Friday, June 26, 2009

Root Beer Pork

So, my husband and I enjoy cooking together, particularly on the weekends. We also like to periodically try out new recipes, a fact which undoubtedly would shock my mother, who was used to hearing me moan and groan on "new recipe night" when I was growing up. However, now Vic and I find we both get bored of having the same dinners all the time--unless of course they consist of pizza or Taco Bell. Mmmmm....yummy! Anyway, we came across a recipe for root beer pork and were intrigued enough to try it. My thought was, it'd either be really good or absolutely terrible. If the latter, we had a backup frozen pizza :) Turns out it fell on the side of really good! So, in case anyone is interested, the recipe is below.

Root Beer Pork

Ingredients
  • 4 (1 inch thick) pork chops, or 1 pork tenderloin, cut into medallions
  • 3 (12 fl oz) cans root beer
  • 1 cp beef stock
  • 2 tbsp brown sugar
  • 1/2 tsp chipotle-flavored hot sauce (we substituted 1/4 tsp liquid smoke & 1/3 tsp Taco Bell hot sauce)
  • 2 tsp Worcestershire sauce
  • Salt
  • Pepper
Directions
  1. Place the pork into a dish and cover with 2 cans of root beer. Place in refrigerator to marinate for at least 2 hours. We marinated for 5 hours.
  2. In a saucepan, combine the remaining can of root beer, beef stock, brown sugar, hot sauce (and liquid smoke if desired), and Worcestershire sauce. I added a pinch of salt (omit if you follow the cooking instructions for the chops below). Simmer the mixture over medium heat until it reduces to about 3/4 cup. This took us roughly 45 minutes. Set mixture aside.
  3. Lightly oil the grill and preheat for medium-high heat.
  4. Take the pork out of the marinade and season with salt and pepper to taste. Discard the marinade.
  5. Cooking instructions for the chops: Grill the pork until no longer pink in the center or until the thermometer reads 160 deg. F. According to the recipe, this takes 8 minutes per side. Baste the chops generously with the reduction sauce and continue cooking for about 2 minutes more per side. Remove from grill and baste with any remaining sauce. Season with salt to taste before serving.
  6. Cooking instructions for the medallions: Vic said he cooked the medallions for 6 minutes on one side. After flipping, he began basting the medallions continuously and cooked them for 4-5 more minutes. He then flipped the medallions back to the first side and cooked for an additional minute, basting continuously. (By this time, the thermometer said well over 160 deg F). Remove from grill and baste again. There will be leftover sauce; discard.

Enjoy!

Tuesday, June 23, 2009

Venting & Advice

OK, so this will be a generalization, but I've noticed some major differences when a woman confides in a man instead of another woman. Many times, I have found that when confiding in a male friend about some issue I'm having, he will start offering possible solutions. Shortly after my husband and I met and became friends, I finally had to tell him "STOP. I'm just venting! I don't need you to tell me how to solve it; I just need you to listen!" Women often intuitively understand this. Not that we don't offer advice sometimes, but women know that many times just by unburdening ourselves, we feel better about the problem. So, in the end, we walk away humming in satisfaction, while the solution-oriented male is left scratching his head, as the problem, whatever it is, is not actually resolved.

I've been thinking about this a lot lately, as I have a new female friend who confides in me, and I find myself giving her endless advice on possible solutions. I try to remember that she may just need to vent and to keep my mouth shut and just listen. Then, to my internal horror, my mouth opens and advice falls out. Endlessly. Apparently the sound of my own voice is WAAY too pleasing to me. What happened to me? Did I turn into a guy? I sure as hell don't look like one! When did I become so solution-oriented? Or was I always this way and never realized it? God, I hope not. I hate the thought that I might have been a hypocrite all along.

All I can do, I guess, is try to control myself and be a better listener, before my friend turns on me and tells me to shut the hell up. I'm sure that day is coming!

Friday, June 19, 2009

Yes, I am this bored

Rather than do any of the housework which so desperately needs to be done, I decided instead to yield to the siren song of the blog....I've resisted for a long time now, figuring there was enough spewing of thoughts to keep people entertained, but finally figured, why not spew my own? They are just as valuable. Besides, if my brother can do it, why can't I?

What's weird is that I even feel the need to post why I decided to start blogging....like some half-ass manifesto. Not enough that I simply want to do it....no, I have to explain why. One of my neuroses, I guess.

Anyway, so setting things up has been interesting. My feminist side came roaring to the forefront when I couldn't find "Homemaker" or something comparable in the "Industry" portion of the profile. Now it's possible that it's there and I am just blind, but I looked. Twice. So wtf is that about? I feel insecure enough about staying at home while my husband works without feeling like I don't have a "real job". I don't need a website reinforcing that view. Staying at home is nice in many ways, but there's no denying that it's an undervalued role in our society. What's worse is that it is often undervalued by ME.

Now, this could be counteracted to a certain extent if I were more vigilant about the housework, but frankly, it's difficult to motivate myself to clean. Susie Homemaker I'm not. Usually, I leave it until it's just driving me crazy and I feel I have to clean. Fortunately, my husband is even less likely to notice messes than I am and so he doesn't come home from work and ask "Why didn't you clean today?" While I complain for 2 weeks about how dirty the kitchen is and how I really need to clean it (yet never do), he listens very patiently....or, more likely, tunes me out. He's admitted freely that he tunes me out when I complain about something repeatedly. I should be mad about that, but really, it seems like a sound coping strategy. I know if I had to listen to that from someone else, repeatedly, I'd get pretty tired of it too.

One aspect of staying home that really does suck is feeling unimportant and like I dropped off the face of the planet. I do spend some time with my neighbor, who is also at home, but I miss having more friends, like I used to. I see old friends maybe every few months, which is weird for me since I used to see them every day at work. Then when I do see them, I don't have much to say for myself, as it's hard to come up with life stories when you spend your day with the cat. So I feel boring....I've found the best thing to do is let them talk and respond to that. I spend a lot of time on the internet as well, so it's easy enough to keep up on current events; the trick is to mention them without necessarily getting into religion/politics subjects as that can be touchy.

I often feel guilty, too, since my poor husband is solely supporting us financially. I keep telling him I feel like a leech....at which point he responds, "Well, I don't think you're a leech! That's YOUR issue. Stay home as long as you like." This is pretty reassuring to hear, even if it's said in an impatient tone lol. Still, it's very strange to lean completely on another person when I have been used to making my own money since I was 14. Thank god we have a strong relationship and I'm not worried about him running off with some 20-year-old named Bambi.

The good thing is, soon I will be forced to become more productive at the house. We're expecting our first child in September and that will keep me a lot busier throughout the day. My hope is that this will make me feel that I contribute more (because I will be!). I just hope I can continue to stay home. Despite the boredom, the isolation, and the financial factor, I do not want to return to work once that baby is here, if at all possible.