Pork roast and a reflection

Snow, snow , snow ! Happily we are not getting as much as a lot of areas in the country, but we seem to be getting our fair share here. Snow, from the perspective of looking at it through a plate glass window from a warm house is pretty. Looking at is from the perspective of the mess you must shovel, drive or walk through is not ! As a kid, a snowstorm represented a day off school and the opportunity to go sledding in the local hilly ravine turned opportunity to catch serious air. As an older adult, snow represents yet another time to contemplate bone density, the laws of gravity and stiff joints. I don't think I took as much time with the kid perspective as I should have ! Then again because of some of the time spent in that kid perspective, the adult perspective looms large( I broke some ribs sledding and my collarbone while skiing back in the good old days and they inform me of the approach of damp weather these days).

For some reason, winter weather makes me think pork roast. No idea why, but I always do. Perhaps it is something about the nutritional make up of pork- it is a good source of B6, B12, niacin, thiamine, riboflavin, iron, magnesium, potassium and zinc . Then again it can be something about the pig's role on a farm. Pigs were kept because they were an amazing animal that could convert household scraps into meat. Slopped with the leavings of the family table, cooking scraps, bits and bobs of various organic matter, pigs were kind of like bone broth on the hoof. Take what is thought of as useless, and transform it into something very useful. It has always struck me as interesting that one of the very reasons why I consider pigs to be valuable , some religious thoughts consider this to be reason to declare them unfit for human consumption. Where as they see it as the animal being unclean because it has consumed an unclean thing, I see it as a tribute to nature that this animal has the capacity to take the unclean and clean it for other use. Kind of like the water cycle when you get down to it. Did you know that the amount of water on the planet has been the same since the day it was formed ? It is made clean and usable through the water cycle. All of the snow and rains that are happening are evidence of the melting polar ice caps. We are going to have a very wet time for a long while now it seems !

But back to pork- I came across yet another recipe for a pork loin roast that said "make me". This one was to be served with a sauce, and it made me mourn the loss of my gravy boats over the years. Serving sauce in a coffee cup just seems wrong !

Asian Pork Loin

  2 lb  Pork Loin
  5 cloves garlic
  3 onions, sliced
  1 apple, chopped
  1  can  pineapple chunks, drained
  2 cups  chicken broth
  1/2 c.  splenda
  1/3 c.  balsmic vinegar
  2 t.   soy sauce.

Toss pork loin, garlic, onions, apple , pineapple and chicken broth in crock pot- cook on low for 4-6 hrs. Pour sauce into pan, add Splenda, balsamic vinegar and soy sauce, heat to boiling. Dissolve 2 T cornstarch in cold water, add to sauce to thicken.Slice roast and serve with sauce

Here it is , served with the sauce, soaked rice and saute'd Kale. Chard, kale and other dark greens seem to be so much better in the winter than salads are !

The gravy boat loss was contemplated by me deeply. Part of it was because of an upcoming anniversary. On the 17th we will have been living together for 30 years, and married for 30 years this coming August ( yes we were bad kids and lived together without benefit of marriage- something a lot more shocking at that time than it is now to be sure). As I was hunting down something to serve sauce in, I realized that in our 30 years of housekeeping I have only had one gravy boat, and should have had more. In comparison I have had 10 wine cork removers and have used them very infrequently ( perhaps 15 times in our entire history together) and 3 melon balers that have only been used twice. I still have one coffee cup that was given to me at one of my bridal showers, and the two original sets of cutlery I received as wedding presents. Other than that, nothing about me or my kitchen equipment is the same as it was in those days. I am different, as is he, and the amazing thing is that we have managed to change in ways that still complement each other. That is a good thing.