Pit Master "Bubba" & Star Struck

We have some friends who used to live in Chicago, but now live here. Denise and Peter are theater folk. Kennedy, Denise's daughter, goes to AVS with my kids and she is also a coach on our bike team. One of the most fun things about Denise is her love of cooking. When you eat at her house you always enjoy what is being served. This summer she decided to have a go at a BBQ contest. Thus, she is working on her recipes and needed some feedback. Lucky us, we were invited to critique her food. Her specialty is smoking just about anything you can think of. And she likes her stuff H-O-T! In Chicago she earned the nickname, "Pit Master Bubba." This time around was amazing and wonderful. She made four smoked chickens that had nice of tenderness and smokiness. The three racks of ribs were popular, too. She covered them with a smear of Dijon mustard and a secret spice mix she creates. Next up were the baked beans she finished in the smoker. They were lovely, too, but a bit spicy. Once I had those I had to wait for my palette to clear. It only took three glasses of water to get there. Okay, where were we? Oh yes, there were spicy deviled eggs, but not being an eggy sort I skipped those. Next was the smoked brisket with homemade BBQ sauce. It was Ethan's favorite because of the flavor. Denise decided that it would have to go back to the drawing table as it was too dry. I have to say, I agreed with her on that. Next was my favorite, the special secret Smoked Mac'n'Cheese. This bad boy has nothing to do with the stuff in the blue box. This one was made with two very adult type cheese, assembled and finished in the smoker. It was velvety, with about three layers of flavor, each cheese being distinct in turn. Finally we had Pulled Pork Sandwiches with a vinegar based sauce and a coleslaw with a Denise flavor signature. I never knew that the proper way to eat a pulled pork sandwich was to start with a bread base, add the meat, dribble on some sauce on and top it with the cole slaw. It was WONDERFUL and hands down, the favorite. It was a flavor treat. You would have the texture of the meat and the smokey aroma meat your mouth first. Then the zip of the sauce and finally the cool crunchiness of the slaw. Oh man! I've included some photos here, along with my friends Laura (with Soji) and Anna (with Tilly.) Steven, the little boy who lives there was a bit enamoured and confused since the dogs are little and extremely soft. He was thinking he needed to "meow" at them.These are the same pups that we camped with. As you can see, Soji knows how to "ham" it up for the camera.

Monday Ellie begged and convinced me to take her to meet singer Natasha Bedingfield. She, along with The Veronicas and Kate Voegele were signing poster and greeting fans. Ellie had hoped to win tickets. It was fine with me that we did not win any. She had on her pants from the "Panic at the Disco" concert and asked the ladies to sign them. It makes her feel zippy. She called her friends and told them that she met someone famous.

That evening my son granted a small wish of mine and made the first backyard fire of the season. We celebrated by making some Jiffy Pop Popcorn and enjoyed the sounds of nature.