I’m pretty sure I cooked more this week than I did all of April. It felt good, but all made me look forward to work slowing down a little more so I can get back to experimenting.

I started out simple. Hamburgers with a great little salad. Tomatoes that taste like tomatoes, fresh cucumbers and an amazing goat cheese. The cheese is Midnight Moon from the same cheese maker that does my Lamb Chopper and Bob’s Humboldt Fog. Once we figured that out we knew why it was so good.

Next was the honey ginger chicken. It was pretty good but I really needed to marinade the chicken. Making it as a sauce only gave it a good flavor, but very little depth.

Now today’s experiment …. Unexpectedly delightful. I wanted something lighter but still filling. I had pork out, and I wanted to use the leek I picked up last week. So … I found a recipe for a pork pie and totally changed it.

I used boneless pork chops, cut up into cubes. I got a nice brown crust on those, then added the leeks and carrots to the pan. Once those cooked down a little, I added veggie stock, apple juice, tomato paste, thyme, pepper, salt and cornstarch dissolved in water. I let the cook on the stove for about 15 minutes then transferred it to a pie pan and covered it with phyllo dough. I then baked it at 400 for 30 minutes and then let it sit for ten. The result didn’t look pretty

but wow did it taste good. Bob and I ended up eating the entire thing. Rich flavor, a nice sauce, but not a heavy dish at all. And it looked better on the plate than in the pie dish.

We also got some new wine. Bob discovered woot wine and this is our second order. They do a different selection every day and the one that came today looked interesting.

Six bottles of reds, but two are a 1996. Not sure if that is a good year or not. But we will soon see.

Zucchini and tomato fritters are on for this weekend. I finally found the right tofu to make them!