The joy of home repair !

   Sorry about the scattered postings, work and holidays have interfered with writing. New Years resolution is to have one new post every week, starting today. Coming soon, more reviews, more recipes, but for now a look at our home repair project, (gutters are done but no pics before the snow AND we put on snow guards to prevent an untimely death by snow !!).

   How I spent my summer. After almost 30 years, our little house was in need of some sprucing up. Several windows had lost there ability to hold out the cold, and the wood siding was looking a little long in the tooth. It was decided (OK truth be told wifey decided, I was fine with moving to a warmer climate), we would put in 6 new windows, all new vinyl siding, fascia, soffit, shutters and rain gutters. Once the decision was made and a color was chosen, (Spruce Green), all that was left was to choose a contractor and sit back and watch it happen, HA, NOT !!

      Not many know this about me, but I can NOT buy anything at first quote. I absolutely have to research it to death and get multiple quotes, until I am sure I have the best possible price. So after multiple quotes, from this contractor and that contractor and this giant home improvement store and that giant lumber yard, it came down to buying the ingredients myself locally, having our retired neighbor act as general contractor, having bro-in law Steve buy the windows at his work place and install them and finally have an old co-worker from NY come in and do the gutters WHEW. Let the games begin.

      We were fortunate that the old siding was not rotted, so we were able to put the new siding right over the top. And in a total fit of pure genius, I decided to have Vic start on the house the EXACT same weekend we flew to Wisconsin, AND the exact same weekend Hurricane Irene decided to come roaring through. Needless to say, I spent many an hour wondering if all his hard work (wrapping the house in body wrap, J channel, starter strip, etc., etc.) was now being ripped off by said Irene. Talk about shocked when we arrived home Monday night at 10:30 pm to a GREEN house. WOO HOO, Vic and his lovely assistant (his wonderful wife), had finished the entire front and most of both sides, YEA. Here are some before and after pics;

      The very next weekend was let's finish the house day. So a whole host of helpers turned out, (Thank You, Mike, Chris, Steve and Casey), and we proceeded to get the entire back done and some of the front facia. A few days later, Vic came over to finish the peaks and the facia and soffits and about a week later, (after my discovering that YES, rubber soled work shoes and a wet metal roof are in fact VERY slippery), Vic came back over and helped me finish the last piece of soffit and facia between the garage and house.

      On another fine weekend, bro-in-law Steve came over and put in the first 5 windows. What I imagined to be a very long and painful day, turned out to be done in 2 1/2 hours. This man is a genius when it comes to installing windows.

      I will post a few more pictures when we are completely done. Currently, our to-do list is down to , cladding the windows with metal, gutters and shutters. Stay tune, more pics to come. Oh, and lest I forget, we removed a huge pine tree from the edge of the driveway.  Nothing wrong with the tree so much, other than a constant drip of sap on my car (wifey gets the one car garage). And the 2-3 ft of pine needles every fall and spring we have to clean up. So one sunny Monday , off with her top. here are the before and after pics;

      One last set of pics before I sign off on this column. Bro-in -Law came over to clad the windows and what a great job he did. I can't believe how great they now look and dad came over to help me last weekend and we put up the shutters. All done, except the gutters. Here are the last of the pics;

Cooking 101: Carribean Pork Sliders

      Sometimes simple is best, especially when you are talking about making supper on a week night, when one partner is coming home from a hard days work and the other partner leaves for work at 11PM. Those are the nights that simple works best, and if you can throw something in the slow cooker (crockpot for those of us born a LONG time ago), first thing in the morning, and have a hot flavorful supper when you get home, Life is Good !! This meal starts with a pork loin and a marinade I wish I could remember where I bought, most likely Costco's as it's a big honkin bottle. The marinade is;

       Add pork loin (or loins if feeding a crowd or you want leftovers and you WILL want leftovers) to the slow cooker. Add enough marinade and chicken stock, ( I went 50/50) to cover the loins. An optional step, if you are so inclined, would be to get your grill red hot and sear the pork on all sides, this will add an extra dimension of flavor to the dish, but if your in a hurry just chuck em into the cooker. Throw in a few pineapple slices, attach the lid, set on low and walk away. Just a quick aside, if you have the time to sear, I would encourage it, I did this recipe both ways and the nice brown crunchy bits add alot of flavor and texture when you shred the pork. One other tip, they make slow cooker liners, and these have been a GODSEND for all these recipes, they make clean up a breeze, well worth the investment.

      Set your cooker on low and let it go for 3-6 hours. At this point you will have very flavorful pork and some incredible sauce. Remove the pork and start shredding, it will be so tender it shreds easily. Pour the liquid into a heavy duty saucepan and start boiling, keep your eye on it though cuz if it boils too long it will end up being a very thick syrup (we almost made that mistake). Here is a plate of deliciousness;

      And to serve with this delight, well a Tropical Mango smoothie of course. I found some smoothie mixes in the freezer of our local grocery store, one of which became this great drink with the addition of some mango and coconut rums and a bit of mango juice;

      And now to put it all together, you saved some pineapple slices right? Grill the slices and some rolls topped with butter until both form a nice crust. Top the shredded pork with the sauce you reduced and assemble, one roll, one pineapple slice and a big helping of shredded pork. We baked some fries in the oven and VOILA;

      Once again, a relatively easy prep makes a great evening supper. And to top it off this pork is incredible the next day, so PLEASE make extra.