Three Beautiful Things 05-09-2022: Pork Roast Successful, Fixing Gravy for Noodles, The Joys of Independent Radio

 1. That pork roast I put in a marinating bag on Sunday was ready to roast today. Unsure how much the roast weighed and having read one recipe that recommended a 400 degree oven, I decided to put onion slices on the bottom of the Dutch oven, put the roast on top of it, and see what its inner temperature looked like after fifty minutes. That turned out to be the perfect amount of time. I checked the meat's temperature, it was perfect, and and so I let the roast rest for a bit and then I sliced it. I also removed and stored the onions. 

2. A shallow pool of liquid remained in the bottom of the Dutch oven. I chopped us some mushrooms and added them to the pot, cooked them, put in some of the onion I'd just removed from the pot, and added some flour, cooked that up, and then added milk and some chicken broth to make a couple of cups of gravy. Once it was finished, I cut up a few slices of the pork roast into small pieces and added them to the gravy. 

So, the foundation of my dinner tonight was ready: I boiled some egg noodles, heated up about a cup of the gravy, and enjoyed the gravy over the noodles. I thought the fennel, allspice, cinnamon, garlic, and lemon juice marinade worked really well with the pork and infused my gravy with a variety of tasty flavors.

3. I enhanced my efforts in the kitchen late this afternoon by streaming Eugene's KRVM-FM radio (krvm.org) from 5-7 and listened to Greg Carter's awesome show, Vinyl Revival. Every Monday at 5, Carter plays vinyl records from his personal collection. I loved the variety of music he played today. He had me almost right off the bat when he played Fairport Convention's "Matty Groves" and once he played Pink Floyd's "One of These Days", I knew I was in for the whole two hours. I never knew what to expect and the surprises were invigorating: Jimmy Buffet, Led Zeppelin, Traffic, Van Morrison, Eva Cassidy, Lucinda Williams, Bonnie Raitt, and much, much more. 

Once again, just like I experience when listening to Dan and Jeff on KEPW-FM, it's a deep pleasure to listen to a knowledgeable host spin records of his choice and not be bound by the demands of ratings or a mandate to play popular songs of the moment. 

I am grateful for living in a time when I can access independent radio stations on the World Wide Web and enjoy such a variety of music that doesn't follow prescribed playlists, but is an expression of the host's creativity and love of a wide range of music.