Jay was here for dinner tonight. This was not the best meal I’ve made. It had great potential, and if I would have paid more attention while I was cooking, it would have been very good. When the cake was baking, I was cleaning the top of the range… and I inadvertently moved the temperature dial from 350 degrees to 500 degrees. I pulled the cake out early, but only after I smelled it burning. Ugh.
– The pork was good. I suspect that there is a problem with my instant read thermometer – it read 160 degrees when I took the tenderloin out of the oven (overdone for pork, in my opinion), but the middle of the pork was very rare. I had to return it to the oven, which completely ruined my timing on everything else.
– The spinach was good too, but it was overcooked since I had to re-warm it. I really don’t like cooked spinach. Wilted is fine. Fully cooked is not good.
– The pears were excellent.
– Larry thought the beans were too lemony. Jay liked them. I don’t like green beans, so I didn’t have any.
– I think this cake could be spectacular. The flavor is excellent, and it has very little fat. I served it with whipped cream, only because I think it needed it due to overcooking it.

• Herb-Crusted Pork Tenderloin with Grilled Pears and Wilted Spinach (The Joslin Diabetes Great Chefs Cook Health Cookbook, p. 170)
• Green & Wax Beans with Brown Butter (Fine Cooking #15, June/July 1996, p. 45)
• Fallen Chocolate Soufflé Cake (Bittersweet, p. 112)

Wine: Rosenblum 200 Rockpile Road Vineyard Zinfandel (Dry Creek Valley, California). This is a huge, jammy Zin. Yum. I really like it. Rockpile Road is one of my favorites from Rosenblum, although I like most of their Zins.