So yesterday morning, Shannon saw that our neighbors across the street were having a garage sale, and saw these end tables that she wanted me to check out, since she had to go to work. I did, good condition for the price (50$ each) and so I bought them. They are made out of cherry wood. They only have a few dings and scratches, but it's not too bad.
I then ran a few errands and picked up a few things to make the cookies.
After Shannon got home, we packed up and headed over to Cedar Rapids. So attending the BBQ, was a large part of my Family (Parents (2), Hyrum & Diane & 3 kids (5), us (2), Jed and Stephanie (2), Lovina & Eric & 2 kids (4), Joseph (1), Isaac (1)) and various of Eric's Siblings and inlaws and their kids (6?). Anyways, quite the crowd. Setup across 3 tables (one in the kitchen, next to the kitchen and a card table in the living room), there was quite the spread.
But first, was playtime. Little boys apprently need a lot of attention and like to play rough. We had some fun playing with Spencer and Dallin (Dallin for the most part). It's hard work...and tiring. Lovina's oldest is very shy, and temperamental. So even talking about something that she is playing with (something like, oh that's neat), can send her into a possessive rant. It is kind of odd, but (shrug). Lovina was used a lot as a jungle gym and ranged from seeming to enjoy it, to just wanting to take a nap.
So Joseph cooked a large part of the dinner. He made pulled pork, corn on the cob and and grilled pineapple. My mom provided coleslaw, vegetables (carrots, tomatoes and jicama). Jed brought some of his homemade bread. And I had some bread I bought. I didn't have coleslaw (not a big fan). But everything was pretty good. The pork was juicy, smoky, and rich. You could taste smoke, vinegar (apple cider?), and black peppercorns. Putting it on a bun and adding a little mustard (not that it needed it), made for quite the sandwich. I had several. The corn, which was pre-buttered and had...I can't remember but some standard spice on it...was really good. I loved the pineapple, though in my discussions with Joesph, it could probably be better to add more to the carmelization effect, by adding sugar and what not to it. Shannon's not a huge fan of pineapple, though she does say that when it is fresh it's much better.
After letting the food sit for a bit, dessert was served, which included my oatmeal raisin cookies (which were generally liked, though there are many raisin haters out there), my mom's apple crisp with or without ice cream (she also made a non-lactose version, with lactose free ice cream for Diane), and one of the Roundy's brought lemon bars. The lemon bars were pretty good, but reminded me that I wanted to make my own lemon bars, so I'll have to add that to the list. My mom's apple crisp, made with fresh apples, I'm betting, was good like it always is.
Afterwards, I put most of the remaining cookies in my mom's pig cookie jar, and we headed over to Clif's new house. His house is actually pretty close to the Mormon church over there, so it was pretty easy for me to get into the right area (I can, and probably have several times, drive there in my sleep). After a bit of confusion with his directions (since he assumed we were coming one way, and we went another, we found it. It's in a nice neighborhood, and is quite the house. It'll be certainly a nice place for him to live (Wade will be renting out a room starting in about a month).
(George is upstairs running around like a crazy kitty, I can hear the tromp tromp of his feet running from one side of the floor to the other.)
We got the grand tour. This included a 3 season porch, hot tub, landscaped yard, several bedrooms, including what is really 2 master bedrooms. Quite the nice setup. Afterwards we hung out for a while and chatted. We thought about heading over to the Matta's, but when Clif called them, they were on their way back from Adventureland. Clif tried Joseph's pulled pork and liked it (Clif is also a raisin hater). After a bit more chatting, we headed over to the Mattas, and I gave them a couple of bottles of beer that I saw and thought he might like. They tried the pork and I got quite the surprised look as he said that's pretty good (so there you go, Joseph, independent tastings). Nathan also liked my oatmeal raisin cookies, Jenny didn't try them, since she generally only likes raisins when she's pregnant. And when we went up to look at their new bookshelves, Colby and Diego apparently liked the oatmeal raisin cookies too...After chatting with the Matta's, including their 10th wedding anniversary hiking trip in Colorado.
Around midnight, we headed out to the car to head back to Des Moines.
Good day!
Joseph did talk about maybe doing some BBQ catering and things like that, and maybe I can get him some face time with Uncle Wendel...though I guess I don't know him that well. Anyways he'll have to come up here when Wendel opens up his shop.
My parents should have BBQs more often.