BLOGS

Oh, the memories that drifted back with the wafting aromas of a pork sirloin roast. I don't recall ever cooking one before last Sunday. But that wonderful smell was certainly familiar. My mother would cook roasts probably once a month for Sunday meals. They were easy to make, festive and made for great sandwiches the rest of the week. I remember her rubbing the meat with salt, pepper, spices and a little olive oil, and then tying it up with string, some sort of bondage ritual I always thought a little perverse.

It was the 89 cents a pound price at Dan's Food Market in Leavenworth Saturday that persuaded me to revisit those memories. For $3.50 I got a solid chunk of boneless, lean pork the size of Mickey Rooney's first child.

I thought this would be an appropriate meal to cook while watching on video "Julie and Julia," the movie that juxtaposes Julia Child and a young neurotic blogger who decided to cook all 574 recipes in Child's "Mastering the Art of French Cooking" in a single year. My girlfriend Joyce didn't understand the logic of filling the house with wonderful smells while watching a movie about cooking, but then she's a vegetarian.

I actually started the meal the night before the dinner by creating a rub of chopped garlic, rosemary, thyme, salt, red and black pepper, mustard, olive oil and some East Indian spices. I rubbed the roast thoroughly with this mixture and poked it in several cuts I made in the meat. I put the roast in pan, covered it and left it in the refrigerator overnight.

While Julie cooked Julia's boeuf bourguingnon Sunday, I cooked roast pork sirloin with bacon, granny smith apples and apple cider gravy. Potatoes, carrots, mushrooms and onions roasted in a bit of olive oil in another pan. It took about two hours at 350 degrees for the meat to reach 160 degrees internally. In the meantime, I opened a bottle of my 2008 estate meritage wine (cab franc, lemberger, sangiovese and touch of chardonnay). Pinot noir or merlot would have also have been a good match.

The movie was so-so, but any film about food works pretty well for me. As for the roast pork, it was a wonderful fulfillment of appetizing aromas, fond family memories and the charming company and laughter of Julia Child.

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