By The piece ran Sunday the 6th. A two-page spread in the Omaha World-Herald. A photograph of me at my truck. A photograph of Dave and me in the kitchen. A photograph of the four kids on the porch. Headline: "A Truck Driver's Kitchen: How Brenda Novak Cooks From the Cab, Feeds a Family, and Now Writes a Book." I read it at the kitchen table with Gayle on Sunday morning. Gayle had bought four copies. She wanted one for her, one for her, and two for her to give away (she still has not decided to whom; she just wanted options). She read it in silence while I read my own copy. She finished first. She folded the paper. She said, "Brenda. She wrote the truth." I said, "I know, Ma." Gayle said, "I am going to cut this out." She did. She put it in a folder. The folder has my name on it. It is full of everything I have ever written on the blog that Gayle has printed, plus the newspaper piece. I did not know the folder existed. Amber told me about it. Some of the deepest loves in my life have been invisible to me until some young person pointed them out. Amber is also my archivist, apparently.
The piece mentioned Darla's — the diner, the plan, the name. By Sunday afternoon my phone had forty-seven text messages. Some from truckers who had read the piece. Some from people in Grand Island. One from a man in Iowa who said he had been driving past a defunct diner on I-80 every week for a year and he thought of me when he read the piece. He sent me the address. It is five miles from a spot on my usual route. I have not driven past it. I will drive past it next week.
Drove a Columbus run Tuesday. My phone rang all day. I ignored most of it. Sarah called from New York at 6 p.m. Her voice had a laugh in it. "Brenda, the preorders are up 400%." I did not know what that meant. She said, "It means you sold a thousand books this week." I pulled the truck over. I sat in the cab for three minutes. A thousand books. A thousand Americans had handed over money for my book before it was even in their hands. A thousand. I called Dave. I said, "Dave. A thousand." He said, "A thousand what?" I said, "Books." He said, "Brenda." He did not cry. He did not have to. He said, "Come home." I came home.
I made chicken piccata Sunday — a recipe from the cookbook, a truck-cab adaptation that I developed in 2018 — and the kids ate it without complaining and Josie said, "Mom, is this from the book?" I said, "Yes." She said, "I want the whole book to be my dinner for a week." I said, "Pick the recipes." She said, "The whole thing." I said, "Okay." I have a list now. Thirty-two dinners. I will cook the entire cookbook in the order she picked. I am going to put her name in the second printing, if there is one.
The chicken piccata from the book got Josie started on her thirty-two-dinner list, but it’s the pork bowls that keep coming up when she reads through the pages — she’s requested them twice already. This is the kind of recipe I developed on the road when I needed something that could cook slow while I drove and still land on the table like I’d been standing over a stove all day. After a week of a thousand books and forty-seven texts and Dave saying “come home,” feeding the family felt like the most honest thing I could do.
Cafe Rio Copycat Pork Bowls
Prep Time: 20 minutes | Cook Time: 8 hours (slow cooker) | Total Time: 8 hours 20 minutes | Servings: 6
Ingredients
- 2 1/2 lbs boneless pork shoulder, trimmed
- 1 cup red enchilada sauce
- 1/2 cup brown sugar, packed
- 1/4 cup apple cider vinegar
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1 teaspoon cumin
- 1/2 teaspoon smoked paprika
- Salt and black pepper to taste
- Cilantro Lime Rice:
- 2 cups long-grain white rice
- 4 cups chicken broth
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- Juice of 2 limes
- 1/2 cup fresh cilantro, chopped
- For the Bowls:
- 1 can (15 oz) black beans, drained and rinsed
- 1 cup corn kernels (fresh, frozen, or canned)
- 1 cup pico de gallo or fresh salsa
- 1 cup shredded Monterey Jack cheese
- 1/2 cup sour cream
- 1 avocado, sliced
- Lime wedges for serving
Instructions
- Season the pork. Season pork shoulder on all sides with salt, black pepper, garlic powder, cumin, and smoked paprika. Place in the insert of a 6-quart slow cooker.
- Mix the sauce. Whisk together the enchilada sauce, brown sugar, and apple cider vinegar in a small bowl. Pour over the pork.
- Slow cook. Cover and cook on LOW for 8 hours or HIGH for 4 to 5 hours, until the pork is fall-apart tender.
- Shred and return. Remove pork from the slow cooker and shred with two forks. Return the shredded meat to the cooking juices and stir to coat. Keep on WARM until ready to serve.
- Cook the rice. Combine rice, chicken broth, and salt in a medium saucepan. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat to low, cover, and simmer for 18 minutes until liquid is absorbed. Fluff with a fork and stir in lime juice and fresh cilantro.
- Warm the beans. Heat black beans in a small saucepan over medium-low heat with a pinch of cumin and salt until warmed through, about 5 minutes.
- Assemble the bowls. Divide cilantro lime rice among six bowls. Top with shredded pork, black beans, corn, and pico de gallo. Finish with shredded cheese, a dollop of sour cream, sliced avocado, and a lime wedge.
Nutrition (per serving)
Calories: 610 | Protein: 38g | Fat: 22g | Carbs: 64g | Fiber: 7g | Sodium: 890mg