Month: December 2008

crispy carnitas & butterscotch pudding

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Wednesday I was craving carnitas, the lovely rich crispy pork nuggets that are so simple to make that I can never understand why I don;t make them more. After trying many many recipes, including one from a Washington DC restaurant I once worked for, I have found "the one", thanks to Lisa of Homesick Texan fame. You can find her recipe here which she adapted from Mexican food maven, Diana Kennedy. I still can't believe I don't have a copy of this book… must add to Christmas list.

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the pork but, I did not cube it but cut into big chunks for a more even cooking, since I planned on shredding it a bit.

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Almost time to crank up the heat and start crisping.

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In the spirit of full disclosure…. I was so damn hungry to eat my carnitas Wednesday night that this picture was taken last night when I reheated the carnitas for dinner. FYI, these are great leftovers, because you can just toss them in  and I think they're better the next day because they are crispier. You'll also note I threw some cilantro in the mix when crisping. That's really the only other ingredient I added. The absolute beauty of this recipe is the economy of ingredients.

I served mine with a side of slow cooked black beans into which I added a leftover drumstick from the Greenberg turkey I'd ordered for our party. It added a nice smoky flavor, very different than the usual pork.

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I didn't want to go through al the hassle of making flan so I settled on a  butterscotch pudding recipe from one of my favorite cookbooks from a New York restaurant I've never even been to, Home. If I was a smarter gal, I may have read the recipe through before blazing through it, since I had to bake it in a water bath just as I would have for flan… so much for a simple stove top pudding. It was very good though…even if I did burn the caramel which made it taste a helluva lot like flan anyway. the consistency was worth it.

baby it’s cold outside

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I missed posting after Thanksgiving because my life was a whirlwind of activity the days after with deadline, the press trip and what not.

Having my sister and brother-in-law here was just great. The gathering was just big enough…kept the guest list smallish so I could actually visit with my sis during her abbreviated stay. She made the most amazing macaroni and cheese… I think I need to add it to my holiday repertoire. I think this is the recipe.

I was in Wisconsin for the press check. It was cold, I mean really cold. Despite growing up in big snow I don't drive in the snow anymore and it was painfully obvious that I have indeed lost that muscle. I would like to take a moment to thank those Waukesha county drivers who refrained from flipping me the bird as crawled along on a snowy roads at 2:30 am to make it to the press check. That's the kind of hours we keep when doing a press check… nothing like being woken up at 2:30 am, leaving your toasty hotel bed to de-ice your windshield in 5º weather. Nothing like it at all.

On Friday, after a hearty breakfast I decided to hit the mall in search of the perfect red lipstick. I got the call to get to press as I was leaving the parking lot. I performed the job and as I was leaving I realized I still had bright red lips. I was all bundles up, not a stitch of makeup, with some serious pillow perm/hat head combo… but my lips were like movie star red. Oy.

So the flight from Milwaukee to Dallas was on this cold ass puddle jumper, which of course was delayed for an hour and a half for de-icing. I landed in Dallas with 10 minutes to get to my connecting flight. Damn, I had to take the little train… I barely made it on time, but the flight was delayed for 35 minutes. Hallelujah! Never have I been so happy about a delay. So I pick up my first meal of the day…a 10 piece McNugget meal and sit down near my gate with what I'm sure appears to be a disproportionate anticipation of my feast. I'm peaking in my bag and realize that everyone is facing me… I had sat right under the TV. I moved… it's not pretty when I'm that hungry.

Lat night we had a Christmas party and it was a lot of fun. As always there are dear friends, people I haven't seen in ages and people I've never met. I just realized I was still wearing my pearls… they actually look good with flannel pajamas, who knew? Maybe I should put on my lipstick and just shuffle around the house like this all day… but that might scare my DH. It's surprising how many people our house can hold. It was super cold outside, which helps when you have like 45 people in your house. We had the chiminea blazing. It actually sleeted here last night, yesterday I had the AC on because it was like 80 and humid. Texas weather is a trip. There was a shiny white icing on everything as I slipped under the covers. I think today is the perfect day to make a yummy stew and head to my LYS in Paige. Today it really feels like Winter here in Central Texas… it's an infrequent occurrence around these parts  so today I will enjoy every minute of it, starting with coffee and chocolate cake for breakfast.