(Post 188 of 263)

Sunday was day three of a reno hiatus. I just had one more four-hour job to do and then I’d technically be on vacation for the week! I decided to do my work later in the day and spend the morning on the Paseo de Montejo.

First stop was for brunch, and I went with chilaquiles rojos rather than my usual verdes (definitely still more of a green than red fan!). I cannot believe how much my tastebuds have evolved since moving here five years ago. I had an entire package of pickled jalapeños with carrots, half of a container of pico de gallo made with serrano peppers, and the ENTIRE container of habanero sauce (circled — that’s a a lot of liquid fire!). 😮

I then wandered up the entire Paseo, checking out all the artisans and sellers, chatted with my friend Jan who is there every Sunday selling his photographs, and ended up at the Walmart. I was just so over salads, sandwiches, and ordering in, craving a proper home cooked meal, so I had a think about what I could make with a toaster oven and selected a package of pork chops…

Came in, did my work, spent some time with Queen B, and then it was time to make dinner. My thought was to bake the pork chops with grape tomatoes, olive oil, garlic, and lemon juice in the toaster oven while preparing spaghetti in the microwave using my Fasta pasta maker (hey, Fasta pasta people, can I be your new spokesperson?!). That meant plugging the two appliances into two different circuits. What happened next is one of those “a video is worth a million words” moments:

Not mentioned in the video is how the breakers are in the laundry room and we’d just had a huge rain storm. I almost had to swim to there as the yard by the laundry room entrance was under a couple of inches of water!

After figuring out separate circuits, I finally got everything cooking, so the next step was to start on the dishes and then finish prepping my spaghetti sauce. I mixed crème fraîche with Parmesan, garlic, pepper, and lemon juice. No salt because the noodles are cooked in salty water, plus Parmesan is very salty.

The noodles and meat were done at the same time. I set the pork chops aside to rest while I poured the contents of my sheet pan into my crème fraîche mixture — olive oil, pork juices, lemon juice, tomatoes and their juices, garlic — and tossed the noodles to coat. I finished off by running outside to get some fresh oregano (I cannot believe that plant is still alive).

End result was perfection — a savoury sauce, al dente pasta, and moist pork chops, accompanied by a glass of crisp cold white wine. I’ll have to remember this meal, except that in my new kitchen I’ll cook the noodles on the stove!

The worst part of not having a proper kitchen right now is the cleanup because the only places to fill a jug of water are the downstairs office shower or an outside tap. I’m doing the washing up with two basins, one with soapy wash water, one with vinegar rinse water. It’s going pretty well, but I’m making sure I don’t have anything that really needs scrubbing, so I lined my sheet pan with aluminium foil. Otherwise, life without a proper kitchen is no big deal.