iMac Daddy & Porkchops

Nothing substantial and earth-shaking has happened lately but there have been little things that have occured every so often of which I've thought to myself Ooo. I should blog about that. So here I am, mashing it all together:

• The most exciting thing that has happened in the month of August has been the new addition to our family. No, we are NOT having or aquiring a child. No, there are no new pets. Our addition is more electronic than the aforementioned joys. We have welcomed iMac Daddy into our home. Nick's PC desktop is pretty archaic (do you remember that ancient operating system called Windows '98? haha. No, I'm serious.). He's been using my Dell laptop since our marital union, which I got when I began grad school in the fall of 2002. (Thus, it is pretty old in computer standards as well.) Which, by the way, doesn't that just irk you how fast electronics age? I love technology just as much as any other nerd, but it is quite annoying to buy the newest ___ and watch it become outdated in the next 24 hours. That almost happened to us this time, I might add, had pure luck/providence not stepped in the way. We ordered iMac Daddy over the phone during the tax-free weekend because our local Apple store had sold out of iMacs. This bummed me out, personally, because I am more of an instant gratification girl. But patience proved to be a virtue, as we received an email one week later notifying us that the new iMacs had just been released that day and they were upgrading our purchase and shipping it that day! Yay--what a fun surprise! We love Daddy, as we affectionately call him, and Nick has already put him to work writing papers....and maybe uploading a few songs and pictures too. Okay, and perhaps making a movie or two.  Okay, and maybe when I say Nick, I mean ME.  ha.  FYI: If you are not familiar with the Apple world, I would like add that the awesomeness of this computer (among other things) is that it is IN the monitor, as shown in the above picture. That is the WHOLE COMPUTER right there. Is that crazy or what?
  

• My new favorite ice cream flavor is Blue Bell Key Lime Pie. I am salivating just typing the name. It is the real deal. I'm talking when you eat a bowl of this ice cream and before you lick the bowl clean (What? You don't do that?) there is just a little bit of melted ice cream at the bottom of the bowl that your spoon couldn't get--Key Lime Pie ice cream remnants are not milky and runny, like most ice cream. No, they are thick and creamy just like a real Key Lime Pie that melted. Oh yeah. (An honorable mention is the flavor Nick brought home yesterday: Blue Bell Anniversary Cake, an ice cream created specifically for their 100th Anniversary. "Flavorful almond ice cream with delicious white cake pieces and a swirl of rich amaretto cream cheese icing." Not bad. Not bad at all.)

• I tried to start up running a few weeks ago and the heat just beat the motivation right out of me. Do you have any tips on running outside in the summer without having a heatstroke? (Besides waking up at the butt-crack of dawn and/or paying a fortune for a gym membership that you will use for 2 weeks?)

• Here's something that you may not know about me: I like to cook. In fact, it might be one of my hobbies. I am not terribly gifted at pulling something together out of nothing, but if you give me a recipe, I can follow it well. Something I've discovered myself over the past year or so is that I really like food. A lot! Especially when it is healthy and still tastes good. (I know that's ironic after I just wrote about my favorite Blue Bell flavors! ha!) I really enjoy sitting down with some cookbooks and magazines and planning out my weekly menu. I have a system to keep it easier--Monday: Chicken, Tuesday: Fish, Wednesday: Soup (quick & easy b/c Wednesdays are rushed), Thursday: Chicken (we like our poultry!), Friday: Homemade Pizza, Saturday: Breakfast for Dinner (or date-night!), and Sunday: Crock-Pot. (Sunday lunch is the meal I hate making--all I want to do when I come home from church is take a NAP!  My traditional domesticism takes a break on Sundays!)
  

Of course, there are occasional deviations to the system. Here is one such recipe I used last week that we really enjoyed:

The recipe is from the September issue of Rachael Ray's magazine:
(here's the recipe link--it is several steps, but doesn't take too long to make...)

BREADED PORK CHOPS WITH SAGE CREAM GRAVY
(Nick and I don't really like gravy, so we called it sage cream SAUCE)

INGREDIENTS:

• 1 1/2 cups milk
• 1 large egg
• 1 1/2 cups panko (Japanese bread crumbs)
• 2 tbsp chopped flat-leaf parsley (I just used the dried kind)
• 2 tsp chopped fresh sage (I don't think you can skimp the freshness on this one)
• Four 1-inch-thick center-cut pork chops (I only used 2)
• Salt & pepper
• 1/4 cup plus 2 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
• 2 tbsp flour
• 1/2 cup heavy cream

DIRECTIONS:

• Preheat the oven to 400°. In a wide bowl, whisk 1/2 cup milk with the egg. In a dish, combine the panko and 1 tablespoon each parsley and sage.
• Season the chops with salt and pepper. Coat each chop with the egg mixture, then with the panko mixture, shaking off any excess.
• In a large skillet, heat 1/4 cup olive oil over medium-high heat. Working in batches, add the chops and cook, 3 to 4 minutes per side. Transfer to a rack set over a baking sheet; reserve the skillet. Bake the chops until golden and just cooked through, 8 to 10 minutes.
• Meanwhile, in the skillet, heat the remaining 2 tablespoons oil over medium heat. Add the flour and cook, whisking, until golden. Whisk in the remaining 1 cup milk and the cream. Stir in the remaining 1 tablespoon each parsley and sage and bring to a boil. Simmer until thickened, about 2 minutes. Season with salt and pepper and serve with the chops.

Enjoy! Let me know if you like it!