Wow, what a week! It started off with Martin Luther King Jr. Day off work. I wandered around a town about 30 minutes from ours, just to be somewhere different. Most places were closed, but a coffee shop provided something warm to sip on and a few small shops were available to browse.

Midweek my husband and I drove to Indiana for a doctor’s appointment I had (nothing wrong! Just some information gathering!) which was incredibly refreshing. I felt like I was SO FAR from home. Plus, there was a Krispy Kreme Donuts right down the road from the office and when we got there 40 minutes early the “hot donuts now” sign was on. I gulped hot black coffee and wolfed down a couple before brushing the icing from my jeans and trying to convince a doctor I live a fairly healthy lifestyle.

On Saturday, though, my great-Aunt Nora entered eternal life. She was 91, living at home with her daughter. She was fierce and kind and incredibly loving and I will miss her dearly, as many in our family will. My Papa has now lost his wife and two sisters within the space of a year. So we gathered with my parents and sister and Papa tonight to eat a meal and just be together. We watched football, we chatted about politics and theology and food. My mom made a delicious beef tenderloin which was as buttery and tender as you could possibly hope, some roasted potatoes and broccoli. I supplied a cherry pie and chocolate chip cookies, both from Dessert Person by Claire Saffitz which I got from the library last week when my hold number finally came up and it is single-handedly derailing my “healthy eating for January” plan. (I’m not mad.)

Sometimes I just like to look back and see how food punctuates our experiences. I try to meal plan so we can be responsible with our grocery shopping, wasting less and eating with purpose. But meals, while quickly passing moments in time, really do help center our relationships, our experiences, or memories. It’s fun to stop and notice that.

What will I be cooking this week? Here’s my plan!

Monday – Pork tenderloin with shallot-balsamic-and-rosemary pan sauce and steamed green beans. Something to drizzle the rest of the pan sauce over. 🙂 The pork/sauce recipe is courtesy of my trusty Cook’s Illustrated Cookbook.

Tuesday – A big entree style salad with garlicky pan-roasted shrimp, pineapple, and some more fixins’. I love a good entree salad, but I often make them on the fly with random bits from my kitchen. Like my Nana before me it’s hard for me to nail down recipes because so much of what I cook is by feel, instinct, taste. (Sometimes this ends disastrously, too. It’s not a true method, just tried.) But I’m going to try and document this one both for my future self and for you.

Wednesday – Chicken, Lemongrass, and Sweet Potato Curry from Vietnamese Food Any Day by Andrea Nguyen. I love Vietnamese flavors, so when I found this cookbook at a trip to Half Price Books sometime last year I snatched it up. But, like is often my way, I forgot I had it. Until now. My goal is to incorporate at least 2 recipes a month from it into our menus for a bit here. There are many amazing looking recipes!

Thursday – Sweet and Saucy Pork Chops from Bon Appetit with crispy potatoes (I make them using this hash recipe, also from Bon Appetit) and salad. I made these a few weeks ago, after remembering the recipe from the cover of an issue from 2019. I dug it out, made my husband laugh because sometimes I don’t remember what day it is but I did remember this cover recipe from over a year before, and then made these, the most delicious pork chops I’ve ever had. The recipe recommends a good bone-in chop but my local butcher sells these amazing, boneless “Iowa chops” that are lean, but with a good fat cap for flavor and I just love them for ease (and deliciousness).

Friday – Remember those walleye cakes I mentioned last week? I didn’t find walleye, so they didn’t happen. (We ordered pizza instead. #supportlocal, right?) If I find it this week (since I’m headed to a different grocery store…), they may happen. If not, we might do salmon Caesar salad. A local restaurant does one with a sort of horseradishy style dressing that I’ve been dying to try and replicate at home.

Projects for the Week!

• Either biscotti or cinnamon rolls, with some instagram story demonstrations of how it’s done! Go see my instagram story or twitter to vote on your pick!
• Sourdough bread. It’s my favorite hobby. It was before the pandemic too, so I’m not a bandwagon fan. I haven’t made it recently because we’re trying to eat a lot, lot fewer grains (despite what I might have said above about donuts and pie…). I’m going to try and make a few loaves this week, for practice. If you’ve made it this far into this story, and if you’re local, and you want some sourdough bread this week, comment below (or, you know, text me if you know me in real life!) and I’ll share!
• This red lentil coconut soup! I might try and make it on Monday for some each lunches this week. It looks hearty and warm but also vegan, which is not a lifestyle I could ever live but looks yummy as I lean into a more plant-based diet.

Happy cooking, friends!