On a whim I picked up some Pork Tenderloin on the way home yesterday because, let's face it, isn't life essentially meaningless without chunks of raw swine. The phrase "existential void" is lurking, sullenly on my frontal lobes. Full ahead I thought, cheerfully, and DAMN the trichinosis.
Not that I had any idea what to do with it of course, but I determinedly poured myself a glass of vino and perused my oddly lopsided spice rack (15 different types of salt, no chilli powder. You get the picture).
The pork came in two loins and so I whipped up a marinade of garlic, cayenne, orange juice, coffee and cocoa powder and let both slabs luxuriate in them for 15 minutes whilst I set the oven and made sure that bottle knew who's boss. It's not for nothing that I studied at the Keith Floyd School of cooking.
I took one of the loins and pan roasted it then stuck the pan in the oven with some chunks of onions for about 20 minutes. And it came out looking like this
After resting for 15 minutes (during which time I gave the bottle another stern talking to) I plated it up with a avocado and spring green salad and some rice
And damn tasty it was too - moist but with a crispy crust. The marinade turned out really well too considering it was largely a random collection of whatever I had in my cupboard ("Hmm, mincemeat, maybe that will work").
And what happened to the other tenderloin you might be asking? Or might not to be honest. You might also be sitting in front of your computer asking the world at large loudly who this bloke is and why he keeps taking bad photos of food. Or more philisophical questions like "If omnipotence is defined as the ability to do anything then surely that must include the ability to create something that can't be done?" or "Is that nagging in my soul a reaction to the vapid consumerism of everyday life or just that I've got the munchies?". Either way, I recommend having more wine. Not my wine of course, get your own you stingy bastard, and, oh, I seemed to have finished mine anyway. Can I have some of yours?
Anyway, the other loin. I chopped it up into knuckle sized chunks which, having marinaded in the same sauce, I placed lovingly but firmly in a roasting pan with more roughly chopped onion and then covered with foil. When the first loin (do keep up) came out of the oven I turned the temperature right down and then stuck the second loin in for, oooh, a couple of hours. The nice thing about dishes like this is that you could even do it for longer - things just keep getting more tender. or burn eventually but the margin of error is quite large.
It ended up looking like this
It was so tender that even transferring it to the bowl caused it to fall apart. It's currently sitting in my fridge until I figure out what to do with it - possibly tacos or over more rice tonight.
Or I could make a meatshake out of it. Mmm.
I was just checking up on the Wikipedia page for 冬目景, my favorite comic artist since I lived in Japan 7 years ago. I have 22 of her books. A huge chunk of my Japanese skill comes from Sing "Yesterday" For Me.
This weekend I learnt to weld. And cut stuff with oxyacetylene torches. I now feel approximately 10-15% more manly than I did on Friday and it's another thing ticked off the ToDo list I keep in order to be fully prepared for the forthcoming zombie apocalypse.
I'm absolutely fucking knackered though. And strangely sore.
Things I learnt:
- Electrodes for arc welding burn through startlingly quickly
- Welders masks are really, really dark. When I first put mine on I thought it was broken.
- That head flip thing to bring your mask down is practical as well as making you feel cool.
- Metal gets really hot when you weld it.
- The same defective gene that makes me pick up hot things in my hands when I'm cooking is alive and well when I'm welding (see above).
- Cutting things with a torch is just bad ass.
- It's amazing how quickly you become blasé about a 3500 °C flame.
- The phrase "finessing molten metal by whacking it a lump hammer" makes perfect sense.
And on that note, a bit of digital hardcore should go down nicely
Your plant is still alive, despite being in my custody!
Whoops. It appears to be Tuesday already. Tricksy weekends and Friday weddings confusings me.
In the spirit of laziness and expediency then, MORE JONATHAN GLAZER.
I promise this will be the last one. Honest.
Note once again the use of lighting and colour palette - that there's so much texture in a video which is almost monochromatically green and grey is, well, pretty damn impressive. Similarly the use of what wikipedia informs me are called diegetic sounds - the actual ambient sounds of the scene rather than just the music - add another layer of crunchy texture on the bitter but smooth yoghurt of the video. Or something. It's possible I'm rambling.
This is the super extra long special double-double extra edition because, well, who doesn't want 5 minutes of slightly unsettling and depressing music and visuals.
Hello Fabulous Readers! Lilia Photography has been nominated in the Best Wedding Photographer category on SFGate's BayList. Please vote for us!
The only bummer is that you'll have to register on SFGate.com, but it
should take less than a minute to register. Many, many thanks!
