We had our big Cousin Palooza reunion this weekend. Lawyer Boy and Finance Boy came home from New York City.
They looked great.
They let me feed them.
Lawyer Boy brought home a girl for us to meet.
****VERY EXCITING!!!!****
We really liked her! I'm already picking out linens and bath towels! :)
Seriously, it was great fun, and the best thing of all was the racks of ribs I made for Friday night....
Mouth watering. Fork tender. Deliciosa!!!!! I bought a huge pack of baby back ribs from Sam's Club... And by huge, I mean 3 full racks about 2 feet long. I cut them into 2-3 rib sections, then rubbed each section down with the rub recipe below... I used two roaster pans so I could lay them out, that way they brown better...
First, I made a rub and got the idea from here: Food.Com I adjusted it for us by adding salt and left off the smoke. I'm not big on artificial smoke flavor
1 Cup Brown Sugar
1 Tablespoon Paprika
1 Tablespoon Granulated Garlic
2 teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon Cajun
(This gave me the sweet/savory with just a little bite I was looking for.)
Rub each 2-3 rib section with rub, lay in roasting pan. Cover with foil. Cover with foil again, to double seal the ribs. You want the moisture to stay in the pan, so I tucked one big piece of heavy duty foil over the ribs, then another piece over the top of the pan. Seal tightly.
Bake at 350 ° for about two-to-three hours. Unseal and add water after first ninety minutes if necessary. I found it was, but my convection oven might pull moisture away with the fan. We want them roasted, not burned.
Serve with your favorite barbecue sauce on the side, or (and I did this) swab them down with barbecue sauce, recover, and let heat another ten minutes, just long enough to heat the sauce.
I used Sweet Baby Rays, but Famous Dave's Rich and Sassy would have been good, too!
I don't think I took one picture. It was just too crazy here to even think about pics. Beth is the family photographer, so she took a bunch, but we've been crazy around here, and had no internet for two days, so she couldn't just upload them and send them to me.
But we've got a few fun things to show you!!!
Graduation time at Ruthy's!!!! My five-year-olds are heading to Kindergarten and I'm heading toward semi-retirement! It's been the best five years of my life, loving, and rocking, and holding, and teaching and scolding these sweet babies! And now they're off on a new adventure in September...
And I'll cry, and then I'll have a cup of QUIET COFFEE!!! And I'll stop crying and write some more books!
Casey decorated the cake... Didn't she do a wonderful job??? And notice I didn't get the shelves behind them cleaned off before their party! EEEK! But they're five, and they don't care!
We had punch and cake and we marched in to Pomp and Circumstance and I GAVE A SPEECH!!! A very short speech, and I didn't blubber.... But I wanted to!
And then there's this, MacKenzie as "Mac-a-Doodle" the clown, with her other grandma "Freckles" the clown!!!
How stinkin' adorable are they??? Tonight Mac-a-Doodle and Freckles will be marching in our hometown parade!!! We get to cheer them on! Best life ever, life in a small town.
Try those ribs, they were the best I've ever had or made. True words. :)
And I am honestly thrilled to introduce my new historical novella series in this just-released collection! "The Pastor Takes a Wife" is the opening novella of my "Sewing Sister Society" series, set in the fictional town of Second Chance, South Dakota. When independent widow Hattie McGillicuddy decides to head west, her mission becomes an opportunity to help women start a new life-- a new hope-- and maybe a new love! With each story, Hattie brings another young woman out of the darkness of the East Coast cities and into the wide open prairies of opportunity! And that very first story is right here in...
With This Spark (yes, it's a live link to take you to Amazon if you'd like to go there!)
Available for Kindles or devices with a Kindle app! I am over the top about this sweet bunch of novellas from me, Mary Connealy, Pam Hillman and Myra Johnson... and yes, we kept it priced low to tempt you in because we want you to get a taste of our work, our voice, our style!
Wishing you a lovely end of the week, and a busy, fun, family-filled weekend! God bless you!
Ruthy (The Yank)
Awwww! Good job on not blubbering! I think I'd be crying my eyes out. That's why I keep it simple. "Here, you're old now. Have some cake." Those little diplomas are adorable.
ReplyDeleteAlready have the Spark set and can't wait to read it. :)
Virginia, thank you for plunking down that money!!!! :) I hope you like it, gosh it was fun to do. I get a kick out of working with these gals.
DeleteAnd I primed the kids ahead of time by telling them I was emotional.... I CRIED THROUGH OUR REHEARSAL.
I'm certifiably ridiculous.
So then I told them to make faces at me while I was talking so I'd laugh instead of cry.
And by the time we got to cake and punch, we were all laughing!
:)
And come September, there is more writing time for Ruthy!!!! So that part is awesome!
You're NOT ridiculous! I confess, I got teary watching your video. I feel like I've watched these kids grow up through your posts and pictures. (Okay, that feels stalkerish, but you know what I mean! And that's Mary talking, because it's another whole kind of weird if it's Cate.)
ReplyDelete*sigh* these dual identities are confusing.
I'll just go with the ribs look delicious and I missed you these 2 days you had no internet. :)
LOL, Mary! We understand your split personality. :)
DeleteRibs. Perfect. That is what I was fixing today so now have a great recipe. smile
ReplyDeleteGlad you had fun with lawyer boy. Any girl he chooses will be blessed to have your for a MIL
Moving on to the next season of life for those little ones! They've certainly gotten a good start with you helping them along, Ruthy. :)
ReplyDeleteAnd the ribs. Oh, how delicious! And I just happen to have a smallish rack of ribs in the freezer from our February cow. Now I know exactly how to fix them!
I love that your boy brought a girl home that you liked!! We had the same experience a couple weeks ago with one of our boys. I was ready to adopt her - but then that would be a little weird later on, wouldn't it?
I love me some ribs!! I'll definitely try this!
ReplyDeleteLoved the photos, too. I know you had a wonderful weekend!