Dear Reader,
I just added a reminder to Word Raccoon’s calendar: Deal with the pork. What?
Our local grocery store has what I consider the best meat department nearby, truly. I don’t like getting meat delivered. I can’t afford the really good stuff, so I watch for specials.
WR excitedly read the flash meat sale last week. She bought packages of ground beef, T-bones (very, very favorably priced), and pork loin.
Friends, the pork loin was only $1.99 a pound. Ah, but there was a catch, which she discovered at the grocery store: you had to buy it in bulk.
WR looked at the bundle of pork that was as long as a toddler, and nearly as heavy, too: the particular one she picked up weighs 10 pounds!
I questioned her, given her reluctance to wield knives. She said it was a good deal, that we could easily cut two roasts, some pork chops, and make stir fry.
WR, when was the last time you made stir fry, gorl?
She laughed and admitted she’d been consulting Stanley on the sly, who had told her this was a very good deal and she should buy it.
I made WR check the date and verified that it was plenty of days out yet, good into November. (Which makes me wonder if it’s vacuum sealed? Hmm…) I knew WR wasn’t going to start cutting right away.
At the checkout, WR said to the cashier, “Well, I guess I’m a butcher now,” and the cashier laughed and wished us luck.
We have not “butchered” yet. Obviously.
In fact, when I thoroughly cleaned the fridge in preparation for this weekend (and added new placemats to prettify it and to easily clean spills), I wedged the pork all by its lonesome and with some effort into the meat drawer.
Until this morning, I had forgotten about it. As I said, we have plenty of time, and yet, I think tomorrow I will tackle it. Some will be tucked into the crockpot with veggies and both seasoned thoroughly. The rest will be frozen in various cuts and I suspect by January WR will be questioning just why we bought such a large pork loin. It had sounded like such a good idea at the time, yet WR and I are both wondering what we were thinking.
Oh, and this is not a drill! I JUST read that Anne Tyler has a new novel coming out in April! But I just promised to try to confine my reading to fabulous books I already own in 2027 so I can decide what stays or goes and read some great books along the way. (A “Use It Or Lose It Island” bookshelf edition, I suppose.)
Now what do I do??
After a whispered consultation, WR and Stanley decided asking the library to acquire the book, and not buying it ourselves would not violate the “stop buying so many books you’re on a budget and your bookshelves need a diet” plan. (Don’t remind them we’re trying to avoid any from-outside-of-the-house books other than the ones we agreed to the other day.)
Anyway, if you will excuse us, we are reading Willa Cather’s The Song of the Lark and hope to get more reading in before the internet tech gets here. Although we’re hoping our friend gets here for coffee before.
Drema
P.S. I have already stumbled across the most gorgeous passage early in Lark. I’ll have to share soon. I love reading a novel and picking out passages you just know certain readers would choose. Why, you can almost hear it being read in their voice if you try.