Three good friends over for dinner. Two large dogs, belonging to one of the friends, arrived on their own (unescorted) a full five minutes before anyone else. Attached illustration is as follows (top to bottom):
1) Chop chop chop. doin' the red and white taters, red onions, carrots, mushrooms and lots of garlic.
2) Early morning in PJs with a latte (I've mercifully spared you a photo of me with bedhead, which is atrocious now that my hair is down to my shoulders) I brown a 4.5 lb. pork butt in a pan on the grill outside (actually the shoulder is called 'butt' ...I dunno why; I brined it overnight with lots of cloves and garlic) in a seasoned flour mixture with chili and onion powder, etc... incorporated.
3) Woefully overfilled slow cooker (it's a 10-cup model, but not big enough) ...the homemade chicken stock goes up about 2/3rds of the way.
4) Seven low-wattage hours later: Ta-daa! Roast pork nirvana!
5) Mise en scène: served with buttered farfalle (aka bow tie pasta), the slow-cooked veg, some sauteed kale with preserved lemon, a nice salad and plenty of wine (red and white: an Italian Pinot Grigio and a red of unknown provenance).
6) Not pictured: TJ's organic 72% cacao Belgian dark chocolate plus more wine for dessert. Happy conversation and much dog amusement was enjoyed.