Hey, remember when I used to have a blog? Oh wait! I still have a blog! Is anyone still reading? I suppose we’ll find out.
Yeah. I could explain why I haven’t been writing, except that I don’t particularly know, myself. I could also write a marathon post today, rambling about everything that I’ve been doing and thinking for the past couple months, but I’m thinking I might be better about posting more often if I take things a little bit at a time. SO. In more immediate news… I haven’t puked since Tuesday. If I’d been writing here regularly, you would know that this is a major improvement.
You know how pregnant ladies supposedly experience morning sickness in the first trimester, and then it goes away in the second trimester and they start loving being pregnant for a variety of reasons? Yeah, that hasn’t happened for me. Instead, I had zero morning sickness in the first trimester, but as soon as the second one started up, it was all vomit, all the time. Okay, not all the time, but once or twice a day. Woo-wee, folks, let me tell you: that is not fun. I asked my doctor for medicine to make it better, and she said, “it doesn’t really work that well, it will just make you tired, and I’d rather keep you off it since you’re already taking the Zoloft.” You know, I wish I had realized at the time that it probably doesn’t count as “taking the Zoloft” when what you are really doing is “taking the Zoloft and then vomiting the Zoloft up,” but instead, I decided I could tough it out and that it really wasn’t that bad. You know, my attitude was bad: SOME people puke SEVERAL times a day, and I’m just puking ONCE, so I shouldn’t complain.
PISH POSH, I say. I decided I will demand anti-nausea meds next timeI go to the doctor (which is next week)…and then this week has been an improvement, so now maybe I won’t. We shall see, we shall see.
But enough pregnancy whining from me. Oh, did I tell y’all it’s a boy? It is! I’ve always imagined myself with girls, and I have no idea what to do with a boy, and I would be lying if I said I wasn’t a jerk who felt the teensiest bit of disappointment upon learning my babe has a penis, but I am adjusting to the idea. I briefly considered having a cross-dressing baby so I could take advantage of all the tutus and ribbons and girliness out there, but I ultimately decided that would be too cruel. Instead, my child will be a mini-rock star. Perhaps I will adorn his skin with temporary tattoos to make him extra cool. Oh! And let’s not forget John-Johns! The kid may end up confused (am I a rock star or am I a preppy boy?), but at least he’ll be less so than if I put him in dresses.
In other news, I have embarked upon a quest. Yes, a QUEST! Isn’t that dramatic of me? I thought so. My quest is to recreate the barbecue sauce at my favorite BBQ joint in my hometown. I tried calling them and asking for their recipe, but that was a bust. I begged. I pleaded. I claimed their sauce was the only thing I craved as a pregnant lady (a small lie: I do crave it, but I also crave other random stuff). All my efforts were shut down with two simple words: TOP SECRET.
Hrmph.
Thus, the quest.
Yesterday was my first attempt. I knew I needed a mustard-based sauce, and I have a feeling Kinfolk’s sauce has vinegar in it, too, so this looked like a good place to start. Here’s the recipe I used:
Big Daddy’s Carolina Style Barbecue Sauce (reprinted from here)
Ingredients:
- 1 cup prepared yellow mustard
- 1/2 cup sugar
- 1/4 cup light brown sugar
- 3/4 cup cider vinegar
- 1/4 cup water
- 2 tablespoons chili powder
- 1 teaspoon black pepper
- 1 teaspoon white pepper
- 1/4 teaspoon cayenne
- 1/2 teaspoon soy sauce
- 2 tablespoons butter
- 1 tablespoon liquid smoke (hickory flavoring)
Preparation:
Mix all except soy, butter and smoke. Simmer 30 minutes. Stir in remaining ingredients and simmer for 10 more minutes.
I doubled the recipe in the hopes that I would love the sauce and want to make it again or pour it on turkey sandwiches or something. Then, I plunked a big piece of pork down in my crock pot, poured half the sauce over it, turned it on high, and let it do its thing while I tended to more important matters like knitting and homework and staring at the mess that is supposed to turn into the baby’s room and wondering where to start cleaning that room up. (Note: my preference would be to REALLY slow-cook this pork, but I didn’t have that kind of time, because I started it around 2 p.m. and wanted to eat it for dinner the same night).
Having never made my own barbecue before, I was worried about what I’d find when I picked up the lid around 6:30that evening, but my worrying was unnecessary. The pork pulled apart easily with two forks, just like it was supposed to, and it was cooked all the way through. Rob and I piled it onto hamburger buns and ate it with our favorite pasta salad (a combo of mezze rigatoni, basil-infused olive oil, fresh garlic, tomatoes, and fresh basil). When I first simmered the sauce (before pouring it over the pork), it smelled REALLY tangy. Like – super tangy. It smelled so tangy that I re-read the recipe three times to make sure I hadn’t accidentally doubled or tripled the vinegar amount when I was making it. I strongly suspected we’d have to dump the whole thing and order pizza, but I was wrong! The crock pot simmering let a lot of that tanginess mellow itself out, so that the result was quite pleasant indeed.
Now, it wasn’t Kinfolk’s barbecue sauce. I don’t have a refined enough palate to be able to tell you what was missing or what wasn’t supposed to be in the recipe, but I can tell you that it was pretty different from what I was trying to recreate. Still, it was pretty darn good. Rob had two helpings, and although I only had one, I did reheat some ‘cue for breakfast this morning.
Overall, I give Big Daddy’s Carolina Style Barbecue Sauce 4 and a half stars (with Kinfolk’s BBQ sauce earning the full five).
