I had planned to finish a couple of the posts that I had already started, but I had a crazy night. As I mentioned in my last post, my wife and kids are out of town and I am flying solo, so I had originally planned to get home and go for a ride and then try and figure out something for dinner. Well, instead, I had to race across town to get to the stupid UPS hub to get a package (they only attempted delivery once, but for some reason they said it was the third attempt and I had to come pick it up immediately or they would blow it up or something) and then down to Delaware to buy some wine for a tasting that I am conducting on Thursday (going to examine the concept of terroir). If I lived in a state that did not have a blatant disregard for the wine consumer, I would not have to drive the extra thirty minutes to get to a wine store with a decent selection (since what I did is technically illegal, I am probably going to get arrested now). There was a Phillies game tonight, so that made the traffic a load of fun. Despite the traffic, everything went rather well. Even the bozos at UPS seemed to be interested in doing their jobs tonight instead of ticking me off.

On the way back home, I stopped off at the Whole Foods to pick up something for dinner. I had decided what I wanted to eat the night before when I did not have the energy to get on my bike and go down to WF. Instead,  I went down to Hickory Lane. Not tonight (although I thought about it). Instead, I opted for a grilled pork chop topped with a half peach and drizzled with some aged balsamic. I figured I should have a vegetable as well, so I made some green beans sauteed in butter with onions and mushrooms. Now, if you know me well, there is no doubt you have a question: did the pork chop have a bone?

Let me back up.

When I was a kid, I do not think I was a particularly picky eater, but I grew up in the Midwest and the cuisine was not all that diversified. My whole culinary world revolved around stewed tomatoes. Rather the avoidance of them. I hated them passionately and thus had many a battle with my parents over them.  Since then I have ‘evolved’–I now have just three categories of foods that I prefer to avoid: the squash family of vegetables (I include eggplant in this category), hot beverages (including soups–I have a very burn susceptible tongue, apparently), and meat on the bone. Let me reiterate, that these are merely preferences. I will eat anything, but given the choice, I will opt out of these three. Needless to say, I catch a lot of heat from my ‘friends’ for these preferences. But by far, for whatever reason, I get the most grief for not really preferring to eat meat that is still attached to the bone. I am not sure why. Perhaps since I have been known to give people a bit of (legitimately deserved) grief, they want to give some back to me.  Clearly, I am not the only one that feels this way–the mere existence of boneless chicken breasts and pork chops is evidence–but as far as I know I am the only one foolish brave enough to vocalize said preference.  I have been asked on numerous occasions why this might be.

Who knows?

Well, I have examined this and I think I have come up with the reason.  Back in High School we were assigned to read 1984 by George Orwell and write about our own ‘Room 101’ (‘Room 101’ was basically your worst fear that was used to break you down and get you to stop caring–kind of like political advertising or network news, only it was not banal but frightening).  Thinking about it today, what kind of masochistic teacher would assign such a task?  I know I never did when I was teaching (the fact that I was not an English teacher is mostly irrelevant).  Let’s just say that my ‘Room 101’ involved a large sword and bones. Getting a bit queasy….

Of course, I could be over analyzing this, it could simply be that my mother made really dry baked chicken (with bones attached) with a side of stewed tomatoes every Saturday night while we were growing up.

Nah, the Orwell thing is probably it.

So getting back to the original question, the pork chop I bought did indeed have a bone.  See?  Real growth here, right before your eyes.

It had also been at least 24 hours since I had some pinot noir, so I got that scratched as well.

2004 Davis Bynum Allen Vineyard Pinot Noir:  Retail ~$35. On sale at the PLCB for $10.  This was the last of these bottles and I am sad to see it go.  It has some nice fruit and good acidity, and it paired swimmingly with the grilled pork chop.  Not overly complex, but a very nice wine–I wish I had more.  Very Good. 89 points.