Dear Martha

I've always loved to cook, but I've loved to learn more than anything.  Recipes are one thing, but the ability to create on my own is something altogether different.  And usually elusive.  So when I saw Martha Stewart's Cooking School on sale at Marshalls, I just knew we had to have it.  And like true culinary nerds, Meg and I dove in, and on a recent road trip, I read to her all the delightfully fascinating minutiae of the cooking world. 
Example:  did you know that when you sear meat in a pan, and it seems to carmenlize, it's actually called the  "Maillard reaction"? 
Admittedly, I don't want a degree in this, but I do want to know the 'whys' of cooking, not just the whats.   So Meg and I are endeavoring to learn together.  Inspired by our weekly ritual of "Good Eats" on the Food Network, and the occasional food flick like "Julie & Julia", we aim to make 2010 a year of learning, experimenting, and freedom from the oppression of the recipe card!

So tonight I tried something new.  With limited aid of a recipe, I made "seared pork medallions" with a pan sauce.  In keeping with my new years resolution, I won't give you the recipe, but the ingredients, then a few simple observations:

Ingredients:
8 oz pork loin, thin cut, salt pepper
shallots, apples, raisins, butter
heavy cream, brandy

Observations:  
1.   Hot pan = great sear.  Great sear = great bits stuck to the pan for the sauce.   Juicy bits of carmemized meat make an awesome sauce.
2.  Good alcohol is a must.   For those of you spying on me at Albertsons, YES, i was in the liquor aisle, and YES, I did buy sherry and a Argentinian shiraz.  I've decided something:  no more cooking with "cooking wine".  It's absolute rubbish, and doesn't help the flavor one bit.
3.  Heavy cream and butter are irreplaceable for a good pan sauce.  I tried subsituting milk.  No luck.

The grade?  Probably a C+.  Tasted okay, but would have been better had I used cream and brandy, instead of sherry.