......

MY CUPBOARDS, THOUGH FULLY loaded with a vast assortment of food items, still left me scratching my head over what to prepare for supper the other day.  So I got in the car and made a dedicated trip to the grocery store to buy pork chops. 

Just as I pulled into a parking spot, my phone rang.  It was the sister of mine who had informed me just the evening before that she was cooking pork chops for supper.
"What are ya doing?" she asked.

Well, so I told her my mission.
""Ha!" she giggled.  "I made you hungry for pork chops, didn't I?"
Then she suggested, " Get parsnips, too! Do you ever eat parsnips? We had them last night with the pork chops."
"I don't even know what they look like," I confessed.
"They're like big carrots, only white," she explained. "And they are SO sweet.  I roasted them, and they were  delicious!" 

 

Which is how it developed that I served a palatable repast of pork chops and parsnips (a few of the parsnips' colorful cousins thrown in for contrast).

*Plus a mixed-green salad with chia seeds and cilantro.  And a pink grapefruit dessert**
 **That pink grapefruit had been sitting for quite some time on the kitchen counter. I feared for its fitness.   But, lo and behold, it had aged to a stunning sweetness! After I'd finished eating my half, I announced to The Yard Man, "Now I'm going to do something that would have made my chicken-bone-apple-core-eating Daddy proud!" 

















I turned that grapefruit skin to an inside-out state and did some gnawing! The Yard Man followed suit. Thus it ensued we both ended that meal with a good lip-smacking.

(In the unlikely event you would wish to know, Reader Dear, how I got those pork chops to an edible state:
1.  Patted both sides with a thin layer of flour
2.  Salted and peppered
3.  Put garlic-infused olive oil in the pan
4.  Heated the skillet, then added the chops
5.  Cooked on each side for about 4 minutes, med-high to high heat
6.  Poured red wine overtop (1/2 cup?) and slapped on a lid
7.  Put covered skillet into a preheated oven (350* with the pretty parsnips) for about 5 minutes. 
8.  Took skillet from oven and let sit with the lid on for another five minutes.
Mmmm. Now you know.)
......