A few weeks ago when there was snow on the ground we smelled skunk, with all the doors and windows closed. Well, today we had the MBR slider open for a few hours on a glorious Spring day and… yep, you guessed it.
My country boy didn’t recognize the stench at first until I called upstairs for him to shut the bedroom window! Now we’re wondering how bad it’ll be in here overnight and in the morning and whether clothing, carpets and upholstery will have to be treated. I did find a food grade natural product that breaks the chemical bonds that create the sulfur odors.
Other than having the door open for “fresh” air, no-one did anything wrong. Oops, I opened the door when we returned from lunch and a movie. But a skunk didn’t get into the house and Zoe had nothing to do with it. She was indoors sleeping at the time. But if her fur stinks in the morning, we’ll have to treat her too….
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Tonight I made pork chops, bone-in, from Whole Foods. I made up a portion of a recipe I used to host a family Christmas dinner a couple of years ago, which was a bone-in pork roast with hard cider gravy. One of the chops looked a little dry and I’d bought one bottle of hard cider a few weeks ago to marinate a boneless loin (ridiculous for two, especially as Jim doesn’t like most leftovers). So I put both chops in am 8×8 pan and seasoned the chops with salt, pepper and a bit of dried rubbed sage, then poured the bottle over it and let it sit on the counter, covered, for an hour.
I dried the chops, re-seasoned and dredged in flour, sauteed, rested while I made the “sauce.” I tried to reduce the entire marinade with extra chicken stock. It was too sweet. I adjusted the seasonings and included a mere teaspoon of apple jus on top of each chop. It was late so I made corn and frozen fries. Tomorrow night we’ll probably have the last skirt steak (a great buy) as there’s just enough chimichurri in a sealed airtight bag in the frig.
We’ll miss Memorial Day with family in Texas this year and wish them well. Jim’s Uncle Bobby customized his own smoker, on wheels to be towed with all the fixin’s. He babysits his briskets for 13 hours. Hate to say it but I’ve had no BBQ out here and it’s been a while. Gotta get back to Texas.
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Here’s hoping you’ve a better aroma in your home this evening than we do! Even if you burned dinner, it would be better, trust me! Cheers, Dee
