Pork, Stuffing, and Apple Pie Filling

When I was at Mount Vernon for Presidents' Day, there was information about what type of food people would usually eat in Washington's time. During the winter, pigs were often slaughtered so people could eat pork. While they had a pig there, there was no pork for sale in the food court. However, I did enjoy a chill cheeseburger.


Fortunately, later that day for dinner I had an opportunity for pork. I have enjoyed this recipe many times and want to share it with you.

Apple and Stuffing Pork Chops

4-6 Pork chops
Can Apple pie filling
Box Stuffing mix
Few tablespoons Applesauce

This is an imprecise recipe. The basic idea is pork chops go well with stuffing and apple pie filling (or applesauce). As a variation you can cut the applesauce completely.

Using a skillet with a little oil, cook both sides of the pork chops until some browning occurs (around 4 minutes per side depending on the thickness). Prepare the stuffing mix as directed on the box. When the stuffing is ready, mix in a few tablespoons of applesauce.

In a greased casserole dish (9x13 perhaps), spread the apple pie filling. Then arrange the pork chops on top. Add more applesauce if desired. Then cover with the stuffing. Cover and bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes or until heated through and the pork chops are done. I recommend removing the cover for the last 10 minutes to give it a little crisp. Depending on how thick the pork chops are it could take longer. However, the browning before baking will do a lot of the cooking.

The last time I made this was an adventure. There was no apple pie filling, so I used copious amounts of applesauce. However, I dumped a lot of sugar into the applesauce because it was the no sugar added version. A good rule of thumb is no sugar = no fun. Cinnamon can also be added to the applesauce if no pie filling is available.

A trip to the District of Columbia

On Tuesday I got back from a long weekend in Washington D.C. with Amanda. It was a boatload of fun!

For those of you who are not familiar with Amanda, I met her through various activities at church in college. We cooked student dinners, led small groups at the Bible study Seekers, planned student activities, and a bunch of other stuff. Being a law student at Georgetown, she knows the local area. She also made a blog post talking about the trip.

I have been to Washington D.C. four times before, so I have done most of the major tourist things. This allowed time to do lesser known things and visit places many people do not get to see.

When I flew into Regan National Airport on Friday the weather in D.C. was unseasonably warm. It was in the 70s. We enjoyed the weather by sitting outside and eating at an Irish pub while watching people skate at an outdoor ice rink.

The first place visited on Saturday was the National Archives. They have all the important documents of the United States. I saw the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, and the Bill of Rights. The Magna Carta was also there, but most people were uninterested in it.

Next the Old Post Office Tower was visited. The only place that affords a higher view of the Capital is the Washington Monument. It was an intense day to go to the top of the tower; winds that day were clocked at 50 MPH.


After a jaunt through the streets, we arrived at the Renwick gallery. While the paintings they had on display were unexciting, many of the sculpture pieces were good. Take a look at the Ghost Clock by Wendell Castle.


This looks like a grandfather clock with a sheet over it. However, it is a block of wood carved and painted to look like a clock and sheet. It is a great effect. I was standing a few feet from the clock and it still looked like a cloth sheet.

After that we ambled through the National Sculpture Garden. One of my favorite pieces was Thinker on a Rock by Barry Flanagan. On the National Sculpture Garden website there is a link half way down the sidebar on the right to a map with short descriptions of the works.


Here we see Amanda sitting in Scott Burton's Six-Part Seating.


That evening we went to Co Co Sala, which advertises itself as a chocolate lounge and boutique. You can check out their menu. I enjoyed a Co Cojito, which is a cocktail with chocolate infused vodka, mint, and limes topped with dark chocolate flakes. It was good, but the dessert takes most of the attention. It was a three course affair. The first course was a couple of churro like sticks with some chocolate that could be spooned on top of them. Next I enjoyed the Some More Co Co which consisted of chocolate crème brulee topped with toasted marshmallows and graham crumble along with a chocolate brownie and a chocolate malted shooter. This was followed by some petit fours. It was all very tasty.

On Sunday we went to mass at the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception. There were mosaics all over the church. Branching off of the main area were many side chapels. You can view some maps, pictures, and 360 degree views here. I liked their crypt church which has a superb subterrain feel.

For brunch we went to the Old Ebbitt Grill. They had wonderful food and a great atmosphere. There was a wait for seating in the dining room, but we were able to immediately get seating and full service at one of their bars.

Afterwards the National Museum of American History was visited. There is a lot of stuff there. I was only able to see half of what I wanted to before they closed for the day. Highlights of what I saw included the Star Spangled Banner and Lincoln's top hat.

After that we went to a free concert at the National Gallery of Art titled “Venice: Vivaldi and His Rivals.” After this is was only fitting to eat Italian food.

Monuments
Moving about the city almost every time I saw a statue I had to take a look at it and see who it was honoring.

I saw a statue for Winfield Scott Hancock. I thought, I only know him as Winfield Scott, the general of the Mexican-American War. When did he get the name Hancock added? It was only when researching for this post that I discovered Winfield Scott Hancock is a completely different person. However, they were both generals who fought in the Civil War and ran for President.

Speaking of Winfield Scott Hancock, he lost the Presidential election of 1880. In the popular vote, he lost by less than 2,000 votes of the 8.8 million that were cast. However, the Electoral College vote margin was deceive for his defeat. If you want to know who he lost to, you need look no further than this man.

He is James Garfield.

Other statues and monuments seen included the Boy Scouts, Marquis de Lafayette, Comte de Rochambeau, William T. Sherman (which was being restored), the Law Enforcement Officers Memorial, U.S. Grant, and John Marshall.

Now I want you to take a moment to think. What would you consider an appropriate monument to an important person after death? I will share some ideas on what I saw in a future post.

Before I close I must ask, what trip to the Washington D.C. area would be complete without a picture with our good friend Ronald?


A second part covering Mount Vernon and the rest of the trip is coming soon.

Me the Astronmer

Last week I was at a meeting. It was for an astronomy group that is specifically interested in the Meade line of ETX or any type of "Go To" telescopes.

The last time I went to this group was in September. When I was there I set a record. I was the person who had the longest gap between attending two meetings. The earlier meeting I attended was in 2003 or 2002.

I was one of a dozen people who gathered at a home in Mission Viejo. We were meeting to see the telescope of a person who managed to get magnifications that defied conventional wisdom. He could achieve 500x or 1,000x magnification and still have good images. He had an impressive setup. The house was on a hill so there were no obstructions to the south. There was also a permanent mount in the back yard so the scope would always be level and on firm ground.

My Telescope
I have a Meade ETX-70AT. The 70 means the main lens is 70 mm wide. Like all ETX scopes, it has a Go To feature. When the scope is first set up each night, I have to align it. I turn on a hand box that is attached to the scope. After entering the date, time, and location, this hand box will calculate what bright stars should be easily visible to me. It will than use motors to point the telescope to where in the sky it thinks one of these stars is. After I center the star in the eyepiece, I will press a button on the hand box and it will point the scope at another bright star in the sky. After I center the scope on that star, the scope's computer will have a fix on the sky. It will begin slightly moving the scope to keep up with the rotation of the Earth. This way when I center the scope on an object at high magnification I do not have to keep moving it to keep it centered in the eyepiece.

That is the alignment procedure. With the Go To capability I can pick an object from the controller's catalog and the scope will immediately move itself to point at it. If I want to look at Jupiter, I select Jupiter and the telescope will move to point at the planet. If it is not currently visible from my location it will say so and tell me when it is expected to rise.

While this is wonderful, my scope is ten years old and the company does not even make that size anymore. The smallest they sell is now an 80 mm.

Now back to the meeting last week. At the start everyone said what telescope they were using. Everyone there had a telescope that was better than mine. A couple of people there had my model of telescope, but they also had two or three bigger ones. I go to these meetings because I want to be encouraged to use my telescope more often, but instead I feel outclassed because my telescope is puny by comparison.

Being Matched, Extra Espresso, and the Triple Digits

When I went to donate platelets last week there was a problem. My blood pressure was too high and I had to be deferred. My reading was 146/102, while the highest allowed diastolic is 100. This was most likely caused by my weight lifting an hour before I went in. I was so dejected by my high blood pressure I went to Starbucks and drank a venti caramel macchiato with an extra espresso shot. I felt much better after that. Since I was only deferred for a day I returned the next day and was able to successfully donate.

Since my last aphereis post I made three trips to the Red Cross. The movies I saw included Elf, Wedding Crashers, and The Town. While the first two have been around for a while if you have not seen The Town I would recommend it.

The exciting thing is for all three of these donations I was pre-matched with a specific patient. The staff had received a request for platelets of a specific blood type. Since I fit the description and had an appointment I was matched. I also saw the forms and know I was requested for the same person all three times.

In October I donated my 100th unit of platelets. However, they just managed to get this made and delivered to me last week. As of this month I have been doing this for two years.


I mention this in the hope you will be inspired to so something good. You could donate whole blood or convince a friend to do so at least twice before I hit 150.

If I saw you in person

Some things do not merit their own post. These are the kinds of things I might mention if I saw you in person but would otherwise go unsaid.

Recently I started a teeth whitening program. For a while I have felt my teeth are not as white as they should be. There were some Crest Whitestripes lying around and I am using them. So far my teeth look a little whiter and have a noticeable shine. However, I do not have an objective standard for comparison.

I have been doing some weight lifting. It is nothing fancy; I have a few dumbbells at home and am using them. I have good strength in my arms, but now I have to figure out a program for everything else.

I have been talking to people I have been meaning to talk to for a while. This involves a few Facebook messages and emails saying "I have not seen/talked to you in a ridiculously long time and want to fix this." There are a few more I want to send.

A couple of weeks ago I went to UCI and talked to a professor about doing research with him. He was very nice and we talked for almost an hour. Our conclusion was I should talk to some engineering professors and try to do research with them instead. I still need to do that.

My Grandma is still visiting, but now she has a return plane ticket! When she leaves at the end of the month her two month stay will be over.

I have two exciting trips coming up. (Public Service Announcement: It is OK to post my travel plans online because my house will have people in it both times.) Two weekends from now I will be in Las Vegas where my Aunt is going to a concert. Then for Presidents' Day weekend I will be visiting a friend.

Seneca, the Stoics, and a Coffee Ring

I recently finished Letters from a Stoic, a collection of letters written by Seneca, a Roman of the first century AD. The Latin title is Epistulae morales ad Lucilium which means moral letters to Lucilius. In all there are 124 letters in the collection, but my Penguin Classics edition does not have all of them.

These letters are some of the best extant examples of Stoicism and its way of thinking. My one line summary of Stoicism is happily accept what fortune gives you and be in control of your emotions. The letters are practical advice on how to implement this philosophy in daily life.

I started this book sometime in the middle of last year. The letter format makes it easy to read in little parts. However, that also reduces my drive to finish the book. Since there is no larger structure, there is no need for me to remember the beginning of the book when I get to the end.

Some of the letters are great while a few are less interesting. If I had planned ahead I would have a list of a few good letters for you to check out. The only one I remember anything specific about is Letter XC. Even then I only remember wanted to argue with it.

I do not know as much about Greek and Roman philosophy as I think I should. Reading this is part of my program to fix that. This is the second of three Stoic works I plan on reading. I already read Marcus Aurelius's Meditations and next I will be reading Epictetus's Enchiridion. If you want a suggestion, I recommend you pick up Marcus Aurelius's Meditations. Like all the important works from Ancient Greece and Rome, it is available online.

Now for something different and non-Stoic. I have a recipe to share.

Italian Coffee Ring

1 stick margarine
1/2 cup sugar
1 tsp vanilla
1 egg
2 cups flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 cup milk

chocolate chips, nuts, or raisins (optional)

Cream the margarine and sugar. This involves waiting until the margarine is soft and mixing it thoroughly with the sugar. After this add the rest of the ingredients and mix some more. For the last item I usually add chocolate chips. I add around a cup, but put in however many you think look good.

On a greased cookie sheet, spoon the dough into two long logs. If desired, you can make one ring instead. Bake at 375 for 15 - 20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.

After it cools add frosting and cover with jimmies. I would furnish a picture, but these did not stay around the house very long.