Otis and I bid a fond farewell to our fiscal year 2009 pig on Sunday, with a delicious sendoff of pork roast barbecued on the grill with a Cuban-style mojo, yellow rice and black beans, tostones, and the richest chocolate pudding in the world for dessert. It really was simply phenomenal. Joe and Jon came over for dinner, and contributed a really large amount of wine and their winning personalities, as always.

It was really a wonderful meal. The recipe for the pork came from Cook's Illustrated... the pork was brined overnight and then rubbed, and then cooked on the grill for about 6 hours. I made the tostones, which are super easy, just google any recipe. The most important thing is to make sure the plantains are not ripe... they should taste much more starchy than sweet. Sprinkle with a fair amount of salt; I like to add some hot pepper powder (I used the aleppo pepper we have in the pantry).

This upcoming weekend we're picking up our fiscal year 2010 pig from Alder Brook Farm up in Athens. Last year we got 1/8 of a cow and 1/2 of a pig, and discovered that we appreciated the pork so much more than the beef that we're just getting the 1/2 pig. This round will include all sorts of the funny bits so Otis and do his curing and smoking thing... for example he is planning some guanciale with the jowls.

Now that we're moving into the later fall (even though it doesn't feel like it-- we're expecting record high temps today, in the mid 60s!), Sunday will probably be our last grilling day. But we have lots of roasting and braising indoors to look forward to... including all of the delicious traditional holiday meals. I love those heritage turkeys, and homemade stuffing, and my mother-in-law's delicious cranberry-horseradish sauce. Mmmm.

But for now, I am just going to appreciate the unseasonably warm weather and the anticipation of a freezer newly filled with pork.