I felt it coming on Wednesday night. The scratchy throat and sniffling. By the time I went to bed, it was constant sneezing. I called in sick Thursday, knowing I had to be at work Friday. I lasted at work until about 2.5 hours before my day typically ends. By Friday night that ick was moving into my chest and I was feeling dreadful. Not only was I looking at possibly being laid up, but I was going to miss Fort 4 Fitness, a four-mile walk I signed up for months ago. I even had to cancel breakfast plans for later Saturday morning because I had a fever.
Despite the sickness, life goes on and, being single that meant I had some chores that HAD to be done including grocery shopping and cooking. So, I made my list while I lazed around on the couch and vowed to get in and out of the grocery store ASAP on Saturday. I did, with most of the fixings for pulled pork and beef vegetable soup.
I was too ambitious for how I was feeling, but I was also frustrated that one of the ingredients I needed, chili sauce, has high fructose corn syrup in it. I don’t care what the corn lobby tells you, I don’t believe the body processes it the same as sugar. So, I set out to make my own chili sauce, which I think I did a pretty good job on. And, with that, I cooked a butterflied pork tenderloin from Gunthorp Farms in ginger ale with onions, garlic and red pepper flakes. When it was done, I shredded it, removed most of the fat and added the homemade chili sauce to return to the pan and then cook for a bit longer. It was good, I was shocked.
Pulled pork sandwich after the meat was done
If there’s any interest, I can try to post a recipe (or general direction) for the homemade chili sauce. I was particularly inspired to find an alternative to a product with HFCS by an interview I did early last week with Cleveland boy and celebrity chef Michael Symon.
(And, we won’t go into how ridiculously excited I was to interview him, but you can get a clue if you listen to me in the interview. Ridiculous!)
After getting my cooking for the week going, I set out to put up the living room curtains I bought. I have a 10 foot wide by 9 foot high patio door that faces the west. That means in the summer from mid-afternoon until nightfall, I have the blazing hot sun beating down on my apartment, making it a sweatbox. I decided on the curtains late this summer, and after shopping with my sister on vacation, I became motivated to buy them. Well, today, Monday, was the first sunny day since I put up the curtains (the energy-saving kind) and I’m happy to say they work. They kept my living room temperature at a tolerable level so I didn’t have to crank on the air when I came home. I’m glad, because I love having the windows open in weather like this (early fall).
jmcraftygirl 