This was written for Colleen M. Chesebro’s Tanka Tuesday challenge. This week it’s poet’s choice, but Colleen pointed out a list of syllabic poetry forms at Poets’ Collective.
I went to the link at Poets’ Collective and tried an arkquain swirl, a different syllabic poetry form than I have tried before. An arkquain swirl has this syllable count pattern — 1234~5775~4321234~5775~4321234~5775~4321. It also has end rhymes on the seven syllable lines.
I was inspired by my recent July 4th celebration with family, which included a few family members I haven’t seen in quite a while. Our celebration was characterized by lots and lots of food, and playing a game which, just as the poem suggests, had us helping one another rather than opposing one another.
Yesterday, we had a big family barbecue, with 11 of us, and brother Tim was in charge of the barbecued ribs. Today, I am sharing his procedure, flavor and barbecue style for baby back ribs.
Step 1 — Remove membranes from the ribs.
First, remove the membrane from the bone side of the ribs. You can insert a knife under the membrane to loosen it and get it started and then pull it off with your hands.
Step 2 — Rub in your barbecue rub.
Massage some dry barbecue rub into your ribs. Tim used a pre-packaged St. Louis style rub. Depending on your taste preferences, there are many options for rubs. You can find rub mixes in the grocery store or mix your own from a recipe. An online search for St. Louis style rub brought up several different formulas, so I wasn’t sure which one to link.
Step 3 — Soak your hickory chips.
Hickory chips add a nice smoky flavor to your ribs. If you want to use these, you will want to presoak them in a pan of water for maybe 15 minutes or so.
Step 4 — Heat your charcoal and prepare your grill.
Tim used a Weber grill and a variety of other Weber products. First, he filled a Weber chimney with charcoal.
Then, he lit a Weber lighter cube, made of wax, and set the chimney over it.
When the charcoal was hot and smoking, he poured them out onto the grill. He tells me that, at this stage, often flames and sparks shoot up. This time, it wasn’t quite this dramatic.
Using tongs, he then moved the hot charcoal to one side to make room for a foil pan to catch the drippings from the ribs. He also added the hickory chips in with the hot charcoal.
Then, he added the top grill grate over top, sprayed it with Weber grill spray and rested a rib rack on the grate over the foil pan.
Then, he arranged the ribs in the rib rack.
Step 5 — Grill your ribs.
At this stage, you can close the vents and maintain a grill temperature of 275 degrees. Cook the ribs for four hours. You will want a meat temperature of 195 degrees and can use a meat thermometer to monitor it.
Step 6 — Brush on your barbecue sauce.
The final step is to brush on the barbecue sauce. Tim used Sweet Baby Ray’s which is a highly rated and popular sauce. Of course, there are many different taste preferences, and you can add the sauce of your choice.
Many instructions will say to add sauce when you have 10 minutes left of cooking time, but Tim added his right before serving to prevent some mess and keep the ribs from sticking to the grill.
The results were delicious. The spice mixture had some zing, and the barbecue sauce was on the sweet side, so it made for a nice blend of flavors.
Tomorrow, July 5th, we are having a big family get-together, and I was commissioned with making a dessert. I had the idea, at first, to make a flag cake for our delayed Independence Day celebration, but after a week of house sitting and with limited time to prepare, I wanted to make something simple that was still festive — brownies with frosting and a candy fireworks design.
So, this post is more of a decorating idea than a recipe. I just used a boxed brownie mix. I chose a Duncan Hines dark chocolate fudge brownie mix, but you can use any kind you like or a favorite recipe. If you want to go with simplicity like I did and focus on the decorating, use a boxed mix and prepare it according to the directions.
I made a big batch in a 13 x 9″ pan. After letting them cool for a while, I frosted them with a can of store-bought chocolate buttercream frosting. This made a sticky surface in which to stick my candy fireworks.
My first idea was to buy special red, white and blue M&Ms for my fireworks designs. I know the product exists but didn’t find it when I was shopping. Instead, I bought regular M&Ms and found another candy I thought might work for fireworks — sour rainbow belts.
Sometimes, a failed Plan A is good for creativity. I thought to myself that fireworks, even July 4th fireworks, are not in patriotic colors only, so I could be more free to use any color. The rainbow belts were too wide to use for fireworks. I thought I could cut them into thinner strips. It turns out that I didn’t need to cut them width-wise. The separate thin color stripes easily peeled apart.
First, I prepared by tracing my fireworks designs lightly into the frosting with a knife, so I had a pattern to follow with my candies. You might not be able to see it perfectly, but the photo below should give you some idea.
I sorted some of my M&Ms by color and pulled the rainbow belts into thin colored strips and set to work creating my designs. I made a large starburst, a smaller one and a third shape that was more of a spiral burst. Dad made the suggestion that I should use a few short pieces of my sour strips that didn’t touch the center of that large burst. I thought that had a nice effect.
The Sandwich Theory offers a variety of specialty sandwiches, paninis, wraps and salads in a charming atmosphere.
The Sandwich Theory, Montclair, NJ
I visited the Sandwich Theory on July 3rd and ordered the smoked turkey and brie panini …
with some Dirty Chips mesquite barbecue potato chips and a Diet Coke.
My sandwich was very tasty. It was built on thin slices of multigrain bread that was full of seeds. I really enjoyed the nutty seed taste and the toastiness of the bread.
The inside was filled with stacks of sliced smoked turkey, a layer of melty brie cheese, thin slices of Granny Smith apple and Dijon mustard. Everything tasted fresh, and it all worked together beautifully. The turkey was smoky and a little bit salty, and the brie was buttery and nutty. The apple added freshness and a bit of sweet-tart, and the mustard added a little zing.
I enjoyed the chips quite a lot too. For a long time, I didn’t favor barbecue-flavored chips, and lately, I’ve been in a mood for the barbecue flavor almost every time I have chips. This Dirty Chips mesquite barbecue seemed especially good, but I’d have to do a side by side comparison to determine why.
I don’t have nutritional information or a calorie count on the sandwich, but it seemed like a fairly healthy choice. (It would have been even more so without the side of chips.) The seedy multigrain bread was healthy and full of nutrition, and so was the apple. The turkey was lean. The brie, of course, had fat, but the mustard added flavor without adding any additional fat.
The place also had a pleasant atmosphere. If the weather was nice, I might have eaten at one of the outdoor tables, but there was a drizzle of rain.
Inside, there was various nature photography, much of it featuring birds, hanging on the walls.
Nature photos decorated the area around this tea and coffee station.
And some abstract art featuring an apple graced another wall.
Mellow folk and rock music played throughout the place which I found pleasant when I was consciously listening and non-distracting when I was reading from my Kindle.
I only visited once and tried one item from the menu, but I definitely think it would be worth visiting again.
“A camera drone and a GoPro?” I looked at Jack and not Dec, with raised eyebrows, thinking he was spoiling the kid to a ridiculous degree.
Dec seemed to sense my unspoken thoughts. “Uncle Jack didn’t buy them. I’ve been earning money, and I saved up.”
“So, you’re into filming?” I asked him.
“Well, filming and … tech in general.”
Like uncle, like nephew. “The apple doesn’t fall far from the … branch that’s connected to your mother’s tree.”
Now, it was Dec’s turn to raise his eyebrows at me. “Huh?”
“That made much more sense in my mind before it came out my mouth,” I said. “You’re like your uncle.”
“Ah. Right,” said Dec.
“Well, maybe I didn’t buy gifts at the mall,” said Jack, “but I do have gifts for both Dec and Bronwyn, but they’re waiting back at the condo. They’re too big for my pockets.” He patted his overstuffed trenchcoat pockets.
If the gifts were really too big for his pockets, that was saying something. Jack wore that trenchcoat everywhere, rain or shine, and he must have had the equivalent of the contents of three women’s purses in there. Well, when I say that, I am talking in terms of storage, not that he was carrying lipsticks and powder puffs. No, Jack carried an interesting assortment of junk that seemed completely unnecessary … until it was, and that roll of duct tape came in handy for a makeshift fix or that magnifying glass could help with reading the fine print on a box of vitamins while shopping in the pharmacy.
After Jack and Dec joined the sugarfest that Bronwyn and I had started, and we split a giant Cinnabon the size of a small island nation four ways, we did head back to the condo.
Once back in the condo, we made ourselves comfortable. I got very comfortable, lying flat on my back on the couch, with George, the beagle, lying down on my stomach. I could take up all this space, because the two kids were content to sprawl on the floor in the floor cushions. Jack perched on the edge of his chair. “I suppose you two are too old for action figures.”
“I’m not,” said Dec. This was an interesting remark, because at 15, he was the oldest of the two.
I shrugged. “I’m not either.” I mean, Jack owns a toy business, and I’m his right hand man. I expect I will never grow up.
Bronwyn said, “I guess I’m not too old to display them … like with my Pop figures.”
Jack smiled. “Well, I think you are going to like these, because they are very special. They’re tied with the Blaze comic series. We’re going to release them to the public at the toy fair tomorrow.” He pulled a box from a bag. Through the cellophane panel, you could see a pre-teen girl figure with double French braids in her strawberry blonde hair. In separate compartments, a plastic backpack and other accessories were on display. Jack handed the box to Bronwyn.
Bronwyn rested the box against her raised knees and stared at it for several moments. “She looks like me,” she said.
“Well, as you know, you and Dec were very inspirational to my characters,” said Jack. “This is Farryn, Blaze’s niece.”
She then looked over the accompanying accessories. “A hoop, pins, ribbon … rhythmic gymnastics equipment and … nunchuks? I do rhythmic gymnastics and martial arts. She practically is me … but like in a parallel universe.”
“Wonder Woman has her magic lasso. Farryn has her ribbon of doom,” I said. That wasn’t quite the way it was written in the comic series, but I thought I’d be dramatic.
Jack presented a box to Declan next. “This is Hunter, Blaze’s nephew and Farryn’s trusty sidekick.”
“Wait, I’m her sidekick?” said Declan, as if he already completely identified with the character.
“Let me reword that,” said Jack. “Partner.”
The teen boy figure had a dark wavy coif just like Declan, although the figure’s hair was in molded plastic. The figure’s accessories included a drone, strangely similar to what Declan just bought himself, a smart watch, walkie talkies and a remote control car, all in miniature.
“Wow,” said Dec. “Bron and I are superheroes. You are the coolest uncle, Uncle Jack.” Dec turned to me. “And, Uncle Andy, you are the coolest uncle by association.”
“It’s super cool, Uncle Jack. Thank you so much.” She began to open her box. “Only … only … I think the superfan we met in the mall knows I’m her. I think he recognizes me.”
There was a pause. “Well,” I said. “Don’t worry about that. Tomorrow, at the toy fair, we’ll sneak you in wearing a hot dog suit. People may want to eat you, but no one will recognize you.”
I was beginning to lose count at how many times Bronwyn could roll her eyes at me.
Later, after the kids went to bed, Jack asked me, “Did I make a mistake … making the characters so similar to the kids?”
“Well,” I said. “You wouldn’t be the first to do something like that. Look at A.A. Milne and Christopher Robin. Milne made a character based on his kid.”
“Yeah,” said Jack. “But it was a different world back then, don’t you think?”
