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READ ON MY KINDLE DURING THE TRIP TO ENGLAND: The Forgotten Garden (by Kate Morton, on my Kindle); several generations of women pepper this book with the story of their lives. It all revolves around a young girl who arrives on a pier in Australia in 1912 with no papers, no family. Nothing except a small white suitcase with little concrete information about her past. She’s four years old and keeps silent about what little she knows. Her story starts there, but then it jumps forward to 2005 when her granddaughter inherits a house in Cornwall (England), purchased by the grandmother and kept secret until after her death. There’s some secrecy going on with all the women. Then the story jumps back to 1975 when the grandmother is a middle-aged woman and you hear part of her story. Much of the book revolves around a walled garden at this house in Cornwall, and how it relates to the “big house” where the grandmother lived some of her early years. It’s quite a complex web of a family saga. I liked it, although each new chapter jumped to a different time, and it’s not until the last 10 pages or so that everything resolves. Good read.

Also read The Queen’s Governess (by Karen Harper, on my Kindle); this one is about a young girl from an impoverished family who is taken to Court and eventually becomes a playmate/governess to Elizabeth I (the story is based on fact, but is a novel). The two girls grow up together. It tells the story of  Thomas Cromwell, Henry VIII, Anne Boleyn (Elizabeth I’s mother) and others of the court at that time, the intrigues, the murders, the beheadings, and the perseverance of all of the potential kings and queens. Fascinating story, particularly since we visited Castle Howard where where a small part of Henry VIII’s story transpires.

And, I read The Invisible Bridge (by Julie Orringer, on my Kindle) too; a riveting story about a young Hungarian Jew who goes to Paris to study architecture, just before the start of WW II. He manages to scrape together enough money to eat, but barely, falls in love with an older woman, yet his work comes to the attention of some of the school’s teachers. He’s one of only a handful of Jews at the school. Then the Nazis begin invading. And the story goes into plenty of detail about the hardships, the imprisonments and eventual deaths of many of his friends and family. I could hardly put it down, though. Heart-wrenching, however.

STILL READING: Mistress of the Monarchy: The Life of Katherine Swynford, Duchess of Lancaster – by Alison Weir (paperback from Costco). I was expecting this book to be along the same genre as Philippa Gregory’s novels – honing in on a particular English royal woman – telling her story in novel form. This is not one of those types. It’s non-fiction, and tells the factual story of Katherine Swynford, who eventually became the Duchess of Lancaster. But her journey from young bride to Hugh Swynford (this takes place in the 1300′s) to the Duchess is bursting with intrigue as she was John of Gaunt’s mistress for some time (eventually he married her when she was 46 (certainly an advanced age for that century), which caused all kinds of royal scandal). In that period of history no one related to royalty married for love. It was all about family, bearing many children to inherit land and wealth, to fight for the king, to maintain title and fortune. The Duchess’ children eventually became the House of Tudor (King Henry VII). Katherine Swynford was both reviled (because of her immoral behavior) and loved (by nearly everyone who knew her). Alison Weir is obviously a stickler for research – the footnotes comprise over 40 pages of fine print. She paints a different picture of this woman than was done by Anya Seton in her world-famous novel Katherine, first published in 1954. I was infatuated with that novel – it was one of my all-time favorites. But it’s a romance, and apparently many of the supposed facts – well, aren’t. Life in those times were not romantic. This Alison Weir book is not exactly easy reading; it’s almost like reading a textbook. But it’s fascinating and I’m enjoying it very much.

FINISHEDTime and Again – by Jack Finney (paperback); read for one of my book clubs. Written in the 1940′s it was a runaway hit back then. An early look at time travel. It’s about a U.S. government experiment in the 1960′s (this is fiction, remember), sending a selected few men back to the 1880′s in New York City. They were told to observe. Not to change anything. To be unnoticeable. Yet one of the young men, just couldn’t quite do that  (of course, otherwise there wouldn’t be a story!). It’s his adventure you read. The writer is a master at description. The reader feels transported to that time. Our book club really enjoyed it. Generally I’m not into that kind of book at all, but I found the book fascinating. There is a sequel as well, called From Time to Time.

Spoken from the Heart— autobiography by Laura Bush (hardback from Costco). What a delightful read. It’s not about politics. It’s about Laura’s journey from her young years growing up in Midland, Texas to loving parents, to college grad to school teacher, librarian, to meeting George, whom she barely knew even though they grew up in the same small town, then marrying him. She didn’t come naturally to being a public speaker, but did it, to help her husband. I enjoyed reading about her early years more than the years at the White House. Much of that part was about all the social events required of the President and First Lady. Still interesting, though. I enjoyed the book very much.

IN THE POWDER ROOM: Our guest half-bath has a little table with a pile of books that I change every now and then. They’re books that might pique someone’s interest even if for a very short read. The Greatest Stories Never Told; and Sara Midda’s South of France; and  Other People’s Love Letters: 150 Letters You Were Never Meant to See; (edited by Bill Shapiro); Monet’s Table: The Cooking Journals of Claude Monet (Joyes); The Trouble with Poetry (Billy Collins).

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Tasting Spoons

My blog's namesake - small engraved sterling silver tea spoons that I use to taste as I'm cooking.

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Posted in Grilling, Pork, on March 27th, 2009.

pork-chop-mango

Last summer we purchased a quarter of a 4-H pig. We have a friend whose children, when they were young, used to raise pigs every year, and since the children have sprouted wings and left the nest, she still allows other 4-H kids to board pigs on her ranch. Over the years, we’ve purchased a quarter of a pig several times – mostly ones raised on her ranch. They’re raised with natural products, no hormones, and with lots and lots of TLC. Only once were we disappointed in the flavor of the meat. This last summer’s pig is the best ever. We ended up buying a quarter of the prized blue-ribbon 4-H pig of the season at auction at the Orange County Fair. She was bigger than most and sold for more than many of them, but we got a bit more meat than usual. We have to pay extra for the slaughtering and butchering, and one of us (the group of 3-4 who have purchased the whole pig) has to drive about 40 miles to pick it up, all packaged and frozen. We order what we want – more or less chops, roasts, ground pork, sausage, one ham roast, per family, etc. and they package it up per our instructions. Now I really need to get busy because the next Fair is in July.

When you buy a 4-H pig, you pay for all the poundage, even though a good percentage of it is discarded, or the butcher uses it for other products. I decline the hooves, skin, fat, organ meat, neck bones, bones in general. In some cultures, I know, those odd pieces are prized. Once I visited an Hispanic market and there were whole pig/hog heads for sale. Eek. Not my cup of pig broth. You may want to  read my original story about Petunia, our first 4-H pig.

So I’d been trying to use up other meat things in the freezer, and we hadn’t eaten any of ’08′s pig. We heard that the loin chops from this pig were sensational. Oh, indeed, they were. They’re huge. Bigger than any pork chops I’ve ever seen at a butcher store. After defrosting them I used some of Michael Chiarello’s Citrus Rosemary Sea Salt on them and they went onto the barbecue. My DH has this lesson down pat – he grilled them about 4 minutes per side, then put them on a rack, on a small cookie sheet (I’d covered the whole thing with foil) and roasted them off the direct heat at about 350 inside the grill, until the internal meat temp reached 150. We tented the meat with foil for about 5 minutes, while I finished the rest of the meal (snow peas sauteed with garlic, and a salad of field greens and radishes). I also made my favorite mango salsa with cilantro to go with the pork. I used frozen mango chunks (from Trader Joe’s), some red bell pepper, some diced green chiles and a splash of rice wine vinegar.

Oh, my goodness. Were those chops ever good. So juicy. Unbelievably tender meat. Now, I know, you can’t go to the corner market and buy 4-H pig loin chops. Neither can I. But, you can contact somebody in 4-H in your area and see if you could buy a part of one. I recommend it.

What I posted a year ago today: Vermont Cheddar Cheese Bread

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