Halloween

It was an absolutely gorgeous fall day on Friday. At 5:15 PM when I got home, it was still 69 degrees F. with a soft, gentle breeze. I fear we won't see the like of this day for another six months!

It's Halloween, but I know better than to expect any visitors. I did buy one small bag of candy just in case, but I know I will be taking it into work and trying to get rid of it come Monday. I watched all the kids come out of the townhouses across the road in their costumes, get in their parent's cars and mini-vans and then drive away. As I've said before, we have no sidewalks here and the lighting is crappy, so I don't blame them, but geesh... I was so disgusted I didn't even get out my Halloween decorations this year. To hell with it!

First thing I did after changing clothes was to do up the dishes from last night. As you may recall, last night I was lazy and just walked away from them. Next I made up tomorrow's grocery list and posted a favorite song on my Blog. Then came my ToDo list. I actually have two ToDo lists for this weekend. One is the normal stuff "Grocery shop... Go to the Library... Wash the clothes" and the other is all the outdoor stuff I need to do before winter (my Saturday ToDo). That one took up a whole page! I'm tired already!

The next thing was to start Sunday's dinner. I got two beautiful one-inch thick, bone in, center cut pork chops a while back (another "Meat Manager's Special") that I thawed out overnight. So, I need to make a brine for them. Actually, it is really supposed to be a three-day brine, but with my guest yesterday, I never got to it, so this will be a two-day brine. Now, this recipe is for four chops, so I cut it down a bit, but I'll give you the original amounts instead of my reductions.

In a large container, combine 1/2 cup of Kosher salt, 1/3 cup of sugar, two tablespoons fennel seed, two tablespoons coriander seeds, one teaspoon red pepper flakes, three bay leaves, one onion (diced), two carrots (peeled and diced), two ribs of celery (diced), four cloves of garlic (smashed) and 1 1/2 quarts of cold water. Since I made about half that, I put my two pork chops into a gallon zip lock baggie, added the mixture, set the baggie in a bowl (I've had leakage problems with these baggies in the past and am not in the mood to clean the fridge) and put it into the fridge to wait for Sunday.

I warmed up leftovers for my dinner and watched TV until 10:30 PM, when I went to bed. Oh yeah, in case you were wondering, still no Trick or Treaters at 10:30 PM...