C I V I L    M A R R I A G E    I S    A    C I V I L    R I G H T.

A N D N O W I T ' S T H E L A W O F T H E L A N D.


Showing posts with label Pork Boys. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Pork Boys. Show all posts

Thursday, April 9, 2026

The Pork Boys Do Easter 2026

 Some pics of our latest festive dinners.  I post these mainly for our own future reference.

No pictures of the food, but our Palm Sunday dinner was a simple one of breaded cod, fondant potatoes, and steamed broccoli.  The table setting was simple too, as we like to do for Holy Week:

M.P. laid folded green napkins in a cross pattern under the center candles.


Easter Sunday:

They're hard to make out in these pics, but in the centerpiece are three
Easter eggs on sticks, yellow, pink, and blue.


Braised lamb shanks, herbed carrots, baked potatoes.
The first course was creamed chicken soup.  
Dessert, not shown, was lemon mousse in parfait glasses
.
Everything was quite delicious.

-----

Wednesday, March 18, 2026

The Pork Boys Do St. Patrick's Day, 2026

This was our Sunday dinner, held on Monday night because . . . we're old and retired and we don't have to follow a schedule.  Main dish was slow-cooked corned beef, with boiled cabbage, carrots, and little white potatoes, and some beef gravy.  M.P. made Irish soda bread to go with dinner. 

Dessert was chocolate cake covered with a dark chocolate ganache and decorated with some icing made of chocolate and Guinness stout.  Everything was scrumptious!  And notice the "pot of gold" centerpiece M.P. fixed up, ringed with artificial shamrocks.These simple photos are mainly just for our future reference.





-----

Monday, February 23, 2026

Russ Cooks! Swiss Steak a la Johnny Mac

Last night for our Sunday dinner I made Swiss Steak, and M.P. loved it - gave me an A+!

Swiss steak with tomato gravy over white rice; fried Italian green beans; garlic Texas toast.  First course was that lusicous garlic soup (not shown) left over from last week.  Click to enlarge.

It was really a joint production, though - M.P. did all the prep work (mis en place), and had everything already chopped, measured, and laid out for me when I got to the kitchen.  This was a very tasty, very filling meal:  a real treat.  M.P. thanked me profusely, and I was proud to have cooked something to delight his tastebuds, instead of the other way around as is usual at our house.

I had seen this video by Johnny Mac, the Sauce and Gravy Guy, and it looked so good and so easy, I just wanted to try it myself.  I followed his directions, but at M.P.'s suggestion, added a couple of drops of Louisiana Hot Sauce™ and 2 teaspoons of sugar; also a quarter-cup of chopped bell pepper.  Cooked and baked it all in a cast iron deep skillet* for 2 full hours; the meat came out fork tender and scumptious, the tomato gravy full of luscious flavor.

If any of you fellas want a real man-pleasing meal, this is it!  We highly recommend Johnny Mac's simple recipe. Total prep time for me, first time out of the chute, was 45 minutes, not counting all the pre-prep work M.P. did.

* - I'm not affiliated with the Lodge company; I just think everyone who likes to cook ought to have one of these handy things.  It's a skillet and a dutch oven all in one; and the handle makes it super easy to use on top of the stove or in the oven for all kinds of roasts, stews, soups, and whatever.  It will last forever with proper care, which is very simple.

-----

Thursday, February 19, 2026

The Pork Boys Do Mardi Gras, 2026

I'm afraid I don't have much to show from this year's feast; M.P. cooked all evening, so it was past midnight when we sat down to eat, and we were so hungry we couldn't take time to photograph the food.  So this is really just for our future reference - a couple of pics of the beautiful table setting M.P. spread out in purple, green, and gold with Mardi Gras beads and masks:

Click to enlarge.


Dinner was delicious:  We began with M.P.'s famous garlic soup - made from about 20 or 30 cloves of garlic, but it's not overpowering as you might think; very tasty and satisfying indeed, and a bit sweet.  The entree was boned Cornish game hens stuffed with minced chicken livers and fried a crispy golden brown; also golden gravy (regular gravy with a pinch of turmeric added for color); and browned rice.  

For dessert M.P, made a cinnamon King's Cake, very sweet and buttery, not dry and tasteless as most bakery cakes are nowadays.  This has become our yummy new tradition.


That's all, folks!  But I must make note of last night's whimsical "Dinner of the Spheres" that M.P. dreamed up - scrumptious Swedish meatballs in gravy, steamed Brussels sprouts with Thousand Island dressing on the side, and little round new potatoes sauteed in lemon-garlic butter.  A delightful meal.  While we ate it at the kitchen bar, we watched The Making of Fantasia, a fusion of art, music, and animation that somehow was a perfect accompaniment to our fanciful dinner.


-----

Sunday, January 25, 2026

Sunday Drive: Snowfall

As performed by Doris Day, 1967; one of M.P.'s favorite songs.  And so appropriate for today in Texas.

It's sunny and 16 fucking degrees outside as I write, and feels like 30 in the house.  BRRR!  We have 3 to 5 inches of white stuff all over the gound, atop a solid glaze of ice.  That's why you don't see any traffic on the roads in this news video, though the freeways are open.  Temps won't get above freezing until Tuesday afternoon, for a little while.  Here's some live coverage from the Dallas-Fort Worth area:

M.P. and I are hunkered down and huddled up in our drafty old bungalow, using all available methods of heat generation and retention - gas furnace, electric fireplace, and multiple layers of clothing. I highly recommend fleece-lined flannel shirts and knitted caps.  And we're not leaving the house until the icy white is all gone. 

Screen capture from WFAA drone over Dallas.  Click to enlarge.
N.B. - This is a color picture.

To keep up our morale, last night M.P. made sausage-and-chicken gumbo, with potato salad and fried oysters on the side; it doesn't get any better than that! And I hunted up The Birdcage, which we haven't seen in years; still a comedic treat.  We watched it as we ate our dinner at the kitchen bar, followed by hot coffee and the last two slices of homemade chess pie, flavored with a drop of orange liqueur.

My heart aches for you Yankee boys, really it does.

-----

Tuesday, December 30, 2025

The Pork Boys Do Christmas, 2025

 At long last, M.P. has finally figured out how to send pics from his smart phone to my email address.  

As I mentioned the other day, this Christmas has been quieter and much less hectic than usual, without a houseful of M.P.'s family to feed.  So we have done less and done it when we felt like doing it.  We had a little Christmas buffet for just us two last Friday night in front of the Christmas tree - I'll try to add a pic of that here - with a tasty array of hors d'oeuvres, including homemade liver pâté, a creamy homemade cheese ball, some pigs-in-a-blanket, with honey-mustard and barbecue sauces on the side, and more cheeses, assorted crackers, homemade shortbread oookies, and brownies with chocolate-mint icing.   And some mulled wine to wash it all down.  All quite scrumptious, believe me when I tell you!

We had our Chistmas dinner on Sunday, the 28th, and oh was it good.  It began with our traditional Cream of Green soup (green beans pureed with green onions and parsley in a cream sauce) - it's much more delicious than you might think.  Next, M.P.'s famous Red Cajun Duck stuffed with jambalaya was the star of the show, as seen below, accompanied by braised baby carrots and pearl onions, fried turnip slices, and crescent rolls.  Alas, not until we had finished dinner did M.P. realize he had fogotten to set out the deviled eggs and Green Fluff!  The latter being pistachio pudding mixed with Kool Whip and mini-marshmallows.  It was all good, though, and we had it again last night, and will have it again tonight.  No problem!

Wish I could hand all my truckbuddies a plate.  Hope your Christmas fare was good, too.

Click to enlarge.



For desssert, we had what has become our favorite holiday tradition:  chocolate mousse cake topped with real whipped cream and cooked reaspberry sauce.  I'm afraid this picture, taken in a hurry at the end of our meal, looks rather pathetic.  But I assure you, it does not taste pathetic!  It's really a most delightful thing.  The portion size is small because it's so rich and filling.


We have plans afoot for our New Year's Dinner on Thursday, so check back later in the week for more pics. 

-----

Wednesday, December 24, 2025

Merry Christmas to All 2025


Madonna and Child by Il Sassoferrato, circa 1650

Well, fellas, Christmas has come round again, with its timeworn message of peace, goodwill to men.  A message this old world desperately needs to hear - but is anyone listening?  

As I've been preparing this post, I've tried to think of how to express what Christmas means to me, but my sluggish old man's brain has been slow to respond.  However, I happily discovered that I already said those things in this Christmas post from 2022, if anyone cares to read it.

Sadly, Christmas at our house is not as merry and bright as it has been in Christmases past. For one reason or another, none of M.P.'s family are coming to enjoy the usual big Yule feast with us.  So no need for all that cooking, baking, and decorating: a single wreath over the fireplace is enough.  But M.P.  has begun preparations for our smaller Christmas dinner a deux, probably on Sunday, which will feature his luscious Red Cajun Duck, a real bell-ringer.  I do wish some of my truckbuddies lived nearer, so we could invite them over for a really festive dinner now and then. 

Anyway, I wish all my truckbuddies a very Merry Christmas with the ones they love.  Here's one of my favorite Christmas songs in a thrilling a cappella version by Heart that I just now discovered.  Crank it up, sit back, and enjoy.


+   +   +   +   +

Bonus:  Pope Leo delivers a brilliant and beautiful homily during Midnight Mass at St. Peter's Basilica:

This is the Christian faith.

-----

Monday, November 10, 2025

Pork Boys Recommend: General Tso's Chicken

Here's a sure-fire recipe for the best General Tso's Chicken you ever had.  At least, it's the best recipe we've found.   From America's Test Kitchen, father and son team Jeffrey and Kevin Pang - they call themselves the Hunger Pangs - show exactly how to make it, step by step.

M.P. has used their recipe a few times before, and he just made it again yesterday for our Sunday dinner - boy howdy, it's GOOD!  Took a long day in the kitchen, but M.P. says it was worth it - and your Head Trucker totally agrees.  We'll have it again tonight.

Using chicken thighs rather than breast meat makes tender, juicy eating.  And the sauce is just the right balance between sweetness and mild heat.  It's finger lickin' good - I tell you what, boys!

Bonus:  Get the Hunger Pangs' printable recipe here on the ATK website.

BTW, to make a complete meal, you'll also need some white or fried rice and perhaps an egg roll or two to go with the chicken.  Unless you're an experienced cook like M.P., I suggest you get those at the store, ready to heat up.

-----

Monday, November 3, 2025

Old Fashioned Homo Love

I just came across two young fellas who have shared the story of their life and love in many YouTube videos.  They don't look gay, they don't sound gay, but they sure as hell are gay.  And so much in love.  Beautiful.

The vids I've posted below are the most poignant to your Head Trucker, who used to be a great romantic - before life knocked the stuffings out of me.  I always wanted the things you see in these videos - the rapturous love, the proposal, the wedding, the home, the happily ever after.  Someone to build a life with, a shared life worth living, not an empty string of one-night stands.

But wantin' ain't gettin'.  Sometimes, though, you get what you need.  Keep trying.  I had two husbands - as I like to say - before I met M.P.  Despite rosy beginnings both times, they didn't work out: one left and one died. There are no guarantees in this mortal life, none. You pays your money and you takes your chances.  (But it's better to try and fail, than never to have tried at all.  At least you lived and loved.)

There's not many pics of us together.  Here we are at Xmas 2010.
I'm not really that much taller than M.P. - I'd just come in from outside
and was still wearing boots, while he was wearing house shoes.

But then 18 years ago today, M.P. and I met for the first time, and we hit it off right from the start.  We don't do all that sloppy stuff like you see in these vids.  Been there, done that.  Finances are tight, so we don't travel, don't go to bars or movies. don't even eat out. But we think alike, laugh a lot, take care of each other in sickness and in health, and we're content with what we have, despite the ups and downs of old age. A quiet life in a happy little home is enough for us two old boys; it's all we need and all we want.  

As someone who well recalls a time when gay marriage was an impossible dream, it's quite touching to watch these young'uns start their life together, as I would have liked to do - a couple of regular guys in cowboy boots and hats getting hitched before a crowd of family and friends, heading off hand in hand in the prime of youth, in the pink dawn of love.  As all young lovers should, straight or gay.  Sweet.  Very sweet. 

A Ring for My Boyfriend (2016) (9:31)


The Proposal, Part 1 (2016) (10:25)


The Proposal, Part 2 (2016) (8:50)


The Wedding (7/11/17) (4;57)


Bonus: Zach has a deep, sexy voice, but I can't quite place his accent - it's Southern, but not quite Texan. It reminds me of Mark Collie's accent -- my first husband and I saw him in concert more than 30 years ago. Here's a song of his we used to dance to on cowboy night at the gay bar:

-----

Thursday, August 28, 2025

The Pork Boys Do Ossobuco

Well, fellas, it's been a long time since I posted about one of our dinners.  Because technical difficulties.  But I found a little work-around, so I have two pics of our most recent Sunday dinner to show you - a simple meal, but believe me it was grand!

It was Dinner in Italy at our house.  We started with Tuscan beans and greens soup, (what's the name for that, Frank?) with bits of cooked ham thrown in.  Quite tasty!  We Southerners found it much to our liking, natch - we were raised on greens, beans, and hamhocks.  Only it was a bit too salty, so the second time around, M.P. boiled some chopped-up potatoes in it, which corrected the saltiness nicely.

Ossobuco.  I found this pic on the net. 
It looks very much like what M.P. cooked up.

The main dish was ossobuco, which M.P. made for the first time last winter, and again last weekend, filling the house with a most delicious aroma.  The name means "hollow bone," and that's where the marrow is.  The beef shank with attached meat is cooked low and slow in the oven as the marrow melts out into the meat, giving every bite a rich, fatty, scrumptious taste!  It puts us into orbit, and we are only sad that we had to wait 70-odd years to discover this fabulous dish.

The green vegetable was fagiolini in fricassea (hey you in the back - watch your damn mouth, buddy), which is green beans cooked in a creamy sauce of egg yolks and lemon juice.  An Italian recipe, perhaps of Greek origin, it has a new and different taste.  I liked it.

For the starch dish, we had linguini alfredo, with a standard alfredo sauce, which we both love.  The bread was M.P.'s wonderful focaccia, handmade.  Our dinner wine was Gato Negro, something M.P. discovered a while back, which is dark and strong like Chianti.  Yeah, I know it's Spanish, but it worked fine.

Finally, the piece de resistance was the chocolate & caramel cheesecake that M.P. had baked that morning, which was totally Out.Of.This. World.  OMG, you have no idea.  Here's the one picture we got of it:

This made us pork boys happy as pigs in the sunshine, I tell you what!

We finished it off last night.  And that's all I have to show, but I hope from here on I can get more food pics to show here on the Blue Truck.  Later, guys.  Buon appetito!

-----

Tuesday, September 3, 2024

The Pork Boys Do M.P.'s Birthday

Owing to spells of illness and sundry domestic crises, we had to put off M.P.'s birthday dinner until last Sunday, which turned out to be a nice, peaceful day here in Texas, the temperature outside merely a balmy 90 degrees.

As per our custom, M.P. - resident cook and chef extraordinaire - asked your Head Trucker to prepare the birthday repast, featuring a childhood favorite of his:  Cajun chicken fricassee over rice, accompanied by sweet peas in butter sauce, fried garlic corn, and toasted garlic bread.  And I am always glad to have a chance to cook for M.P. who, as my longtime truckbuddies know, routinely serves up so many delicious meals for me.  M.P. really loves to cook; he thinks and plans and even dreams about it all the time.  It's his glory and chief delight in life, and he is entirely self-taught.

Your Head Trucker's talents in the kitchen, as in all other areas of life, are few and small.  But I believe I can safely say now that I have mastered the fricassee.  When I first made it for M.P. a couple of years ago, he pronounced it delicious, saying it was just like his mama made it.  But this time, after I've improved the recipe a bit, he declared it excellent and perfect.  He even said with a guilty grin (shhh!) it was better than his mama's!  You can't get higher praise than that.  So now he has given yours truly the accolade of Honorary Cajun with Two Stars, which I shall bear proudly.

Enough talk, here's the pictures - I do wish I could hand you boys a plate.  It's plain cooking, all right, but it will fill you up.  Click the pics to enlarge.

M.P. likes to use a seashore theme for our summer Sunday dinners.  This week, he crafted a whimsical lighthouse out of empty seasoning jars.

Our pretty Sunday dinners, not to mention birthday and holiday meals, always feature wine and candlelight and some festive theme of M.P.'s devising.

Sweet peas and butter on the left, gen-yew-ine Cajun chicken fricassee on the right.  If any of my truckbuddies want the recipe, let me know in the comments and I'll post it.  (First you make a roux . . .)

Fried garlic corn topped with parmesan cheese on the left, plain white rice on the right, fluffy and moist.  And just so you know, the stovetop was spotlessly clean when I started cooking, three-and-a-half hours before this picture was taken.  I can cook or clean, but not both at the same time.

Toasted garlic bread, hot out of the oven, ready to serve.

Lightouse on the rocks.

Alas, your Head Trucker's talents do not extend to cake decorating.  But it's the thought that counts, right?  M.P. was delighted with the strawberry cake, the cream cheese icing, and the watermelon wine.
(Try it, you'll like it!)

----

Monday, April 29, 2024

Cavalcade of Food: German Chocolate Cake

For our Sunday dinner yesterday, M.P. made some down-home favorites:  breaded steak fingers, mashed potatoes, gravy, fried okra, ranch beans flavored with a little bbq sauce, and garlic toast.  Mmm-mmm good!  Dessert was M.P.'s famous Tres Leches Cake from last week, still sweet and cold and luscious.  Unfortunately, we have no pics to show you all because . . . well, the Pork Boys are just too old keep up with all the technology.  Maybe we'll take pics next time.

Meanwhile, from Cavalcade of Food, Kevin shows how to make a scrumptious German chocolate cake - and along the way, explains why it has nothing to do with Germany.  (It got started right here in Texas - who knew?)

-----

Wednesday, January 10, 2024

The Pork Boys Do the Holidays

As usual, the Pork Boys enjoyed a raft of delicious meals for Christmas, New Year's, and Kings' Day, all made from scratch by M.P., resident chef extraordinaire.

Unfortunately, your Head Trucker has gotten pretty lax in the picture-taking department, so we don't have a comprehensive set of pics.  I'm posting these here mainly just for our own future reference.

M.P. knocks himself out cooking these holiday meals, but now he is pooped and swears he won't cook another thing the rest of this month.  But he always comes up with some new culinary idea before February arrives.  I wish all my truckbuddies, and everyone in the world, could enjoy such delightful repasts.


Yule Dinner for M.P.'s kids and grandkids:


M.P. made a beautiful charcuterie platter with meats, cheeses, nuts, olives, and dried fruit.


M.P.'s clever rearrangement of the front room makes it possible now to seat 14 without crowding at the holidays.

Wednesday, September 13, 2023

The Pork Boys Do Summer 2023

There's not much to show, because this was longest, hottest, most godawful summer ever - the temperature outside was usually from 105 to 115, and inside, our overworked a/c system could only cool the house down to 85 or 90 degrees.  Consequently, even with all fans going, we sweated all day and most of the night, and could hardly do anything - even think - because of the oppressive, relentless heat.  I've never seen anything like it in my life, and hope I never do again.

During June, July, and August, we ate very few dinners at the table; mostly we sat at the breakfast bar in the kitchen, and mostly we ate simple fare, easy to cook without heating up the house even worse.  So picture-taking opportunities were few.  Here are a few snaps, mainly for our own record, of a few nice dinners we've had in the last couple weeks, as the heat has moderated.  There were more pics on M.P.'s old phone, which died and had to be replaced; the pics were, alas, unrecoverable.

One Sunday, M.P. used his cookery magic to make a ham steak so tender that you could almost eat it with a spoon.  Clockwise from 6 o'clock you see ham, fried sweet potato slices, a deviled egg, two halves of a buttered biscuit, turnip greens, and in the center, creamy cooked coleslaw - easy to chew.  All of it delicious!


One weeknight, M.P. asked your Head Trucker to cook Chicken Fricassee, which he has liked a lot in the past, and I was glad to accommodate him.  Below is a chicken thigh at 6 o'clock, leftward is sautéed corn with garlic and chives, at top is rice covered with fricassee gravy, rightward is a pile of green lima beans, followed by a buttered biscuit.  I didn't get the roux dark enough this time, but M.P. pronounced it all very good indeed.  Notice the lovely sunset-colored roses I bought on sale at the grocery store to use as a centerpiece.


Below, chicken fricassee in the pot, ready to dish up.


A closer view of the plate.


And finally, last Sunday M.P. cooked a pork roast in the crock pot all day, so for dinner we enjoyed Pork & Pineapple over rice; leftward is garlic bread; followed by sweet potato chunks in sweet sauce; fried onion rings; and at right, fried Italian green beans with Ro-Tel and bacon.  Mighty good eatin' - I tell you what, boys.



That's all, folks!
-----

Thursday, August 31, 2023

The Pork Boys do Ratatouille!

(Pronounced rat-a-TOO-ee; say it quickly.)

Last week, M.P. got a yen to try something new and different, so he went searching for recipes, and the result was splendid:  a big pot of delicious ratatouille from the south of France.  Neither of us had ever tried it before, but we became instant fans of this all-vegetable dish.  With fresh herbs from our garden, it was a real palate pleaser that you could eat as a main dish with toasted garlic bread, or serve with practically anything else.

Note that all the vegetables end up soft, not crunchy - which is just how I like them.

This simple dish is easy to make, even for the culinarily challenged, and as with all good recipes, there are endless variations.  Here are a couple of recipe videos to check out.  The first one is simple and direct, just showing you what to do instead of telling:

 

The second is full of friendly directions from one of our favorite online chefs, Stephane at French Cooking Academy:

 

 I have a few suggestions: 

1. Instead of yellow bell pepper, M.P. used yellow squash, which I love - delightful!

2. Peel your zucchini. That thick, green skin tends to infiltrate the whole dish, and is very annoying to old men with bad teeth.

3. Drain your sautéed vegetables well, using a strainer or paper towels, before putting them in the pot. A little grease goes a long way. 

Well, now you're all ready to make this simple, scrumptious Provençale dish.  Try it, you'll like it!

-----

Tuesday, June 6, 2023

The Pork Boys Do the Merry Month of May

To celebrate the return of spring and a profusion of blooms in the yard, we had several festive dinners last month.  We post these pictures to remind ourselves, but you can have a peek, too.


M,P. created a beautiful miniature maypole for May Day, which stayed on the table several weeks and has since been carefully packed away for future re-use.


English onion soup, from ye olde Englisshe receipt.

Roasted goat legs, according to some olde Englisshe custom.
Actually, it's just chicken legs, as M.P. couldn't find any 
fresh goats on sale.

Pea Salad, an olde Texas delight.  Try it, you'll like it.

Parsleyed carrots and potatoes, very yummy.

It looks big, but actually it's a little pan of little yeast rolls,
hot out of the oven and smelling so good.

All of the above, for starters.

Thursday, April 13, 2023

The Pork Boys Do Easter, 2023

Actually, these are scenes of both our Palm Sunday and Easter Sunday dinners.  I'll post captions soon, but I think most pics are self-explanatory.

Palm Sunday table setting.


Homemade split pea soup.

From 12 o'clock:  glazed carrots, parsleyed potatoes, baked fish with mayo &
egg white topping, crescent roll

Melting Moments cookies, the original recipe from the Argo cornstarch box.


Marinated lamb shanks ready to go into the oven. 
Two shanks make two meals for us.

Homemade bread - M.P. plaited four strands of dough into this pretty pattern.


Hors d'oeuvres.  From 12 o'clock, tomato and avocado slices on toast points, homemade Indian "egg cheese," cucumber sandwiches, crackers, tuna salad dip.

Easter table setting.


Left to right:  roast lamb with carrots, potato salad with radish roses,
and deviled eggs.




Asparagus and Hollandaise sauce, soon to be deliciously combined.


From 12 o'clock:  asparagus, lamb & carrots, mint jelly, potato salad,
bread & butter.

A parfait glass of lemon mousse, topped with whipped cream and a small slice of lemon.  This has become our customary Easter dessert, so sweet, fresh, and festive.

-

-----


Related Posts with Thumbnails