Bullfighting in Spain.

Well well, it's Wednesday and I've been on the go since waking my sleeping bulls at 5:10 am for swim practice. It took 4 attempts in each bedroom to finally drag them out of bed ... day 3 of the long course swim season. Welcome to summer in the Gillaspey household. Most kids have been waking up well past 9am on the first week of summer break. That doesn't exist in our house. You're probably questioning...who's the bull here?

I won the first fight. They escaped to practice and I was productive on the computer for a few hours. Then I made my little bulls homemade Cinnamon Bread so as they walked in the door at 8:30, they enjoyed the wonderful smell of warm bread baking in the oven. So much for being a fighter. I helped Hannah organize her lunch for day 3 of lifeguarding and then was off to work to fight my next battles.

The normal fare in the advertising world... a wrong promo code on a few Direct Mail pieces kept me busy in quickly fixing a near disaster. All is good. I won that battle too! Then the phone call... it appears that I left the house without drawing a bath for Katy who wanted to scrub her foot wound from a few days ago. And Hannah wouldn't help her.  Well, ya can't teach an old bull new tricks... Hannah helped her get the bath done. I must confess, the call yesterday was a whine at 9:30 wondering if she could have Pasta Salad. The day before that at 9:30... "I'm Bored". When does school start again??

Ok, so we ARE in Spain. I'm an expert at Bullfighting it seems. I found a recipe for a Stuffed Pork Loin. And as any meal lately, I've tripped on every one. I was going to serve this on Monday but it was going to take too much time. So I opted for a Spanish rice bake. After browning the ground beef, I reached for a red pepper, only to find that the peppers were gone. Andy used them up in our pepper veggies on Sunday. So frazzled on a Monday, I threw in the towel and some Taco seasoning mix and a taco dinner was served. The towel was thrown in again last night and we opted for Red Rossa Pizza after Katy's softball game. Though dear Andy prepped the stuffed pork so it was ready to go for tonight's meal.

So back to tonight... I worked late and rushed home to put the stuffed pork loin in the oven. I was going to multi-task and run to the grocery store to pick up a few things. Well, I was distracted with couch measurements in the basement and too much label reading in the store and was late getting home. Thankfully Andy saved the pork and it was served. I feel like this week has been so hard to battle... ever have one of those weeks? It could be because I'm battling some Allergy cold infested sickness, only after watching the movie, "Contagion" on Sunday.

I'll keep the rest of this blog short, the pork was good. Too much bread for our taste. It overshadowed the olives which I would have liked to taste more of. I also had no idea what a side flap attached to the pork meant but apparently I purchased the wrong thing, according to my chef Andy.

Spanish-Style Stuffed Pork Loin
4 Tbl. olive oil
1 finely chopped onion
2 garlic cloves, chopped
1 1/2 cups bread crumbs (We would cut this in half)
4 dried fig, chopped
8 green olives, pitted and chopped
1/4 cup sliced almonds
1 Tbl. lemon juice
1 Tbl fresh parsley, chopped
1 egg yolk
2 1/4 lbs. pork loin (boneless pork loin preferably with the side flap attached)
Salt
Pepper
Paprika

Directions
1) Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
2) Saute onion and garlic in olive oil (reserve 1 Tbl. OO for later) until soft.
3) Remove onion and garlic from heat-- stir in bread crumbs, figs, olives, almonds, lemon juice, parsley and egg yolk (this makes the stuffing).
4) Season the pork loin with salt, pepper and paprika. Unroll belly flap from pork to open the loin up (or pound it down if you bought the wrong cut). Spread half the stuffing over the flat piece, roll it up, tie the joint at intervals with string.
5) Pour remaining oil into small roasting pan, add the pork loin. Roast for 1 hour and 20 minutes.
6) Take remaining stuffing mix and form into balls. Add to the pan 15-20 minutes before end of cooking time.
7) Let the pork loin rest for 10 min after removing from the oven. Take string off before slicing.

So apparently, the bullfighting won't end. I've been fighting technology to upload a picture of the delicious stuffed pork loin with no luck. It seems that I have been thorned or stabbed by the bull and it's a sign that I must say good night.

Peace.