Cooking or Clothing? How 'bout Both!

Hello again, dear readers. My goodness, had I known you were so interested in cooking (or was it that you were housebound and bored?) I would have opened a restaurant instead of a clothing store! Just kidding. But you did respond more to my last post about pinto beans than all other posts I've published combined! So if you will indulge me one more time, I am eager to provide an answer for the next time someone in your household asks the dreaded "What's for dinner?" question! Just come up with a better name for it than I could: pork shoulder. There must be a more elegant name for it. Picnic ham? No, that doesn't do it either. Let's see, the New York Times magazine article that gave me the inspiration called it bo ssam. Still, the name doesn't really matter, because truly when you taste it, you'll think you died and went to heaven. The restaurant in the Times article charges $200 for a piece of meat like this. But you can make it at home for about $20.

Here's how. Buy a pork shoulder (really, that's what QFC calls it) with a bone in it. Around seven pounds should do it. Measure out a generous half cup white sugar and mix it with a half cup of salt. Put the raw meat on a large piece of plastic wrap, and put that on a baking tray. Sprinkle the meat with the salt and sugar mixture. Wrap it all up in the plastic, and put it in the fridge on the tray overnight. Next day, turn the oven on to 300 degrees, unwrap the meat, and bake it, for around four hours, or until it develops a yummy-looking crust. Then, enjoy! I served it with more brown rice and the beans that I made last week. The Times suggests wrapping lettuce leafs around chunks of it and dipping it in hot sauce. That sounds good, too. (I recommend Frank's if you you don't want to make your own.) No matter what you eat it with, preparing this entree is a lot less work and tastes exponentially better than any fancy dish you could conjure up. Your family will be in awe of your cooking talent, too!

As for clothing, the snowbanks have melted, and the UPS guy finally showed up. Here's what he brought us: beautiful white cotton blouses and a jacket to add to the spring collection we have going at Renee's from brand name Gretty Zueger! Put them with jeans, or wear them with shorts this summer. And even though it's still chilly outside, they won't last long, because they are that cute!

Happy full work week to all!

Love,
Renee

P.S. Don't forget to stop by any time after noon for our soup exchange on Wed., Feb. 8. Bring hot soup in a crock pot to share, or just show up. There will be plenty for all. Sounds like we'll be having clam chowder, cowboy black bean, chicken noodle soups and more to sample. Along with bread from the Russian restaurant next door, you'll get a complete nutritious, delicious meal at Renee's. We'll keep the crock pots on for you until it's all gone.