A Weekend of Cooking and Picnicking

Friday evening I pan-braised a little pork tenderloin with mustard and vermouth sauce. With it we had focaccia with blue cheese, sage, and walnuts; and carrots and snowpeas.

Then Saturday we took the leftovers with us to visit the Amerind museum. It's just off of I-10 at Texas Canyon, where we turned off to go to Cochise Stronghold. The museum was wonderful, but the picnic area was a truly special place, with huge granite boulders and live oak trees. We had a memorable picnic. Afterwards we drove to the east side of Saguaro National Park and, after an hour's drive on a washboard road, took a 3-mile hike through the woods to the wilderness boundary.

Today we began with a breakfast of a grilled cheese and green chile sandwich, and finished with Grandma and Walt for dinner. I served Italian chicken with red wine and olives, raw broccoli salad*, and Piedmont peppers. Grandma made bread. I had leftover ice cream pie from last week's recital, which I served with fresh blackberries.

This broccoli salad is very strange but satisfying.

Broccoli Salad

1 pound broccoli
4 strips bacon, cooked and crumbled (optional)
1/2 cup raisins
1/4 cup diced red onion
1/2 cup cashews or other nuts

Cut broccoli into small florets, or chop. Combine in large bowl with bacon, raisins, red onion, and nuts.

1/3 cup light mayonnaise
1/3 cup non-fat yogurt
1/3 cup sour cream
1 tablespoon sugar
2 teaspoons vinegar
Salt and pepper

Combine mayonnaise, yogurt, sour cream, sugar, and vinegar to make a smooth dressing (or use bottled ranch dressing). Toss with broccoli mixture. Chill at least one hour.