Happy Thanksgiving!
On Monday I drove up to San Francisco to spend Thanksgiving with my sister and her boyfriend (and their puppy…who is not really a puppy anymore). I’m here for the whole week and it’s been so nice. It’s been a great change of scenery especially since I’ve spent the last two weeks isolating so that I could come up here and know it would be safe. I also took a COVID test just in case, even though I knew I didn’t have it. It was more so for my sister so that she felt comfortable having me come up.
It was a LONG drive, oh my god. I’m currently living in Claremont so it’s about a 6 hour drive.It honestly wasn’t too bad because I had a lot of distractions, but it wasn’t my favorite. About 3 hours into my drive, I had to stop for gas so I wouldn’t have to stop near SF once it was pitch black, but I guess I stopped in a not-so-safe area of southern California, so I had some friends on FaceTime keep an eye on me while I got gas. It was very uncomfortable. But the rest of the drive was smooth, except that it was dark at 4pm and I wasn’t expected to arrive until 9:30pm. But I made it! So all is well.
Normally we have other people over for Thanksgiving, but this year it was just the three of us because of COVID, but it was really nice. I think in general it was a little easier because there wasn’t as much food that had to be prepared, so I think it took off a lot of the usual pressure.
In honor of Thanksgiving, I thought I’d post a pork tenderloin recipe that I made last week. This was the first time I’ve ever cooked pork, so I was a little nervous and definitely overcooked the pork in an effort to make sure I hadn’t undercooked it. But next time I’ll know and it’ll turn out perfect. Overall I would say that the recipe was really easy to follow and there wasn’t a lot of work done on my part. I think that’s the benefit of one-pan meals. There’s not usually a lot of prep work and there’s also not a lot of clean up. Perfect for when you’re busy. I got this recipe from the magazine Eat This, Not That!, the same magazine where I got the recipe for the Sweet Potato Quinoa Chili (thanks mom and dad for sending the magazine!).
The recipe called for a 20-oz pork tenderloin, and naturally, I don’t know what that means. I think when I went to buy it, it only displayed the amount in pounds, and that’s not a conversion I know how to do in my head an apparently I was too lazy to pull out my phone, so I bought about 2.5 lbs of pork tenderloin. There were only about 3 options and they were all about the same size anyway. But in doing so, I think I should have bought more sweet potatoes and beans because I felt a little low on veggies after cooking.
The honey mixture was REALLY GOOD. I loved it and will probably use it in other meals. It was just the right amount of sweet. But I had the same issue here as I did with the veggies. I think I was short on the honey mix. It covered the pork perfectly but I didn’t have enough left over to really get the veggies too. But all in all, I really liked how this turned out and it was just the right amount of food. I think for next time I need to get more potatoes and beans, cut the potatoes thinner, and maybe not buy so much pork.
Heading back to Claremont on Sunday and back to the same heavy school work routine. I’ve got about 3 weeks left until winter break, so at this point I’ve just got to push through. We’ve got a few more project deliverables due this week, then final exams and final presentations. I can’t believe it’s already the end of my first semester of grad school It’s been A LOT of work, but I really feel like I’m gaining the skills and experiences need to do what I want to do with my future career. Looking forward to my spring semester classes and hopefully hearing back soon regarding summer internships!
To be continued…
Gabriela
The recipe calls for 2 lbs. of carrots which I initially thought was A LOT, but to be honest, if I were to make this again I would probably add another pound of carrots. We eat a lot at Thanksgiving, and it’d be nice to have extra for leftovers. I started by washing and peeling the carrots, which normally I just wash them. I never really think to peel them, because I’ve just cleaned them, but they look so much more appetizing once they’ve been peeled. It takes a little more time but I’ll probably do this from now on.
Gabriela Maria 