Wednesday, June 28, 2006
Dill Weed Going to Seed
We have a decent garden-y like spot here and my dill keeps trying to flower (and then go to seed). I pinch all of the flowery bits off nearly every day (just like I'm doing with the basil, for that matter) and still.....is it THAT hot? Is the dill tired of dill-ing? I don't mind that I don't know much about plants until one of them does something odd. As many "X for Dummies" books, websites, etc as there are, you'd think I could find the answer somewhere. Unfortunately, I don't seem to find the kind of detail I want.
Oh well. I never claim to be a gardener. Just got my trip stuff from CampMor. Lovely lovely stuff. Great sox, cool bags and my Columbia jacket....CJ, I think I love you most of all!
Oh well. I never claim to be a gardener. Just got my trip stuff from CampMor. Lovely lovely stuff. Great sox, cool bags and my Columbia jacket....CJ, I think I love you most of all!
Sunday, June 04, 2006
BBQ
I like barbecue*, but I rarely just crave it. After watching endless barbecue shows on Food TV, however, I wanted ribs. Good, smoky, sweet, spicy ribs. So Mr. EY and I tried to find some. We decided to try someplace we didn't usually frequent. This left us but one choice in our town and they were out of ribs. Mr. EY was a tad grouchy about that, but I wasn't. After all, if someone comes in and buys you out of ribs, you can't just whip up another batch in 30 min. We tried a local bigger town and they had many choices. I tried to steer Mr. EY to a place I've been (and like) but he hasn't. Somehow he saw through my trickery. We found a place both of us have been NEAR (it used to be next door to a fav liquor store), but not TO. After driving right past it, we got there. Nearly deserted. I was a tad worried, but BBQ isn't exactly the first thing you consider for a Saturday night dinner....or if you do, you're the one doing the BBQ'ing.
We each got ribs, me a half slab, him a full one. There was lots of red pepper flake on the meat, a good smoke ring, just enough fat to occasionally drip down your hand and 3 sauces. The mild was, well, mild and too sweet for my liking. The bold and spicy was a bit too much, but the medium really hit the spot. I would have loved to have had that sauce glazing the ribs and cooked on good. But then, I'm a Wet Ribs girl (ribs come "wet" or "dry"....if you don't know the difference, Google it. I'm not impartial enough on the subject to explain). The beans were OK, the slaw decent. Very few places have thrilling beans or slaw to me and slaw is really better on a BBQ sandwich (where it's just as much of a requirement as the meat and bun) than *with* anything.
So I think my BBQ craving has been slaked, but Mr. EY pointed something compelling: We could do this. Of course we could...we're both good cooks. We both have good ideas on what makes things taste good. We might even have to have an "Iron Chef BBQ" since he's a dry rib man and I'm a Wet Ribs girl. Woe to our judges, however....
*Any time I say "BBQ", "barbecue" or just plain "Q", I mean cooking meat with smoke, spices and maybe a sauce for a long period of time. I do NOT mean "grilling", which is what you do to steaks, hamburgers, hot dogs, etc. People who use the two terms interchangably should be shot.
We each got ribs, me a half slab, him a full one. There was lots of red pepper flake on the meat, a good smoke ring, just enough fat to occasionally drip down your hand and 3 sauces. The mild was, well, mild and too sweet for my liking. The bold and spicy was a bit too much, but the medium really hit the spot. I would have loved to have had that sauce glazing the ribs and cooked on good. But then, I'm a Wet Ribs girl (ribs come "wet" or "dry"....if you don't know the difference, Google it. I'm not impartial enough on the subject to explain). The beans were OK, the slaw decent. Very few places have thrilling beans or slaw to me and slaw is really better on a BBQ sandwich (where it's just as much of a requirement as the meat and bun) than *with* anything.
So I think my BBQ craving has been slaked, but Mr. EY pointed something compelling: We could do this. Of course we could...we're both good cooks. We both have good ideas on what makes things taste good. We might even have to have an "Iron Chef BBQ" since he's a dry rib man and I'm a Wet Ribs girl. Woe to our judges, however....
*Any time I say "BBQ", "barbecue" or just plain "Q", I mean cooking meat with smoke, spices and maybe a sauce for a long period of time. I do NOT mean "grilling", which is what you do to steaks, hamburgers, hot dogs, etc. People who use the two terms interchangably should be shot.
