22 January 2016

Portraits of us and a smokehouse

I don't have a lot of subjects to blog about these days. It's still too dark and damp for taking good photos outdoors. The garden is in hibernation. Since we hardly ever go anywhere these days, except to markets and supermarkets to do food shopping... well, that limits the range.

This weekend I plan to make a French standard: pot au feu. That's boiled dinner with beef, carrots, onions, potatoes, and, in this case, turnips — just because I like them. Earlier this week I made blanquette de veau. Walt keeps a list of dishes we want to cook so we won't forget the ingredients when we go shopping. There are two things on it right now: English beef Wellington, Spanish paëlla, and French raclette.

You probably think we must both weigh a ton or two, but we don't. It's all in portion control, and the walks with the dog every day are crucial. Walking a lot means I can eat and drink what I want, within reason.

On the left (or maybe above) is a photo of the two of us taken in December by the woman at the restaurant I blogged about a few days ago, Le Moulin de Chaudé in Chemillé-sur-Indrois. If you know us, you'll see that we've aged but we haven't blown up too much.


I do make pulled pork fairly often. I like to always have some in the freezer. The pork is lean and tasty, and it can be seasoned different ways. The French site I linked to in yesterday's post says that most pulled pork is cooked in slow cookers (crock pots) and that might be true these days. It's what I do. But the authentic pulled pork is barbecued — smoked and slow-cooked over hickory or oak embers. Above is a photo of the smokehouse at Wilber's restaurant in North Carolina, my favorite place for pulled pork and hushpuppies. I've been going there since the late 1960s. The photo is almost 15 years old.

21 comments:

  1. That's a very nice picture of you two.

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  2. You both look slim and fit. A little greyer maybe than I remember (in June it'll be 3 years since I was in the Loire Valley), but definitely in great shape! Must be that delicious Loire Valley wine ;)Martine

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  3. Yes, nice photo of you. I hear pulled pork is on the wain here with jokes about hipsters throwing up when they find out their pork has not been pulled. I suspect ours is seldom cooked authentically. I class the pulled pork we get with cuts like lamb shanks, ribs and the stomach fat of some beast as cuts our butchers would give to regular customers for dog food. I do quite like lamb shanks though.

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    1. I like lamb shanks too and keep trying to remember to go to the butcher's to buy some. I don't find them at the supermarket.

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  4. Ah, good to see you both :)
    Love the Wilber's shot.

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    1. Can you believe I'll turn 67 in less than two months? When we were all in Paris, I was in my early 30s.

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  5. Nice picture. I always wondered how you two stay so fit with all the delicious food posts. Now I know. It's the long walks.

    I hope chm is safe and sound for this large storm they're predicting for the east coast, une grande tempête de neige, with 2 feet of snow. My sister in CT may be glad they finally bought a generator this year, as their power always goes out.

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    1. Hi David,
      The only thing I fear is losing power. I have a forced-air gas furnace which means no power no fan, no fan no heat. The bright [!] side, if that happens, is I can cook in the dark on my gas range and not starve to death.

      On the other hand, we might completely miss that predicted storm as happened before. I'm optimistic by nature!

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  6. Oh Lordy, hushpuppies. I am going to Florida in a few months, I will go to a "fish camp" and have hushpuppies for the first time again in years and years :)
    You two look fantastic !

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    1. You must have spent many years in NY State...

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  7. Thanks for thinking of a portrait for us. You are both looking good. Our hair may be gray but in our hearts we are forever young, never forgetting our younger days when we knew Paris.

    So that's Wilber's smokehouse, built just like ours here in Alabama. I don't know why Kentucky doesn't have as much bbq as we do in NC and AL. In Ky we had country ham that is cured in salt. There were smoke houses around the countryside for curing them. They are pricey now. We always had one hanging in the basement for the holidays.

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    1. There is lamb barbecue in Ky. in the same style as the pork BBQ in N.C. I tried it in Owensboro, to the west and downriver from L'ville.

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  8. Yes, your walks...let you eat what you wish. I have one part of the down.

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    1. We both do a walk every day. On some of these winter days the walks are not very long, but just getting out and moving around a little bit really helps.

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    2. Oh, a phrase you hear here fairly often is: N'oubliez pas que manger et bouger font partie des plaisirs de la vie.

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  9. I like Moore's BBQ in New Bern better than Wilber's!

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    1. I'll have to try Moore's the next time I'm there. It would be a lot easier to get to than Wilber's from Morehead. And if it's as good... well, tant mieux.

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  10. Very nice photo of the two of you! Once I used to walk an hour before breakfast but those days are too long gone. But since I enjoy food I think I must get back to a little more effort.

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  11. Yum. Wilber's. I've got a Wilber's cap (sold to me by Wilber), which I wear all summer. No matter where I go, people ask: are you from Goldsboro?

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