A Visit From The Walkers, Finally

As best we can tell, the last time we saw Bev’s son and his kids was August, 2019 so we were pretty exited when they came to visit us this week.  They came and went at various times with the three girls and two boyfriends coming in on Monday.  Hard to believe their ages are now: Madison-23, Reece-21, & Riley-19 and they will all be attending the University Of Charleston (SC) this fall.  This leaves only Eric and family that we have not seen since Jul, 2019.

Based upon their requests and our desires, we put together the following supper meal plan for the visit.

Mon: Spaghetti and meatballs, salad

Tue: Lemon butter caper crappie, rice, steamed broccoli

Wed: BBQ ribs, potato salad

Thu: Store bought pizza

Fri: Low country boil

Sat: Tri-tip roast, Brussels sprouts, salad

The first two meals were our normal versions but the BBQ was a specific request for Grandpop’s good BBQ but it’s been so long I wasn't sure I could deliver.  Bev has always wanted baby back ribs and I cooked them in a smoker but this time we got some whole spare ribs from Sam’s to cook in our grill/smoker.  I believe I’ve done spares before but never the whole thing so I watched a you-tube video on making them into the St. Louis cut version which yielded two slabs plus the associated rib tips (same basic meat).

Sometimes on TV I see the pros put so much rub on the meat you can’t even see it and I don’t know how the judges can tell what meat they are eating.  I follow rib guru Mike Mills who says the spices should compliment the meat flavor and not hide it.

With my two end burners on low, the grill temp was a perfect 250F and this is my set up.

I rotated the pans every hour for even cooking and smoking.

I thought they were a little over cooked but the kids loved them and that was the important part.

On Thursday evening, Riley and her boyfriend left us but the girls dad, Rhett, got in just as they were leaving - we forgot a group shot.

The low country boil was cooked and eaten Friday at the dock and we used our normal process.

The final supper was a couple of tri-tip’s again cooked with our normal reverse sear and with some smoke.

Photos can be enlarged by clicking on them and the blue words are links.

Have a great day and thanks for stopping by Almost Heaven South.

Larry

7/19-7/25/21 event dates