Ovens, Skillets and Getting Around Fort Worth

Yesterday, I ventured out into Fort Worth to run errands.  Getting around in New York had been fairly easy.  Once you learned the avenues, it was just a numbered grid... well, except for further downtown, which I still don't understand.  In Fort Worth, I probably know about 10 streets, including the highway.  With those 10 streets, I can get to Target, several grocery stores, the mall, tons of restaurants, and all my favorite shops.  I'm not sure what exists beyond these roads, but that is something I will have to figure out as time goes on.

After running errands, I worked on a much needed project.  My new hubby has tons of mugs, and while he is a big coffee drinker, he doesn't need nearly as many mugs as he actually owns.  Over time, he has collected mugs from different places that he's been and is not willing to let go of any of them.  This wouldn't be a problem if we had enough shelf space, but that isn't the case.  I needed to find a way to store them and possibly even show them off a little.  In New York, I had a long entrance way to my apartment and had several hooks lined up as a coat rack.  I had this great idea to hang the mugs on the hooks in the kitchen... and it looks great!

Doesn't it look nice?

The other highlight from yesterday was dinner.  Now that I think of it, lunch was pretty good too.  We had bought a garlic cheese bread loaf from Central Market and had sun-dried tomato basil cream cheese spread from Einstein Bagels.  Using our fabulous new bread knife, we sliced the bread, toasted it, and spread the cream cheese on it.  Then we added turkey and provolone cheese... delicious!  Getting back to dinner... Tuesday is healthy night, and I made herb-roasted pork tenderloin with potatoes and lemony asparagus from Real Simple.  It was so good and had limited ingredients, which made it fairly easy.  My potatoes turned out good, but the real focus was on the pork tenderloin and the asparagus (hubby said it was better than the asparagus he had at a steakhouse the night before).

The pork was rubbed with flat parsley, thyme, salt and pepper, but the flavor was so good.  I got to use my new Le Creuset skillet, which is heavy but wonderful. 

The asparagus was just seasoned with olive oil and lemons.  It was tender and fresh and flavorful.  I was really surprised that it had turned out so well... I can't wait to make it again.

Here is the finished product.  Hubby was very pleased.  And I was able to be a good little housewife for yet another day. 

The title of the post mentions ovens, and I don't feel like I made as big a deal of it as I should have in yesterday's post.  In New York, my oven was this miniature, windowless heat box that heated the entire apartment whenever it was in use.  Before renting the apartment in New York, I had brought in a tape measure to see if my cookie sheets would fit in the itty bitty oven (they didn't).  The realtor thought I was crazy, and I told her that they didn't make ovens like this in Texas. 

My NYC oven

Now in Fort Worth, I have a spacious, windowed oven that retains the heat and cooks the food properly.  It is beautiful, and I love cooking with it.  So, I may keep posting awful pictures taken through the oven window, but I'm just so excited that I can check on my food without interfering with the baking process.

I know the picture is bad, but those are my roasted potatoes!

Using the skillet was awesome... I just needed to add one more picture.