Penne for Your Thoughts!

Yesterday was my grandmother's birthday, so in her memory I cooked one of her favorites--breaded pork chops. My memories of Gram preparing this dish include her using bone-in chops, but I prefer them to be boneless and thinly sliced. Skipping the egg wash, I simply washed the porks under the faucet and then dredged them in my breadcrumbs-and-Green-Can-Cheese mixture. Into a pan with a couple tablespoons of vegetable oil gave the chops a nice crunch on one side, and I hoped to get the same results on the other side, but I became concerned about burning when I couldn't allow them enough cooking time to unstick from the pan. So I lost some coating on one side, but not all of it. No problem.

I also bought a few small yellow squash and zucchini to add to the penne pasta accompanying my pork chops. Dicey dice with the knifey knife and I sauted them in a little bit of olive oil. I also added Salt and Pepper and more Sandwich Sprinkle, which is a nice seasoning mix of which I have a good quantity. Meanwhile, as I allowed the squash to soften in the heat of the pan, I shredded about a cup of Parmigiano Reggiano. When the vegetables had cooked enough, I hit them with the juice of one lemon and a few grinds of pepper, and we ate. It was good. I love this combination of squash, pasta, and cheese. Feta is great, too, for this dish.

I stopped at a little market downtown yesterday afternoon to buy a dozen local eggs and a bit of chicken, and I allowed myself to be weaseled into buying two delicious desserts from an older guy named George—Jammin' George, more precisely—who was selling a variety of homemade items, such as hummus, assorted jams, cherry scones and date-and-walnut bars. I bought scones and bars, and they were quite good. George was, let me see, what is the best word for him—boisterous? But his pastries were as subtle as he was brash, so it all worked out, I think.

My lemon ricotta cheesecake experiment resulted in a most edible dessert, at least from my point of view. The wife was as vehement about not trying it as I was vehement about getting her to try it. I won, but she barely tasted it, stating the eggs were unappetizing and the texture was off. The whole point of cheesecakes, she said, is for the filling to be very smooth. I froze most of it, so now on occasion I will have a little taste of frozen-ricotta-lemon-pie-cake dessert if I want it. I don't think Granny Boots would have liked it, either.