At my computer at 7:28 AM on a Saturday, because we were awakened by Mark’s cat, who was trying to bury something in the bed … I will spare you the scatological details, but they involved a long-haired cat with a hairy butt, and a misunderstanding of what things really must be buried in her litter box, and not the bed.
On Tuesday, I drove out to Waisman’s farm in the rain to pick to pick up pig. It was an illustration of all the reasons why I’m glad I don’t drive to work – or commute into Madison from one of the outlying towns, like where Waisman’s is. It was raining, heavy traffic, dark and hard to see. It was also quite warm, 55°.
But worth the trip; here’s the massive list of pork I brought home:
Smoked shank
3 packs of bacon
8 brats
2 tubes liver sausage
1# bulk breakfast sausage
1# ground pork
Pack of Breakfast links
Shoulder roast
Spareribs
2 loin roasts
Giant pork steak
3 packs pork chops – 2 each
3 ham steaks
After I put the pork away, I spent the rest of the night trying to make the towel dams hold – but it was just raining too hard. I thought I had everything basically secure, with a load of wet towels in the dryer. I meant to just sit on the couch for 20 minutes and then go swap the towels, but I fell into the most delicious sleep in front of Jimmy Fallon, with Hammie all snugged up next to me – and was awakened 40 minutes later by the dryer buzzer. I went downstairs to find about 1/2 inch of water on the basement floor, coming up under the bed. I sopped everything again, using everything dry thing I could find including an old mattress pad and a flannel sheet that I’d been saving to pad furniture in a move, put another wet load in the dryer, and this time lay on the couch with Hammie and the black cat, until 2:00 AM when I went and checked everything again, added more dry towels, and finally went to bed.
On Thursday, on an only slightly colder, but much windier day, I went and got my winter CSA share – what Megan’s been calling my Thanksgiving box. Here’s what was in that:
Box “A”
Beauty Heart winter radish, 2 (I got 3, actually)
Beets, 3 lb
Brussels sprouts, 1 – 2 short stalks – 2lbs. when pulled off the stems – perfect amount for Thanksgiving dinner
Carrots, 6 lb mixed colors
(orange 4 lb, yellow 1 lb, purple 1 lb)
Celeriac
Green cabbage
Kale
Leeks, 3 lb
Parsnips, 3 lb
Rutabaga, 1 or 2
Box “B”
Butternut squash, 3-6, ~12 lb
Sweet potatoes, ~10 lb
Red Maria potatoes, ~5 lb
Carolla potatoes, ~5 lb
Red onions, 1 lb
Yellow onions, 4 lb
Garlic, 3
Then finally on Saturday morning in the snow, and about 26°, (after kitty cat cleanup), we went and picked up the turkey in the parking lots out back of the indoor farmer’s market – a 15-pounder from Matt Smith.
On Saturday night, I made a small bone-in pork loin roast from the pig – I mixed up orange marmalade, hoisin sauce, and garlic, and rubbed it on the meat. It made a delicious black crust that according to the latest reports, is probably carcinogenic. With it we had a vegetable gratin that I “leaned” quite a bit – used a pint of half & half instead of heavy cream, and maybe 2 TBLS butter instead of the whole stick the recipe called for. It sure was good – yellow and orange carrots from the Thanksgiving box, and celeriac from the last box of the regular season.
On Sunday we tried the bacon, to go with home made freezer waffles, and applesauce, and Mark made some eggs with cherry tomatoes from the indoor farmer’s market and Farmer John’s cheese. The bacon is fattier than some of the other kinds we buy, but it sure is tasty fat – and probably another tasty carcinogen. But as Meredith said today, “It’s not like bacon was ever supposed to be good for you”.
