Start of my comeback

I was surprised by the large number of people who actually read my recent “comeback” blog entry.  Thank you all very much for your interest.  I was even more surprised that you sent me quite a few suggestions for what I should consider including in future blogs.  Although I’ve neglected exercising my grey matter with these literary gems, I still try to keep the old brain semi-sharp by reading. My daughter Mary Ann and I are big Stephen King fans and have enjoyed reading many of his books.  She began collecting the hard copies of his novels and back in around 2013 or 14 and she was kind enough to let me borrow a couple. Mr. King is very prolific and many of his novels are 900 to 1,000 or so pages long. The books sat on the shelf in the family room untouched for quite a  while because I felt there would be no way I could hold the damn things up while reading in bed which I did every night in the old days. I guess the “old advancing age syndrome” kept me from giving it a shot.  One day I was looking at both the lonely looking novels and thought that I should return them to my daughter. While trying to decide I remembered something I saw during a trip to Nova Scotia.  I recalled speaking to a women in Sydney who was sitting on stone wall reading something on a tablet.  She explained that she was reading a story on something called a Kindle that was available from Amazon.  I said to myself, “Self” why not look into that thing she was using. So I bought myself a Kindle in late September of 2014.  I could not believe it.  I was able to download one of Stephen’s 1100 page novels in less than a minute and became a constant reader since then. Even own a King T-shirt that says that. I’m currently reading book number 877, and closing in on a personal target of 900 books read.

A few years ago while trying to decide what to make for supper I started thinking about  some of the meals my mother, Marge’s mother,and other family members made in the past. They all shared their favorite recipe and usually supplied a hand written copy.  These recipes usually ended up in a pile in some kitchen drawer.  Again I said, “Self” why not organize these recipes in some way so that everyone  could have access to the meals that people thought were great. It was then that I decided to put together a cookbook, RHINO’S RECIPES, which could then be given  to family and special friends who share my love for food and its preparation.  Several types of recipes were included in it:  1. Recipes that I had tried and enjoyed, 2. Recipes that I want to try someday,  3. Those recipes that were rescued from the countless scraps of handwritten treasures  handed down from friends and family over the years  and hidden in our kitchen drawers, 4. Recipes that I’ll never try, and 5. Any recipes I created.

One of those family members suggested I include a recipe from the book in some of my blogs. I thought the idea was a good one and I will occasionally put one in my Blog.  Here’s one to start:

Apricot Glazed Pork Tenderloin

1 pork tenderloin (approximately 1 pound)

Salt and pepper to taste

2 tablespoons olive oil

1 garlic clove, minced

1/4 cup dry white wine

3 tablespoons apricot jam

Cut the tenderloin into 8 medallions about 3/4 inch thick.  Season with salt and pepper.  Heat olive oil in a large skillet over high heat. 

Add the pork and cook, turning once, until pork is nicely browned and there is no trace of pink in center, about 3 minutes per side.  Remove the pork medallions to a platter.

Add garlic to pan and cook, stirring, for 1 minute.  Add wine and apricot jam and cook over high heat, stirring for an additional minute.  Return pork to pan and heat through.                                           Serves 4