After literally spending the last two days in the kitchen prepping for Sunday Rib Night, I can say it was all a success. We ended up with 25 people over for dinner last night...and we had enough food, plenty. In fact I just finished up a leftover plate of beans, slaw, mac/cheese and ribs. (I think I'll be tired of beans, mac/cheese and ribs by the end of the week.)
It was really hard to know how much to prepare. We've certainly had that many people over at our house before, but just for snacks - never a full dinner. I told the Hubby at the end of the night how I can't imagine that some families get together and have all that food and just as many people... and do it every weekend. The matriarch of those families is a saint!
Probably the best compliment of the evening came from an Austinite who said after dinner that he felt like he just had dinner with his southern family. It appears as if us mid-west folks have settled in just nicely now here, learned the grub and can make it well.
Hubby was a master at the firepit yesterday. He ended up buying 22 pounds of spare ribs. That's a lot of meat! The fire was going all day. He's learned new tricks each time, but this time cooking them down in an aluminum pan to steam better and an extra touch of some beer made the ribs nice and tender...and good.
The best thing about rib night is that it's "OK" to serve on paper plates. I'm quite confident I'd still be standing at the sink washing dishes. Though maybe not because the Hubby stepped up again to a rare :) yet mighty appreciated dishwashing session last night. He cleaned all of my dirty, caked on pots and pans. That was so lovely!
Oh, I almost forgot, probably the most talked about recipe was my fried green tomatoes. Seriously, how Southern am I? I got the recipe here and did a few other changes of my own. Never made 'em before....will definitely make them again.
Now wondering - what kind of party is next?