My husband grew up in Memphis, Dallas and Ft. Smith, Arkansas. I saw this connection as a way to finally get my teeth wrapped around some real southern barbeque. Not the grilled stuff. The smoked stuff. I've yet to experience more of Dallas than the airport, but I've chewed my way through a lot of barbeque in Tennessee, Oklahoma and Arkansas. The absolute best stuff I've found anywhere turns out, oddly enough, to be right in Randy's family! Who Knew?
Since Randy and I met, his widowed mom has married a retired surgeon who has 3 sons and a daughter -- 4 instant step-siblings-in-law. The daughter's Significant Other happens to be a chef. A brilliant chef. He makes barbeque, that is, he smokes meat. He has 3 barbeque restaurants in Ft. Smith and the area. ART'S BAR-BE-QUE. If you're ever there, don't miss it.
This brilliant chef isn't named Art, though. He's Eddie. Eddie York. Eddie puts out ribs that are so wonderful they need no bar-be-que sauce. I usually eat 'em straight up. Randy prefers Eddie's pulled pork. Eddie's side dishess -- ALL of them -- are also the best anywhere. He makes the best fried okra, the best potato salad, the best beans and the best onion rings. Especially the best beans and onion rings. As in, the best on the planet. I should know.
When we were in Ft. Smith for the Christmas holiday, you can be sure I ate a lot of Eddie's food. Just about every day we went to ART'S BAR-BE-QUE or ate something Eddie had catered, like the Christmas smoked turkey. As a special treat, we brought home 2 frozen racks of ribs, dry rub, and sauce. I heated up the first half rack tonight for our dinner, served with bread and honey, and dilled potato salad. My gosh! The ribs are still to die for, even after a month in the freezer. And, the ribs also provided after dinner entertainment. Randy put a few of the bones down on the floor and let our 7 cats have a go at them. Although only a few knew what to do with them, those that did had a grand time gnawing and chewing. It was a special treat for everyone in the household, each of us in our own way. Thank you Eddie!!!!
Tuesday, January 23, 2007
Monday, January 22, 2007
It's A New Day!
After a way too long hiatus, I'm back to blogging. Although my husband's college-age students tell him that blogging is passe. Apparently only us old farts are blogging these days. And emailing. Only us old farts are emailing. Text messaging is the "in" thing now. Forget it. I've only recently even gotten a cell phone after fighting it tooth and nail every inch of the way.
I know I have a lot to catch up on. I left a lot of loose ends hanging. One by one we'll tie them all off. I just want to mention 2 things right now. The first is that I was very nearly totally computerless last fall. All fall. Randy is working on the 2nd edition of his first book. And until only recently was finishing up the 1st edition of his second book. On top of which our beloved Mac had a parts problem. The bad part got replaced, but the replacement also failed. And then it turned out that we had to wait months for yet another replacement part. Randy gave up and bought a new, upgraded eMac. Which helped me, but not much. Only if I generally wanted to do my commuication and other work between midnight and 6 a.m. Santa finally got tired of listening to me whine and bought me a MacBook Pro for Christmas. Plus, wifi for our house. Problem solved.
The second thing is that there are moments I have hope for the world. Those moments are few and far between, so take 'em where you can get 'em. There was actually hope to be found in the morning newspaper. Page 3: photos of the 8 declared Democratic candidates for their party's presidential nomination. The front runner is a woman. Her closest challenger is an African-American man. And we're hardly blinking an eye. Then we go to the Sports page: photos of the 2 head coaches who'll be going to the Superbowl. After 41 years of Superbowls, Lovie Smith of the Chicago Bears became the first African-American head coach in the Superbowl. A mere 4 hours later, Tony Dungy of the Indianapolis Colts became the second. To quote Nancy Armour, "It's historic, and about time." I'd say that for both the candidates and the coaches. And I can't even remember the last time our Secretary of State was a white male. And then there's the Speaker of the House. Need I go on? There is some hope.
I know I have a lot to catch up on. I left a lot of loose ends hanging. One by one we'll tie them all off. I just want to mention 2 things right now. The first is that I was very nearly totally computerless last fall. All fall. Randy is working on the 2nd edition of his first book. And until only recently was finishing up the 1st edition of his second book. On top of which our beloved Mac had a parts problem. The bad part got replaced, but the replacement also failed. And then it turned out that we had to wait months for yet another replacement part. Randy gave up and bought a new, upgraded eMac. Which helped me, but not much. Only if I generally wanted to do my commuication and other work between midnight and 6 a.m. Santa finally got tired of listening to me whine and bought me a MacBook Pro for Christmas. Plus, wifi for our house. Problem solved.
The second thing is that there are moments I have hope for the world. Those moments are few and far between, so take 'em where you can get 'em. There was actually hope to be found in the morning newspaper. Page 3: photos of the 8 declared Democratic candidates for their party's presidential nomination. The front runner is a woman. Her closest challenger is an African-American man. And we're hardly blinking an eye. Then we go to the Sports page: photos of the 2 head coaches who'll be going to the Superbowl. After 41 years of Superbowls, Lovie Smith of the Chicago Bears became the first African-American head coach in the Superbowl. A mere 4 hours later, Tony Dungy of the Indianapolis Colts became the second. To quote Nancy Armour, "It's historic, and about time." I'd say that for both the candidates and the coaches. And I can't even remember the last time our Secretary of State was a white male. And then there's the Speaker of the House. Need I go on? There is some hope.
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