Asian Flavor

The cooler fall temperatures have arrived this evening. It rained all day, and the sun finally decided to come out just as Paul was getting home from work. Despite the saturated ground and chilly, breezy conditions, Sam had his heart set on playing football with Dad in the front yard. Initially Sam was in a tee and jeans, refusing a jacket. But after a while, the boys bundled up in jackets, mittens and hats. They played outside until the sun was setting.
Now that it is getting colder outside, it's time to bring back the warm winter meals! Tonight I tried a new recipe. My finished product didn't quite resemble the picture from the magazine, but it tasted great and, better yet, Nathanael ate it. Once my food vacuum, Nathanael has become nearly as picky as his brother. He's not a huge fan of meat, so I'll consider this meal a success simply because he ate it! The fact that it is incredibly simple (slow-cooker!!!) is an added bonus.
I'm not sure if mine looked so different because I didn't use the same cut of pork, but I couldn't find a pork shoulder, so I used some other chunk of pig instead.


Asian Braised Pork
April 2011 Woman's Day

Active: 10 min
Total: 6 hr. on high or 8 hr. on low
Serves 4

1/4 cup low-sodium soy sauce
1/2 tsp ground allspice
1/4 to 1/2 tsp crushed red pepper
1/4 cup brown sugar
1 1-in. piece fresh ginger, thinly sliced
2 1/2 lb boneless pork shoulder, trimmed and cut into 2-in. pieces
1 cup long-grain white rice

In a 5- to 6-qt slow cooker, combine the soy sauce, allspice, red pepper, brown sugar, and ginger. Add the pork and toss to coat. Cover and cook until the meat is tender, on low for 7 to 8 hours or on high for 5 to 6 hours.
Thirty minutes before serving, cook the rice according to package directions.
Serve the pork over the rice.

Tonight, when it was time for the boys to go to bed, Sam reminded me that tomorrow is Paul's birthday. He told me "you better get some presents quick!" When I asked him what we should get Daddy for his birthday he whispered in my ear "a Pillow Pet....because he always uses mine." I love that kid.
I love Nathanael too, but his "funny" stories for the day are a bit more menacing:
A) At nap time today, I could hear him in his room rustling around after he'd been in there atleast 15-30 minutes. Plenty of time to have fallen asleep, in other words. So, I went to see what he was up to. He was standing at his window, with the blinds pulled back, watching the garbage truck. Ok, well that's legit. Kinda hard to fall asleep with that noisy thing rumbling down the block. That's when I noticed the empty bag of wipes for about the 5th time this week and diaper cream rubbed into the carpet. "I was putting cream on my toe." Well, you see, recently Nathanael had a little battle with some sort of fungus on his toes (is it possible for a baby to get athlete's foot?!) and we had been treating his toes with a cream. So, that's where he got that crazy idea. So cute, isn't it?! Can you detect sarcasm through a blog?
B) Later, after his nap, I found him carrying around a small piece of wall. Yes, that's right, a piece of wall. A very small piece, mind you, but still, he had torn a piece of the wall off. It came from a dent in the stairwell which needed to be repaired long ago. Well, it got fixed tonight, alright. Minus the painting. So, in other words, it just got patched. Any who, after Paul spackled it, Nathanel decided to dig his fingers back into the original dent, recreating it and getting spackle stuff all over his shirt, his fingers, and the carpet. Have mercy!
After we put him to bed tonight, we heard him trying to come out (like he does every night). When we opened his door to send him back to his bed, he requested a different place to sleep because his bed is "too cozy". He kills me.