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| Jeannie, Oh Canada Bear, Phyl |
Cooler weather this late June and early July. Not jump in the lake weather until next week. In the meantime, doing laundry, watching Wimbleton and World Cup. And yes, Foodie again!
A few weeks back, at the end of May, I enjoyed a visit from cousins Phyllis and Jeannie from Ohio. Weather could have been worse, but it was most often cold, and wet. We did some fun things. Upon their arrival, we drove into Seattle and ate at a Tom Douglas restaurant, Lola, because Phyllis had heard about the donuts on Food Network (Giada De Laurentis). Restaurant had nice middle eastern menu and atmosphere and we enjoyed salmon, lamb and pork kebabs with the honey-harissa sauce on the pork making it the winner. Donuts-first rate. And we caught the Chuckanaut Drive coming back into town... no matter what the weather, always a treat.
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| Donuts at Lola |
Jeannie and I drove to up to Mount Baker until we could drive no longer...12 feet of snow that hadn't been cleared on the road, right before Ski to Sea on Memorial Weekend. On our last day together in my home area, we drove to Langley, BC to Vista D'Oro Farms, that I've written about in another post, and we also visited with a friend of theirs for lunch at Bacchus Bistro at Domaine de Chamberton. On our way back to Sudden Valley, Christina hosted us for chocolate pecan pie and coffee - YUM. I'm sure my family enjoyed the Bay, the Lake, the mountains, the visit, if not the weather. Such an unusual May!Cooking for July 4th
For the 4th I decided to cook the kind of barbeque that would make me happy. And so...the menu is
- pulled pork sandwiches with blueberry BBQ sauce and cole slaw
- side of bacon-corn stuffed peppers (cooked on grill)
- dessert of either fruit (blueberries, peaches, green seedless grapes) or dark chocolate gelato
About 4 lbs of pork loin in crock pot, rubbed with salt and pepper, then 2 cans of root beer poured along the sides for the loin to cook in. 6 hours on low. Remove pork and pull apart with fork...hence pulled pork. I'm sure pork shoulder could be used too and be less expensive. (I actually didn't like cooking the pulled pork in the root beer, so there's probably other better crock pot recipes for this.)
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| Sorta like this-- blueberry BBQ sauce is actually dark blue. |
BBQ sauce: Blueberry BBQ sauce was in the Bellingham Herald (and maybe your local paper too) with a grilled pork chop recipe! I'm including the recipe here:
Ingredients for the Sauce:
- 1/2 cup minced shallots
- 1 jalapeno, seeded and minced
- 2 TBS olive oil
- 2 cups fresh blueberries
- 1/4 cup balsamic vinegar
- 1/4 cup packed brown sugar
- 1 TBS Dijon mustard
- 1/2 tsp garlic powder (I actually a couple of cloves of garlic minced)
- 1/2 tsp kosher salt
- 2 TBS water or lemon juice
- Saute shallots and jalapeno in oil in a saucepan over medium heat for about 2 minutes. Add blueberies, vinegar, brown sugar, Dijon, garlic powder, and salt; simmer until sauce thickens, 2-3 minutes.
- Transfer mixture into a blender or food processor. Pulse until pureed. Return sauce to pan over medium heat. Stir in water; simmer sauce 1-2 minutes more, stirring often. Remove sauce from heat and it's ready for use. Brush on food for the grill, or I mixed it in with the pulled pork that I cooked.
Beverage suggestions anyone?
