Buttered barley

Eastside Road, December 30, 2012—

YESTERDAY'S DINING WAS HEAVILY in debt of our friend the pig: ham and cheese on a baguette from Ken's Artisan Bakery in Portland; then another from Mix in Ashland. Yep: we drove down from Portland in a single day. We arrived too late to consider getting supper together, but the neighbors down the hill came to the rescue with a delicious cauliflower gratinée and a chunk of … roast pork, cooked I'm sure in the wood stove. Porchetta, is what it was, to get us in the mood for Rome, and it was welcome.

There was enough to slice the rest for tonight's dinner, accompanied by romanesco and Marion Cunningham's buttered barley pilaf with chopped scallions, then followed by the usual green salad and, for dessert, salt-caramel ice cream with applesauce. I like it.

Primitivo, Grifone, Puglia, 2010