Working man

Doug started a new contract yesterday. It's a three month contract with G-Tech, a company that develops lottery software. The headquarters is in Rhode Island, but has a big development operation here in Austin. Doug will be traveling some and already has his first trip to Rhode Island scheduled.

I thought I would do something nice for him for dinner, so I decided I would make one of his favorite dishes -- fried pork tenderloin. Actually his favorite dish is a tenderloin sandwich from Hy-Vee, a grocery store in his hometown of Chillicothe, MO. Now I've never thought a deli grill at a grocery store is gourmet dining, but evidently this sandwich is nirvana and all the people who have moved away make sure they pray at the alter of the tenderloin sandwich whenever they visit Chillicothe.

I didn't actually make the sandwich (that's leftovers tonight), I simply made the tenderloin. Being from the south, you would expect that I love breaded and fried meats and vegetables, but really, I don't like them that much and I don't like the mess and smell of frying food, so I have never tried to make friend tenderloin before. Plus, I figure if you have a nice cut of meat like a tenderloin, you do best to roast it with rosemary and garlic; frying it with breadcumbs is almost sacrilege. At the very least, taking a 4-inch round tenderloin and pounding the crap out of it until it is a 1/4-inch flat piece of meat takes more time and effort than I usually want to expend. My shoulder is still sore this morning.

Still, Doug appreciated it, and we have enough leftovers that he can have a tenderloin sandwich tonight. I did ask him how it compared to Hy-Vee and while he liked what I did, my tenderloin cannot hold a candle to Hy-Vee. I guess he'll have to go visit Chillicothe soon.