Cooking, Water Crisis, Techy Problems, First Blog,

Friday evening I completely forgot about doing a post for Saturday. Not sure if it's tiredness or just senility LOL. I did cook the Slow Roasted Salmon in Parchment Paper which turned out pretty well, we both enjoyed it. Saturday was a Hot and Sour Pork recipe from Closet Kitchen. It was good too. Although I found flouring the pork with egg and cornstarch was a bit harassing to say the least. I decided to do a Chinese recipe for cabbage with it, which wasn't so good, it tasted fine, it just was too uncooked. Completely raw would have been edible but part cooked made it as tough as old boots. I decided the cabbage at least wanted steaming.

I just read that Cape Town in South Africa is expecting to run out of water in the not too distant future. They have apparently been having a water crisis since 2015 but now it is becoming super serious. This is a warning of things to come; every nature documentary I see these days talks about the lack of snow in the mountains together with shrinking glaciers which means our water sources are getting lower and lower. Damning is also causing lots of problems on many rivers and large lakes are shrinking to nothing. Until recently the Colorado River no longer reached the sea. I believe that has been changed and now some water gets through. Sorry, unbelievers, but global warming does exist and the effects are beginning to be felt everywhere. I have no particular wish to die you understand, but I often experience a feeling of relief that I am not going to be here when a lot of our human made problems come to a head.

The marijuana lab called me with an appointment on Wednesday so we will see what happens there. However, I am now being given to understand that it is quite expensive to go onto medical marijuana and I don't know if our insurance will cover the cost. If not, I guess that's the end of it for me. Naive of me but I thought the government would include it on the drugs they help pay for. I also hope our insurance will do so instead.

Life is being very frustrating for me lately, my printer keeps only printing half of a document and then apparently seizing up and the mouse on my laptop causes the cursor to wander where and when it will. It appears both problems have been experienced by many but I cannot seem to find a reliable cure.

Reading my very first blog this weekend, I see I included a recipe. I didn't realise that I would be posting so many recipes, I had no clear idea what I wanted to write about when I started. I also just made my half year Blog Book and looking at one of the recipes I published was horrified at the typos. I tend just to copy a recipe and rarely think to check them. Maybe I should, I realise I make typos anyway, (caught a few here before I published) but this recipe was full of them.

This is, once again, a recipe I got from Closet Cooking. I really don't know how Kevin Lynch has time to cook and photograph as much as he does, but those recipes I have tried have always been excellent. He describes  this one as quick and easy, maybe if you choose optional for the cornstarch, I didn't, and found it a bit of a pain, however, it was actually well worth it.

Sweet and Sour Pork

A quick and easy homemade sweet and sour pork that is so much better than takeout!

2 Tbs oil
2 eggs, lightly beaten
1/2 cup cornstarch (optional)
1 lb pork (butt, shoulder, loin or tenderloin), cut into 1 inch pieces
1/2 red pepper, sliced
1 cup pineapple, sliced
3 Tbs honey
3 Tbs rice vinegar or white vinegar (I used white wine vinegar)
3 Tbs ketchup (optional)
1 Tbs soy sauce
1 tsp chilli sauce such as sambal oelek or sriracha
1/4 cup pineapple juice or chicken broth (I used white wine)
1 clove garlic, grated
1 tsp ginger, grated
1 Tbs water
1 Tbs cornstarch
1 tsp sesame oil
1/4 cup green onion, sliced

1. Heat the oil in a pan over medium-high heat, dip the pork in the egg, dredge in the cornstarch, add it to the pan, and cook until lightly golden brown and crispy, about 2-4 minutes per side before setting aside. (Work in batches.)

2. Add the red pepper and pineapple and cook until just tender but still crisp, about 2 minutes.

3. Add the mixture of the honey, vinegar, ketchup, chilli sauce, pineapple juice, garlic, ginger, the mixture of the water and the corn starch along with the pork, toss to coat and cook until the sauce thickens, about a minute.

4. Remove from heat, mix in the sesame oil and serve garnished with sliced green onions.

5. Option: Replace the pork with chicken.

6. Option: Use vegetables your favourite vegetables.

Servings: 4

Author: Kevin Lynch
Source: Closet Kitchen

Have a great day