First Drafts and Granny Style Veggie Soup

The sequel to this fantastic novel is almost done.
Also you can buy this one on Amazon. . . ;-)

Well the good news is that nearly 10,000 words later I've finished the first draft of The Diary's Zombie. Bad news is that I've already erased two and a half chapters because I'm a cranky diva author who wasn't happy with what he wrote. But technically, the first draft is done and I'm to the hard work of editing my new novel!

Autumn Winds

You see this desert landscape in Egypt? I like it! Why?
Because it's warm!!!
(And I guess I should tell you this is Tel el Armarna)

Autumn has finally come, the brisk winds, the slightly chilly days, the fact that even with wool socks my toes feel cold. I'm so not ready for this after a summer of glorious heat! The only thing that makes this time of year somewhat bearable for myself is the excuse to make my favorite Autumn foods: my homemade chili, baked potatoes dishes galore, hearty soups and stews, and most importantly, one pot meals.

Pumping Iron

Wrong kind of iron. . . .
(I blame Wikipedia for this!)

Yesterday, as I was catching up from a weekend that can be best called "busy," I was asked by one of the fantastic barristas at my local coffee shop about low meat or meatless meals which can help her get more iron into her diet. Thinking about it, I realized I had a few ideas, but needed more information. So when in doubt, go attack the local library!

Catch up part two of "Planet of the Pulled Pork Recipes"

Or you can eat your sandwich while sitting on the Thames,
making all the tourists jealous in London.  

Well if you didn't catch the previous post, this was supposed to be Wens post, which has now been edited to give you the only thing any of us need: more pork tastiness!

Catch up-part one of "Planet of the Pulled Pork Recipes"

"What do you mean the auto scheduler didn't upload the posts?!"

Alright, so I've been busy, which happens, but it is frustrating when you auto-set technology to post something on a particular date and it doesn't do it.

Damn you technology! You destroyed us all!

Labor Day weekend = new season of Dr. Who and slow cooked pulled pork!

This weekend I am channeling my inner geek as the rainy remnants of Hurricane Irene have made their way north to parched Indiana. In preparation for this fantastic weekend (well now that I'm free again from a wide variety of responsibilities for the week), I made myself some slow cooked pulled pork in my slow cooker as I prepare for the new season of Dr. Who on BBCA. If you don't know what Dr. Who is, I'm sorry that you were so neglected in your childhood and you can find all the modern seasons on Netflicks.

WATCH THEM!!!!

Gencon! (a double recipe day with soup and croutons!)

The kilt is strong in this one. . .

I'm back from one of the most exhausting weeks of gaming I do all year, Gencon. For those of you in the reading audience who don't know what Gencon is, this is the largest roleplaying conference in the United States held in Indianapolis during August. During this time, gamers of all stripes come together to enjoy four days of new games, ideas, visiting friends, family, and everything else you can imagine. For the last several years, I have been a gamemaster for my favorite living campaign setting, Legend of the Shining Jewel, meeting new friends left and right as I run various games with new groups of players.

Salsa!!!!!!!

Does it look like I'm going to dance?
I'm eating one of the best burgers in the world
on the border of Portugal and Spain right now!!!!

No, I don't dance, I am prohibited from dancing according to the international community because it would be a sin against nature. With that said, I do love a FANTASTIC salsa, which is very easy to make if you have a little bit of time and gumption to play with a sharp knife. The best part is you can use ANYTHING in the summer to make salsa, although I am a fan of a pepper/tomato based salsa personally.

Cold Blooded

Oh, Egypt, I'm so much warmer there! 

Yes, I am a cold blooded creature, I love my hot summer days around the world. Snow is a plague upon mankind and I can't wait until it's warm again to run outside like a maniac. So when I get days like this when I'm shivering outside of the coffee shop, wearing a sweatshirt, and realizing it's in the upper seventies, I'm cranky.

Well it doesn't hurt I'm only 2/3rds the man I used to be after my first Camino.

Never-ever trap the Doctor. . .

A cove I swam in when in Turkey.

. . .it always ends poorly. The same can be said of me, even if my being trapped was caused by my classic car (aka, the 93' Olds) decided to lose it's muffler leaving Indianapolis on Monday due to unforeseen circumstances (not wanting to crash said piece of steel with wheels into the rear-end of an idiot who pulled out about twenty feet in front of me while I was going the limit of sixty MPG-100kph for the rest of the world that uses decent units of measurement). So needless to say my GRAND plan of three posts this week got scaled back to the two this week.

Beverages of Choice

Let's face it, the Old Man and his best friend (Alan who also passed away at the end of last year) were fantastically horrible influences as far as most professional bureaucrats and officials are concerned. Gordy did the single most dangerous thing that any educator could do: he taught his students to think for themselves. In that regard he was also interested in educating his students to have a great time while learning about different cultures overseas, realizing that humanity has far more in common with each other than differences.

With that said, the man was also a fan of a good stiff drink now and again, and his preferred adult beverage of choice was a good gin and tonic. This recipe was taught to me on my first trip to Egypt with both Gordy and Alan, and became a staple of success for every successful visit overseas.

Gin and Tonic (for the grown-ups in the crowd!)

Tools:
A liver to abuse.
A highball glass of choice.
An old school river cruise ship floating down the Nile.

Ingredients:
2 parts gin
3 parts tonic
1 ice cube per part gin.
A thick slice of lime.

As you can see the drink itself is highly malleable depending on the size of the glass you can get a hold of, but the basic principles remain the same. Add together, stir lightly with a finger, suck finger dry, and drink while floating down the Nile on a eighty year old cruise ship.

Bien Camino!

Fondest Memories

In the last ten days I have lost one of my fondest mentors, Dr Gordon Young, professor emeritus of history from Purdue University. Gordy began as my teacher back in my undergraduate days, but took on a more important role in my life as I grew as an academic: becoming both a mentor, but more importantly, one of my best friends. He dragged me to and from Egypt multiple times, and honored me on his last trip overseas by making me the Assistant Leader for that trip. I, and tens of thousands, of former students are saddened by the loss of this great man to brought us into his family.

Asparagus

Finally! It's that time of the year again when one of my favorite veggies is in season and I can start to gorge on it until it costs me four dollars a pound again. Yes, I am talking about that same veggie which too often has been destroyed by boiling for years, that strange green stalk with the consistency of mush when it is served out of a can.

I swear, asparagus gets a horrible reputation that it doesn't deserve, so what people have been abusing it for years and mutilating the poor veggie into baby food paste for years. We shouldn't abuse such a fantastic veggie that is very easy to prepare, but of course there are those out there that will continue to damage and abuse the reputation of this misunderstood plant based on flashbacks of your mom forcing you to eat that crappy canned variety.

To you, I say, "have heart, be brave, and get out the fire: we be grillin'."

Grilled Asparagus

Tools:

Charcoal or Gas Grill, turned on and hot (about 400 degrees-ish).

1 gallon plastic bag

grilling tongs

Ingredients

1 lb of fresh asparagus

3 tablespoons olive oil

2 tablespoons fresh minced garlic (I used jarred minced garlic to save time)

Pepper and salt to taste

This recipe is a two-day recipe, I like my asparagus to have the time to absorb some of those wonderful garlic flavors before grilling. But if you don't have time, prepare the asparagus as the grill gets warm. It'll still be delicious, just not as garlic-y.

First thing you need to do is wash the asparagus and dry it off. Then you will want to remove the bottom of the stalk of each plant, asparagus is very "tough" by the base of the plant where it comes out of the ground. There is a REALLY easy way to figure out when the asparagus is tender and to remove the bottom: grip the stalk at the end and at the middle and bend it until it breaks. As you remove the bottoms, toss the tender tops into the gallon plastic bag to get it ready.

Once all the asparagus is done, pour the olive oil, garlic, and seasoning into the bag, seal the bag, and toss it around until the stalks are covered in the oil/spice mix. You can then just plop the bag into the refrigerator overnight.

Get the grill hot the next day and cook all of your meats. Once all of your other dishes are done, place the asparagus on the grill in a single layer. Don't stack it! The olive oil will cook the asparagus quickly on the grill, so you want to keep rotating it. The asparagus is done when you get those fantastic grill lines on the top and bottom of the asparagus, this will take at most 4-6 minutes on a hot grill, a little longer on a slightly cooler grill.

The asparagus can be eaten as is, although I know some people like to abuse the poor stalks in butter once they are done. To each their own, but I think the butter really cheapens the fantastic flavors that fresh asparagus gets when grilled.

Bien Camino!

"They call me Mr. Gimp!"

Or if Easter was a clue, my family lovingly referred to me as Dr. House all afternoon long. Thanks everyone, I'll make sure to only 'partially' beat you all to death with my cane when I catch you.

But in other news, I am healing up, even if the ligament damage is REALLY annoying. Mostly cause I don't listen to what my limitation are and my cat's favorite current game is "make Daddy scream." Jerk cat, but I love him. Or contemplating how to best cook him next time he gets underfoot in the kitchen.

I am slowly getting away from the processed crap that I've been forced to call food for the last few weeks, it couldn't come sooner! Granted, I have slowly been doctoring food to my taste over the last few weeks as I could stand more, but there's something about eating a meal that you made from near scratch that makes you a very happy camper. Much like today's recipe, this is a variation of a cold pasta salad that I learned to make on the Camino de Santiago from one of my fellow peregrinos, this is more of a "eye ball it until it is right" dish. I hope you enjoy!

Pilgrim Pasta Salad

Tools:

Large pot to cook the pasta in

Strainer

Large bowl with lid for the salad

Mixing Spoon

Cutting Board

Knife

Small bowl to nuke the veggies in.

Ingredients

Three hand fulls of wheat rigatoni pasta

Good olive oil

Red wine vinegar

4-6 diced up sun dried tomatoes packed in olive oil

1 can of lima beans, drained and rinsed

1/4 cup of frozen miropoix mix(carrot, onion, and celery)

1/2 cup of frozen spinach

5 tablespoons of a good Italian spice mix (I like the one from Aldi's if you have one of those)

2 tablespoons of lemon pepper spices (see above)

1 tablespoon minced garlic or garlic powder

water

The biggest trick with pasta is getting the largest pot that you own and filling it with as much water as it can hold. The more boiling water you have, the better, because this will keep the pasta from sticking together as it cooks. You want it filled until a good inch or two from the lip of the pot. Put it on the burner and crank the heat to the highest setting. Once the water is boiling, cook the pasta for 7 to 8 minutes, and then drain it through the strainer.

While this is going on, nuke the sun dried tomatoes in the smaller bowl in 5-10 second increments until they are slightly warm. This will help release a lot of flavor into the salad. Dice them up finely and add them to your final serving bowl. The same trick can be used on fresh garlic to help release all those wonderful flavors, but you'll need to add a couple big drops of olive oil on each piece of garlic you are doing this trick on.

Once the tomatoes are in the larger bowl, nuke the rest of the veggies in 30 second increments until they thaw and cook just slightly. And by just slightly I mean they are too hot to pick up with your fingers, but not nuked to the point that you have a flashback of the war you had with your mother and those crappy, nuked until mush, green peas. If you fear a flashback like this, go eat a bar of chocolate and laugh that your an adult now who knows better.

Once the veggies are thawed and just getting hot, add them to the large mixing bowl.

This leaves the lima beans. Oh, our mortal enemy growing up. A fantastic thing about canned beans are that they are cooked when they are being packed, so unless they have meat product in them (like pork and beans), they can be eaten right out of the can. Drain the beans in the strainer and rinse them until all the can goo is gone, adding them into the mixing bowl.

Finally the pasta should be just about done, drain the pasta and add it into the mixing bowl.

Here comes the seasoning, add all the dried seasoning to the pasta and then you'll want to add olive oil and vinegar in a 3 to 1 ratio (three parts oil to one of vinegar) in SMALL increments. You don't want to drown the salad in dressing! As you pour in both ingredients, mix the salad with your spoon, coating everything in that olive oil/vinegar/spice mix. At the very most I tend to use only a quarter to a third of a cup of oil/vinegar mix on this salad, and that's when I make a slightly bigger batch.

And now you have a delicious salad that is good for you and tastes fantastic as is, but the trick to get all the flavors to blend is covering the bowl up and plopping it in the refrigerator for two or three hours so all the flavors can mix.

And with that you have a dish perfect for a meal or to take to a large family pot-luck. It is cheap, economical, and best of all, really filling.

Bien Camino!

Home, Home on da' Range...

Ok, so the only Western that I really like is Tombstone, but lets face it, how awesome is Doc Holiday? Only reason to watch that movie (and I can pull off the accent for a few days after watching it, which makes the ladies smile a lot). Needless to say, I've been at home-as in home-home, aka the parents-the last few days due to vehicular problems, nothing a lot of cussing and foul language couldn't solve until it got sent to the repair shop. But I'm back, well at least until the damn thing breaks down again.

In other news, I haven't forgotten my recipe challenge with our porky friend, so lets get to it!!!!

Leftover Pork Tacos

Tools:

Cast Iron Skillet

Metal Spatula

Cutting Board

Knife

Ingredients:

1 cup of pulled pork

1 large onion sliced thin

1 jalapeno diced thinly

1 bell pepper, diced thinly as well

shredded cabbage or lettuce

shredded cheese (I love the white cheeses for this)

diced tomatoes

1 package of warmed corn tortillas (I get a second pan out for this and dry cook them individually over low heat in a dry-no oil-pan until they brown)

Taco Sauce of your choice

Oil to coat the cast iron with

In the cast iron add enough oil that you can coat the pan in a THIN layer. You aren't frying ANYTHING in this recipe, but the cast iron needs some lubricant or the food will stick to it. If you can't guess how much oil you need, get a paper towel out and pour some oil on the towel, then rub it all over the pan. Heat the cast iron on medium heat until warm, then add the onions and peppers to the bottom of the pan. Cook and stir occasionally until they start to brown. Take the shredded pork and top the onions with this, stirring constantly until the pork is warm.

From this point you can probably guess how to finishing making dinner. Add the warmed stuff to the tortillas cover in a some taco sauce, and then add cheese, tomatoes, and lettuce.

And with that you have dinner!

Well that was it for my pork experiment, I went and ran out of pork after this recipe, but I ate for a good week and then some off of a four pound chunk of pork (lunch and dinner at least, breakfast I try to eat some oatmeal with some of Granny's homemade jelly to sweeten it up). The next week's challenge, how to abuse 20 lbs worth of chicken drumsticks. Muahahahahah. (ok, I won't just do that, but I have some recipes I REALLY wanna try!)

Until then: Bien Camino!

Sunny days, takin' the clouds away. . .

. . . take me back to where the air is sweet; can you tell me how to get, how to get to porky tastiness!

Seriously, seventy-nine degrees, sunny, beautiful weather, with a strong southern breeze (think Chicago style breeze, just several hours south of there) and far too much espresso (like four shots too much). Only thing better would have been biking to the cathedral of coffee goodness today, but I had to drive the old man to his daily "I shouldn't have smoked for 58 years" appointment.

With that said, the first day of Purdue's spring break fills me with a warm funny feeling. I'm 99% sure it isn't a heart attack, but you never know with how much espresso I drink. Well before I fall dead at the keyboard, I'll give you today's suggestion for the piggy goodness that is my experiment in pulled pork.

Warm Pulled Pork Pasta

Tools:

Large pot

Bowl able to hold everything

Cutting Board

Knife

Strainer

Large mixing spoon

Ingredients:

1 cup of pulled pork

2 cups dried rotini pasta (I love the wheat pasta and it is REALLY good for you)

1/3rd cup dried lentils

Water for the large pot

Green bell pepper (diced finely)

1 bunch of green onions, greens and whites diced finely

1 cup of diced tomatoes (either roma or cherry tomatoes cut in half)

1 small can drained black olives, diced and drained

1/2 cup of good olive oil

1/3 cup of red wine vinegar

2 tbsp parsley flakes

1 tbsp oregano flakes

dash of garlic powder

dash of black pepper

1 tsp red pepper flakes (cause you gotta have a slight bite)

Ok, as you can guess, this is another one of my wonderful one bowl recipes that I tend to be proud of. In the large pot, add water and lentils and bring it to a boil. Wait ten to thirteen minutes and then add the rotini to the water (I like rotini's shape for holding onto the dressing that we are going to make for this warm pasta salad) Cook until the pasta is just about done, and then drain the pasta and lentils in the strainer in the sink.

While all of this is cooking, chop up any veggies that need to be chopped, adding them into the big bowl. Take all the ingredients left on the list and mix them well in the large bowl. Once the pasta and lentils are drained, add it directly into the large mixing bowl while still warm. Mix it all together and you have a TASTY pasta salad dinner. Enjoy!

With that, I'm off to soak up some more sunshine before the sun sets. Until next time!

Bien Camino!

Liquid Lunch

Lunch is a fantastic meal of the day, even if it doesn't involve food for the first two hours. Needless to say, I haven't done this in far too long and I'm finding it very relaxing that drinking coffee on a very warm day to hydrate from my lunch. That and drinking with smart people can be a blast! (And for all of you under-aged individuals out there not of legal age reading this, I don't condone misbehaving and do your parents know you are reading this sort of subversive dribble?)

I would like to point out that no one was harmed in the making of my lunch today, and I was a good boy, and that I have another piggy recipe for you out there.

Drum roll please.

I'm waiting. . .

You can do it.

No one will think you are strange, just do it!

I don't care you're in public. Make sure to share this site!

Better! It took you long enough!

Pulled Pork Potato Patties

Tools:

Cutting Board

Mixing Bowl (large enough for all the ingredients)

Knife

Measuring Cup

Wooden Spoon

Non-stick skillet

plastic wrap (or lid for the mixing bowl)

Spatula

Ingredients:

1/2 cup of pulled pork

2 cups of instant mashed potatoes (made as per the recipe on the box)

1/2 bunch of green onions, chopped up finely

4 cloves of garlic, diced

pepper

1 egg

Non-stick spray

2 tbsp of butter

1 tbsp parsley flakes

1 tsp sea salt (I like the flavor better than normal salt)

Make the mashed potatoes as per the recipe on the box. Once the potatoes are cooked, mix in all the other ingredients in the large bowl with the taters. You will want to use a wooden spoon rather than a plastic one, I've snapped more than one plastic spoon making this. Cover the bowl and place in the refrigerator to cool for an hour or two.

When the mix is cool enough to work with your hands, put the non-stick skillet on the stove over medium heat, adding a liberal dose of non-stick spray. This is important, non-stick cook-wear ONLY works if there is an oil or spray between the food and pan. Over time if you don't use a good non-stick spray or oil, you will ruin your pan.

Get the bowl out and take the lid off. This is the fun part (which you can do before you start cooking). Spray your hands with the non-stick spray and you are going to make 'snowballs' out of the tater mix (you don't HAVE to spray your hands, but it makes life easier when dealing with the taters). When you make them, you want the balls to fit nicely in your hands if they are held together, but not so large that they can't be easily held. Think 2 inch balls of 'taters for reference. Once you have a ball made, smoosh it flat (yes, smoosh is a technical word, get over it) in the palms of your hands until it is 1/3rd of an inch thick.

Place the tater patty on the warm skillet and listen to it sizzle on the skillet. Let it sit there for 4-5 minutes until you have a brown crust start to form. Lift up the edge slightly on each patty before you flip to see if it is browning, if not, leave it alone until it does! Flip the patty with the spatula only once to the other side and let cook until it is brown. Remove from the heat and serve warm with ketchup, warmed pasta sauce, or even white sausage gravy.

I love doing this with left over taters from dinner the previous evening, it is a great way to use up leftovers that you might have. Feel free to use any other kind of meat for this, but make sure that it is diced finely and precooked before you add it to the patties.

Well until the next time, enjoy the fantastic weather if you have it and the rest of your weekend.

Bien Camino!

Brain, I will poke you with a flaming q-tip!!!!

Alright, after a wonderful day of *BLEEP*, I am yet again safe in the safety of the internet. Oh, safe, sarcastic internet. If I didn't have you protecting me I might do something productive, like run for an hour. Read a book. Break out the NES and beat the crap outta a giant, fire breathing, shelled, lizard-king. Those sorts of highly productive things.

Or I could cook.

Wait, this is something I like!

So I present to you the second recipe from my experiment on slow roasting a piggy:

Pulled Piggy Sandwich (2 sandwiches to be exact)

Tools:

knife

cutting board

flat skillet (I like non-stick for this)

plate

spatula

Ingredients:

1/2 cup of pulled pork (chilled)

1 small onion, sliced thin

2 roma tomatoes, sliced

spicy pickles (I discovered a pickle from FrogFarm which is AWESOME for this. It will clean your sinuses out! But if you don't like spicy, I guess normal pickles will do. . .wuss.)

1/2 cup of sliced cabbage (coleslaw mix)

non-stick cooking spray

loaf of a thick, crusty bread that you can slice into sandwich size meals (I use half a loaf of french bread for this from my local supermercado)

deli-style mustard (My favorite is Plochman's Mustard which has a slight bite, but compliments all the tastiness in the sandwich rather than taking over)

Overall this is really easy to make. Take the sliced onions and place into the bottom of the skillet hosed down in non-stick spray set to medium-low heat. While that is cooking, slice the bread into acceptable sandwich sizes and layer on the pickles, tomatoes, and cabbage onto the bottom slice of the sandwich (a good crusty bread won't get soggy when you do this).

After the onions start to take on a wonderful golden color, add in the pulled pork to heat it up and add just a little bit more flavor. Once the pork is warm, spread the onion/pork yumminess (one of the most accurate scientific words in my vocabulary) evenly onto the bread. Add mustard to taste and put the top slice of bread back on.

Now here is the strangest tip ever. Walk away.

Wait, what?

Seriously, walk away from the sandwich for five minutes. This will let all the flavors of the sandwich start to mix together, which is exactly what you want. You can even wrap the sandwich in plastic wrap for later if you use a crusty enough bread, it shouldn't get soggy if you choose wisely (and really, experiment, because depending on where you live you can have entirely different bread styles which can modify how this tastes. Experiment = better food = happy belly.) After that I'd suggest eating over the sink for easy clean up as you enjoy the rewards for your effort.

And until the next pork-related recipe:

Bien Camino!!!!!

Sleep, I don't need no stinking sleep!

Coffee.....

I might be living on it more than I should, but you have to do what you have to do. I also won't mention the VERY dirty look I got from the nurse yesterday when she heard I'm going off of two hours of sleep. Bah! Sleep! Who needs it when you have caffeine replacing food. . .

Ok, I want SLEEP! But "oh well," I'll get over it soon. (or die of a caffeine induced heart attack)

As I promised, today is the second installment of the Experiment: Spanish Rice

Porky Spanish Rice (ok, so not exactly spanish rice, but still GOOD)

Tools:

Pot with a heavy lid

Cutting Board

Knife

Spoon

Ingredients:

1 cup of loosely shredded pork (from yesterday)

1 cup of dry rice

1 packet of taco seasoning

1 large onion, diced up

2 fresh jalapenos, diced up

1 green bell pepper, diced up

1.5 cups of high quality H2O

Get out the cutting board, the knife, and pretend that you are part of the movie Psycho. After everything is cut up ("no mommy, I didn't do it!"), drop it into the pot, followed with the rice, taco seasoning, and high quality H2O. Mix it all together so all the flavors are mixed together. Put the lid onto the pot and turn the heat onto low-medium (or the lowest flame possible for you silly gas stove cookers). Once you get it to a constant boil, turn off the heat, and let it continue cooking for about 20 minutes. Open up the pot and fluff all the rice with a fork. Serve with tortilla chips, queso (CHEESE!), and salsa.

Bien Camino!

Challenge

Ok, last week I decided to challenge myself with a simple task: with a four pound (1.5 kilo) hunk of tasty pork, how can I cook this so I have a fantastic week of piggy goodness? The first thing I decided was for simplicity sake I was going to slow cook that sucker into tasty pulled pork goodness, and then every few days create a new dish with said TASTY piggy. I would like to think that a week later I have succeeded, and my belly is all sorts of happy for it.

But first thing is first, time to teach you how to slow cook that little tasty bit of goodness into pulled pork!

Naughty Slow Cooker Pulled Pork

Tools:

2-3 quart slow cooker

2 forks

Ingredients:

4 lb chunk of pork (a little fat on one side won't hurt either)(some supermercados will call this a "roast")

3 tbsp of white vinegar (this will tenderize the meat while it cooks, trust me, you won't taste it when you are done)

And at this point you look at it and go, "really? Is that it?"

YES!!!!!!!!!!

Take the piggy out of whatever packaging that it comes from. Look at it longingly. Bat your eyes at it coyly. Say naughty things to it, because it is a sinful piece of meat that you are going to do very bad things with. Promise you'll be gentle, but secretly you are a lying monster.

Now that I'm past that bit of smart-arseness, throw that slab of pork goodness into the slow cooker with the vinegar, toss the lid on, and set that machine to low. Then leave it alone for the next 24-30 hours. When you return the pork will be cooked all the way through and bubbling in its own naughty juices. This is where the fat on one side of the piggy comes in handy, it'll melt into fantastic juice that will tenderize the meat. Pull it apart with the two forks to "shred it."

And with that you have the base of my week in piggy heaven. Tomorrow: Piggy Spanish Rice. :)

Bien Camino!