Labor Day Weekend...Belated

Yes I know I'm late telling y'all about our Labor Day weekend, but promptness has never been my strong suit. As my dear friend Mrs. Peggy would say, "Get over it."  =)  I just love her!

Anywho, for the long weekend Wilson and I went to my parents' lake house. We played on the boat for 3 days straight! We tubed and skied and kneeboarded and played cornhole and ate and ate and ate...basically had all kinds of fun!

My Mom, sister Sarah, and I tubing.  Woohoo!!

Wilson, my brother-in-law John, and me tubing.  And yes...I was as terrified as I look.  We were going reeeaallyy faaast!!  And when we fell it reeeaallyy hurt!!

 

Wilson kneeboarding for the first time.

Wilson doing a 180...the first time he went kneeboarding.  Yeah...he's "good at the stuff"*

Cornholio!!

*"Good at the stuff": Everyone knows someone like this.  You teach them how to play a game, for instance, and they promptly beat you at it.  Particularly sports.  Like my sister: Dad taught her how to play horseshoes, and she turned around and got a ringer on her third throw.  Yeah...I married one of those people.

We really had a blast!!  What did you do for Labor Day weekend?

Clarification

Oh, about Wilson's trip to Montana. Actually, he was being invited to Georgia. Our bad. =)

Mustard-Based Barbecue Sauce

Many of you know that we are from South Carolina. Here in Virginia, "Carolina Barbecue" is vinegar-based. No offense, but blech! TRUE Carolina barbecue only takes one form: Mustard-based. In good ol' SC, we appreciate ketchup based sauces, but take complete ownership of the mustard versions. If you've never tried the yellow barbecue sauces and are near Columbia, SC I highly recommend Maurice's Barbecue. Be aware, however, that being a good southern institution, Maurice's is closed on Sundays.

Which brings us to our current situation. See, when Wilson and I drive home, we pass right through Columbia, usually driving south late on Friday night and north on Sunday. With this kind of schedule, we unfortunately are typically unable to pick up any of our favorite sauce. And if you google "Maurice's barbecue sauce copycat recipe"...nothing. Well, I took it upon myself to remedy this situation. I grabbed our one remaining bottle of sauce and set to work; this was the result...



Oh! And the recipe!

Maurice's Hickory Mustard-Based Barbeque Sauce
Copycat Recipe

· 1 ¼ cups Prepared Yellow Mustard
· 2 tsp liquid Hickory Smoke
· 4 tsp Water
· 4 tsp Worcestershire Sauce
· 4 Tbsp white Sugar
· 1/2 tsp cracked Pepper
· 2 Tbsp Molasses
· 10 tsp (5/8 cup) Brown Sugar
· 1/2 tsp Paprika
· 1/2 tsp Garlic Powder
· 1/2 tsp Onion Powder

Whisk all ingredients together. Makes 1 1/3 cups. Enjoy over your pulled pork or chicken. (Pork is best!)

Broccoli Made Delicious!!

As promised! My new favorite way to make broccoli. So simple, ready in 15 minutes, absolutely delicious!

Simple Garlic Broccoli
In case you haven't noticed, nothing qualifies as "delicious" at our house without the inclusion of garlic.

2 heads Broccoli, cut into florets. Save the stem and cut into 1/4 inch slices.
1/2 cup water
1-2 Tbsp Olive Oil
1-2 cloves Garlic, minced or pressed
1-2 Tbsp Lemon Juice, or the juice of 1/2 lemon
Salt

Put the broccoli into a skillet with the 1/2 cup water. Bring water to a boil, reduce heat to a simmer, cover and let steam for 5 minutes. After 5 minutes the broccoli should be bright green in color. Remove the cover and continue to cook until all of the water boils off, stirring occasionally. When all of the water has evaporated, push the broccoli to the outside of the pan. Add the olive oil and garlic to the center of the pan. Cook for 15-30 seconds. Stir the broccoli into the garlic and remove from heat. Sprinkle/squeeze lemon juice over broccoli and season with salt to taste. Enjoy!

Puppy Its

We always called them our "girls". Well, now it looks like we're going to have to start calling them our "its". That's right...the puppies got fixed.

Altered actually. That's the new lingo. Not spayed or neutered. No no...that's sexist. There is really no difference between the genders, right? Even for animals? No, we're just going to alter everyone these days. Equally.

Anyway, we are doing our best to keep the wild beasts calm and sedate during their 2 week recovery. In reality, my goal is calm and sedate for 5 days. And it's not going well so far. Day 1 post-op they broke 2 rules. Today (day 2) they've broken those plus one more. What are ya gonna do? They seem fine and are actually much more chill than usual. So that's good enough right? It's going to have to be.

On another note, we tried a new recipe for shrimp kabobs last night for dinner. Wow, was it yummy! Unfortunately we didn't get any pictures. They were just gone so fast!! The recipe follows. Those of you who know my husband won't be surprised that it has an Asian flair; we served these babies over white rice and broccoli. What? I haven't shared my broccoli recipe yet? Next post, I promise!

1lb Shrimp (the bigger the better!) peeled and deveined
1/2 cup soy sauce
1/4 cup ketchup
2-3 cloves garlic
3 Tbsp honey
3 Tbsp brown sugar
1 1/2 Tbsp Hoisin sauce (this is like a sweet Asian worcestershire sauce)
1 tsp grated ginger (I use the stuff that comes in the tube)
2 Tbsp fresh lemon juice (the juice of one lemon)

Whisk together the sauce ingredients and divide in half. Toss the shrimp in one half and let sit while your rice cooks. (If you're using wooden skewers, now is a good time to throw them into some water to soak.) As the rice is finishing, thread the shrimp onto your skewers and grill for approx. 5 minutes, depending on the size of your shrimp. Cook until pink, brushing with the reserved sauce. Serve with rice and a drizzle of the sauce. Enjoy!!

Did you know...

...that the trip from Montana to Norfolk, VA takes 1day, 14 hours by car? I could have guestimated (sp?) something like that. My beloved husband, on the other hand, apparently has no concept of the basic geography of the United States. You see, the other day a friend of ours asked Wilson if he would fly with him to Montana, help him pack up some of his childhood belongings, and help drive the moving van back home. Wilson, being a nice guy, got his kitchen pass* and said yes. Later, I realized that the guys were planning on this whole escapade going down over the period of approximately 2 and a half days. I proceeded to ask Wilson if he fully understood the timeline of this weekend he had planned. He gave me his signature "huh?" look, in response to which I held up my hands, moving from left to right. "Washington State, Idaho, then Montana." His eyes got big, his jaw dropped...and then he started laughing.


Cameron, you have a good, if sometimes idiotic, friend.

Mrs. Miles, I'm gonna need a copy of Wilson's high school geography transcript.

*Kitchen Pass- (noun) The figurative, but very necessary, "go ahead" given by a wife to her husband when he wants to do...anything.

=)

Just 'Cause...

Please please check out this website. Hilarious.

http://www.cakewrecks.com/

=)