Promised to the Camel City this most recent Tuesday was that ol’ grey and drizzly weather pattern, fully expected for the time of year and generally helpful to the spring plant growth, no doubt. I started out redirecting my energies to tasks indoors (i. e., laundering bird poop out of my jeans), but ultimately clearer skies and even some sunshine ruled the daytime schedule. I revised my to-do list. I may have mentioned there’s been a significant reduction in frequency of grocery runs, previously an enjoyable near-daily longtime habit and which is now much diminished in no small part thanks to the tragic decline in my once-favored Harris Teeter at Cloverdale. But out for provisions I dashed when the rains failed to appear, obtaining a small collection of essentials and a bigger haul of unplanned goods, and then it was back to relishing the sanctuary of the Roediger House. As a near-miss but still appropriate acknowledgment of it being National Barbecue Day, a concept muddied by regional divisions and divergent traditions, I exploited the definitional laxity to celebrate with oven-roasted baby back pork ribs.
Joining those tender and succulent meaty bones was another go at modernist mac-n-cheese, which this time was rather excellent. I also brought back the Michie Tavern recipe for stewed tomatoes; it allowed me to use the leftover buttermilk biscuits from Sunday’s batch…but they did not measure up to the rest of that stunning meal. (They were better the other two times I've made them: in 2017 as part of a meal for a visiting vegetarian; and all the way back in 2009 for Meal No. 6 in the new kitchen!)
Let's hit three items of note from the day prior, a fine Monday in mid-May that involved my final scheduled work for the year, an excellent last session with educators down in Montgomery County. First, just to refresh things after 12 years using the same template, I updated the design of the blog, as you may have noticed. I’d been messing around with a new Roediger House “seal” during evening chill time and confess that I’m not sad about the final version.
The second key element of shifting to Ray’s Pest Control was to resume termite monitoring. Dillon came for the installation and mapping of those stations last Monday morning. It ain’t cheap, but that’s often the case with necessary things, no?
Whether related to Mother’s Day Sunday, or National Bring Someone Flowers Day on Monday, I see that someone swiped two of my pansies closest to the sidewalk and easiest to snag. Ah, downtown living!!
"How to Make Great Ribs in the Oven," by Emma Christensen. From The Kitchn. [Published 01 July 2017]
"Modern Baked Mac and Cheese with Cheddar and Gruyère," by Daniel Gritzer, Senior Culinary Director of SeriousEats.com. [Updated 21 November 2022]
"Jefferson Stewed Tomatoes," from the Michie Tavern [Charlottesville, VA].
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