Blog Expat Interview

I was recently interviewed by blogexpat.com for their Expat Interviews series. You can check out the interview here. It may be a minor acknowledgment but it's nice to know people are reading my blog!

More soon!

Recipes: Citrusy Carnitas

Having lived in both California and Texas, my taste buds have an acute hankering for Mexican food more often than not. This is a problem now that I'm living in Brisbane, where Mexican food is just now trending in a big way and will no doubt take a while before it's done really well. This means I cook a lot of it at home, which is actually a wonderful excuse to play around with my favourite Mexican dishes.

One of them is carnitas, which means "little meats" in Spanish, and is typically made by braising a well-marbled cut of pork for a few hours. Pork shoulder works for me. I usually slow cook chunks of it in a spicy salsa bath, but I decided to try something different this time, which, funnily enough, is probably the more common way of making them.

Freshly squeezed orange and lime juice combined with a few other ingredients is all you need to make succulent, flavourful carnitas—as long as you don't break the cardinal rule by trimming the fat. That would be a huge mistake as we finish braising the pork in its own fatty goodness. If there isn't enough, the pork won't be as tender. (Traditional carnitas call for lard, but I'm all for the no added fat option.)

Carnitas

1 kilogram pork shoulder

3 limes

2 oranges

5 garlic cloves, crushed with the side of a knife then minced

2 teaspoons ground cumin

1 teaspoon chili flakes

1 teaspoon salt, or more to taste

water, as needed

1. Cut the shoulder into chunks and place in a Dutch oven or heavy-bottomed pot.

2. Squeeze the juice from the oranges and limes and pour over the pork.

3. Stir in the garlic, chili flakes, salt and cumin.

4. Add water until the pork is just covered.

5. Bring to a boil before dropping the heat to low and simmering for two hours. If the liquid looks like it's going to evaporate before the two hours are up, add a little more water. 

6. After two hours turn the heat up to medium high and cook another 45 minutes, stirring and turning the meat occasionally until all the liquid has evaporated and the pork is left sizzling in the rendered fat. When the pieces have browned the carnitas are done. Shred the pork or cut into smaller pieces. 

I usually serve carnitas with black beans, warmed tortillas, and homemade salsa and guacamole. This time though a healthy green bean salad with a Mexican twist (from the food blog Simply Recipes) was added to the spread.   

If you don't have any tortillas, don't worry. In fact, you don't even need to use them if you do. I actually preferred the carnitas without them this time, as a tortilla would have slightly concealed the beautiful flavour and texture of the meat. 

Spoon on a little salsa to taste and dig in!

State of Origin: My Renewed Appreciation For The Irrationality of Sports

Maybe it's because we lived in the United States for the majority of our relationship so far. Or maybe it's because he studied international relations and, ahem, literature at university. Or perhaps it's because he doesn't, at first glance, appear to be any sort of patriot. But last night, for the first time, I discovered (or perhaps it's that I remembered?) my fiance is in fact a full-blooded Queensland boy.

Yes, I'm talking about the way he cheered for the third, deciding game of State of Origin. (For those of you not from Australia, State of Origin is a series of three Rugby League games that have occurred every year since 1980 between two state teams, Queensland [the Maroons] and New South Wales [the Blues]; it's become one of the most popular sporting events in the country.)

 I, for one, have always enjoyed the trio of matches. I still remember how Billy Slater's excellent performance in 2004 won him the title of Man of the Match. But despite the enjoyment I get from watching the Origin games, I've never been a vocal spectator. I even, god forbid, multitask while watching.

Peter, however, proved last night to be an ardently vocal observer.

Clapping, swearing and a slew of "come ons!!!!" (yes those extra exclamation points are necessary) was the order of the evening. He sprung out of his seat and, after the first try was scored by Queensland, jumped up and down before running to the fridge to grab a beer — a Heineken, by they way, which I suppose illustrates where his loyalty ends.

At first I was startled. I'm not used to seeing him scream at the television, with the exception of a Federer tennis match. His second outburst I just stared, not sure what to think. By the third I was genuinely intrigued and positively entertained. There's something refreshing about seeing this unfalteringly rational man get so heated up over a game.

I cannot stress enough the importance of this year's Origin series: Star Queensland player Billy Slater was out with an injury and League legend Darren Lockyer (we often have breakfast at separate tables together in Paddington) retired at the end of last year. But more than that, New South Wales hadn't won a series since 2005.

The game ended wickedly close. Both teams were tied up in the 71st minute with 20 points each, causing Peter to appear genuinely terrified. But when Queensland kicked a one-point field goal in the 75th minute it was all over. Queensland won it's seventh consecutive series 21-20.

Source: AAP

In the end, I was glad to see my soon-to-be husband get electrified over his home team. He can cheer and get angry and completely irrational, and that's okay. (Take, for example, the comment he made when I expressed concern for a player who took a fall: "Don't feel sorry for him, he's New South Wales.") Because despite his unbridled agression for a man he's never met, I know where his emotional irrationality ends. Win or lose, he'll just go to bed and be over it by the time his head hits his pillow.

Still though, I'm happy Queensland won for him.