exhausted (pork v)

i am exhausted. i have been sleeping poorly all week, probably from attempting to wake up well before my body really wants me to. so then i’m half asleep for anywhere from half an hour to three hours, and i’m sure it’s messing up my sleep cycle. i should really learn to leave well enough alone.

but more to the point, i was going to make the hainanese chicken recipe from mark bittman’s column last week, but decided against it because it would take too long. of course, i still ended up cooking for a good three hours or so, roasting pork v. nothing too fancy, just regular dinnertime fare.

i’m being facetious. it’s true that it wasn’t that fancy, but it also wasn’t regular dinnertime food. it was friday night relaxation cooking: roast pork tenderloin stuffed with sage and coriander seeds, and wrapped in bacon; roasted potatoes; sauteed spinach; and pumpkin pie. this sounds a lot more involved than it was, really, and i’ve made all of these things before so that’s where it’s not so fancy. nothing experimental, nothing i hadn’t tried before, because i really just didn’t feel like i had that much energy to expend. the biggest flourish of the meal was the pumpkin pie, which i decided to make as i was lying on my bed working during the day, since it was cold and rainy outside.

i love fall and winter because they’re the cold months, and i actually prefer the comfort factor of cold-weather foods to the abundance of produce you get in the summer. i mean, i like a real tomato just like all of the other food snobs out there, but it’s just not as good as getting home when it’s really cold outside and having something warm to eat or drink. winter is full of hearty foods – stews and mashes, things simmered for a long time over low heat, pies and roasted things – and the weather forces everyone to huddle around in blankets on the couch. the smell of fall makes you think of pumpkin pie, and all is good in the world. i guess that since the fall and winter are occupied so squarely with thanksgiving and christmas that i associate them more closely with family and camaraderie, for lack of a better word, than i do the spring or summer.

a couple of notes on the other stuff – the pork was cooked just correctly, which was a surprise because my meat thermometer has gone missing (which is a real problem because it also goes high enough to candy-making temperatures) and i didn’t know any other way to test if it was done. i did the bacon-wrapped pork loin again, but instead of just putting sage under the crust, i also put a layer of sage inside it, with coriander seeds. so i think that the middle layer is definitely a good thing, but in general i actually prefer pork sirloin to pork tenderloin, because it’s just more savory. i discovered coriander seeds when i made a slow-cooked pork shoulder with just onions, wine, and coriander seeds, and i like them with pork a lot; however, they weren’t quite as good with pork tenderloin, probably because they need a longer cooking time. last but not least – well, actually it was the least good thing – the spinach was cooked correctly, until it was just wilted enough, but i accidentally oversalted it because i wasn’t paying enough attention.

so this was an informal type of thing, my usual friday cooking when i have time for it. i really like the idea of making it a regular part of my schedule, where whoever is free just comes over on a given week, and have whatever i’m making. kind of like a rotating supper club, because i need to cook, but then i also need people to eat what i’ve made. the notion that people would just drop by is also inexplicably attractive; it’s like we’ve reached that level of neighborliness that they know they can just come by. it’s like having all of your friends living not necessarily with you, but in the same general area. the idea of people coming over and that there would be hot chocolate or tea-infused apple cider on the stove for them? somehow very appealing.

so, to keep track, these are the things that remain on my food list to do when i’m feeling more adventurous:

1. puff pastry -> palmiers
2. successful popsicles
3. bacon-pear bread from this month’s bon appetit
4. that hainanese chicken! google it – it sounds really good
5. traditional steamed english puddings, like a sticky toffee pudding
6. winter pies: pumpkin, chocolate walnut, just any kind of wintertime pie. but especially pumpkin pie.

there are more things on this list, but i’ve forgotten them. as usual.