Coincidence, Serendipity, Fluke

Sometimes I drive people crazy with my observations of coincidences.  I could expound on tons of them.  Once a friend of mine and I went grocery shopping and my cart number was 138.  Then I got change back at the register for a sum of $3.81, and later when I made purchases inside a convenience store the total came to $8.13.  So feeling that lucky stars were lined up in my direction, I convinced my girlfriend  to buy some "Pick 3" lottery tickets with me.  We chose every combination of 1-3-8 that was possible and guess what???? Our numbers won--- the Missouri Pick Three! Unfortunately, we had bought the Illinois Pick Three.
Monday, I began reading an Italian cookbook.  From various regions of Italy there is a common recipe called "porchetta".  It amounts to pork (usually of the suckling nature I gather) stuffed with various herbs and then roasted while the aromatics permeate the interior.  Tuesday, a girlfriend gave me a Midwest Living magazine that she had finished reading.  I took it with me to peruse while waiting in a doctor's office.  Oh you are on to me now.  Yes the darned thing had a recipe for "porketta" (spelled slightly differently, but essentially the same thing). Oh and I won't have to find a baby pig for this recipe either.  Today (Wednesday) I am making the porketta. 

This is what it looked like in the magazine. 

Here is the list of herbs and spices that are combined to spread in the middle of the 3 pound boneless pork loin. 

                         2 T. fresh parsley

                         1 t. crushed fennel seeds

                         1 t. dried onion flakes

                         1/2 t. dried rosemary

                         1/2 t. dried oregano 

                         1/4 t. salt

                         1/4 t. garlic powder

                         1/4 t. ground cloves

                         1/8 t. ground coriander

I crushed the fennel and coriander seeds with a little mortar and pestle that belonged to one of Jay's ancestors (I'll have to look that up later--something about a store in Nauvoo years ago). 

Okay, you make a slice most of the way through the loin and lay the halves open; sprinkle with the blended herbs, fold back together and tie it up. This is what mine looked like. 

Now you roast this on a rack in a 350 degree oven for an hour and half or so.  We use a meat thermometer and it should read 155 degrees when you take it out of the oven.  Let the meat rest for 10 minutes before slicing.  Since we are not too fond of fennel (too much licorice flavor for us) I cut the amount to just a pinch. I did the same with the cloves.  The final product was well-suited to our palates. 

Hey did I ever tell you about the time I found this penny on the sidewalk and it was a 1926 penny (the same year as my dad's birth), and I found it on March 30th (his birthday) and, and, okay, okay ---I'll stop driving you crazy!