NOT Jamie Oliver Friday, How Bazaar!

I have been crazy busy getting ready for the Lake Lawrence Christmas Bazaar that starts tomorrow. My husband and I set up my booth tonight, which means I was NOT cooking...however last night he cooked for us! He is an excellent cook.( He is the better cook in the family, but don't tell him I am admitting to that!) Since he was the cook he did not use a Jamie Oliver recipe, he used one we read on Noble Pig's blog. Here was my dinner last night, Vanilla Cider Pork & Walnut Wild Rice. It was delicious. My husband was not too crazy about the pears but it turns out his pear was almost too ripe before he sauteed it but I thought my pear was perfect. It was warm and flavorful and still firm inside. The cider pork was perfection and the wild rice dish could be served as a dish all by itself. In fact, I think we will be making the rice dish for a potluck and we had better make a lot because I could eat a LOT of this! To get the recipe from Noble Pig herself click here* and check out the November 4th recipe. ( For some reason my computer will not allow the hyper-link to the specific recipe, sorry) I made this pie for a potluck awhile ago and this Mile High Apple Pie With Cranberries is from Mary's blog One Perfect Bite. I love, love , love cranberries. Sometimes I eat the cranberries just by themselves, no cooking, or sugar, or embellishments of any kind, so I was delighted at the idea of adding them to apples to make a pie. We have a lot of apples from the trees in our orchard and I have been told my pies are pretty good so hey, I tried it. Looks good on the outside if I must say so myself, and there was no pie left-over or tossed in the garbage at the potluck so it must be tasty. My grandchildren informed me it needed more sugar and I can see where they were coming from. I used the least amount of sugar called for in the recipe, next time I will add the max amount. The grandchildren ate their pie, so it was good, they just prefer MORE sugar!For this recipe click here.* I can't wait to have the busyness of the bazaar over so I can get down to holiday baking and cleaning and decorating and....

Jamie Oliver Friday & Thankful to Be Able To Post!

This is the Jamie Oliver meal we had last Friday. Here I thought I was a good little Girl Scout and prepared ahead of time with delicious results. However reality and life do exert their prerogative to totally thumb their noses at me and usurp my plans. I know this NEVER happens to any of you. Shortly after my last post our computer caught a virus and had to be sent to the computer hospital , whereupon we paid an extra fee to have our dearly beloved computer restored quickly. Our computer came home with amnesia and thanks to a dear friend ( and NOT the computer hospital ) we have some semblance of computer function and now I have to relearn my computer, and he has to re-learn us. Namely , I have to figure out where all the files and pictures are hidden , as the back-up disks the computer hospital made for us grouped all my precious pictures in strange ways and places. As I work out the game of hide-and-seek with my pictures I was able to locate Jamie's picture and download the last meal we made using his book. Here goes... Jamie's Balsamic-Baked Onions & Potatoes With Roast Pork "This dish has attitude-it uses a lot of balsamic vinegar but, trust me , it works really well!....I've chosen to serve them with pork, but beef or lamb works just as well." J. Oliver You Will Need:

• 3 and 1/2 pounds medium sliced waxy potatoes ( all purpose..we used potatoes from our garden) peeled and quartered lengthwise
• sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
• olive oil
• 7 ounces butter, cubed
• a bunch of fresh rosemary leaves picked and chopped
• 1 whole bulb of garlic, quartered or smashed
• 5 medium red onions, peeled and quartered
• 1 and 1/2 cups cheap balsamic vinegar

For The Pork

• a small bunch of fresh rosemary, leaves picked and finely chopped
• 2 Tablespoons freshly ground fennel seeds
• 1 - 3 and 1/2 pound pork loin ( or beef or lamb of choice)
• olive oil
• 6 cloves of garlic, crushed
• 1 medium red onion, peeled and quartered
• 2 sticks of celery trimmed and chopped
• 4 bay leaves
• 2 wineglasses of white wine
• extra virgin olive oil

"Pre-heat the oven to 400 degrees. Put the potatoes into a pan of boiling water and cook for about 8 minutes, then drain and return to the pan. Chuff them up a bit by shaking the pan. To prepare the meat, scatter a handful of finely chopped rosemary leaves onto a large chopping board. Sprinkle over some salt and pepper and the ground fennel seeds. Roll the pork ( or roast of choice) across the board, pressing down hard so all the flavorings stick to it. Get a large roasting pan that your pork will fit snugly into, and place it on a burner over medium high heat. Pour in a little olive oil and place the pork in, fat side down, sprinkled with any flavorings remaining on the board. After a few minutes, when the pork fat is lightly golden , turn it over and add the garlic cloves, onion, celery and bay leaves to the pan. Place on the bottom shelf of your pre-heated oven for an hour, basting it halfway through. ( For the last 20 minutes of cooking you may need to cover the pork with a bit of damp waxed paper to stop it coloring too much.) Get another roasting pan into which you can fit the potatoes in one layer, and heat it on the stove. When hot, pour a glug of olive oil into it and add the butter, rosemary and garlic. Add the potatoes and toss them in all the flavors. Add the onions and all the balsamic vinegar and season with salt and pepper. Cook for 5 minutes on the burner to reduce the balsamic vinegar a little. Place the pan on the top shelf ( of oven ) and cook for around 50 minutes until potatoes and onions are dark, sticky and crispy- removing the pan to toss the onions and potatoes half-way through. After an hour , the meat should be cooked. Prick it with a sharp knife- if the juices run clear, it's done; if not, pop it back in the oven for another 10 to 15 minutes, keeping the potatoes warm . Remove it from the oven and let it rest on a plate for 10 minutes. Pour away most of the fat from the pan and mash up the garlic and onion. Place the pan over the burner and add the white wine. Simmer until the liquid has reduced by half,scraping all the meaty, marmitey goodness off the bottom to make a tasty little sauce, and season if necessary. Pass through a sieve into a serving pitcher. Then slice the pork and serve it with your incredible baked onions and potatoes, drizzled with the pan juices. Great with some nice greens on an arugula salad." J. Oliver The vegetable portion of this recipe is delicious all by itself! We decided the wine sauce was not worth the effort because the sauce from the vegetable dish was superior to it. The pork loin I bought was on sale, however this would be delicious as a beef or lamb dish too. And don't think this recipe requires an expensive cut of meat, it does NOT! Worth making and great eating. Thanks again Jamie! BTW, I served home-made buttermilk biscuits slathered in REAL butter and home-made yellow plum jam along-side this dish.

Tax Day Quackers and Pork!

~I had planned to attend a little tea party at the state capital today. Put it on my calendar and read up on tea party etiquette on capital steps....thought about bringing my own party favors too. I had all kinds of ideas for a really artistic and bold sign to decorate the capital steps. But the local post office called and said my ducklings were in. I am hoping there will be another tea party soon. Off I went to pick up my little quackers.

~Look at this! 18 fuzzy quackers in this little box. 18 healthy and cute little quackers!~

~I put them in the most practical place. My chicken bathroom. No, no live chickens live in the bathroom.This just happens to be my most kitschy room, full of chicken decor...and my poultry magazines and catalogs are in a magazine rack right next to the ...ahem....where they can be read during lengthy visits to this room

~For awhile the quackers will live in this room because it is warm, easy to clean, and I can keep the door shut to prevent Miss Marple from dining on my new ducklings. Above, you can see the little cuties excited about their first taste of water. They are so excited about the water that I will be cleaning their box frequently to keep them warm and dry.I also put little blades of grass , cut short into the bin for the ducklings to eat and play with.

~Here is the outside view of the bin the ducklings are living in, and I have a light above the bin to keep the quackers warm.~

~PORK ? Where's the pork the title hinted at? See?! I stepped outside to get something from the garage and THIS is what i saw! In my yard, next to the garage! I do not know where this pig came from! I have never seen this pig before! Doesn't he look cranky?I ran and got my camera and he looked annoyed....but I got his picture. ~He doesn't like me being near him, and I am glad..because you never know if a pig in your yard is friendly. Especially a porker who might have a hunch you ( me ) were going to a tea party to protest PORK ! I mean, really. A pig, in my yard, for the first time ever...on TAX day, Tea Party day! What are the chances? Well, 1oo% today apparently. "Pork is the inevitable feature of the democratic process." Kevin Hassett ~I slowly walked towards him and he turned his curly little tail and ran pretty durn fast up our driveway and out of sight! Now if only the pork in government would....."Pork: slang-U.S. Money, position, or favors obtained from the government, as a result of political patronage." Webster's New Collegiate Dictionary ( 1941) "..pork has been used by both parties as re-election currency. They use these projects to get re-elected every two or every six years. There is no moral high ground here when it comes to pork barrel spending because most of Congress partake in this process " CAGW Vice President David Wilham ( citizens against government waste)

~So, Tax day quackers and Pork, not what you expected when you read the title, hey?~