Like Milo, the little boy in The Phantom Tollbooth, I am often looking ahead, which diminishes the piquancy of the current moment. Milo wanted to know what would happen next, and what was around the corner. “Expectations is the place you must always go to before you get to where you’re going.”
― Norton Juster
I am looking forward to fall, because it is October, after all. I want to wear comfy sweaters, shuffle through leaf piles, and fling the windows open. I am looking forward to wearing socks, planting bulbs and buying pumpkins for Halloween. I was not ready when the November issue of Cook’s Illustrated magazine thumped into our mailbox. It’s only October – who needs to read about Top Turkey FAQs? Or The Best Cranberry Sauce is Relish? But the final straw was the Vive le Croquembouche! piece. Tempus fugit and all that – I cannot go from the lazy summer dinners of grilled burgers and barbequed chicken to full on Thanksgiving holiday prep. Should we brine, or salt the turkey? Cast iron cornbread dressing? How to reheat the leftovers…
October is all about resetting our internal clocks and adjusting expectations. Let’s take things step by step. Pass me that full-sized Snickers bar, I need to start practicing Halloween, and then we’ll start thinking about nice fall-ish, October meals. We’ll start by moving inside, and re-acquainting ourselves with the stove.
I’m pretty sure all my mother ever did with pork chops was lightly brown them in a Revereware frying pan then toss them into a Pyrex baking dish and let the oven take over. (She did not believe in exotic convenience foods like Shake N’Bake.) She included a side dish of homemade coleslaw and a bowl of cinnamon-y apple sauce. And now you see my stodgy New England side: no fuss, no muss, and a lot of colorless food. Surely we have advanced a little here in this very modern twenty-first century?
Food52 has a spicy, colorful paprika inspired pork chop recipe.
Mark Bittman, never one to fuss, has a sautéed pork chop recipe
Of course, Martha has a complicated variation on my mother’s applesauce pork chops by Martha https://www.marthastewart.com/341389/pork-chops-with-apple-raisin-relish
Bon Appétit has the answer for everyone – BA’s pork chop variations
The New York Times had this deelish variation that we cooked so I could paint a decent illustration (as well as eating a nice Sunday dinner): Skillet Pork Chops and Apples
I also made a batch of my mother’s cole slaw, so we were respecting tradition, as well as feeling hip and modern by tossing a little miso into the pork chop skillet. The apples were our seasonal gesture toward fall – even though it is sunny and 78° this morning as I type. Still, it is not in the 80s, and Luke the wonder dog is happily napping, resting up from his morning walk, while anticipating his afternoon stroll. Maybe we need to re-name him Milo.
Fall is coming. Don’t look ahead on the calendar. Don’t think about Thanksgiving just yet. Buy some apples and cider at the farm stand, and then a couple of pumpkins. The mums are radiating beams of color and light. The birds are coming back. And grab me another Snickers, please.
“When he was in school he longed to be out, and when he was out he longed to be in. On the way he thought about coming home, and coming home he thought about going. Wherever he was he wished he were somewhere else, and when he got there he wondered why he’d even bothered.”
― Norton Juster
