First Night Home

Yesterday, I slept in until 10:30am. I probably would have slept longer if Jesse hadn't come in and made sure that I didn't waste away the day in bed. I'm glad he did because there were important things to do, like update Quicken, organize my desk, sort through piles of mail, etc. I know, they sound like trivial tasks, but they are the key to my sanity. Also, I didn't realize how much I missed cooking dinner for the two of us.

There was a giant pork roast in the fridge that I'm pretty sure was calling out to Jesse all morning (he ate bachelor food for 6 days straight and I think his body was ready for a change). I didn't feel like roasting it in the oven as usual, so I set out to do a little research. Mark Bittman came through again with his Hanoi Noodle Soup recipe (with sweet and spicy pork) from How To Cook Everything.

I chopped up the pork and set it to marinade in some soy sauce, garlic, chipotles, and a little shrimp sauce that I had in the fridge from another Asian meal adventure. The pork probably stayed in the fridge for about 3 hours, which made it super tasty and tender. The broth was super easy too -- chicken stock, some onion, garlic, cilantro, a pinch of cloves, a cinnamon stick, and ginger. I cooked the broth for about 30 minutes before throwing in the marinated pork and sliced mushrooms until just cooked (maybe 3 or 4 minutes). We poured the broth over udon noodles and added fresh grated carrots and a boat load of bean sprouts (you can see Jesse's bowl piled up with the mound of veggies).

Seriously, not to toot my own horn (ok maybe a little), but I totally nailed the noodle soup last night. It was spicy, but not too hot, had lots of good flavor and could easily go head to head with a number of dishes that I've had at restaurants. This one's a keeper for sure, not only because it's delicious, but it's super quick!

I still have plenty of pork leftover and am going to attempt an authentic(ish) carnitas recipe tomorrow. I was inspired by breakfast one morning in LA that consisted of roasted pork and sauteed apples in a flour tortilla with jack cheese. Also, it had two eggs over easy on the side. Seriously, throw an egg on it! Even LA knows it's perfect way to start the day.