I'm going to be a better blogger ( or how I prepared pork tenderloin)

Last night I prepared a roasted pork tenderloin.  I had never cooked an entire pork tenderloin before, so I wasn't really sure what I wanted to do with the one I had purchased over the weekend at Kroger.  I decided to first look around online for ideas, but nothing really sounded like anything for a beginner.  There was one recipe that involved mushrooms and blue cheese, but any recipe that involves a meat tenderizer and butcher's twine is definitely more involved than I care to attempt after being at work all day.

I finally came across one that suggested using Dijon mustard as a sauce for the roasted pork.  This still wasn't exactly what I had in mind.  While I'm a huge fan of Grey Poupon's advertising campaign from the '80's, I really don't care for their mustard.  So...... I decided to use the horseradish mustard from Kroger that I love.

I think that dinner turned out pretty well for a first attempt.  If you care to give it a try, here's what you'll need:

Pork Tenderloin

Horseradish Mustard  (amounts on all of these vary depending on size of tenderloin)

Oregano 

Basil

Rosemary

Freshly Cracked Black Pepper

1) Preheat oven to 450 degrees.  (side note: I wish I knew what keys would make the little degree symbol on my keyboard!  Anyone know?!?)

2) Wash pork and pat dry.  

3)  Place on roasting pan.  I used a silicone glazed pan that is naturally nonstick, but would suggest using nonstick cooking spray if you don't have one.  This didn't produce a lot of juices, but I did end up with some baked onto the pan at the end.

4)  Brush pork on all sides with mustard.  I did not use as much as I probably should have, as some areas were not nearly as flavorful as others.  I suggest being very liberal during this step.

5)  Dust the top and sides with the oregano, basil and just a bit of rosemary, and finish with cracked black pepper.

About to go into the oven

6)  Reduce oven temp to 350 degrees, and bake pork until internal temperature at thickest part reads 145 degrees.  

7)  Let stand for five minutes before serving.

Finished Product

That's it.  I think I baked ours for about half an hour.  Mk and I had leftovers today for lunch, and it was still very tender and full of flavor after being reheated in the microwave.  

Oh yeah, the inside should be slightly pink when fully done.  Don't worry, it's ok.  The FDA says son.  Don't believe me?  Check this out: usda-on-pork-other-white-meat-can-be-a-little-pink

Calgon, Take Me Away!!!

I've gotta say that I'm pretty tired of severe weather warnings.  It was last Thursday that the the tornado hit my street, and since then we've had a couple more tornado warnings, hail, and LOTS of rain.  In fact, my phone tells me that we have no sunshine headed our way for a while.  Boo!

Dislike

I can't remember if I mentioned this when I last blogged, but I finally talked to my Allstate agent on Monday.  I gave her until 10am to return my voicemail or email, but ended up having to call her again since she failed to meet my mental deadline.  It was interesting that she seemed so surprised to hear from me, but she took my information and informed me that a claims agent would be in touch with me in 2-3 days.  Other than that, all I learned from her was my deductible amount.  About five minutes after we hung up the phone, a lady in her office called my cell phone.  When I answered, she identified herself and told me she was returning my call.  Nice, right?  I did get a bit more information out of her.  She told me that if there were any way to cover the hole in the roof to do so.  The reason?  "Allstate won't want to pay for excessive damage"...... seriously.

Around 4pm on Monday I left work armed with a giant tarp.  I somehow convinced jtl to leave work and join me in my efforts to place the tarp on the roof.  I was so thankful for the help.  Gotta say that I probably have the best dressed handy man around.  I haven't seen any other guys working on my street in a tie. 

When he arrived, I had already gotten my ladder out and determined that it was not the best choice.  He confirmed my thoughts.  We had to borrow a ladder from my neighbor, but we managed to get the damage covered.  I still had no power at my house at this point.

Tuesday morning, I find out that the power is back on and AT&T is planning a service call to get the Uverse back up and running.  This requires an adult to be present, so I opted to take the day off work and spend it doing the chores that had piled up over the weekend.  I spent over an hour cleaning out my refrigerator, did multiple loads of laundry and went to buy groceries. 

By 4pm, AT&T still hadn't shown up and the sky had begun to cloud up AGAIN.  The wind had been pretty strong all day, but nothing too crazy.  The repairman showed up around 6, and had the cable  up around 7.  I think it was about this time that we notice that the wind has blown the tarp off of my house.  Great.  The lightning has begun and the rain is falling.  Tornado sirens begin not too long after, and Mk takes cover in the bathroom again.  I've gotta say that I was a bit frightened about what could happen with those two giant pines still standing over my house.  Luckily, we made it through two rounds of tornado warnings that night with only a little water standing in the sun room as the only noticeable change since the day before.

Day 1 of Water Building Up

 
Yesterday afternoon, the severe thunderstorms with hail began.  I don't think my car has any damage, but the change at my house is noticeable.  Given that the tarp had just blown off Tuesday night, I had not had a chance to get anyone back up there, and the rain and hail is not helping things.

Holes in the Roof

I finally heard from the claims agent last night.  He began by telling me that he understood I had "a little wind damage" to the back of my structure.  I told him that there is a hole in the back wall/roof of my sun room.  He then informs me that he is an inside claims specialist.  He apparently handles the minor claims that can be resolved with a phone call and no on site inspection.  I'm guessing my insurance agent didn't really pay attention to the part regarding the hole in the roof.  When he found out that the roof actually has rolled shingles, he quickly apologized and told me he has to refer my case to an outside claims specialist.  So now I wait for a new guy to call to schedule an inspection.  Good times.

Water Making it's Way into the Sun Room

The Damage a Week Later

Blurry Side View

 This morning, I took a few more pictures.  The rain has now begun to come through the ceiling in the sun room in one area, and the siding is slowly removing itself further along the back wall.  I'm so ready to have this whole situation resolved.  The tarp will be replaced today, and I'm hoping to get an estimate from a contractor in the next day or so.  One day at a time, right?  Sigh.

A New Week

Orange cones must be a sign of progress, right?  Too bad they're on the wrong side of the street!

I called Entergy's emergency outage number this morning and found out that power should be restored to my house by 3pm today.  I really want to be optimistic about this, but yesterday they told me that their estimate was 6pm and there were others before that.  The big difference is that when I went by the house yesterday at 4:30 there were Entergy trucks everywhere.  Further snooping revealed that they were working on the opposite side of the street, BUT this is still progress.  I hear that Markham was back up and running finally around 6pm last night. 

Farewell Rusty Wheelbarrow.  You were a great lawn ornament.

I still have not been able to get any information out of Allstate.  I'm frustrated that I've not been able to make progress in clean up as several of my neighbors have.  The slight hole in my sunroom room is now a giant mess hanging from the back of my house.  I'm hoping that the winds and rain will hold off for a while.  I don't need any more things falling off of my house for a while.

Damage on Day 3

I did receive welcome news from my neighbors yesterday afternoon.  Apparently the Arkansas Baptist State Convention Disaster Relief crew had come to help us with our cleanup.  There were men everywhere volunteering their time to help my neighbors remove trees and other debris from their property.  I was able to meet with the man in charge, and submitted a claim with them for the tree removal from my back yard.  What a blessing to have help arrive without even asking.  I've had so many friends and family members call, email or text their offers to help me clean up my back yard, but having complete strangers show up to help was something I never expected.

This picture still doesn't give the full effect of all the tree limbs, but it's the best I've taken so far.

 Here's hoping that my house will have lights later today.  That refrigerator MUST be cleaned out soon.  Thank goodness I'm the type that only buys food for a day or two at a time. 

The wind began to switch.....

So, last night was my first Italian class. It was a lot of fun, and I'm thankful for my limited Spanish background which seems to make Italian words a bit easier to understand when not in sentences. Ha! Looking forward to seeing how much I can actually learn from this Dutch man that grew up in Italy.

A picture my dad took of the back of my house earlier this morning.

We woke up around 2am with the sound of glass shattering and what sounded like constant thunder and lots of wind. I got mk and Sadie into the hall bath immediately. We had no power, and I couldn't find any good weather updates on my iPhone. Thank goodness for so many friends and Facebook to keep me updated! When we could only hear rain, I ventured out of the bathroom to see where the broken glass was. I was cursing myself for not having a flashlight. I had to use a tealight candle and my phone to inspect things. I couldn't find the glass, but was a bit freaked out when I looked out my back door. It looked like someone was standing there. I opened the door to find a giant piece of a pine tree and fallen onto my run room.

I did finally locate the broken glass. The storm window in Mks room had shattered. So much better than it could have been. Mt neighbors were not all as lucky as me. Helen (Dorothy) was probably hit the worst with the pine tree going through her roof and destroying her porch. Two doors down, another neighbor has part of a pine in his living room. Two doors down from there, a GMC Jimmy was totaled by two pines falling onto it. My next door neighbor on one side has three pines on top of her house, and the other one had her storage building blown to bits. Why couldn't that have been my storage building. That thing NEEDS to be destroyed!

Thankfully, we are fine and the damage is minimal. The main power lines are down in the middle of Markham. They have to replace it, so currently the area next to my street is shutdown. Every house on myblock has lines down in their yards, so I have no idea when power will be restored. Looks like I'll have to have cable and phone repaired as well, but all in all I'm happy that we are all fine.

Please excuse all spelling and grammar issues as I've posted this from my iPhone. Have a wonderful weekend everyone.

Tom's (Or How I Made My Daughter Cry)

Mk's birthday is coming up next week.  When I asked her what she wants, she replied new Tom's and iTunes gift cards.  I can't imagine that my list were that short at the age of 12!  She brings up the subject of Tom's to me at least once a day for the past two weeks.  She spends time on the Tom's webpage looking for just the right pair.  She talks on the phone with her friends about which styles the like best.  We've gone to Gene Lockwood's a couple of times to check out their selection.

I've told her that I really don't think that she needs a new pair.  She got a pair for Christmas from her Aunt Eve, and they're still in good shape.  I've told her that it seems silly to get another pair so soon, but still she insists this is the thing she really wants.

Last week she found a pair online that she loves.  She emailed me a link so that I could simply order them for her birthday, and I finally told her that I would consider it.  I had been going back and forth about whether I wanted a pair or not, so we headed to Gene Lockwood's on Wednesday so that I could try some on.  I figured if they had the ones that she wanted, we would just go ahead and get them while we were there.  They did not.  Apparently the website offers some exclusive designs that the stores never get, and this pair was on that list.  The Gabe Lacktman Cross Hairs: shoes that 12 year old dreams are made of.

When we got home that night, I placed the order online for her shoes.  I've continued to tell her that I'm not sure if I will be getting her Tom's or not.  I figured surprising her with her gift was a great plan.  Then the situation changed.  She came into my room to announce that the shoes of her dreams had been moved to the "Last Chance" page earlier this week.  She called me yesterday to tell me that the site listed her size as the only size available.  I had to decide whether I wanted to tell her she's getting the shoes, or continue with the surprise plan.  I told her that I had something wonderful planned for her birthday, but Tom's were not part of this surprise.  

Then, last night, she tells Jonathan and I that the shoes have sold out.......and starts tearing up.  I felt horrible.    She sends me links for new styles that she likes, and I tell her again that she really will be pleased with her gift I've purchased.  She asks why she has to wait, and I tell her that she has to wait until her actual birthday.  Thank goodness the fine folks at Tom's Shoes emailed me tracking information this morning.  The shoes should arrive on the day that I will celebrate 12 wonderful years with my sweet Mk.

Maggie May

In early 1998, Matt and I drove with our friends Ken and Kristi to Malvern to look at some puppies.  I had been checking the paper for weeks looking for a Yorkie puppy, but quickly realized that a $400 puppy wasn't really in our budget.  I had found an ad for Yorkie/ Shih Tzu mix puppies for $75, and was thrilled to learn that one of the little girls was tan and resembled the mom more than the others.  The puppies were born on January 5, 1998, and we met Maggie when she was about 8 weeks old.

Maggie, March 1998

She was a wonderful little puppy.  She didn't even mind being banned from furniture when MK was born, although she did go through a few stubborn periods where she would sneak onto the couch and refuse to leave when I found her.

Mk & Maggie's first snow.  Jan '00

When she was younger, she amazed me with how fast her little legs could run.  She developed an underbite that was quite noticeable to anyone that met her.  As she grew older, she lost a few teeth and developed arthritis in her back which slowed her down and caused her some discomfort when having to climb up the one or two steps into our back door.

Such a good sport.  She loved Mk, but not the trampoline

We found Maggie asleep in her box when we returned home from work last night.  We buried her last night.  She will be missed by us, but Sadie really seems to be lost without her.  I listened to her walk around the house without resting for several hours this morning.  She seems unsure what she should do without Maggie.  She is sleeping currently on their dog bed, but has kept to her side of the bed.  She seems to be waiting for Maggie, and it breaks my heart...... such a sweet puppy.

Sweet Sadie

It's amazing how much love we receive from our pets.  I lived with Maggie for 13 years.  Since leaving my parent's home for college, I have not shared a living space with anyone else for that length of time.  She was a wonderful companion.  I will remember her always, and am grateful for the years that we had together.

Maggie 1998- 2011

Veggie Tale

I was discussing dinner options with Mk this afternoon, and we agreed to spicy baked chicken strips for our entree tonight.  This was good news to me since I did not want to stop at Kroger.  I announced that I was fairly certain we had a bag of frozen veggies in the freezer that we could eat with our chicken.  

"Like cauliflower?" asked Mk.

"Sure," I said.  "We might have brussel sprouts".

"Great!  I love brussel sprouts!" said Mk.

I laughed at this point, "I'm pleased that you enjoy a vegetable that so many kids would complain about".

"It's because I'm so much more mature, mom", replied Mk.

This made me laugh as well.