Welcome to another lockdown Sunday. They don’t get any easier, that’s for sure.
At least I was able to change things up a bit with yesterday’s dinner party. It’s nice to have some eye candy company now and then. I was pretty disappointed with the quality of the food I provided. The ribs were especially unsatisfactory.
Pretty much everything was wrong. Starting with the ribs I bought at the SM grocery store butcher shop (bottom left in the photo). I noticed they were thick but somehow assumed it was a double stack of ribs. Nope. It was about an inch of fat. And when I cooked them in the crockpot the fat actually bloated up even more, enough to slightly lift the lid. They were not tender and tasty and the time in the oven didn’t rectify that. Luckily, I had purchased the more traditional baby back style at a local butcher in Barretto and they came out okay. Just not enough of them.
My original plan was to do the ribs in the slow cooker on Friday, then braze them in the oven just before my guests arrived. That would free up the crockpot for cooking the pork chops on Saturday morning. The power outage made that impossible so I did the chops on the grill. They were fine I guess, but a bit dryer than I like.
After our meal, we retreated to the downstairs patio where the gals drank wine and I enjoyed my beverage of choice, beer.
It was pleasant enough and we had a few laughs. The girls talked mostly among themselves in Tagalog, which is normal and is to be expected. I’m a slouch when it comes to learning the local language but I’m not one of those people who demand others cater to my ignorance.
So, being currently single I sniffed out the potential availability of my guests. Jessa has a German boyfriend, she told me she is waiting for his return in August. I wasn’t attracted to Mylene and she has what she calls a “cheating boyfriend” anyway. Ru Ru thought I would be perfect–for her early 40s mother. That was pretty funny to hear. And I’ve known Kat for a while and there have never been any sparks between us. So there you have it. It is safe to characterize this event as dinner with friends.
As the 7 p.m. curfew approached we headed down to the highway so the girls could catch a ride home. And it started running. I went on ahead and fetched the trikes while they waited under the awning of a Sari-Sari store. Always the gentleman, even when soaking wet.
A friend sent me this and I found it quite punny:
I deem it beer o’çlock. Thanks for stopping by…
A too-thick layer of fat on the meat can be problematic: putting a spice rub on a fatty layer means the spice won’t penetrate the meat itself, so that’s kind of a waste. I’ve discussed this on my own blog re: the way people (like Linus in Itaewon, who leaves a fat cap on his brisket—blech) prepare brisket. As a general rule, cut off any excess fat. It doesn’t do much for flavor unless you cook the meat low and slow for several hours in an oven. Even then, the rendered fat is more useful when turned into a nice sauce.
Anyway, for what it’s worth, the meal looked good!
“I deem it beer o’çlock.”
With the cedilla underneath the “c,” that would be pronounced “beer oh slock!” Man… you and that wacky keyboard.
“I hold these truths to be self-evident. Now let’s see if I can adhere to them for a change.”
I don’t think #1 is a problem for you.
The ladies seemed happy, at least, so despite your own disappointment with your food, I think the evening was a success.
If the pork isn’t behaving the way you want it to, try shredding it and then simmering it in your favorite marinade or BBQ sauce. You can get great tips by watching the BBQ Pit Boys on YouTube. In particular, there’s a technique called “the Texas cheat” that it might be good for you to master. It’s not a hard technique at all, but it’ll definitely improve your final results.
Pics of the food look good.
Glad to hear that a good time was had by all. Not always bad to have friends of the opposite sex that are just that – friends.
Keep walking.
Yep, the more the merrier! Thanks!
Thanks for the comment and info, Kevin. Sorry this got stuck in moderation for too long. I’ll try and do a better job checking in the future. Oh, and I hadn’t even seen that whatchacallit under the “c” in o’clock. Not even sure how I did it. But yeah, I’m looking forward to replacing this POS laptop!