Category: Retirement

Tuscan Pork Tenderloin

Cooking, Entertaining Trails, Retirement, Wine, Wine Reviews

Since retiring, I have been indulging myself in a wide variety of projects, basically all the stuff I’ve been wanting to do since, like, forever. One that I am having some fun with is cooking. It is easy to combine with one of my other loves, wine. As my co-conspirator in life has similar tastes, this was a no-brainer to move forward on. So I have put writing a book, learning to speak Spanish and becoming a guitar hero on the back burner while I concentrate on this one. I did allude to this in a previous post, here about my latest bucket list.

Our Saturday night dinner this time was Tuscan Pork Tenderloin. A very simple recipe, quick to prepare with very little fuss or muss. Here’s the recipe. Note it is for 4 servings, but we find far too often that 4 equals 2.5.

Ingredients

Ingredient Checklist

4 servings

  • 1 ⅓ teaspoons garlic, minced
  • ⅘ teaspoon dried rosemary
  • ⅘ teaspoon dried oregano
  • ⅓ teaspoon salt
  • ⅓ teaspoon ground black pepper
  • 1 ⅓ pounds pork tenderloin

Directions

Step 1 Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F (220 degrees C).

Step 2 Combine garlic, rosemary, oregano, salt, and pepper in a small bowl. Rub spice mixture all over the pork tenderloin. Place in a baking dish.

Step 3 Bake in the preheated oven until pork is slightly pink in the center, 20 to 25 minutes. An instant-read thermometer inserted into the center should read at least 145 degrees F (63 degrees C). Remove from oven and let stand for 5 minutes before slicing.

Like I said, very simple. We would suggest upping the time to 30 to 35 minutes. That was the only issue we had. The clean up was super easy as well. We used Jasmine rice for a base, mixed with frozen broccoli and butternut squash. The vegetables were cooked in a bit of olive oil and spiced with salt and pepper to taste.

We paired the dish with one of our go to wines, Meiomi Pinot Noir. The two went together very nicely. The wine is a typical California Pinot, although it has more of a vanilla taste than most. A popular brand, it goes in the $20.00 range.

Overall the supper was a success and one we will repeat in future. The tenderloin was excellent. The minimal spice only accented the overall taste and melded with the wine. I’d rate it a 9 of 10, very subtle, very good.

Advertisement

Top 10 Bucket List Items – Number 8

Bucket list, Dusty Trails, Retirement

Number 8 is likely the easiest entry on my list, retirement. It is easy as I did the deed on July 15, ending a working life of over 50 years. The bulk of these years were spent in the transportation industry and ended in a role in finance. This item was key and is intimately related to several other wishes on my list.

I currently have no regrets over leaving the workforce and will remember and cherish the many people that have become friends, and are still friends over the years.

As crazy as this sounds, employment has opened our eyes to many new things. We have lived in Winnipeg, St. Albert, Okotoks, Saskatoon, Martensville and Calgary. We have made many friends and acquaintances and experienced many things with the help of these friends. We intend to spend time revisiting these places and people at every opportunity.

I read a quote that makes absolute sense, “There really are two lives we live. The first life and then the second life when we realize we only have one life.”

See you soon.

Photo by ArtHouse Studio on Pexels.com

The Big Day – Beer Number 1

Beer Reviews, Entertaining Trails, Europe, Germany, Retirement

The first beer I sampled was Erdinger. This is advertised as the ultimate premium wheat beer, and is brewed in strict accordance to the Bavarian Purity Law. This was gifted to me by Terry, one of the very small group of us known as Boston Bruins fans. Go Bruins. Thanks Terry, your pick was exceptional. I’m going to have to visit this brewery at some point, they do a great job at what they do. I found it to be very tasty, hits the front of the tongue and then goes down smooth, with a slight hint of bitter. Golden in the glass and sparkles with bubbles like champagne. Definitely one I intend on having again, and likely again, then again some more.

The Big Day

Beer Reviews, British Columbia, Canada, Entertaining Trails, Moyie River, Retirement

July 15, a big day for us, the day when everything changed, and we are positive it will be for the better. I feel slightly overwhelmed at being unemployed for the first time in 50 years or so, but also relieved that we can now move down the path to a more fulfilling future.

In all honesty, work, as much as I enjoyed it, was getting in the way of a multitude of projects that are in planning, in progress or are almost completed. More on those in later posts. This is about the “Big Day”.

For us, the CoVid pandemic did a few things. We both worked from home, which allowed us to move about and work on our retirement nest. For this, we are grateful to have understanding and progressive employers. It also allowed us to winter in our spot and test out those waters. We were successful on multiple fronts. Come spring, the decision was made that I would retire on July 15 and moved forward to attain that goal.

Moyie River
Lot 25 With Nothing On It

We purchased our lot in 2017 on the Moyie River in British Columbia, with mountain views on all sides. The intent was to retire here and spend a chunk of each winter in various locations, while basking in their warmth.

On the the 15th of July, I spent the day with all my work friends, doing minimal work of course. We went for lunch with all who could make it, as only 25% of employees were on site due to health restrictions. Prior to lunch, I was presented with my good bye gift, an ample supply of beer, each attached with a note from the person who contributed it. A wonderful gift on so many levels. I’m going to miss these people.

Now that I have more time (apparently, I’ve been retired 6 days and this is the first post I’ve done) I am planning on regular posts. There will definitely be a series of beer reviews added to the mix, to go along with all the regular cadre of photos, reviews and recipes. I am so looking forward to the R&R, and the more casual lifestyle.

A Life Post – December 8, 2020

British Columbia, Kootenays, Owls Nest, Retirement, Tips & Tricks
Our Retirement Place

As we state in our About page, we suddenly realized about 15 years that today was coming, and coming fast. Today meaning, getting older and facing retirement. Retiring is a hard thing to contemplate after working so hard and for so long to try and reach the goal of enjoying life with adventure and contentment. On occasion we will be posting some of our successes, failures and projects along this path. We are not experts, only experiencers. I think I just made that word up (experiencers), spell check didn’t like it. We will share without preaching, hopefully creating a story of some sort. I know a lot of readers will have had some of the same experiences, please feel free to share yours in the comments.

Retirement isn’t the end of the road, but just a turn in the road.

Foods That May Reduce Blood Pressure

Health, Retirement, Tips & Tricks

I’m not a doctor, and do not pretend to be one either.  As someone with controlled high blood pressure, I did find this to be an interesting read.  It basically confirms what my doctor has been telling me.  As an added bonus, many of these are effective for cholesterol issues as well.

https://www.msn.com/en-ca/health/nutrition/20-foods-that-lower-blood-pressure/ss-AAtmu3s?ocid=ientp

So, Where Have We Been

Retirement

I guess we owe you an explanation on our extended absences of late. To be truthful, we (I) have been suffering a motivational failure at the exact moment that we had accelerated our planning. What planning you ask. I’d say retirement planning but that has some negative connotations. Let’s go with future planning.

We seem to have made some decisions now that bode well for our future. This should translate in some posting (I think). At any rate there are mounds of digital media to sort through and many adventures to share.

See you soon

The Rookie Sailors – Part One

Antigua and Barbuda, Caribbean, Retirement, Sailing, Salty Trails

As the title implies, we are going to fill you in on our maiden voyage as sailors, and how we got to here (the video) from basically nowhere.  Check out the video (and subscribe to the channel, I’ll get better as I do more, I promise) and I’ll tell the tale  below.

 

I hope you enjoyed that, it was a great time.  I promised you a story though, so here goes.

The premise of our various sites is to give the scoop on what we are doing, have done and are working on doing on the path to retirement.  A few years back, 2011 to be exact, we shared an epiphany.  We were looking for a way to combine many wants and wishes into a fairly neat package.  Lori came up with, “Why not a sailboat?”.  We want to see things, and in retirement we wish to do so without dragging our suitcases.  The thinking with a boat was that it doubles as your home!  All your stuff goes with you and you never have to pack.  A home away from home so to speak.  A;so somewhere to store all the touristy crap that someone I know buys at every opportunity.

This all well and good, except for one tiny detail, not knowing how to sail.  The ocean is a pretty big place and a 40 foot boat requires a bit of know how, especially the part about not killing oneself.  That drove us to begin researching and the the end result of that was that we needed certification and some hands on training, culminating in the purchase of an actual boat.

Once we figured that part out, we then had the question of where and with who, not even thinking about what we could, or should buy..  The answer ended up being reasonably easy, combine it with a vacation.  Thus we discovered the Miramar Sailing School on the island of Antigua.  We registered in the Royal Yachting Associations course for rookies, Competent Crew.  We would be live-aboard on a 40 foot Beneteau sailing vessel, SV Miramar, for 5 terrific days of intense learning in the beautiful Caribbean.

That settled, we booked our flights, accommodations and the course and then anxiously awaited our departure date.

 

To be continued. (My apologies for this, got tired).

 

 

Five Ways To Let Go And Embrace Life

Did You Know?, Retirement, Tips & Tricks

scan0004

As we move along life’s path, we forget to let go, to live life.  I read the attached article about one person’s discovery on how to embrace one’s life.  His philosophy is interesting and consists of 5 simple rules.

  1. Quit Something
  2. Take A Risk
  3. Embrace New Ways of Thinking
  4. Be Irresponsible
  5. Stop Putting Your Dreams on Hold

In our life, we have pretty much done all but number 5, and we are working on that diligently.

The article is here

http://www.foxnews.com/opinion/2014/08/22/find-yourself-5-ways-to-let-go-and-embrace-life.html

 

Border Tracking And Your Passport

Did You Know?, Health, Retirement, Tips & Tricks

 

Cozumel, Mexico

This is directed at our Canadian readers.  Recent changes to border tracking now records departures and arrivals of individual Canadian citizens.  What does this mean to those who travel extensively., quite a lot apparently.   It could have an adverse impact on everything from your medical coverage to your pension benefits.  To find out more there is an informative article here