We had plans to spin tonight, after all, we are doing a big ride on Saturday;  but, then we realized that the debates were on.   So, it became a rest night.  After, doing a little pre-debate yoga, I decided to tackle the pork that I had defrosted.  We don’t eat a lot of pork and every time we do eat it, Lenny always says, “I really love Pork Tenderloin, you never make it”.  And, I reply, “I will, someday”.  ….. then I forget, shame on me!  The big questions was, what to do with this other white meat??!

I poured a glass of wine, sat down for some Palin entertainment and contemplated this.  Somewhere between the 10th soccer mom comment and Six Pack Joe, it hit me ….. it was time to spice this party up with some Viet food.  I got up and made a marinade of soy sauce, ginger, dry mustard and a little rice wine and marinated the pork for the reminder of the debate.  Then I went on to wash some basil and mint from garden – I love the sweet smell of fresh herbs slightly bruising between your fingers – thinly sliced some red peppers and carrots and the finishing touch was some torn red butter lettuce.  Off to grill the sweetly scented pork on our new toy (thanks Mom).  The smell of the ginger and soy sauce lightly burning on the hot grill and mingling with the juices of the pork was really fantastic;  I knew exactly what else it would need – a nice spicy dipping sauce of lime, garlic, chilies and fish sauce (not as good as the one Diane makes – I NEED your recipe) and I cheated by putting out a premade peanut sauce, too.

The rest of the evening we got to have a fun filled dinner of rolling our own spring rolls, enjoying each other and listening to the end of the debate.   Now that is American!