pork and lentils

Yes, Dad (if you're reading this), we had pork tonight. May that make you giggle at least a little.

One of my favourite old restaurant recipes is for a side dish of lentils prepared according to a recipe in a cookbook by John Bishop. [Side note: I've yet to make it to his restaurant. I really should one day.] Cumin stewed lentils.

Tasty as all get out. Fragrant beyond words. Necessary to close the doors to the other rooms because otherwise we'll go to bed smelling it in our room and wake up to find that all our clothes and furniture in the bedroom have a subtle reek of cumin and curry. All good things come at a price, right?

The lentils served as the bed on which I parked slices of pork tenderloin. I seasoned the meat very simply and tossed it in a hot oven. I even rested it afterwards, resulting in decently juicy meat. Well done Peter.

The other accompaniments were some simply cooked Brussels sprouts and dried Rainier and sour Michigan cherries plumped in Venturi-Schulze balsamic vinegar and a bit of petite sirah. We sipped some of the (overly oaky) red wine with the meal, and had a relaxing little meal of it.

And now, friends, I'm listening to the Christmas music I downloaded from iTunes. Hey, it's October - that's not too early.