Day Five

Dear Single Potential Reader (that I may or may not have),

Why have I not been blogging, you may ask. The reason is embarrassingly simple: for the past few days I have somehow found the strength and courage to sustain myself on protein bars, cheese, and Coco Puffs. If you just felt even a twinge of revulsion, I'm proud of you because that probably means that you are eating better than I have been. It's fine, go ahead and judge me; I won't hold it against you. But guess what? Tomorrow is the best day of the week-Friday. Also, this weekend marks the beginning of my great cooking extravaganza, and I plan to kick it off with the most delicious gluten-free thing I know how to make (which is probably not saying much).

So, thank you Williams-Sonoma for bestowing upon me the recipe for pork roast with dried-fruit compote in your glorious slow cooker recipe book (really, if you don't have a slow cooker you are sadly missing out). Okay, okay so I know that any word so closely resembling the word "compost" probably doesn't sound like it holds much promise. But I will have you know, in case you didn't already, that compote is a sugary-syrupy dessert-y type thing that originated in 17th century England, or so Wikipedia tells me. Wherever or whenever it came from it's delicious.

Here's a run-down of what wonders you will find in said delicious recipe: bone-in pork shoulder, chicken broth, white wine, orange juice, dark brown sugar, plums, apricots, rosemary, olive oil, and salt and pepper. I love when excellent recipes like this are just naturally gluten-free so there's no substituting or wondering how much better or easier its wheat counterpart might be. In any case, the last time I made this I could hardly believe I, who specializes in peanut butter and jelly experimentation, had made something worthy of eating off of "our good dishes."

Maybe it's a copout that the first recipe I'm making is something I've made before, but I know that it is fabulously scrumptious. Personally, I find no better way to embark upon my culinary quest.

--Eve