Pork Paprikash

Seems as though I have an abundance of pork these days.  I open the freezer and there are random bags of leftover pancakes, milk bags (yes I do freeze them sometimes), random orange freezies and pork.  Tenderloins, chops, ribs, bacon.
Just to clarify, I don't live on a pig farm - although that might be sorta neat, until the dreaded time came when they were no longer my pets.

I always wanted to live on a farm, wait, let me rephrase, I always wanted to have farm animals...just not get up early to feed them or clean up mass quantities of you know what or raise them to be my dinner either.  I also have this love of farm houses and barns, they are beautiful, rustic, architecturally intriguing.  Ahhh, that takes me to a better place than the butcher.

Pavlova for 1 OR 10

Calling all marshmallow or meringue fans!  This dessert fills both cravings.  Crusty outside like a meringue and marshmallowy textured innards - sweet love, sweet, sweet love!
Your toppings are up to your own desires, any combination of fruit, whipped cream, chocolate drizzling over top COME ON NOW!

Thanks to my good friend JoLo, I made this dessert for a wild night of cards at a friends house on her recommendation.  It turned out pretty good!  I do have some tweaks to make for the next time (i.e. I would make the thickness greater, I would not put as much Grand Marnier in my whipped cream - because I liked that taste, and maybe I would just make a few extras for just me - tee hee)  Instead of making it more like a cake - which is apparently how you eat it, I made individual portions, nothin says you have to do it the way it was written right?

So, since I had never heard of it before of course I had to Google it - I know, nerd right?  Didn't you notice I said wild night of cards?

I'm gonna Geek it up a little more here: 
The dessert is named after the Russian dancer Anna Pavlova apparently after she visited New Zealand but the dates of the "first" rendition are sketchy - thank you Wikipedia!  Now, I am no Pavlova buff, in fact, I have to say I am not a fan of ballet or opera for that matter but I do know she was a famous dancer in the late 1800's early 1900's. 

Seems as though this recipe is a fit for her - rough exterior yet soft and smooth inside. 

She apparently was known to perform not to the standards that we might think of today - bent knees, incorrect turns and placements however she turned into a beautiful artist and is quite famous.

You're welcome for the history lesson

So on to dessert....

Top 5 "Fast Food" Friday Meals

So what happens when Friday comes in your house and you've been cooking and cleaning and working and shopping and taking the kids to sports practices, music lessons, friends houses all week and then 5pm hits and you realize you didn't take anything out of the freezer the night before?

AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

Yes, that happens in our household on occasion, I confess.

There HAVE to be days that you just need a break from life, from worrying about all of that stuff AND being healthy.  Enter "Top 5 Fast Food Friday Meals"
Here's my list of some of our favorite things to eat when I don't want to cook creatively and no one knows what to do - some of them might surprise you:

#5

Sandwich n Salad Night

Grilled cheese n bacon sammies with maybe a side salad to compensate for the bacony buttery goodness.
I could also go for an English muffin slathered in my homemade blueberry pomegranate jam too...Can I put that into #4 as well?

#4
Hot Dogs - "Street Meat" Style
For those who don't know, we mean stopping at a local food truck, grabbing a steamed then bbq'd dog, topping it with onions, bacon bits, cheese, ketchup & mustard and shoving it down in minutes

#3 - My pick (because I don't have to cook, clean or pay teehee)

Wendy's Chicken Fingers

Do you have Wendy's in your country?  Their chicken fingers are YUM!  But I've had a good finger at Chick Fil A too *sigh we don't have those here*

#2

South St. Burger - with goat cheese HECK YA!

A little joint with big taste and myriads of topping choices which makes it one of the better "chain" burger places in our neck of the woods.  We have yet to find a mom n pop dive with the burger of all burgers that are handmade, grilled to perfection...it will happen, one day!

AND at the top of our list (which could be longer if I really thought about it long and hard)

#1

This award goes to 2 crazy little places because they both have our favorite dish - the General Tso Chicken!

1 A - Golden Lake Take Out is about an hour and a bit away from our house but I will travel all the way there and ALL the way home just to have their rendition - its THAT good and no other restaurant in our area makes it the way we like it.

1 B - Mr. BM has found another little Chinese take out place in Brantford, Ontario (a little town in Westernish Ontario) that also makes it the "right" way.  I have no idea what the name of it is and I don't think he knows either!

He happens to be there a lot for work and on Fridays I can ask him to bring some home if the mood strikes. 

It strikes all the time but its maybe a once in a month thing.  I think it would be hard to maintain my pre-wedding dress figure if we had it more - although I think I could eat it every day.

So, there you go.  No pizza on this list, surprised? 

What's your fav thing to eat?