Monday, and Back at it

Monday was a perfect day, weather-wise.

The first thing I did when I got home after work was to change my furnace filters. I just now got around to flipping the page on the calendar and I noticed I was supposed to do that September 1.

I sat on the couch and went through the mail. There was nothing good, just a cable bill and a bunch of junk mail.

Then I went through the fridge for old items (garbage day is tomorrow). I had to make an executive decision about the pork loin I'd thawed, but didn't cook. So, I opened it up and smelled it. I have learned (after that food poisoning thing) that its not really about the dates (some are use by, but most are sell by). The easiest way to judge freshness of meat or milk or seafood is to smell it and this didn't smell bad.

Now, I had this idea to make a bacon-wrapped pork loin (the theory being that pork loin, without much fat, dries out too quickly). But, being a bit cocky with my cooking these days, I didn't look up a recipe, just what the internal temperature of a cooked pork loin should be.

So, I got a serving platter and laid out strips of apple wood bacon. Then I put the pork loin on the bacon and wrapped it tightly. Here's where I made a mistake. I figured if I browned the bacon on the seam, it would seal together. I got my largest cast iron pan screaming hot and stuck in the bacon wrapped loin.

Total mess! That didn't work out so good, LOL! I should have secured the bacon with toothpicks or kitchen string. But, I threw a couple of big stems of rosemary into the bacon grease, then stuck the pan in the oven on 350 degrees F.

I put the probe in and set the alarm for 145 degrees. I belatedly thought about a side dish, so I cut the butternut squash I got from Tammy in half, took out the seeds and put butter in the cavity. I seasoned it with salt, added some thyme and stuck that in too,

Still trying to figure out what to do with the Japanese eggplant - too skinny to bread and fry. Soup, maybe? I dunno...

Naturally, the pork loin was done way before the squash. So, I tented the cast iron pan with aluminum foil and let it sit on top the stove to rest. Finally, I was too hungry to wait for the squash, so I cut off a big piece of meat.

It sure wasn't pretty, but it tasted fantastic!

I ate half the squash about a 1/2 hour later. It too was good.

I let everything else cool down while I watched some taped TV. Later, I cut the pork loin in half and half went into the fridge, the other half into the freezer. The half of squash remaining went into the fridge as well.

I watched TV until 11:30 PM and then went to bed.