Best Advice For Life, EVER.

From a comment here:

Stay calm! Breathe! Focus! Vodka!

:(

Pix Patisserie on Hawthorne is closing tonight.

I am a sad panda.

 Yeah, so there’s still the one on Division and the one on Williams, and I spend a lot of time at both locations, BUT BUT BUT…. CLOSING!!!! WAAAAH! The world is a little less shiny. And covered in chocolate.

Everyone else is making the announcement, so check out the usual suspects for more details on specials and the fiesta.

 (And yeah, I’ll be popping by the shindig about 7.30pm on my way to the Boiler Room for a friend’s birthday.)

Lentil and Pork Shoulder Recipe

I made this up. It’s yummy. And feeds either eight boring people or four people with healthy appetites.

1/2 lb fatty bone-in pork shoulder

1/4 cup homemade stock OR water. If you use canned stock, I will kick you in the ankle.

1 medium yellow onion, diced

4 cloves garlic, minced

1 carrot, diced

1 waxy potato, diced

2 cups green lentils

4 cups water

Salt and pepper to taste. Oregano and basil if you’re feeling fancy.

So, first what you do is put a heavy-bottom 4qt pot on the stove on medium high heat. Toss a couple of drops of water in the bottom of the pan. Are they dancing about? Good, now sprinkle some salt and pepper on both sides of the meat and toss the whole piece of pork shoulder in the pot and put the lid on for about four minutes. Then get a pair of tongs and flip that meat over, put the lid back on for another five minutes. Pull the meat out and put onto a plate to chillax for a while.

The whole point of this exercise was to get some yummy, yummy fat pooling in the bottom of the pot. Because now you’re going to toss in that 1/4c of stock and whisk up all the fat and little tasty bits stuck to the bottom of the pot. Bottom of the pot clean? Good. Toss in the garlic and onions, turn the heat down to low, and go do something else for about ten minutes.

When you get back, turn up the heat to medium and add in the carrot, potato, lentils, and water. Put the cover back on, set a timer for 20 minutes, and again with the finding something else to do for a while.

If the lentils aren’t tender after 20 minutes, give them another 5. Scoop into bowls and serve with garlic toast to make look fancy, or dump into tupperwares and have for lunch tomorrow.

Is there something wrong with me?

Don’t answer that.

I’m just wondering because once again I see a recipe out on the Foodterwebs (This time it’s The Amateur Gourmet) where they insist that dry beans need all sorts of special lovin’ to get them edible.

Matter of fact, what Adam says is:

Soak two pounds of Cannelini beans in water overnight OR, if you’re like me and you want to make this instantaneously, use the “quick-soak” method featured in the Gourmet cookbook. Put all the beans in a pot, cover by two inches of cold water, bring to a boil, boil for two minutes, put the lid on, turn the heat off and leave for an hour. You’re done!

See, I can go from dry beans in the cupboard to yummy goodness in about an hour. I did it with pinto beans just this weekend. Matter of fact, they’re chillin’ in the office fridge right now. Hmmm. Snacky time.

I’m back, and eating my beanie weanies. They’re lovely and tasty. And took an hour to cook. No soaking. No “quick soaking”. Just boiling until ded, and no taking the lid off the pot to stir.

Is THAT my secret? Using a pot twice as big as the amount of water and beans, and letting it boil at a roil? *shrug* I dunno. What I do know is I love, love, love the three quart pot I purchased from the Big Blue Box. It’s my new beanpot. It makes just enough for one bean-loving woman for four days. I also used it to make soup last night because I AM SICK. Waaaah.