www.roanoke.com

We didn't plan for this past weekend to be a full-on autumnal extravaganza, but it was.

It started Saturday night, not long after the rain cleared out and the crisp fall temperatures set in. My friend, Beth, who just moved here with her family from Detroit, threw a housewarming party that she called a "Soup-a-palooza."

We had white chicken chili, red beef chili, chicken tortilla soup and a heavenly, rich butternut squash soup. Some folks brought beer bread or crusty bread, others brought desserts. We washed it all down with ice cold Yuengling before heading out to the fire pit to roast marshmallows.

On Sunday, the hubby and I drove up to mom's house in Clifton Forge to drop off my useless old desktop computer (she plans to rebuild it). On our way down U.S. 220 through Botetourt County, we realized it was probably peak leaf-looking weekend. The humidity was nonexistent and the colors of the sky and the trees were as vibrant as if a child had colored them.

Back home after our beautiful drive, we realized our pork roast wasn't going to be thawed enough to grill. And neither of us was much in the mood to grill outside anyway. Suddenly I envisioned tender chunks of pork seasoned with a Cuban spice blend. Given the late hour, I also envisioned my pressure cooker.

The pressure cooker, as usual, didn't fail me. I browned up my cubed pork in a tablespoon of oil, then threw in a small onion, sliced, along with a cup of chicken broth and a teaspoon each of cumin, oregano, garlic salt, kosher salt and black pepper. After it came to pressure, I let it cook for about 10-15 minutes.

We had the pork, which was fork tender, with sides of black beans and corn. I would've made rice, but we were out. I think next time I'd love to have some rice and some salsa verde to round out the entire meal. All in all, though, the tummy-warming pork dish rounded out the entire weekend.

As I post this, it's about a quarter til four on Monday. Don't forget you've got until 5 p.m. to share your favorite tip for trimming the grocery budget. If you comment, your name is entered in to win a brand new cookbook. I'll announce the winner tomorrow!