Grammy's 89th Birthday

It’s Tuesday June 20th, Two days after my mom’s birthday BBQ. On June 17th she turned 89, her brother is, ah, 93? Both are doing well for their age. They both have trouble with falling, I’m told. I don’t see my uncle too often and my mom I see her once, twice a week these days, so I’m not too sure.

Some of the down sides to living to be so old, I’ve noticed, besides the falling, is when we tried to think of people to invite to the BBQ, the list is very thin. It starts with Bruce and there are not many people after that.

There are about twenty people who are coming to the party. I tried to plan ahead. I want to make ribs and BBQ shrimp. I have a great rib recipe I haven’t made in years and I’ve never done BBQed shrimp.

The ribs marinated in a vinegar marinade mostly overnight. Nastia and I worked putting together the marinade and a BBQ sauce. I’ve rarely made a BBQ sauce and the directions I copied from a magazine from twenty odd years ago were sparse. We combined the ingredients and it didn’t say to cook down the sauce, but it was thin and things needed to combine. We cooked it down. The next day it was nice and thick with a nice taste to it. We started with two racks, then added a third when I thought that wasn’t enough ribs. The next day, Nastia again helped put the shrimp on skewers. About half way through Elena wanders in and helps. We did two types of shrimp. One in a marinade, that was good. One with bacon and pineapple that needed more of something.

Sunday, Father's day was warm and sunny. Saturday in the afternoon a line of thunder showers rolled through so even though it was Father’s Day, we picked the right day. I sparked up the grill and started with burgers. I felt rusty cooking at a grill for the first time in a few years. I haven’t cooked at a Ladeckero BBQ yet. Everyone mingled, sat around talking. The weather again was nice. Eric went above and beyond fixing up his back yard. The front yard in three years has gotten so much smaller with all the trees and shrubs growing so big in three years. It’d be nice to do it again next year.