A Stinking Amazing Recipe Experiment

Okay, so the other night I got a little creative (which doesn't always work out to my advantage; ask Debra) and decided to "make up" what I thought was going to be a marinade for barbecued pork chops, but instead ended up being a topping that I put on the pork chops after they were cooked. Here is the jist for the whole thing; the pork chops first, then the topping:

4 - Six to Eight Ounce Boneless Pork Chops (thawed)
1 tbsp. Butter
1 tbsp. garlic, minced

sea salt and ground black pepper

Preheat grill/barbecue to 450F. Sprinkle a light coating of the salt and pepper on the chops. Preheat a skillet large enough for all four chops on a medium flame for five minutes. Drop in butter and melt, turning back flame to 1/4. When butter is almost starting to turn brown, drop in garlic and quickly mix with butter. Garlic should immediately start to brown. Quickly put the chops in the skillet and sear, seasoned side down for about a minute and a half, at the same time sprinkling salt and pepper on the unseasoned side. Next turn over and sear for a minute and a half on the other side. When both sides have been seared for a minute and a half, remove from skillet and put on the grill on an upper rack. If you don't have an upper rack, reduce the cooking temp to 400F, and keep an eye on it so the fat doesn't catch on fire. Cook five minutes on a side, for a total of 20 minutes. Remove from grill and top with the topping below.

1 - Large Hothouse Tomato
1/4 - Large Brown onion
1/4 cup - Cilantro
2 full stalks - Green Onion
1 tbsp - garlic, minced
sea salt
ground black pepper
1/4 cup (?) - olive oil
1-2 tbsp.(?) - balsamic vinegar
2 tbsp. - brown sugar
1 tbsp. - red chili pepper flakes

In a processor, puree the tomato, brown and green onion, cilantro, and garlic. Pour puree into a skillet and bring to a simmer over a medium flame. While simmering, add roughly 1/2 tbsp sea salt, 1/2 tbsp red chili flakes, and 1/2 ground black pepper. After adding salt mixture will become runnier; this is normal. If mixture starts to boil or burn, turn down the flame; you don't want toasted puree, you want a puree reduction. They're different. Add brown sugar and continue to turn and stir mixture while simmering. Once mixture becomes slightly thicker, add about 2 tbsp of olive oil and 1/4 tbsp of chili flakes, and blend with mixture. Wait about two minutes, while continuing to stir, and add 1 tbsp of balsamic vinegar. Continue to stir for about two to three more minutes and then taste. If the mixture is too spicy or peppery, add 1/2 to 1 tbsp more of balsamic, depending on your preference. If it is too sweet, add a little more salt, pepper, and/or chili flakes, depending on your preference. If, at this point, the mixture is too dry or thick (serving consistency should be slightly thicker than pickle relish) add just enough olive oil to thin it. By now, the pork chops you were making above should be just a couple minutes from being done and when they are, this reduction will be just right for topping the pork chops. You can also use this reduction white meat chicken, especially grilled boneless chicken breasts, but I haven't tried that yet.

North Carolina Zoo and Sprinklers

Last weekend, I had a three day weekend, so we decided to go up to Asheboro to see the North Carolina Zoo. We hadn't been there yet since moving out here and it was easier than going camping. From these two pictures, you can see how early we got up to get to the zoo when it opened.

When we first got there we saw a sign that directed you toward the Polar Bears but also past a number of other exhibits before getting to the Polar Bears. Needless to say, NK didn't have a lot of interest in anything until we had visited them. On the way there, though, we did see the Harbor Seals and the Sea Lions.

NK thought that this otter looked like his Emma Lou.

Finally, the Polar Bears. This one was called Willy and it apparently has a favorite jug that it sleeps with.

NK looking for creatures. He didn't find any.

NK asked me to point out that this was not a real spider web, just a fake one.

Nor is this a real eight-foot long insect.

A couple of pictures of NK looking cute.

NK getting ready to pilot a helicopter over the Serengetti looking for bad guys so that he can shoot them with his lasers.

It was really stinkin' hot on the day we went to the zoo, something like about 100F with 73% humidity, so once we got home from the zoo, NK cooled off in the sprinklers.

Not sure what this one was about.

Trying to get around video limits at work...

So, I am trying to see if I can embed a video... did it work?

Hiking at Raven Rock State Park

Hello to all. Today we wanted to do something fun. We had thought about going to the mall, but the last few times we've gone there, Nehemiah has chosen not to play well with others, specifically mommy and daddy. So, today we decided to go over to Raven Rock State Park (http://www.stateparks.com/raven_rock.html) and hike down to the Cape Fear River. Being that it is outdoors and the weather was so nice, we took Kubota the Wonder Dog with us, as well. Below you can see some of the pictures we took.

This one is Nehemiah demonstrating his skills as a crazy jumping boy. Notice the technique.

This one is called "Daddy and Nehemiah Breaking Mommy of Fear." Of course, the fear is probably justified and possibly rational.

Daddy: "Nehemiah, do you know what that is called?"
Nehemiah: "Water."
Daddy: "No, I mean where the rocks are."
Nehemiah: "Oh, those are bubbles!"
Daddy: "Yes, that too, but they are called 'rapids'."
... continued in the next photo.

Nehemiah: "Look, Mommy! Rapids!"

This one is Nehemiah in the post-meltdown phase.

And this one is pre-meltdown. He could not understand why we wanted him to catch up, so I had to tell him the joke about the baby tomato who lagged behind whose daddy went back to get him but stomped on him instead and said, "Ketchup!"

He didn't get it either.

These are dogwood blossoms. We have a dogwood tree in our front yard, except this year it didn't seem to bloom as well as every other dogwood in the state.

Pictures for the G-Ma's

So, here are some pictures for the Grandmas and whoever else likes to keep in touch through blogger and doesn't use Facebook. This weekend was packed with all kinds of fun stuff, much of which was just Nehemiah and I, while Debra did stuff on her own. On Friday, NK and I went to the park in Wade, while Mommy went to the doctor and sat in a waiting room for some inordinate amount of time. Later that night, though, she got to go to the day spa for a massage and facial. Today, I went out to the drop zone to get a jump in while NK and Debra went to an Easter egg hunt, and then we all met up at the drop zone to watch parachutes. Then to end the day, NK and Debra colored Easter eggs, while I sat in the dining room praying that Nehemiah didn't spill egg dye.

Pictures for the G-Ma

The New Goats

So, as many of you have heard, we got some new goats this weekend. By "we", I mean Nehemiah and I. Debra was out of town with some friends, so Nehemiah and I went over to Trinity, NC, about two and a half hours away, and tried to pick out the best goats possible with our limited goat knowledge... Nehemiah was just happy to pick out goats that didn't try to climb on him. In the end we chose these two Alpine kids and have named them Ashley (after Ashley Thiebaud, Debra's sister) and Lucy (after Lucy Pevensie, from the Chronicles of Narnia). Ashley is the predominately black goat and Lucy is the one with more white in her markings. As you can see, Nehemiah has taken to them quickly and is even learning how to feed them, although, we are pretty sure that this won't happen when it is time to clean the pen.