Berry Yummy Pork Chops

Last night I took a package of pork chops out of the refrigerator and wondered what to do with it. Out of curiosity, I looked at the recipe that was on the label and decided to give it a try, mostly because there were only 4 ingredients listed (one of which was the pork chop). I loved it!
I didn't know how well strawberries and pork chops would go together.

Here's the recipe:
4 pork chops, 3/4-inch thick (I only cooked two)
2 tsp vegetable oil (I didn't count this as an ingredient)
1/4 cup strawberry preserves
1 T mustard

1/4 cup cider vinegar
Heat oil in large skillet over medium-high heat. Add pork chops, cook and turn until brown on both sides. Reduce heat to low.
In small bowl, stir together strawberry preserves, mustard and vinegar. Pour sauce over pork chops. Cover pan. Cook pork chops for 10 minutes, or until the sauce has thickened. To serve, spoon glaze over each chop. Serves 4.

I did add a pinch of salt to the chops as they were browning, before adding the sauce. Because I used homemade jam (and traditionally, store bought jam is quite thick) I added a thickener near the end of the cooking time (Ultra Gel). I'm sure if you needed to thicken it and you didn't have Ultra Gel, cornstarch/water would work. Then I had some extra strawberries hanging around so I sliced them up and tossed them in for the last couple minutes of cooking time.
Yes, strawberries and pork chops DO go together!

Here's a little something funny...in gathering the photos for this post I went to Bing Images since I didn't take a picture last night. In searching for pork chops, this guy's picture came up.
I'm sure there is a story here that we'd all love to know about... :)

Chores

While Bud was working for hours on getting a cobweb out from this sealed glass...
I worked on pulling box after box down from the attic.
Old receipts, paid insurance claims, etc.
Now I have to bring up from the basement ancient records (some might even be on papyrus, they're so old) to add to the pile. The guy with the shredding machine is on his way. Patient confidentiality, social security numbers and all that. This was the good times I had on my day off last week. I'm sure glad I don't have days off more often if this is how I get to spend them!

He Cracks Me Up

We have Spring Cleaning Fever right now, or I should be more specific and say I have the fever.
We were supposed to have a lot of spare time on Thursday and we planned to de-junk the office. The problem with having been in the same building for over 50 years is one tends to accumulate way too much "stuff" in that period of time. So the plan was to clean, however, it didn't work out and the day was spent in regular dentistry instead. Near the end of the day, however, I cleaned one small area and found that Bud had four hats here. I gathered them up and Bud was going to take them home. This is how he chose to transport them.

Did you know he was this funny? Probably not, because he doesn't show this side to many people.

More Than I Expected

Last weekend we bought some corn on the cob in St. George. It was SO good and tender and sweet. It was so delicious we bought more on our way out of town and we have been enjoying it everyday since then.
Here's how I cook them if I'm only cooking 1 or 2 at a time- open the microwave door, place unshucked ear of corn inside, close door, cook on high for 4 minutes per ear. Shuck it when it's cool enough that you don't burn your hands or use a couple of paper towels to hold the ear while shucking. It's really easy to pull off the husk and the silk after it's cooked.
I did all that Wednesday evening. Anxiously awaiting the yummy buttery salty corn that would soon be mine, I grabbed the corn and pulled. Out popped a green worm! I screamed, dropped the corn on the counter, the worm bounced off my thumb and into the sink. It was only then that I confirmed positively that it was absolutely, definitely dead (who could survive 8 minutes in the microwave when you're the size of a worm?). Gross!
I cut off about 2 inches of the cob and put the "cut" ear on my plate and the "good" ear on Bud's plate . When Bud came to the table, being the chivalrous man that he is, switched ears with me. Whew! Yay! It was grossing me out just knowing what used to be on it/in it- and he's a farm boy from way back so it didn't bother him! I enjoyed my corn as best as I could, even though I'd just been through some horrific moments seconds earlier. I think the solution to this is to make Bud shuck all the corn from now on. So gross. So, so gross.

Dad's Day Idea

This isn't my idea. I got it from the new issue of Family Fun Magazine.
Mix some coconut with a few drops of green food coloring. Press a chocolate-frosted cupcake into the coconut to cover. The mower is made with a dark chocolate Hershey's Nugget for the body, brown M&M's for the wheels, and a red M&M for the engine, held in place with dabs of frosting. Shape the handle from a piece of black licorice lace, inserting the ends into the cupcake.
Dad will be saying "Those are so delicious, may I have some mower?" Ouch.

Too Soon?

One of my favorite things to do when I go to St. George is to see what's new at Krumpets. Here's what I couldn't live without this time around.

My question to you is this. How soon is too soon to put it on my front door?

I don't want to be the dork in the neighborhood that people laugh at and point their finger saying "Look, she has the wrong wreath on her door. What a dork!" Please save me from being that neighborhood dork.