![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
Just some rambling...
I was disappointed to watch the first ep of the new Ice Road Truckers season and find that neither of my faves from last season are back this year. On the other hand, it's cool that they're based out of Inuvik this time. I found myself looking for Ray and Fraser in the background, then I remembered... they're fictional. ;P I'm continually amused that IRT has been lumped into the History Channel's "American Originals" series. I suppose if you take "America" to be "North America" not "United States of America" it works.
In Top Chef news, I am absolutely disgusted that Antonia is out and squinchy-faced black-cloud Lisa is still in the running. Gah. Why her? Other than that she makes a good bad guy? ETA: Tom Colicchio explains it all. I guess that the "lucky-dog-who-keeps-skating-by-effect," in which a chef of decent, but not stellar, skills gets lucky and doesn't screw up at precisely the moment that one of their more gifted opponents does." makes sense.
I've watched the first two eps of Next Food Network Star. I am not impressed with any of them. Also, is it just me or does Lisa Garza (another odd chef named Lisa?) bear an uncanny resemblance to Sandra Bullock? (separated at birth, I tell ya!) I keep wanting tell her to step away from the spray tan... yikes! Sometimes she looks like a reverse raccoon.
My Flickers have apparently been chased out of their nest by squirrels. This bums me out muchly but there isn't anything I can do about it. Nature red in tooth and claw and all that. :( In the backyard the feeders are attracting a wide variety of pretties though. Cassin's finches, house finches, house sparrows, chickadees (mountain and black-capped), goldfinches, blue jays, black-throated sparrows, mourning doves, and once I saw a red-headed woodpecker. Oh, and there is also the usual assortment of greedy grackles. I have to move my main feeder to a hook up under the eaves every evening at sunset or the raccoons come and raid it. I could just leave it there, I suppose, but it's much harder to watch the birds there.
I tried a new recipe last night. It was supposed to be an asian pork roast cooked in the crock pot but by the time I got to the store to buy ingredients and then prepped it was too late to do it in the crock pot so instead I cubed the pork and used the sauce recipe with a few additions and just cooked it on the stove for an hour. It actually turned out quite well-- sort of a cross between teriyaki pork and curried pork-- nicely mouth-warming but not painfully spicy. I served it over rice with steamed broccoli and it was yummy! I don't want to forget the recipe so I'm posting it here .
Asian Pork
2 lbs pork roast, cut into 1" cubes
1 large onion, sliced thinly
1 fresh jalapeno, seeded and diced
2 cloves garlic, minced
3 bay leaves
1 4-inch cinnamon stick, broken in half
1/4 C honey (can use less if you prefer)
1/4 C soy sauce
1/4 C warm water
2 Tbsp rice wine vinegar
1 Tbsp Asian chili-garlic sauce
1/4 tsp ground cloves
1 Tbsp curry powder
2 Tbsp peanut (or other) cooking oil
In a small bowl or measuring cup, combine the honey, soy, water, vinegar, chili sauce, cloves and curry powder. Season the meat generously with salt, pepper and the minced garlic, rubbing it into the meat well. Heat the oil over medium heat in a dutch oven or 2-1/2 quart sauce pan. Place the cinnamon stick pieces and bay leaves in the oil and let them infuse for a minute or two. Add the onions and jalapenos and cook until the onions start to become translucent. Add the meat to the pan, pushing it under the onions, and raise heat to medium high. Cook until the meat is well browned on the bottom. Stir to break up the meat which tends to clump while browning, and pour the sauce mixture over the meat, stirring to be sure all the meat is coated. Cover loosely (steam needs to escape) and turn heat to low. Cook for 1 hour, stirring occasionally, until meat is fork-tender and sauce has reduced by half. Serve over rice, with steamed vegetables. (eta: Remove the cinnamon pieces and bay leaves before serving.)
I was disappointed to watch the first ep of the new Ice Road Truckers season and find that neither of my faves from last season are back this year. On the other hand, it's cool that they're based out of Inuvik this time. I found myself looking for Ray and Fraser in the background, then I remembered... they're fictional. ;P I'm continually amused that IRT has been lumped into the History Channel's "American Originals" series. I suppose if you take "America" to be "North America" not "United States of America" it works.
In Top Chef news, I am absolutely disgusted that Antonia is out and squinchy-faced black-cloud Lisa is still in the running. Gah. Why her? Other than that she makes a good bad guy? ETA: Tom Colicchio explains it all. I guess that the "lucky-dog-who-keeps-skating-by-effect," in which a chef of decent, but not stellar, skills gets lucky and doesn't screw up at precisely the moment that one of their more gifted opponents does." makes sense.
I've watched the first two eps of Next Food Network Star. I am not impressed with any of them. Also, is it just me or does Lisa Garza (another odd chef named Lisa?) bear an uncanny resemblance to Sandra Bullock? (separated at birth, I tell ya!) I keep wanting tell her to step away from the spray tan... yikes! Sometimes she looks like a reverse raccoon.
My Flickers have apparently been chased out of their nest by squirrels. This bums me out muchly but there isn't anything I can do about it. Nature red in tooth and claw and all that. :( In the backyard the feeders are attracting a wide variety of pretties though. Cassin's finches, house finches, house sparrows, chickadees (mountain and black-capped), goldfinches, blue jays, black-throated sparrows, mourning doves, and once I saw a red-headed woodpecker. Oh, and there is also the usual assortment of greedy grackles. I have to move my main feeder to a hook up under the eaves every evening at sunset or the raccoons come and raid it. I could just leave it there, I suppose, but it's much harder to watch the birds there.
I tried a new recipe last night. It was supposed to be an asian pork roast cooked in the crock pot but by the time I got to the store to buy ingredients and then prepped it was too late to do it in the crock pot so instead I cubed the pork and used the sauce recipe with a few additions and just cooked it on the stove for an hour. It actually turned out quite well-- sort of a cross between teriyaki pork and curried pork-- nicely mouth-warming but not painfully spicy. I served it over rice with steamed broccoli and it was yummy! I don't want to forget the recipe so I'm posting it here .
Asian Pork
2 lbs pork roast, cut into 1" cubes
1 large onion, sliced thinly
1 fresh jalapeno, seeded and diced
2 cloves garlic, minced
3 bay leaves
1 4-inch cinnamon stick, broken in half
1/4 C honey (can use less if you prefer)
1/4 C soy sauce
1/4 C warm water
2 Tbsp rice wine vinegar
1 Tbsp Asian chili-garlic sauce
1/4 tsp ground cloves
1 Tbsp curry powder
2 Tbsp peanut (or other) cooking oil
In a small bowl or measuring cup, combine the honey, soy, water, vinegar, chili sauce, cloves and curry powder. Season the meat generously with salt, pepper and the minced garlic, rubbing it into the meat well. Heat the oil over medium heat in a dutch oven or 2-1/2 quart sauce pan. Place the cinnamon stick pieces and bay leaves in the oil and let them infuse for a minute or two. Add the onions and jalapenos and cook until the onions start to become translucent. Add the meat to the pan, pushing it under the onions, and raise heat to medium high. Cook until the meat is well browned on the bottom. Stir to break up the meat which tends to clump while browning, and pour the sauce mixture over the meat, stirring to be sure all the meat is coated. Cover loosely (steam needs to escape) and turn heat to low. Cook for 1 hour, stirring occasionally, until meat is fork-tender and sauce has reduced by half. Serve over rice, with steamed vegetables. (eta: Remove the cinnamon pieces and bay leaves before serving.)
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
From:
no subject
From:
no subject
From:
no subject
Hmmm, where I'm from the black-capped *are* the "regular". What do regular ones look like? *goes off to google*
And OMG that recipe sounds YUMMO!
Question: At what point do you remove the cinnemon stick? After you do the infusing or at the end of cooking?
From:
no subject
And good question on the cinnamon and bay. I left them in through the cooking process and took them out before serving.
From:
no subject
But INUVIK!!!!! That was pretty awesome and should make for some seriously wicked winter runs.
I keep waiting for someone to write the AU where Ray's an IRT who runs across a retired Mountie living in Inuvik, but so far I haven't seen one.
From:
no subject
Actually, Fraser could have to go out on the ice to rescue Ray...
From:
no subject
One thing that was kind of scary last night was that the truck radio sure didn't seem to go far. If there were a real emergency, it's a wonder anyone could get help.
And, yeah, I can totally see Fraser being on the rescue team.
From:
no subject
From:
no subject
Turns out I know one of the producers of the Ice ROad Truckers show - small world!
From:
no subject