I was feeling fairly determined today to get a bunch of stuff around the house done; it fell apart at the end when my dinner didn't turn out as deliciously as I had hoped, but up until that point it was pretty good. I had a somewhat lazy morning and made myself french toast for breakfast - that's a rare treat, especially since I usually don't crave sugar and so opt for more savory breakfast options, but it was pretty tasty today.
Then, I finally took down my Christmas tree - I am giving myself a pass on how long it took since I wasn't here for the last three weekends, although that doesn't really excuse whatever was going on in January. I also took down my outdoor wreath, swapped my doormat for my usual non-Christmas one, took down the garland/lights wrapped around my banister, and generally ensured that my house looks seasonally appropriate. I also dealt with the piles of mail in my dining room, took out trash and recycling, etc., etc.
Somewhere in there, I started tonight's dinner - a harissa-rubbed pork shoulder with white beans and chard. This was v. promising - the rub involved harissa (a Tunisian sauce with chili, red pepper, spices, etc), tomato paste, brown sugar, garlic, and vinegar, and the rub tasted great before putting it on the pork. However, the pork came out so dry that it was basically inedible, and the beans were also dry, and the chard was just a mistake. I think the issue was that I had a picnic roast rather than a butt (thanks to a delivery error), which had less fat on it. I also may have used too large a pot for the size of the roast, and so the 1.5c water added to the roasting pan to cook the pork evaporated too much? I added more water when I took it out to add the beans, but then you were supposed to turn the temperature up and leave the pot uncovered for the last 40min, and it was way too dry at that point. I would actually try it again because there were bites that were great, but for an initial outing it was a severe disappointment.
That said, the rest of my afternoon was not a disappointment - I had a friendship renewal chat with Jane, Jen, and Joann, and it lasted for several hours and was a delight. Then I finished eating my disappointing dinner, cleaned the kitchen, messed around online, and finally finished FOUR LOST CITIES. The last city was Cahokia, which was located near present-day St Louis - they had a population of ~30,000 back in 1100AD, which means they were bigger than Paris at the time. It was a pretty fascinating read, although less detailed than a couple of the other sections because Cahokia didn't leave behind anything written and so a lot of guessing at social structure is supposition (although the Sioux / Osage are likely descendants who moved west from Cahokia and share some similar agriculture / art / religious stories).
Of course, the danger of reading nonfiction is that it makes me wish that I had become a history professor so I could have studied this stuff myself - but a) the actual history professors I know haven't exactly had an easy time of it from a career standpoint, and b) this book was written by a journalist, not a historian, so I could theoretically write something like it too.
But now, I'm desperate for sleep - tomorrow is an office day, in that I want to write and also work on my taxes, so wish me luck with that. Goodnight!
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