Labor Day Celebration: Imagination vs. Reality
What I imagine a backyard Labor Day celebration for my family should look like...
and....
What it really looked like.
John pulling the brisket apart and adding a little BBQ
The view from a distance. The temperature outside today was a cool 96 degrees. Yes, if we were at a lake or at the beach we may have chosen to dine outdoors but the truth is not a single member of this family really enjoys the sweltering heat and humidity of late August and apparently early September. Our home is very small for the size family we have been blessed to enjoy. We make it work.
Hash brown casserole - I realized my recipe is a bit of an original. I tried to find the recipe that matched the very first one I ever had in Puerto Rico. I haven't found it in my searching so I improvised. It was delicious. One for the cookbook for sure!
Baked beans. The way my mom taught me. Baked beans and deviled eggs are two things I've noticed other folks do differently. And I like mine best :-) I'm very happy to report that my daughter's future MIL makes baked beans the same way I do. That is a good thing. LOL
Trust me, this is for show. She doesn't like brisket. She actually doesn't like beef much. She literally said do this but DO NOT ACTUALLY FEED IT TO ME. Whatever.
I assure you I could set quite a lovely table and put out a spread that would knock your socks off (sorry, I'm not being very modest, am I?) and I really would have enjoyed doing so but the reality is the circumstances just found us filling our paper plates from the dishes hot out of the oven and smoker. The food tastes just as good, really it does.
Here's yet another fake out. This girl doesn't eat much of anything. Chicken nuggets and french fries and an endless amount of wings and she is happy. She tells me she actually tried the brisket. I'm not so sure I can trust that face. What do you think?
I, for one, get really tired of wrestling with the unrealistic expectations that rumble around in my own head. We don't have a big house. Our house isn't really set up to entertain large numbers of people at one time, but we like to do it anyway. I recently responded to my daughter's request to host a sleepover for her 13 member volley ball team with "Sure, it's the size of the heart rather than the size of the house, right?" They worked sleeping arrangements out without a problem. And keep in mind, they're young :-)
I digress... my point was that I don't have space to "host" and space to "work". So often I work while I host and then the space looks like I've been working (while hosting). Dishes get washed as I go (sometimes) and trash and recycling piles up until I get to it which is sometimes after everyone goes home.
On this particular day, I kept up better than usual but there were still dirty dishes and recycling on the counters. It definitely doesn't resemble - in any way, shape or form my mom would say - a Rachel Ray set. More like Iron Chef America in the final moments of the count down. Clean up? Ain't no body got time for that!
But my man makes a darned good beef brisket. Yeah, we discovered it's better when it's smoked beneath a pork butt or two, but it was still absolutely delishhhhh (and that's my Sweet Suzie-Q BBQ Sauce - a.k.a. Tony Roma's Honey Carolina copy cat recipe from the Top Secret cookbook given to me years ago by a dear friend and neighbor when we lived in military housing). Also, make sure you keep track of the recipe when you discover one you really, really, really love. We actually used a different rub on this brisket than last time and we chalked that up to not keeping track of the right recipe. Lesson learned.
And
just to keep it really real (really?) I'm even including the real life
photo of dessert baking in the oven. That really disgustingly dirty
oven. Man do I need some help with cleaning these large appliances.
Actually, I need to save up for new - stove, refrigerator and
dishwasher. Shame, shame, shame on me for this oven. It really is
disgusting, I know. But it's real. And now you know.
So
now I've done my part in revealing the truth. I'd love to see some of
you reveal your "real" family celebrations. Come on, you can do it.
You know you want to :-)
Simply,
Susan
Susan
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