Not So Good

Onto day 3 of my experiment. I was really looking forward to this one because I thought it looked really good in the picture in the magazine. Today's recipe was for Pork and Bell Pepper Stir Fry. Okay...first off, I've never made a stir fry using pork before. The recipe calls for pork loin. I didn't want to buy a whole pork loin for just the two of us, so I bought a couple of pork loin chops and chopped them up. Secondly...Paul's not a big fan of bell peppers, and I knew that going in. He don't mind them cooked with something, but he usually picks them out. Third...if you watch Rachael's show on the Food Network, 30-Minute Meals, and you hear her talk about how much garlic she uses, that is the truth. I have almost gone through a whole head of garlic in the past three days. This recipe called for four cloves...and that is where this recipe went to pot. I got all my ingredients nicely chopped and ready to go. I added the oil to the pan and was just about ready to throw in the scallions and the garlic. It said stir until "golden." Whatever. At about this time, Paul gets home from work. I throw in the garlic and scallions. Things are smelling good. I'm waiting for the gold. Paul takes off his watch and sets it down on the counter, and it falls to the floor...breaking to pieces against the ceramic tile. We both saw a piece fly in my direction, so he gets out the broom and sweeps around me, as I'm trying to stir what's in the pan. He picks up the pieces of the watch and realizes the piece that flew toward me must have been the battery because it's missing. The only place for it to be is under the stove. So I'm trying to continue to stir the garlic and scallions while helping him get the drawer out from under the stove to retrieve the lost battery. By this time, the scallions are no where near gold but the garlic is. I look at the recipe and it says to add the pork and cook until no longer pink. My thoughts here are the garlic and scallions should have come out when the pork went in because by the time the pork finished, the garlic was way past gold. Have you ever had burnt garlic? Yeah...it's bitter, and it ruins the whole dish.

I finished cooking everything and got it plated up. Paul took one bite and almost choked. Partly because of the bitterness of the garlic and partly because his brain was thinking sweet and sour when his taste buds tasted bitter stir-fry. Blech!

The good news is he wants me to try making it again sometime but this time be careful with the garlic (as long as he keeps his watch on...I'm just saying). We also both decided that it might be better with a touch of honey added to the sauce also. The pork was really tender, so that part worked out. I was disappointed. Like I said, I was really looking forward to this one. Oh well. Better luck next time.

Oh, and yes...we did find the battery. It was under the stove.

What's on the menu for tomorrow? Slider Caesar salad. I'm not too sure about this one.