Yummy Pork, Yucky Rice

So, the past couple of days have had some cooking successes and some cooking duds. The successes were the dishes I made for our Fourth of July get-together. I made a grilled pork loin with a peach chutney (still trying to use up those peaches) and a tomato tart. First, we put the marinated loin on the grill. It got pretty black and crispy on the outside, and after 25 minutes and after taking its temp repeately we thought it was done. Then we cut into it and it was clearly not, so we stuck it in the oven. Took another 45 minutes there, but when it came it was perfectly cooked. The chutney was our really ripe peaches with lots of Indian spices - a great compliment to the pork.

The tomato tart was a homemade pastry crust that, just before serving, I layered with sliced red and yellow tomatoes, homemade arugula pesto, and fresh mozzarella. Well, it wasn't quite as good as it has been before and I cite two problems: One, I LOVE garlic, don't get me wrong, but there was an insane amount of garlic in my arugula pesto - sadly overwhelming. Two, I should have had more cheese, for another layer. But, all in all, the Fourth was a success, and I was very thankful for the delectable dishes my friends brought.

And now to my complete failure the next night. Obviously I tweak recipes I get from cookbooks or the Internet or cookbooks all the time based on what I can find, afford, and personal tastes. But I guess when a recipe specifically says not to substitute something I should listen to that. I made a dish from Nigella Lawson's Forever Summer - Shrimp and Black Rice Salad with Vietnamese Dressing. She clearly states not to substitute wild rice for the black rice, but I couldn't find black rice, and I thought, 'oh, I'm sure it'll be fine.' Nope. It sucked. You shouldn't have to work this hard to eat. The dressing was yummy, the shrimp was fine, the rice was crappy. Chew, chew, chew. chew. chew. Pretty miserable.