeds. Usually by the time the sausage is done the sauerkraut has been warmed through.

I like to put mustard on this, but some people like onions or granny smith apples.

Anyway, Chicago has almost had its 6 weeks of summer so things are about to calm down for us. I hear your parents are visiting soon. Do you have to cook meals for them or do y'all get taken out the whole time? I hope its the latter.

Write back. I can't wait to hear from you.

Love,
Tia Tay

P.S. I'll have pictures soon. I just need to get my hands on this usb cord for the camera.