Wheee, back from a mini-vacation: We went to our friend Ann’s parents’ lake house in Maine for Memorial Day weekend, and basically did nothing for three days. There was kayaking and a bit of walking around, and a couple plunges in the not-as-icy-as-expected lake, but for the most part we drank wine, sat on the dock, drank coffee, sat on the dock, played silly games…
Lovely!
Anyway, I will be updating more soon…
Okay, if that was a picture of where you really were, I am living in the wrong place. That is sheer beauty – and it sounds like you did exactly the things I would do – minus jumping in the lake, because I am afraid of boggy lake monsters.
Thank you so much for inspiring the three pork burgers. It’s funny, as many times as I’ve studied that cookbook, that recipe just didn’t pop out at me until I saw you doing them here. Omigod – people were freaking out. One guy said he had a dream once about something that tasted that good, but he didn’t think it really existed.
I averted near disaster when I realized that I was about to dump 3 big ancho chiles into the meat mix instead of 3 tiny chile de arbol – that would have totally overwhelmed everything. As it was, the burgers were beautifully balanced flavor-wise. I made my favorite coleslaw – savoy cabbage, purple cabbage, shredded carrots, sliced fennel, and edamame tossed with rice vinager, a little peanut oil, and toasted sesame seeds (salt – maldon- and pepper, of course) yum! One friend brought a delicious corn and tomato salad, and another brought roasted vegetables. I sliced up some watermelon and doused it with lemon juice and sprinkled it w/ freshly chopped mint – super refreshing and really nice after the spicy burgers. Everybody agreed it was a coup, and later I showed a bunch of my friend your blog. We all want you to come visit us!
Germi- That is indeed where we were–that was the sunset the first night! Amazing, right? You would have been ok w/ the swimming, I think–the water was so clear that even I was assured of the lack of boggy lake monsters, and I am a VERY squiggly sort of swimmer when it comes to things that might grab at me. (“GAAAAAAAH, WHAT WAS THAT? [Wild thrashing] Oh, seaweed. Blergh!”)
I’m glad the burgers were a hit. I don’t think I would have tried them either, but my brother saw them written up on another blog last fall, and practically forced me to make them. The guys went bonkers–I’ve never seen that sort of reaction to a burger, have you? They were a tiny bit rich for me but I loved the arugula/aioli/tomato combination with them. Yum. I love Goin’s unabashed “House of Pork” approach to cooking.
Your party sounds wonderful–I need to try that slaw. I’d love to visit; LA has always seemed like another country to me!