We'll Kill the Fatted Calf Tonight So Stick Around

Okay, the pork shoulder doesn't come from a cow, it's from our piggy friend but it is cause for a celebration.

Nigella Lawson's Slow Roasted Aromatic Pork 

Served with Red Cabbage Apple Slaw & Cilantro Lime Rice

This time instead of the rice wine vinegar, I added the brine from a jar of Cherry Peppers 

For the Red Cabbage Green Apple slaw I used plenty of fresh cilantro,lime, red and green onions and of course jalapeno for heat. 

My Freedom I Hold Dear

Corn Porn Salad

I love making salads from the last of the sweet summer corn.  Somehow it becomes more special when you know it's going away.  I made extra and took a bowl to work for lunch.   

                                         

You can't fully appreciate a fresh healthy salad without the juxtaposition of some Strawberry Cake with Whipped Cream, someone once said.   The corner market sells delicious cake and pie by the slice, which is perfect for those of us who like the one and done method.  I'm not comfortable with sweets lying around my home, taunting me.  This was so moist and soft.  I enjoyed it as a last indulgence before my mate returned home from his trip.

Both the largest cauliflower and celery bunches I have ever laid eyes on, were on display today.

Instead of a free-wheelin' time, P's adventure was fraught with turmoil.  It seems some gal T-Boned him in West Virginia and totaled his beloved car.  Then the rest of the time was spent figuring out insurance and how to get back.  A sad end to a cool free ride and way out of this city on weekend getaways.  But like many good things, this wagon came to an end.  RIP, the Paddy Wagon.  Thank God that's the only thing that died out there.

In anticipation of his return and to help ease some of the sorrow, I slow-roasted a pork shoulder with Nigella Lawson's aromatic spice mixture.  The smell would fill the house as I would not be in it when he came home.  I love it when he goes away but I love it more when he comes back. 

Be Here to Love Me Today

 

A slow roasted pork shoulder

I don't much like pork anymore but I do love the smell of roasting meat, so much so that it's almost worth making an aromatic shoulder just to get that scent to fill the apartment.  

P loves pork and coincidentally a vat of meat for him provides satisfaction in another way.  The knowing that it's there waiting for him is comforting.  I think it serves some primitive anxiety from thousands of generations ago when men needed to go fetch their dinner in the wild.  Probably when they discovered they could dry meat or hang it in a tree from predators, it was a relief and allowed them time to become artists.  However all of this being said, I am reducing the amount of meat in our diets, mine more so just because my body is starting to reject it.  

Even though some might find this a horrible display, in reality a slow roasted pig is a beautiful, sacred thing.  Or it can be.  Whether it be a head of lettuce or the butt of pork, I think now more than ever you need to really honor the food that provides for you.  In the preparation, the handling and finally the serving and eating.  This little guy did not go to waste and was highly appreciated.

Originally not intended to be eaten, only worshipped "Highness" was a pig given to me and created by Hope Silverman and I have her proudly displayed in my living room as a reminder to honor our food always.  

There's a Place for Us

Want a bunch of meal opportunities?  Slow roast a pork shoulder at night while you're sleeping!

Homemade Roasted Hot Sauce

Pork & Rice bowl 

 I like variety and bowls.  Rice, beans, lettuce, pork and hot sauce to make us strong like bull.

Lilac Bushes

Brooklyn is its own Botanical Gardens in spring.  Many of the neighborhoods have the trees we flock to see in the park.  And it's all free!   However, walking around right now post COVID, I have the constitution of about an 87 year old.  I'm moving faster but when someone comes up behind me quickly like the hundreds of runners do on the street right now, I feel fairly vulnerable, crackable.  If I fell right now, my body might just break apart like a Nature Valley granola bar.  I've had a few missteps taking the curbs, misjudging distances, still walking more wonky then I'd like.Corona screwed with so much of my equipment.  Reactions times are a little off.  It's as if my knees aren't talking to my leg muscles or operating on a 7 second delay. I'm unsure if it's all gonna click back to normal but I'm counting on it. Again, can't imagine how hard this would be for someone compromised.  I've always been sensitive to the old folks in the city, walking to get groceries hunched over, wondered how they must feel so unguarded.  I had a peak into that world today while walking and please, no thank you!  At least for 30 years or so, God please if you're listening.

Graham Home for Old Ladies

Nigella Lawson's Slow Roasted Pork Shoulder

Another Nigella Lawson's Slow Roasted Aromatic Pork Shoulder 

Just the name alone is enough to get those saliva juices flowing in your mouth.  This roast fills your home with the delightful scent of porky pig goodness combined with garlic and herbs, the ever so slight smell of vinegar that lingers like a long ago sprayed mist in the air.  Almost as if you had a BBQ pit going in your home but softer and subtler.  You really need nothing more because you want the focus to be the meat but a cool apple spinach salad is a nice pairing for this.  Use a slightly sweet honey dressing to balance out your palate. 

The skin just falls off and the fat keeps the meat so moist underneath, never dries out.  If you don't try this you may never know true happiness. Instructions for happiness

All is Calm, All is Bright

Nigella Lawson's Aromatic Slow Roasted Pork

Red Cabbage Green Apple Slaw

Banana Bread with Pecans and Chocolate Chips

Failed Mozzarella Sticks

Chipotle Shrimp on Polenta Squares

Antipasto kabobs

Foggy desolate Christmas morning in Brooklyn.  Silent night and even quieter morning.