Masitas de Puerco

Okay I didn't take a picture. Sorry. But this is so easy and delicious I had to share.

2 pounds of boneless pork butt cut into 1 inch cubes.
1 large onion sliced.
1 1/2 cups of Goya Mojo Criollo
For my Evansvillians this is available at Aihua. Second to last aisle on the right hand side. (Away from the freezers.) This is the same aisle where you'll find the Adobo. The mojo is about halfway down on the Latin side of the aisle. Non EVV if you cant find it in a regular grocery store try Asian or Latin markets. There also loads of recipes for it. Just google it, although that does take the ridiculously easy aspect away.

Marinate the pork in the mojo for three hours. Drain off the marinade and reserve half a cup.(If you are a crazy germaphobe you can just use more from the bottle but seriously it's gonna cook for 20 minutes or so. So try not to be a nutter, ok?) Add the drained pork to a heavy bottomed pan and cover with 3 cups of water. Bring to a boil reduce heat and simmer for about 45 minutes. Water should be mostly evaporated. If it's not turn up the heat and watch carefully until water is gone. Add the onions and the reserved marinade. Cook and stir until the marinade has evaporated. Continue sauteing the pork chunks int their own rendered fat until slightly crispy and brown.

Now build yourself a soft taco or stuff into a masa cake or serve with rice an plantains just eat the stuff. YUM!

Cumin Seared Tuna with Lime Teriyaki Glaze and Chunky Guacamole

Cumin Seared Tuna with Lime Teriyaki Glaze and Chunky Guacamole. 

Tuna:
2 7-8 oz sashimi grade tuna steaks
2 Tablespoons of whole cumin seeds ground in a spice grinder or blender (reserve a pinch for the guacamole)
2 teaspoons salt

Lime Teriyaki Glaze:
1/4 cup Soy Vay or Trader Joe's Very Teriyaki Sauce
1 teaspoon freshly grated ginger
3 packets True Lime (or 1/4 cup lime juice)

Chunky Guacamole:
One Envelope of pressurised guacamole (like Wholly Guacamole) or two avocados roughly mashed
1 small tomato chopped
1 green onion sliced
2 Tablespoons cilantro or parsley minced
Pinch of freshly ground cumin
(salt if using fresh avocados)

Wonton Chips (Optional):
Wonton skins or egg roll wrappers cut into triangles
Oil for frying.

About 30 minutes before you want to cook the tuna place the steaks in the freezer. Mix the freshly ground cumin and salt together in a shallow dish and set aside.

Fry your wonton chips. (if you plan on using them) If you don't know how to fry things this is not the recipe for you.

Meanwhile prepare the Lime teriyaki by mixing the lime, ginger and teriyaki together.

Combine all the guacamole ingredients and chill in the fridge.

Remove the tuna steaks from the freezer and coat with the cumin/salt mixture.

Heat a heavy skillet preferably cast iron over  high heat until smoking hot. Turn on your vent fan if you've got one. Place one tuna steak in the center of the pan and cook for 1 minute. flip and cook for 1 minute more. Remove from pan and set aside. Let pan reheat before repeating with the second tuna steak.

Slice the tuna into thin strips and fan out on a plate, (Or over a bed of Teriyaki Noodle Salad, recipe follows.) drizzle with the Lime Teriyaki and top with a scoop of the guacamole. Serve the remaining guacamole on the side.

Teriyaki Noodle Salad

8 oz fettucini or linguine noodle
4 oz button mushrooms sliced
1 cup frozen peas
1 medium carrot grated
2 green onions finely sliced
3/4 cup Soy Vay or Trader Joe's Very Teriyaki Sauce
2 Tablespoons Golden Mountain Seasoning or soy sauce
1 Tablespoon freshly grated ginger
1 7-8 oz package baby salad greens preferably asian style or arugula

Cook fettucini according to pack age directions except throw your  sliced button mushrooms into the water to cook with the pasta.

Mix all the other ingredients except the salad green together in a large bowl. Add the hot freshly drained pasta and mushrooms to the dressing/veggie mix stir to combine then fold in the salad greens.

Old lamp, new trick.

I saw this on Ikea Hackers and have been wanting to try it for years.

Make sure you are using compact flourescent  or LED bulb. I used  a lamp we bought from IKEA about seven years ago. You can use any uplighted lamp you want just make sure you are using a cool temperature bulb in it..  Starting at the top place super sticky post it notes all around rim. Curl the notes downward slightly. Add a second layer slightly below and offset by half the width. Repeat until you reach the bottom of the shade. In my case I stuck one more layer around the base to further camouflage the light shining through. Pretty awesome for a $10.00 lamp and a $1.00 package of sticky notes. 

I think this would be pretty in light pink sticky notes cut into a rounded shape ate the top and the finished  with green notes to make it even more flowery. I may do that in Wub's room with the gooseneck lamp that came with this. Ooooooh!