Happy Birthday!

Last night was the second Annakah dinner. It was also awesome!! Which leads me to my funny (to me) story. When Tim moved in and we started cooking more he kept wanting to make meals with pork. I was very hesitant because I didn't have very good pork memories growing up. I remember dry tough burned up meat with dry side dishes.

But he insisted pork could be good. He grew up in an 'I' state which I always think of as hog states...you know, Iowa, Illinois, Indiana.

But! He has really shown me that it can be yummy. Last year for my big birthday dinner we had stuffed pork chops with lots of dried fruit in a yummy, yummy sauce. This year we found a recipe for Pork Roast with Onion, Mushroom and Bacon Ragout, so I totally wanted to try that. It was awesome!!

When we were shopping we found the CUTEST little baby carrots and zucchini, so I had to have those. Marinated in a little evoo and some sea salt. Then in the oven at 400 degrees for 10 minutes. AWESOME:
Here is Tim carving the Pork Roast:
Here is the Bacon, Onion and Mushroom Ragout. It was awesome. And easy. Although finding mushrooms around here is tough. They go bad so quickly. Why is that....does everyone have that trouble? These were crimini (baby bella's). It was supposed to have twice as many, but I had to through away a whole package. The bacon added a really good flavor! Next time I would try pancetta maybe...
Here is the pork, the sweet potato (those things are SO giant, we had to share) and the roasted veggies:
Here is the full dish with the ragout:

We paired this dish with the Pinot from Cosentino's. It was awesome!! We wanted to have two Cakebread wines this weekend but really had an impossible time finding them. Tim said next time we would just order from the website. But I don't know how it could have been any better.

Today I am going to pilates and then over to my parents for some shopping. Then tonight we have dinner at my favorite restaurant (in Denver) and then cake!!