When the World Gives You Lemons...

If you though the weather was bad in NYC those first few weeks of June, I've got news for you, Maine was experiencing rain of biblical proportions. On Chebeague, the ground was completely saturated. I played a round of golf in six inches of mud. God knows why they even opened up the course; it's now ruined for the season. The Webb Cottage kids were about 24 hours away from total bat-shit crazy. There weren't enough DVDs at the library or jigsaw puzzles on the shelves to keep them occupied. The grown ups weren't faring much better themselves. There were only two consolations: booze and food. We cover the latter in this here blog thingy.

Pork Roast – adapted from Atlanta Junior League Cookbook

¼ cup vegetable oil 2 Tbsp unsulphered molasses 1 Tbsp ground ginger 2tsp dry mustard 6 cloves garlic finely chopped ½ cup soy sauce 4-5 lb pork loin roast

Mix first 6 ingredients together and let stand for 15 minutes to combine. Marinate pork in the refrigerator overnight in a large zip-lock bag with marinade, turning several times before going to bed. Remove pork roast from the ice box 1 hour before roasting. Place meat, fat-side up in an oiled shallow backing pan. Reserve the marinade. Roast meat for 2.5 hours in a pre-heated 350° oven, basting with reserved marinade every 20 minutes or so. Roast will be cooked to medium when an internal thermometer registers 140°. Remove roast from oven, loosely tent with aluminum foil, resting for 20 minutes before carving.

And for dessert? Gingerbread cake.

Gingerbread Cake – adapted from the New York Times

½ cup (1 stick) unsalted butter 2 cups all-purpose flour ¼ tsp baking soda 2 tsp baking powder ½ tsp ground ginger 1 tsp ground cinnamon ½ tsp salt 2 eggs 1 ½ cups dark molasses Freshly whipped cream, for serving.

Sift flour, baking soda and baking powder in a large mixing bowl. Whisk in spices and salt. In a small pan, bring 1 cup water to a boil. Melt ½ cup butter in it, then whisk liquid into flour mixture. Beat eggs and add to flour along with the molasses. Stir until well blended. Pour batter into a buttered, floured 8x8 baking pan. Bake for 35-45 minutes, or until a skewer plunged into the center of the bread comes out clean. Serve warm with freshly whipped cream.

By Thursday afternoon, the weather finally broke with streaks of blue sky and the sun poking through clouds. Friday dawned clear, and the fair weather stuck around the entire holiday weekend. Saturday night, watching the mainland fireworks from our vantage point above the Hook, a fattening moon rose brilliantly over Deer Point, its reflection on the cove a white path to the heavens. Magical.

I've looked over my posts from Chebeague, and in my humble opinion, they are some of the finest musings I've come up with so far on You Gonna Finish That?. I can draw only one conclusion: food, for me, is a social experiment. Breaking bread fulfills me and that pleasure pours out in my writing. It has been a sheer delight sharing stories of loved ones and our good times together, almost as much fun as the experiences themselves. It's been almost a year, and this blogger is finding his voice. I wondered for a time what this effort would ultimately be about. Seems I have my answer.

Now back to work!

Thanks for taking the time - Blog O. Food