Dinner out

Leina had not talked to Tony for a few weeks. She claimed that she had not returned a phone call of his on Thursday because "I fell asleep at 9:50." When pressed, she admitted it could have been 9:45 or even as late as 10:00. However, she did phone him last night around 6:30.

"You eaten yet?" she inquired. Tony had not, in fact, eaten. "Do you and Erica want to come over and eat something?" It turned out that Tony was in the midst of cooking a family recipe he had been meaning to make for several years--Marcella Hazan's Pork Loin Braised in Milk. So there was no reason for Leina and Charles not to come over, and they did.

It has been noted before in this space that Charles does not admit to liking pork, and along the way he and Leina had this discussion, which turned into an argument, which resulted in Leina calling to see if there were going to be non-pork alternatives, against Charles' wishes. But Charles hung up her phone mid-call, though not before she got the message across. So Erica and Tony made a quick pasta dish. Improbably, Leina brought green beans again.

They also brought a Just Desserts cake and some sort of dip for the beans. Tony also made squash with apple cider glaze and brussel sprouts with walnut oil. As they ate, Tony informed Leina that besides salt and pepper, there were only three ingredients in the meal (which was wrong, unless you count butter and oil as the same ingredient). He had Leina guess them. She got the pork right, but then guessed vinegar before being shocked that milk was an ingredient.

Charles had seconds of the pork.

Afterwards, Erica made tea and Leina had to listen to Tony narrate his entire four days in Japan with photos. She feigned interest.

At 11:00, Tony essentially kicked them out, so that he could go to bed. Erica thought it was rude and it probably was.