Last Saturday being St. Patrick's Day, I was inspired to make some corned beef. No not on actual Saturday (which would have been too predictable) when we went out to a very good Italian restaurant with friends, and no, not the home-corned variety that Pooh used to make that was exquisite.  This was just good ole' grocery store common or garden corned beef.  To make it is as easy as can be, as you know.  Basically, I hurled the beef into a gargantuan Dutch oven of boiling water with the contents of its sinister spice packet,  and some additional bay leaves, two peeled onions (each one chopped in half with a whole clove poked into each half),  and a huge bunch of thyme.  I put the cover on the pot, tossed it in a 325 degree oven  and didn't think about it for four hours.

I'm way too barbecue savvy to bring down the wrath of my true-believer bbq loved ones to proclaim this as anything other than good old-fashioned faux barbecue.  I've spent entirely too many 4th of Julys watching Bryan,  in amazement, as he brings his Memphis birthright to bear in producing the real thing in all of its smoky splendor. No, this is just an easy, family pleasing way of dealing with roast pork leftovers that remains a tried and true hit. Just please don't be misled into thinking that this in any way, except maybe for taste, resembles the real deal.

If you happened to read my column in the Richmond Times Dispatch a couple of days ago, you're well aware that it's been pasta-world over here for seemingly weeks. Now don't get me wrong.  I love pasta as much as you do.  However, having made so many batches of it that I lost track, and having eaten every single one...well, you won't be surprised that I'm having the inverse reaction to carb-loading or, at least a temporary carb aversion.