Junior finally had his much awaited all-nighter birthday party. The party was supposed to start at 4.30pm. By 3pm, majority of the boys were in, sprawled comfortably on and around one large, really large, ottoman, that has a pride of place right in front of the TV.
They didn’t even notice when I went and stood right behind them. With remote controls in their hands,all eyes were glued to the TV, not moving for a fraction of a second for the fear of missing out on any of the action that filled the screen.
To me it looked like a TV screen divided into four equal squares, all filled with robot like creatures shooting away at something or the other to glory. Apparently, it made a lot of sense to them, because every now and then, lusty cheers would fill the room while a couple of them who were not playing would actually edge closer to the screen, before being pushed unceremoniously back by the one they tried to push aside.
That went on a for a couple of hours, before I had them shut the thing down. Dinner was wolfing down pizza and chicken wings, all store-bought, because long back I figured there was no use slogging over the stove trying to prepare a meal for them. They would still want pizza and push rest of the food around their plate. So it’s pizza and chicken wings. Yay.
I recently learned an amazing “Chocolate game’ from Charlie at @Hotly spiced, and I had the kids play it.
You would think they have never had any chocolate before. They tripped over each other trying to get to the chocolate bar, and sawed at it desperately trying to separate the squares from the rest of the chocolate bar. And the roar of delight when they were successful in getting a piece off.
Finally, when the chocolate was all gone, I stopped the game. Then I picked up another bar, and proceeded to offer the left overs to the all of them for being such a good sport.
They looked positively ill. One of them actually looked like he was going to throw up, at the mere idea of having any more chocolate. Well, I could bet my life that had the game continued, they would have continued to wolf the chocolate down with the speed of a freight train.
Competition can do that to you, make you do stuff that you would not think of accomplishing otherwise. But some things do not have a competition. Like this super easy pulled pork sliders that was stewed in a crock pot. Infused with deliciousness of maple syrup and whole red chillies, this pulled pork recipe is quick, easy and wholesome.
Scooped into sliders, it makes great bentos.
- 2 lbs boneless shoulder or loin of pork
- 1 tbsp cayenne pepper
- 1 tsp heaped chilli flakes
- 5 whole red chillies
- 1 tsp garlic powder
- 1 tsp garlic salt
- 1 tbsp cumin powder
- ¼ cup maple syrup
- 1 tbsp soy sauce
- 2 tbsp Apple cider vinegar
- 1 tbsp stone ground mustard sauce
- 2 tbsp tomato puree
- 1 tsp cracked pepper
- 1 tsp smoke liquid
- 1 large onion quartered
- 1 carrot cut into four pieces
- salt
- Trim the pork piece of all fat.
- Rub cayenne pepper, heaped chilli flakes, garlic powder, garlic salt, cumin powder and keep aside for half an hour.
- Lay the onions and carrots at the bottom of the crockpot.
- Place the pork shoulder on top.
- Pour the maple syrup, soy sauce, apple cider vinegar, mustard sauce, tomato puree, cracked pepper, liquid smoke. Randomely place the whole red chillies.
- Cover and set it on low for 6 hours.
- Once done, take the meat piece out with a large spatula, taking care not to break it, else it will disintegrate.
- Transfer it to a plate. Using a fork, pull at the meat, separating the tender fibers.
- Serve hot with sliders.
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