Is this photo creepy? I totally think it’s creepy. And also cool.
(Please ignore my nails thanks.)
Alright, first: I made ribs. This is extremely exciting, because I’ve always been intimidated by the idea of making ribs (all that MEAT, you know?), and Google did me proud, because what I ended up with was all sorts of delicious. (If you’re curious, I cooked it over indirect heat – we have a propane grill, so I just put the rack on the unlit side – for about an hour and a half, basting with a red wine vinegar/apple juice mixture and finishing with Sweet Baby Ray’s BBQ sauce.)
But we need to talk about this grilling thing, because it’s not something I ever did a ton of, and now I apparently…do. Like, every single day. And this is partially because it turns out that grilling is fun and easy, but, full disclosure, it’s mostly because something I discovered about our neighborhood is that I don’t really have an option if we want to…you know…eat. Because we’re basically as far south as you can get in the South Bay – and we chose this area because we wanted to prioritize having a nice house and being in a good school district (neither of which was going to happen had we moved to a different part of Silicon Valley) – and while it’s really beautiful here, knocked right up against the foothills, it’s also more or less totally devoid of things other than houses and parks. There’s a not-very-good pizza place, and a kind of scary-looking BBQ place, and that’s pretty much it. If we want to go to a restaurant, we’re driving at least ten minutes away – which isn’t a lot, obviously, but the distance makes it a not-especially-convenient option on the average weeknight.
Which is all to say: if we want to eat something other than Starbucks scones or scary BBQ, I am cooking. It’s an interesting challenge, because I’m used to cooking maybe half the time, but certainly not all the time – we went to restaurants or got takeout at least three nights a week back east (and frequently went out for breakfasts and lunches, as well). And now I’m finding that when I go to the grocery store, I’m having to think about virtually every meal my family will be eating between then and the next time I’m able to go shopping.
So. I need recipes, please, because my grilling repertoire consists of 1) Hamburgers; 2) Skirt Steak; and 3) Chicken Fajitas. And all of these things are good, but I can imagine getting real sick of them real quick, and I’d love to hear any (preferably fast and easy) grilling suggestions you might have!
