Southwest Corn Bread

One of the dishes that I had wanted a cast-iron skillet for was corn bread. It just seemed like the thing to do. But even though I received a skillet for Christmas a few years ago, I had not made skillet corn bread. So when I was thumbing through Ciril Hitz's book, Baking Artisan Pastries and Breads, I saw this recipe and immediately set about making it.

I sprayed the skillet with cooking oil spray and placed it in the cold oven for the pre-heating step. I didn't have a convection oven so I just used a regular oven at around 350-375F. Garnished the top with a little more cheddar cheese. My boyfriend B was a little thrown by finding the corn kernels in the bread and didn't think it added anything. But I liked that texture and I was happy with how this came out so I'll be making it again.

( Click to see recipe and bigger photos )

Skydiving

Speaking of things I've been meaning to do for a few years, I've been meaning to write this post since I first mentioned going skydiving again a few years ago. When I was a kid, I loved anything to do with flying. Planes, helicopters, hang gliding, skydiving.... I wanted to do all of them. There was just one problem. I really really hated falling. Especially from heights. Space Mountain at Disney World? No problem. It's just a coaster that goes around really fast but there's never that climactic final plunge that so many roller coasters include. I hate that final stomach-lurching drop. The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror ride seems designed to have all the elements I hate in an amusement park ride. I still rode it twice since my friends loved that freefalling sensation. So I chalked up skydiving to something that sounded fun but also unlikely to happen in my lifetime.

But the idea stayed with me. I really really wanted to float down to the ground, hanging from a parachute. So one year, I convinced a handful of co-workers to go skydiving with me. I woke up bright and early, wound up from the excitement of it all. Cheery conversation on the drive to the jump zone in Chicago. A little more serious when the staff reviewed what would happen on the jump, how to arch your body, where they wanted our arms and legs, how to check the altimeter, and when to pull the ripcord. Watched a quick safety video and signed papers promising not to sue them (and also agreeing to lose the lawsuit if we sued them anyway). Excitement returned as we climbed into a small plane with a noisy engine. The door was open as we took off and stayed open the whole time. I loved flying. I stared out the window happily. The plane kept climbing. I liked that. I wanted a nice long jump so the higher the better.

Or at least I thought the higher altitude was great until I got to the doorway. Standing in the open doorway of the plane, with nothing separating me from the air and the oh-so-far-away ground, I suddenly remembered that 14,000 feet up was a very long distance. I remembered that I hated falling and this was a lot of falling. I stood there, petrified. I think our instructions had been to get up to the doorway, count to three, and then jump, back arched with arms and legs spread. I got as far as getting to the doorway and counting to three over and over again. I'm guessing they're used to that. The instructor I was strapped to waited a moment, and then just stepped out, taking me with him.

( Click to read more of those few minutes in the air )

I think most people think of adrenaline junkies and amped-up excitement when they hear about skydiving. And there's certainly that. But for me, my favorite part is that all-encompassing sensation of peace after the chute's deployed.

Overnight Pork Carnitas

Last week I asked for ideas of what to cook with pork shoulder. You guys must think I'm a really well-stocked cook or a really ambitious cook. I got recipes with herbs I don't have, equipment I don't have, and techniques I don't know. But! Your ideas did indeed give me great ideas.

I decided I wanted to make carnitas but I still had the problem of a hot oven. Then I found a recipe for slow-roasting pork shoulder overnight. Perfect. It's not as hot at night and even if the oven's putting off heat, it's not in the bedroom so we weren't affected by that. With a little more poking around online, I picked the seasonings from another recipe and adapted them to get a tasty dish that my boyfriend Brian ranked as one of his favorites.

Starting at midnight, I got it into the oven by 1am. Took me a while to stab the meat and insert all six cloves' worth of garlic slivers into the holes. I didn't have adobo seasoning so I mixed up a batch using 1 tsp each of black pepper, salt, dried oregano, turmeric, and garlic powder. While I had set the oven to 200F, most of times when I peeked into oven it was at 150F to 175F. I was originally going to cook it for 8 hours overnight but I decided to let it go for 12 hours, flipping the roast a few times whenever I checked on it. Ended up going for 13 hours and then leaving it in the turned-off oven for another hour after that before we ate. Meat was very tender and falling off the bone. I should've used all of the adobo seasoning and more cumin. Meanwhile, I had used 1 tsp of chili powder that I got from the Indian grocery store and that's got quite a bit of heat from it. So next time, I'm just using 1/4-1/2 tsp of chili powder if it's still that one. Also, use more salt at the beginning. After I got it out of the oven, I added more salt and the rest of the adobo seasoning to the meat. Very yummy and easy to make (although it does require much patience). I'll likely make this again with the other pork shoulder we have in the freezer.

( Click for Bigger Photo and Recipe )