Sugar & Spice and Everything Nice

St. Louis Style BBQ Ribs

 

Berkeley Bowl West

October 23, 2011

As  previously mentioned in this post, I hate grocery shopping.  I hate it so much, I'm willing to drive over a bridge and into the woods to try something new.  The hubby and I were responsible for cooking Sunday's dinner and decided to venture to the Berkeley Bowl.  Holy moly was this an overwhelming and very cool shopping experience.  I felt totally overwhelmed (like the time I tried on 100 pairs of jeggings at Bergdorf Goodman), but walked away with some great things (unlike at Bergdorf's).

First up on Sunday's menu:  St. Louis Ribs!

The hubby loves BBQ!  We decided to go with the St. Louis style rib instead of the traditional baby back, because you get more meat for your money (honey)!

The Sugar and Spice BBQ Rub (recipe for 12 ribs)

• 2 Tablespoons Brown Sugar
• 1/4 Cup Paprika 
• 1/4 Cup Chili Powder
• 1 Tablespoon ground Red Pepper
• 1 Tablespoon ground Cumin 
• 1/2 Teaspoon Mace (or use nutmeg)
• 2 Tablespoons Salt 
• 2 Tablespoons freshly cracked Pepper

In a bowl mix ingredients together.

After removing the membrane from the meat, cover in garlic olive oil. Massage the dry rub into the meat.  Let meat marinate for 2 - 24 hours.

An hour before you cook your meat, get your BBQ ready.  My dad taught my husband to cook with charcoal not propane (real men use matches)!  Because my dad cooks on a high wood / charcoal heat, the boys were a little worried about  maintaining a heat of 300 degrees for 90 minutes. After much strategic planning they put together the below fire.

 DO NOT TRY THIS AT HOME!!

After looking more closely at this picture, I would suggest the following: 

a. Do NOT barbecue so close to a wooden deck.

b. It's probably not safe to have a sun umbrella so close to an open flame.

My dad is practically a professional barbequer and that's the only reason why he was allowed to bbq so close to our deck.  Grasshopper on the other hand (aka my husband), is still a little to green to do this.

After 90 minutes on the BBQ with an indirect heat, this is our final product. The beauty about using a dry rub is you don't need to slather on a sauce!  Now some you may feel your ribs are naked without sauce, but the only way you can truly appreciate the sweet, spice and smoky flavor is to eat them as it.
Try it.  You just might like it.   

The Devil Went to Mexico

A spicy take on a traditional Deviled Egg Recipe 

 

Spicy Deviled Eggs 

 6 Eggs

1/3 cup Crème fraîche

1/3 cup Smoked Bacon (finely chopped)

2 tablespoons Serrano Pepper (finely chopped)

2 tablespoons Siracha

2 tablespoons Cilantro (finely chopped)

1 teaspoon Dijon Mustard 

2 tablespoons Lime Zest

3 teaspoons Lime Juice

 

Pop out (remove) the egg yolks to a small bowl and mash with a fork. Add crème fraîche, smoked bacon, Serrano pepper, siracha, dijon mustard, lime zest and lime juice and mix thoroughly. Add pepper and salt to taste.  Fill the empty egg white shells with the mixture.  

Tip: For a professional finish, use a pastry bag to fill the empty egg white shells.  

Cover lightly with plastic wrap and refrigerate for up to one day before serving.

Football and Apple Pie

A strange thing happens to my husband when football season starts.  He suddenly loves to cook.  So imagine my surprise when Nick announced we were going to make an apple pie from scratch (including the crust)!  See my pictures and Nick's step by step commentary below.

 "The Forbidden Apple" Pie begins.

The Spiteri Apple Tree, planted in 1996

 Paula Dean closely monitored the making of this crust, with chunks of frozen cubed butter, teaspoons of cold water, flour, sugar, salt, and good ole' Southern love.

 Paula actually let my husband knead the dough, because of his rather picturesque model hands.

 Again, I am not sure if this shot is more of the apples or of my husbands beautiful hands.

 After a  brief introduction, the apples and dough meet and get married.

 Once again, as Paula was holding my husbands wrist, Nick and Paula detail the outer edge of pie.

 Before leaving San Bruno, Paula took this last picture of Nick.  Paula insisted on having doubles made of this picture, since she had to catch her flight back to the Food Network.

As part of the contract, Paula insisted on a third of the pie being shipped to her, before anyone got any.

If you're up for the challenge and want to make your own "Forbidden Apple Pie" click here. 

Easy Apple Pie Recipe. 

Vancouver Happenings

When you travel as much as I do, you learn there are some things you can never be prepared for....like a riot in Vancouver.  Lucky for me I wasn't there the night it happened, but when I arrived the next day you could see the upsetting aftermath.  Although it was a quick 36 hour trip, I managed to try out one of the hottest new restaurants in Chinatown, Bao Bei.  For more info visit Vancouver magazine Scout, which shows some amazing pictures and also gives a great glimpse into this restaurants amazing cuisine. 

Travel brought me to Vancouver.  Lucky for me I missed the riot by a day.... 

A picture of the bridge leading into Chinatown

 Bao Bei means  "precious" in Mandarin 

 Trixie the "mixologist" has inspired me to learn how to make a creative cocktail  

I love the vintage flea market feel of the restaurant

My pretty dinner, which looked to good to eat (but was mighty tasty) 

Pancakes & Martinis

We were lazy on Saturday.  I think I took a 2 hour nap (which is rare) and my mom who normally has dinner on the table by 6:30 had nothing cooking. It's become a family tradition to go to church on Saturday instead of Sunday.  Apparently Mass is faster and there is a smaller crowd (after all it is Saturday night). Imagine our surprise when the Easter Vigil Mass was 90 minutes instead of the normal speedy 50 minutes! Arriving home at 10:15 at night, the Spiteri Family unanimously voted breakfast for dinner!  

Cooking an egg on the griddle 

Pumpkin Pancakes on the grill 

(not only are we having breakfast for dinner but we are also celebrating Halloween instead of Easter!)

Stephanie and Stella thinking about pancakes.

Stephanie with her Bailey Coffee and Bill with his Dirty Martini.  I think martinis go with anything. Don't you agree? 

Piroshky & Daffodils

Alone in Seattle...
Here are a few pictures I snapped while in route to the airport.

My view of the Seattle Space Needle during a taxi ride. I'm kind of liking the abstract photo of the space needle.



Despite the cold temperature, spring was making it's debut at the Pike Place Market.

Daffodils for sale at the Pike Place Market.

The original Starbucks.

The Pike Place Market sign.  It's hard to see in this picture, but there are flower boxes on the roof with tulip and daffodil bulbs.  The flowers will start to bloom in the next month. 

 Piroshky, Piroshky.  When you see a line wrapped along a building, you know the food must be good!   

Dangerous Dynamo

Place: Dynamo Donut & Coffee
Neighborhood: Mission
Price: $2 - 3 per donut
Outstanding Flavor: Maple Glazed Bacon Apple (need I say more!)
Fun Factor:  The sitting area is comfy and cute and has plenty of story books to read about donuts!
Future Concern: The donuts are tasty and are as light as air.  I could have easily ate a dozen myself !  At least my morning walk canceled out the calories I consumed.

 Today's flavors

Pretty glass stands waiting to be filled 

Fresh donuts

Breakfast of champions (me eating a donut after my walk!)

Two Words: Brass Band

Photo Credit

Venue: The Independent
Band: Rebirth Brass Band and the New Orleans Klezmer Allstars
Drinks: Tasty and Cheap
Seats: Standing room only = not a bad view in the house (except if you're 5'2 and under).
Cool fact: Sustainability; The Independent promotes positive change by proactively reducing the our venue’s environmental footprint. By making their internal operations more sustainable, they seek to educate and inspire our employees, patrons and bands to become more environmentally conscious. Our environmental objectives are focused on three key areas: waste diversion, conservation, education and outreach. source

Thanks guys for a fun evening.  Can't wait for the next concert.

Carrillo Turkey Trot

Although it's my parent tradition to host Thanksgiving, Nick and I started a new tradition this year and organized the first annual Carrillo Turkey Trot Bar Crawl.  We may have been stuffed from the previous night but we're still thirsty!

So who's in for next year?

First stop: The Hydeout. Think Three's Company Regal Beagle. This place had red walls and black leather chairs. Drinks were dangerously good and very reasonable.

 

Me, Marge, Andi and Stephanie

Second stop: The Bigfoot Lounge. Decorated like a log cabin, this is a fun place to grab a drink with a group.

The swanky wine bar.  I'm in love with the red lights!

Third stop: Amelie. Swanky wine bar located on Polk, this was the perfect stop to get a refreshing glass of wine and lite bites.   

Mr. Nick

(Ian, Lena, Paul and Andi)

Final Stop: BeldenTaverna.  This Italian restaurant has a great selection of sea food.

Dim Sum + Art History

A perfect date for Nick and I usually consist of the following things: pretty views, a long walk and most importantly... FOOD.  Yesterday our Saturdate adventure took us to the Richmond district of San Francisco where we enjoyed food from the Shanghai Dumpling King and saw the Japanesque exhibit at the Legion of Honor.   

The Dumpling King located on Balboa between 34th & 35th 

The #8 special hot and spicy

A complimentary fried donut with sugar



The Legion of Honor with pretty orange flowers

A view at dusk

Both were unique experiences.  It was my first time going to the Legion of Honor and I was taken back by the beautiful views of the Golden Gate bridge and the city skyline. 

The dim sum however takes the cake on our favorite part of the day.  This tiny restaurant has a major following and has a mega menu to look at.  

I guess they call them the Dumpling King for a reason.........