NEW YEARS DAY

You know you have gotten old when your plans for New Years Eve is looking forward to going to bed early and getting a good nights sleep. Which is exactly what Chuck and I did. We both slept so soundly that neither of us awakened for the noise at midnight. Also, neither of us woke up with a handover, not that I usually do. Honestly, I can not remember waking up with a hangover.

It is snowing outside and much to my amazement the boroughs salt truck came around and salted the street. I had mentioned that they never come down our street and I reported that the top of the street was thick with ice. Well, since I had filed that report the salt truck having been coming down the street. I guess that will last for a few more weeks....before they are back at their same MO.

Today on the agenda is the traditional pork and sauerkraut. My mother had always cook the pork roast surrounded with the kraut. I do not like the kraut flavor infused into the meat. What I do is cook the pork Tenderloin on top of the stove. I brown it in a Dutch Oven and then lower the temperature, add onions and carrots if I have them and then cook for abut one hour, or the internal temp is 160 F.

I will make mashed potatoes, gravy and a vegetable. The sauerkraut is prepared by draining and rinsing the kraut, add a few tablespoons of brown sugar, a small bottle of pearl onions, raisins and a apple that has been cut in wedges. This cooks at 350 F for 30 minutes. It is the German tradition of eating pork and sauerkraut for good luck in the New Year. I do not know if it works or not, but we haven't bad luck in a long time.....

Tomorrow and Sunday are not planned, but I will always do something. Perhaps go to the library and see what old records I can find in the archives of the Pennsylvania room at the Carnegie Library. It all depends on the direction of the wind........