Sunday, February 6, 2011

Sunday Wrap Up Day

Today is Sunday, and that means the last day I have at home before the travel day of Monday. Presently, I'm living with my elderly parents every other week. Tomorrow I travel back to my parents. Sundays are the wrap-up days - I try to wash all my clothes for the next week, finish off home tasks, etc. I always have great plans for going to the grocery store in this larger metropolitan area for my parents, but in reality I'm so happy to be "in" my home that the day can easily pass without me getting out.

Unfortunately, this will all be changing soon.  At the end of the month, due to financial reasons, I'll be moving in with my parents and will only get home every other weekend. That will require a ton of changes, and I must admit I'm not looking forward to them.

Today I'm hoping to finish up a cheese press I've been working on, wash my clothes, organize some paper work, and do some housework. Also, I've been thinking about this blog, getting one on blogspot, for a while and decided today was the day to give it a try.  Internet connection at my parents is via Verizon wireless right now, and it's slow as mud. So today is the day to do it whilst I still have fast internet connection.

Yesterday I picked up my pork belly from Charlie's Meat Market. What a hoot! Six slabs of uncured bacon at approximately 3 pounds each. I froze 5 and started on the curing of the sixth. I cut it into 3 parts and am using 3 different cures on each. One is simply salt. One is salt and pepper - that's for Max. One is salt, mustard and rosemary - that's for me.

One site recommends 7 days curing. Another site says they prefer only 5 days. I'll have to learn which one suits our tastes. I'm excited about trying this and looking forward to the results. After all I bought 20 pounds of pork belly for $21.90.  When's the last time anyone got bacon for a little over $1.00 a pound? The curing only takes a few minutes each day - initial seasoning and a pinch more each day thereafter. The salt isn't expensive, and the other seasonings are usually on hand. Hopefully, it'll be a win.

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