pork ribs with Bob

Back to cooking at home for friends, and tonight we welcomed another librarian over. Bob is someone who lives here in Chicago and works in the area, but I only seem to see him at conferences in other cities, which I think is a little ridiculous. With that in mind, I asked him over for a casual Saturday night around the kitchen peninsula. The result, I think, was altogether pleasant.

Dietary restrictions for more than one person kept the carbs in the dinner to a minimum, which is a shame, because the pork ribs would have gone well with potatoes stewed in among them, or carrots, or a heaping mound of rice cooked with black bean liquor served up in a bowl with masa bisuits on the side. Oooooh, and some fregolata or a quick bread of some sort to go with the cheeses for dessert. Ah well. Bob, as you can see, was in awe of the trifle dish. He swears I hiked miles across the Canadian wilderness with this in my backpack, all in the intent of Canadianizing my little corner of the US, but I swear I bought the bowl at Sears down on State and Madison!

No matter, we had a lovely little dinner, but not before Conrad and I had scrambled to finally tidy up some of our mess around the house and make it presentable. My poor guy: he exhausts himself at work (and in Virginia) all week, then has to spend a somewhat sunny Saturday inside with a vacuum and dustrag. I'm glad he stole a few minutes of relaxation.

Dinner was family style. I made up a favourite standby: tomatillo-braised country-style pork ribs. It's such a winner of a recipe, I swear, and thank you Rick Bayless for that! And piping hot, as you can see! I put together a simple romaine salad and made a cilantro dressing to go with it. The other side was some pattypan squash cut up and seared with red pepper and white onion, seasoned a bit first with oregano, cumin, pepper, and salt. We enjoyed a Gruner Veltliner alongside, and stayed at the table through a cheese course, chatting amiably.

Clean up, I am happy to say, was minimal - the meal was a one pot thing essentially - and Conrad tackled much of it. 10:00 already? Time to grab a book or magazine and wind down before bed!