Welcome Gentle Readers

This blog tends to wander from its main purpose -- updates on my fiction. I do have updates and excerpts of my work. But I also write about my obsessions -- food, friends and pop culture and my weird life in Los Angeles. Enjoy!

Sunday, November 14, 2010

Thanksgiving Kitchen Therapy and Pulled Pork

Thanks again for all the kind notes, prayers and well wishes. I think I've bounced back. I know I feel way better than I did two weeks ago. I'm not up for any Mixed Martial Arts matches or cliff diving, but then, I wasn't able to do those at my healthiest. Those are crazy ideas. I have been able to do my walking for exercise, and, thankfully, I am back in the kitchen for some much needed therapy. I'm still not getting a lot done otherwise – this is the most writing I've finished in weeks. I am working though not much is making it through the keyboard. But more on that later. The point is that my brain and my motor skills are communicating once more.

Thanksgiving Kitchen Therapy

This is a great time of year for someone who enjoys kitchen therapy. Even though I'm not throwing dinners that require table and chair rentals, I will always cook a Thanksgiving meal of some sort. That meal involves a lot of procedures that are almost meditative in quality. I always liked chopping things and mixing things. I really miss the 'hen talk' between my mother and her sisters while we worked. When I moved out here, I used to call my one remaining Aunt and talk to her while we both prepped our meals. Now, I have two food networks to watch while I work. There is no family gossip to be agog over, by the meditative quality remains. I was particularly jazzed to find some really pretty produce at the market along with a hefty supply of fresh turkey wings. Why am I doing this so early, you may ask. It's not entirely because of the fatigue associated with chemo (though that's a good reason). I always tended to start prep on things that can be made and frozen like turkey stock and pie dough early because of my work schedule. The sanest way to tackle a holiday feast is to break it down into parts that can be done ahead. If I've timed everything well, there are very few dishes that I have to make on Thanksgiving day. And no one is the wiser. As long as there are sandwich makings and pie, Jon pretty much doesn't care what else is happening. Speaking of pies, I'll be making the pie doughs tomorrow and freezing them. They aren't difficult to do especially with a food processor; however, things do tend to go wrong when pressed for time or doing too much at once.

I also lucked out at the market on pork shoulder. There was a spectacular sale going on. I have a rub that I came up with that isn't barbecue. I substitute the heat and the sweet with Herbes de Provence, so it's a more herb-y pulled pork than barbecue. I tend to prefer cooking pork shoulder that way to automatically making it barbecue. I like to have it in a sandwich with spicy mustard or as the main part of an entree with a rich gravy. The herb pork shoulder gives me many more options with meals.

And no worries. The stock and the pie dough ate the extent of my cooking ambitions this weekend. That and a steak sandwich. I really want one of those.

In part two of this blog, I will be discussing my writing. This will include rants from extreme nerdom and some very dark themes.

You've been warned.

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