from Pam

I had something to share and thought our sometime blog would be the perfect place. I began the day attempting to post it from twinkie's computer to no avail. Then tried it from the iPad and it looked as if that might be a go, but it would only let me type in the title, no text. While waiting for T in N Burwick I thought I would play with it and see what happened. It appeared to be willing to let me type the text, but of course I did not have the recipe with me that was the focus of the post in the first place! It's always something, isn't it? What was intended for everyone, is now going to a select few.

As most of you know, Twinkie and Wayne are hosting a little gathering in August to celebrate the fact that all of their chicks will be together under one, possibly two roofs (rooves?). Bradford designed a very clever invite that even stated it would be a whole brood party-get it?

T had the notion that a menu that involved grilled corn and pulled pork tacos could not be a bad thing. To that end we all began research and development. We tried every recipe we were offered or found on our own. Then Emily mentioned having made some recently that she thought was quite wonderful. We tried it yesterday and had to agree. She says it is called Cochinita Pibil. This is how you make it:

Create a marinade using:
1T achiote paste-we found it in liquid and powder form so I combined the two to make a paste
1/4 t cumin
12 peppercorns
5 whole allspice
4 cloves garlic
1/8 hot paprika, optional, though I included it
1/4 c orange juice
1 T salt

Pour this mixture over serving sized pieces of pork. We have tried so many of late I am not sure if ours was shoulder, tenderloin....no idea. Marinate the meat, wrapped in banana leaves, and let it sit in the fridge for 6 hours or overnight!

Here comes the fun part-lightly sear over open flame or in an iron skillet banana leaves that you have cut so that each piece can be individually wrapped. Preheat oven to 350 degrees and bake the meat in a covered casserole for 2-2 1/2 hours and the meat is soft, soft, soft. We were very pleased with the results. Believe me, we are in a position to judge the quality of the dish! I put our wrapped parcels in an iron skillet and covered it with foil.

We had to go to Portland to get banana leaves, good tortillas, and the achiote spices. There is a Latina bodega on Congress that turned out to have everything we needed-unlike Whole Foods and their ilk!

The menu is as follows:
Bloody Beer- modela beer with tomato juice and bloody mary spices-sounds awful but is actually very light and refreshing; guacamole, chips, and chipotle peanuts from Rick Bayless

Grilled Corn

Tacos with a salsa bar provided by Joel!

Watermelon salad

Some sort of dessert provided by Clara and her pal Bradford

My earlier attempt at this post was much better, but at least you now have our menu and can give it a go for yourselves!

Hope you are staying cool and comfy!

Kate, am I going to miss your visit all together? Please stay until I am home!

Love you all!