Do you remember your first Super Bowl? I do. My mom and I were living in an apartment off the river, in a little one-bedroom over the manager’s office. One of my favorite pastimes was fastening a paperclip to a string, knotting it clumsily around the end of a stick and dangling it over the balcony. Time and again it’d come back up with a small note attached — or, if I was really lucky, an individually-wrapped Starburst candy, the paperclip deftly pried open and speared through the waxy pink or yellow wrapper. The little things, right? “Hey kiddo,” my … Read More
Crispy Carnitas-Style Pork Belly & Spanish Rice
It’s no secret I like pork. It’s perhaps even more common knowledge that I like pork belly. But did you know that in the world o’ pig I’ve also got a soft spot for carnitas? Something about the juxtaposition of tender and juicy against crisp, nutty, brown. It’s pork simmered in pork fried in pork. That’s like a Hello Kitty pen-pencil wrapped in a Lisa Frank folder wrapped in a Trapper Keeper, ya dig? It just doesn’t get better. But wait. Maybe it does get better. Maybe the Trapper Keeper is actually a Caboodle. Full of scrunchies and adjustable neon … Read More