Pork Chops with Mango Chutney...will have to wait

Damien was supposed to be home in time for dinner so I took some pork chops out of the freezer and planned on making a nice dinner for him. But, at about 4pm he called to let me know that his flight was delayed and he'd likely miss his connection to MIA.

Also, I found out tonight that a friend of mine from film school, Michael McLaughlin, passed away this past weekend. He died while on vacation in Mexico with his family. He was snorkeling by himself and something happened to him out in the water. I'm not really clear exactly what happened. So sudden and so sad. Michael was a genuine, funny, sweet man who was always very generous and friendly to me. He was one of the few people who actually wrote to me while I was in Baghdad and we used to send editing jobs each others' way. He was married to an equally sweet woman, Lauren, who I only met once while on a long subway ride up to our Columbia apartments. It hurts to imagine what she must be going through.

So, it's been a rough couple of days and I don't really feel much like cooking. Instead I'll leave the pork chops til tomorrow and tonight I'll just have some canned lentil soup and a half of a whole wheat bagel with cream cheese.

Tomorrow, I need to collect some of the ingredients I'll need for the pork chops. For the mango chutney, I'll need some curry powder, ginger, red onions, cider vinegar, yellow raisins and some red pepper flakes.

I'll get into the recipe tomorrow. For now, just remember to hug your loved ones and to tell them that you love them.